List of accidents and incidents involving the Grumman A-6 Intruder

This list is of accidents and incidents involving the Grumman A-6 Intruder, in service with the U.S. Navy and Air Force from 1963-1997, that resulted in ejection, loss of life, severe injuries, or irreparable damage to the aircraft.

Two Grumman A-6A Intruders of Attack Squadron 165 in flight, 1973.

1966

20 June

A-6A Intruder BuNo 152605 destroyed June 20 1966 when collided with A-6A Intruder BuNo 152602, also of VMA(AW)-242 US Marine Corps. The two planes were on a bombing practice on Tangier Target Range. After the last practice run, during the join up, aircraft BuNo 152605 struck BuNo 152602 in its wing root area. One aircraft crashed into Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, the other caught fire and crashed into a housing area of Buckroe Beach, Virginia, killing a mother and her baby on the ground as well as injuring over 40 people on the ground.

From an Associated Press Article, dated 21 June 1966:

Hampton, Va., (AP) - Officials said today they were convinced there were no more dead or injured in the rubble of a suburban neighborhood devastated by the flaming crash of a Marine Corps attack bomber hurtling from an in-flight collision. Police said two persons - a 30 year old mother, MARY GALLANT and her 19-month-old son DONALD - died. Forty-four persons were treated for injuries, mainly burns. Ten remained hospitalized. Sixty persons were left homeless in the total destruction of 10 houses and damage to 17 others. None Reported Missing. Hampton Police Chief L. H. Nicholson said, "We have gone through all the destroyed and damaged houses and found no additional bodies. I don't believe we will find any more. We have no reports of missing persons." Nicholson and Fire Marshall F. F. Hopkins both used the same terms to describe their feelings about the light loss of life in such a densely populated area - "miraculous." The two-seater A6 Intruder light bomber plowed into the development at 8:57 p.m. Monday night. Seconds earlier, it had collided at 400 miles an hour with another Intruder at 2,000 feet. The other plane fell into Chesapeake Bay. Path Clearly Marked. The evidence of the plane's path was clearly marked. The jet swept in on a northeast heading, clipped a 50-foot oak tree at midpoint and sheared off a side of the GALLANT'S shingle cottage. The bodies of MRS. GALLANT and her son were found in the kitchen. All of the four Marines aboard the two aircraft ejected safely and landed near the second bomber in Chesapeake Bay off Norfolk. Three were picked up by a Coast Guard helicopter, the fourth by a private boat. The crash occurred not far from the sprawling Fordham shopping center and the homes of many Air Force and Army men from nearby Langley Air Force Base and Ft. Monroe. Engine Buries In Crater. Witnesses said the aircraft came down at a 45-degree angle just off Sergeant Street, where its engine buried itself in a deep crater. The wings and portions of the flaming fuselage continued on, with parts of the fuel tanks, for two blocks, mowing down homes as they went and setting some of them on fire. Bits of the plane were found 5 blocks away at the shopping center, where a wheel plunged through the roof of a bowling alley and injured three persons. MRS. GALLANT'S husband was on his way home when the house in which his wife and infant son awaited his arrival was destroyed. Two other Gallant children were visiting neighbors and escaped. The marine bombers, out of Cherry Point, N.C., were en route to Patuxent River, Md., and had left their base at 6:30 p.m. The Fleet Marine Force Atlantic said it had no immediate explanation for the collision and that the planes were on a routine weather mission. Moments after the pilotless bomber crashed in flames, ambulances were speeding to the area from Hampton, Newport News, Buckroe Beach, Langley AFB, Phoebus, and the counties of Northampton and York. Rescue squadmen, doctors, detachments from Langley and Ft. Monroe, and firemen hurried in. By the time they arrived, hundreds of persons had gathered to watch the holocaust. Police sealed off the area to prevent possible looting and servicemen from nearby military bases patrolled the area. Power company workers labored throughout the night to restore electricity in an estimated 500 homes. Wearing helmets, they bobbed up and down to the tops of utility poles in aerial lifts under the big floodlights. The burned-out hulks of half a dozen automobiles, plus clothing, bedsheets, dishes, pots and pans and every conceivable type of house furniture were scattered around.

