A-6E Intruder

One of the most technologically advanced aircraft in the Navy’s inventory when introduced in the mid-1960s, the Intruder featured radar and navigation equipment that enabled all-weather operations.  During the Vietnam War, a number of A-6 crews received Navy Crosses for extraordinary heroism in single-plane raids on heavily defended targets, approaching at extremely low altitude and avoiding numerous surface-to-air missiles fired at their airplanes.  Intruders, which could carry up to 18,000 pounds of ordnance, also flew strikes against Libya and in Operation Desert Storm before their retirement from service in the late 1990s.