Book review of
Grumman EA-6B Prowler
Flying With the US Navy & Marine Corps
Author: Duke Hawkins
HMH Publications Duke Hawkins Series no. 0-21
ISBN: 978-2-931083-11-6
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright date unknown
MSRP: $36.00
ISBN: 978-2-931083-11-6
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright date unknown
MSRP: $36.00
HISTORY:
The Northrop Grumman (formerly Grumman) EA-6B Prowler is a twin-engine, four-seat, mid-wing electronic-warfare aircraft derived from the A-6 Intruder airframe. The EA-6A was the initial electronic warfare version of the A-6 used by the United States Marine Corps and United States Navy.
Development on the more advanced EA-6B began in 1966. An EA-6B aircrew consisted of one pilot and three Electronic Countermeasures Officers, though it was not uncommon for only two ECMOs to be used on missions. It was capable of carrying and firing anti-radiation missiles (ARMs), such as the AGM-88 HARM.
The Prowler was in service with the U.S. Armed Forces from 1971 until 2019. It has carried out numerous missions for jamming enemy radar systems, and in gathering radio intelligence on those and other enemy air defense systems.
From the 1998 retirement of the United States Air Force EF-111 Raven electronic warfare aircraft, the EA-6B was the only dedicated electronic warfare plane available for missions by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Air Force until the fielding of the Navy's EA-18G Growler in 2009.
Following its last deployment in late 2014, the EA-6B was withdrawn from U.S. Navy service in June 2015, followed by the USMC in March 2019.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Crew: 4 (one pilot, three electronic countermeasures officers)
Length: 59 ft 10 in (18.24 m)
Wingspan: 53 ft (16 m)
Height: 16 ft 8 in (5.08 m)
Wing area: 528.9 sq ft (49.14 m2)
Empty weight: 31,160 lb (14,134 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 61,500 lb (27,896 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney J52-P-408 A turbojet engines, 10,400 lbf (46 kN) thrust each
Maximum speed: 566 kn (651 mph, 1,048 km/h)
Cruise speed: 418 kn (481 mph, 774 km/h)
Range: 2,022 nmi (2,327 mi, 3,745 km) (tanks kept)
2,400 mi (2,100 nmi; 3,900 km) (tanks dropped)
Service ceiling: 37,600 ft (11,500 m)
Rate of climb: 12,900 ft/min (66 m/s)
Wing loading: 116 lb/sq ft (570 kg/m2)
Thrust/weight: 0.34
Armament:
Hardpoints: 5 total: 1× centerline/under-fuselage plus 4× under-wing pylon stations with a capacity of 18,000 pounds (8,200 kg), with provisions to carry combinations of:
Missiles: Up to 4× AGM-88 HARM Anti-radiation missiles (typically 2x carried)
Other:
Up to 5× 300 US gallons (1,100 L) external drop tanks
Up to 5× AN/ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System (TJS) external pods
AN/ALE-43(V)1&4 Bulk Chaff Dispensing System pod
AN/AAQ-28(V) Litening targeting pod (USMC only)
Avionics:
AN/ALQ-218 Tactical Jamming System Receiver
AN/USQ-113 Communications Jamming System
THE BOOK:
HMH Publications is based in the UK.
This book is in soft-cover of 139 pages in 9” x 9 ½” page format.
It contains 313 color photos (including the cover arts)
The front cover shows an EA-6B Prowler at just moments away from landing on the deck of a US Navy aircraft carrier, just after a combat mission in 2013. It is overall white with a black no. 500 nose-number on the sides of its nose. One corner of the cover has a photo of Duke Hawkins in pilot gear. At the bottom of the cover it says the book was done with Dave Ching, and another corner says the book contains: Action, Cockpit, Fuselage, Weapons and Maintenance photos.
The book does show all this in abundance. Every inch of the interior and exterior of the Prowler is shown, with it either in flight, on an airfield or a carrier deck. Weapons and drop tanks are shown. The aircraft appears with its wings down or folded at times.
One photo shows a color illustration of a blond-haired gal, wearing a black and white checkerboard scarf, black jacket, white panties and gartered nylons. She is seated holding black and white puppy. The illustration is named “BOOKIE”. This illustration was on the side of the nose of a Prowler.
The back cover shows an EA-6B at night aboard a carrier with two crewmen standing by it. One crewman is giving it directions. The aircraft is just a black silhouette. Below this color photo there is a one-paragraph history of the aircraft.