There is a YouTube Video recorded the following day showing the aftermath devastation and the cleanup started- Hampton, Va - Jet Crash

1967

23 March

Worst ground aviation accident of Vietnam War occurs at Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam when traffic controller clears USMC Grumman A-6A Intruder, BuNo 152608, of VMA(AW)-242, MAG-11, for takeoff but also clears USAF Lockheed C-141A-LM Starlifter, 65-9407, of the 62nd Military Airlift Wing, McChord AFB, Washington, to cross runway. A-6 crew sees Starlifter at last moment, veers off runway to try to avoid it, but port wing slices through C-141's nose, which immediately catches fire, load of 72 acetylene gas cylinders ignite and causes tremendous explosion, only loadmaster escaping through rear hatch. Intruder overturns, skids on down runway on back, but both crew, Capt. Frederick Cone and Capt. Doug Wilson, survive, crawl out of smashed canopy after jet stops. Some of ordnance load of 16 X 500 lb. bombs and six rocket packs go off in ensuing fire. Military Airlift Command crew killed are Capt. Harold Leland Hale, Capt. Leroy Edward Leonard, Capt. Max Paul Starkel, S/Sgt. Alanson Garland Bynum, and S/Sgt. Alfred Funck. This is the first of two C-141s lost during the conflict, and one of only three strategic airlifters written off during the Vietnam War.

1971

15 November

A U.S. Navy Grumman A-6A Intruder, BuNo. 151563, of VA-42, on a maintenance test flight out of NAS Oceana, Virginia, suffers failure of the drogue chute gun in the pilot's ejection seat, pulling the two ejection seat cables and ejecting Lt. Dalton C. Wright. The bombardier-navigator, Lt. John W. Adair, with no pilot in the aircraft, is forced to eject. Jet comes down 15 miles from Oceana. The Navy investigation later determines that five or six flight accidents and one hangar accident may have been caused by the same problem. One source cites date of 15 October 1971.

1973

19 September

A U.S. Navy Grumman A-6A Intruder, BuNo 155721, 'NJ', of VA-128, out of NAS Whidbey Island, Washington, crashes in the Oregon desert, ~25 miles SE of Christmas Valley, Oregon, during a low level night training mission. The pilot Lt. Alan G. Koehler, 27, and navigator Lt. Cdr. Philip D. duHamel, 33, are KWF. On 14 June 2007, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officially declares the crash scene a historic Federal government site at a Flag Day ceremony. An interpretive plaques was unveiled during this event reflecting this designation and depicting the historical significance of the location.

1991

10 October

A U.S. Navy A-6E Intruder BuNo. 152620/NE-407 of VA-155, US Navy, based at Whidbey Island NAS, crashed into the Columbia River, 12 miles southeast of Wenatchee, Chelan County, Washington. Both crew - Lt Commander Dan David "Dewey" DeWispelaere (pilot) and Lt (JG) Grady Hackwith (bombardier/navigator) - were killed.

"Lt. Cmdr. Dan David "Dewey" DeWispelaere, 32, a Navy pilot who flew more than 40 missions from the aircraft carrier Ranger in the Persian Gulf War, was killed Oct. 10 in the crash of his A-6E Intruder near Wenatchee, Wash.

His navigator-bombardier, Lt. (j.g.) Grady Hackwith, was also killed. The plane was based at the Naval Air Station at Whidbey Island, Wash., and was on a low-level training flight when it crashed into a cliff and fell into the Columbia River about 12 miles southeast of Wenatchee. Navy officials said the cause of the crash was under investigation."

1994

5 April

A U.S. Navy A-6E Intruder out of Alameda Naval Air Station crashed in San Francisco Bay. 33-year-old reservist pilot Lt. Cmdr. Rand McNally and his navigator Lt Cmdr. Brian McMahon were killed in the crash. The pair perished while making a turn to land at the base. An investigation later found that the aircraft suffered from numerous mechanical problems, which likely contributed to the incident.

1998

3 February

EA6B cuts cable car support leaving 20 dead in the Cavalese cable car disaster (1998)

See also

• List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1960–74)
• List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1990–1999)