Vigilante!: 1,200 Hours Flying the Ultimate US Navy Reconnaissance Aircraft

Author Robert "Boom" Powell was a US Navy carrier pilot for 16 of his 20 years in the service. His second combat tour in Vietnam was spent flying the Vigilante, and he incorporates historical fact, detailed new information, and never-before-published photographs to produce the definitive work on this aircraft. Personal sidebar anecdotes are interspersed in the text, adding the vital human element to this compelling story of Naval Aviation at its best.

No book has ever been written about the A3J/RA-5C like this one, telling the story of North American's jet in such vivid detail. Many of the rare, never-before-published photographs were culled from the author’s personal collection, archives of the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida, the Tailhook Association in San Diego, California, and several well-known photo historians. The author also contacted 40 veterans of the RA-5C community to acquire their Vigilante stories, which have also never been told.