The majority of the color photos shows Prowlers with black numbers on the sides of their noses:
Three have no nose number, there are four with 01, one with 02, two with 03, one with 04, one with 05, two with 06, one with 07, two with 08, five with 09, four with 78, one with 79, nineteen (including the front cover) of 500, seventeen of 501. Eleven of 502, nine of 503, one of 530, one of 536, one of 900 and one of 904.
This is a great picture book about Prowlers.
If you have this book in your hands, chances are high that you are, like me (Duke Hawkins), an aircraft enthusiast. When iconic aircraft are taken out of service, it always leaves a strange feeling. That was definitely the case in 2019, when the Prowler was retired from service with the US Marines, after a career of nearly 50 years.
It motivated the author to include the aircraft in our series of photographic portraits, and here it finally is. In a time where most missions aboard US aircraft carriers are done by a single type. We look back in melancholy, on the times, when the flight decks of aircraft carriers were filled with Tomcats, Prowlers, Hornets, Vikings, Greyhounds, Hawkeyes and Seahawks. Remembering those days.
The four-seat Prowler has been widely used and was a witness in many conflicts. Starting with the Vietnam War, all the way to the air war over Syria. For this book, photos are gathered by talented photographers from around the world. They have earned a big thank-you, and they look forward to realizing more projects in the near future.
We want to thank you, our readers, for the feedback that you give us, the suggestions and the enthusiasm to continue the series. It is extremely motivating and we really hope to hear even more from you ! I hope you enjoyed this book, and for the modellers among you: don’t hesitate to send us photos of your models.
The last page of this book shows 22 small color cover arts of other HMH Duke Hawkins series books:
Jaguar, F-16 Fighting Falcon, Dassault Mirage 2000, Fulcrum, Panavia Tornado, Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab RJ 37 Viggen, Hornet, C-130 Hercules, Dassault Mirage F1, Harrier II, Mig-31 Foxhound, Dassault Mirage III, Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, F4 E/F Phantom II, SIAI Marchetti SF-260, Sukhoi SU-25 Frogfoot, Dassault/Damler Alpha Jet, Atlas A400M, Sukhoi Su-35s Flanker E, EA-6B Prowler (this book) and Aircraft Carrier Juan Carlos I.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review copy. Casemate is the N. American distributor of HMH Publications and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
The Northrop Grumman (formerly Grumman) EA-6B Prowler is a twin-engine, four-seat, mid-wing electronic-warfare aircraft derived from the A-6 Intruder airframe. The EA-6A was the initial electronic warfare version of the A-6 used by the United States Marine Corps and United States Navy.
Development on the more advanced EA-6B began in 1966. An EA-6B aircrew consisted of one pilot and three Electronic Countermeasures Officers, though it was not uncommon for only two ECMOs to be used on missions. It was capable of carrying and firing anti-radiation missiles (ARMs), such as the AGM-88 HARM.
The Prowler was in service with the U.S. Armed Forces from 1971 until 2019. It has carried out numerous missions for jamming enemy radar systems, and in gathering radio intelligence on those and other enemy air defense systems.
From the 1998 retirement of the United States Air Force EF-111 Raven electronic warfare aircraft, the EA-6B was the only dedicated electronic warfare plane available for missions by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Air Force until the fielding of the Navy's EA-18G Growler in 2009.
Following its last deployment in late 2014, the EA-6B was withdrawn from U.S. Navy service in June 2015, followed by the USMC in March 2019.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Crew: 4 (one pilot, three electronic countermeasures officers)
Length: 59 ft 10 in (18.24 m)
Wingspan: 53 ft (16 m)
Height: 16 ft 8 in (5.08 m)
Wing area: 528.9 sq ft (49.14 m2)
Empty weight: 31,160 lb (14,134 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 61,500 lb (27,896 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney J52-P-408 A turbojet engines, 10,400 lbf (46 kN) thrust each
Maximum speed: 566 kn (651 mph, 1,048 km/h)
Cruise speed: 418 kn (481 mph, 774 km/h)
Range: 2,022 nmi (2,327 mi, 3,745 km) (tanks kept)
2,400 mi (2,100 nmi; 3,900 km) (tanks dropped)
Service ceiling: 37,600 ft (11,500 m)
Rate of climb: 12,900 ft/min (66 m/s)
Wing loading: 116 lb/sq ft (570 kg/m2)
Thrust/weight: 0.34
Armament:
Hardpoints: 5 total: 1× centerline/under-fuselage plus 4× under-wing pylon stations with a capacity of 18,000 pounds (8,200 kg), with provisions to carry combinations of:
Missiles: Up to 4× AGM-88 HARM Anti-radiation missiles (typically 2x carried)
Other:
Up to 5× 300 US gallons (1,100 L) external drop tanks
Up to 5× AN/ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System (TJS) external pods
AN/ALE-43(V)1&4 Bulk Chaff Dispensing System pod
AN/AAQ-28(V) Litening targeting pod (USMC only)
Avionics:
AN/ALQ-218 Tactical Jamming System Receiver
AN/USQ-113 Communications Jamming System
THE BOOK:
HMH Publications is based in the UK.
This book is in soft-cover of 139 pages in 9” x 9 ½” page format.
It contains 313 color photos (including the cover arts)
The front cover shows an EA-6B Prowler at just moments away from landing on the deck of a US Navy aircraft carrier, just after a combat mission in 2013. It is overall white with a black no. 500 nose-number on the sides of its nose. One corner of the cover has a photo of Duke Hawkins in pilot gear. At the bottom of the cover it says the book was done with Dave Ching, and another corner says the book contains: Action, Cockpit, Fuselage, Weapons and Maintenance photos.
The book does show all this in abundance. Every inch of the interior and exterior of the Prowler is shown, with it either in flight, on an airfield or a carrier deck. Weapons and drop tanks are shown. The aircraft appears with its wings down or folded at times.
One photo shows a color illustration of a blond-haired gal, wearing a black and white checkerboard scarf, black jacket, white panties and gartered nylons. She is seated holding black and white puppy. The illustration is named “BOOKIE”. This illustration was on the side of the nose of a Prowler.
The back cover shows an EA-6B at night aboard a carrier with two crewmen standing by it. One crewman is giving it directions. The aircraft is just a black silhouette. Below this color photo there is a one-paragraph history of the aircraft.
The majority of the color photos shows Prowlers with black numbers on the sides of their noses:
Three have no nose number, there are four with 01, one with 02, two with 03, one with 04, one with 05, two with 06, one with 07, two with 08, five with 09, four with 78, one with 79, nineteen (including the front cover) of 500, seventeen of 501. Eleven of 502, nine of 503, one of 530, one of 536, one of 900 and one of 904.
This is a great picture book about Prowlers.
If you have this book in your hands, chances are high that you are, like me (Duke Hawkins), an aircraft enthusiast. When iconic aircraft are taken out of service, it always leaves a strange feeling. That was definitely the case in 2019, when the Prowler was retired from service with the US Marines, after a career of nearly 50 years.
It motivated the author to include the aircraft in our series of photographic portraits, and here it finally is. In a time where most missions aboard US aircraft carriers are done by a single type. We look back in melancholy, on the times, when the flight decks of aircraft carriers were filled with Tomcats, Prowlers, Hornets, Vikings, Greyhounds, Hawkeyes and Seahawks. Remembering those days.
The four-seat Prowler has been widely used and was a witness in many conflicts. Starting with the Vietnam War, all the way to the air war over Syria. For this book, photos are gathered by talented photographers from around the world. They have earned a big thank-you, and they look forward to realizing more projects in the near future.
We want to thank you, our readers, for the feedback that you give us, the suggestions and the enthusiasm to continue the series. It is extremely motivating and we really hope to hear even more from you ! I hope you enjoyed this book, and for the modellers among you: don’t hesitate to send us photos of your models.
The last page of this book shows 22 small color cover arts of other HMH Duke Hawkins series books:
Jaguar, F-16 Fighting Falcon, Dassault Mirage 2000, Fulcrum, Panavia Tornado, Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab RJ 37 Viggen, Hornet, C-130 Hercules, Dassault Mirage F1, Harrier II, Mig-31 Foxhound, Dassault Mirage III, Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, F4 E/F Phantom II, SIAI Marchetti SF-260, Sukhoi SU-25 Frogfoot, Dassault/Damler Alpha Jet, Atlas A400M, Sukhoi Su-35s Flanker E, EA-6B Prowler (this book) and Aircraft Carrier Juan Carlos I.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review copy. Casemate is the N. American distributor of HMH Publications and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly recommended.