This html article is produced from an uncorrected text file through optical character recognition. Prior to 1940 articles all text has been corrected, but from 1940 to the present most still remain uncorrected. Artifacts of the scans are misspellings, out-of-context footnotes and sidebars, and other inconsistencies. Adjacent to each text file is a PDF of the article, which accurately and fully conveys the content as it appeared in the issue. The uncorrected text files have been included to enhance the searchability of our content, on our site and in search engines, for our membership, the research community and media organizations. We are working now to provide clean text files for the entire collection.
Based on Stephen Coonts’s novel Flight of the Intruder (Naval Institute Press, 1986), the movie of the same name may be the most realistic carrier aviation film made to date. Produced by Mace Neufeld (Hunt for Red October), directed by John Milius (Apocalypse Now and Red Dawn), and starring Danny Glover, Willem Dafoe, and Brad Johnson, the story is about an A-6 Intruder squadron in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.
An A-6 combat veteran, I edited the script for accuracy and helped to coach the actors. I also worked with the special effects people to be sure that the tracers, flak, and surface-to-air missiles looked believable, particularly during the night sequences.
While writing the script, John Milius interviewed several A-6 combat experienced veterans, and many of the stories they told were incorporated into the movie.
Above, enemy troops have surrounded Commander Camparelli, the squadron commanding officer (Danny Glover), and Jake Grafton, his wing- man (Brad Johnson). A-l Skyraiders are dropping napalm on the enemy. This dramatic scene was filmed on the island of Kauai in Hawaii, chosen for its similarity to the North Vietnamese terrain. Model A-6s, F-4s, and MiG-17s were used in some crashes and airborne scenes. These radio-controlled models had nine-foot wingspans and were configured to shoot missiles and drop bombs.
John Milius (left) discusses a scene with Captain Mike Sherman, the Navy’s liaison officer to Hollywood. The flight deck, ready room, and hangar deck scenes were filmed on board the USS Independence (CV-62) during carrier qualification trials off the coast of San Diego. In the background are VA-165 (the squadron used to fdm the movie) aircraft, painted in colors that were used in 1972. The F-4 Phantom and A-7 Corsair aircraft were loaded aboard to add realism.
32
Proceedings / January 1991
Plight of the Intruder
Milius briefs the actors prior to a ready room scene (above). The movie centers on VA-196 (squadron insignia at right). In order to understand and be able to convey the camaraderie in a combat squadron, the main actors spent a week on board the USS Constellation (CV-64). They were also taken to Whidbey Island, where they flew in flight simulators, performing carrier landings and combat missions.
The crew prepares to film human dummies being ejected from an A-6 cockpit at the Ejection Seat Test Facility, Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, California (above, left). Cameras were also placed between the pilots’ feet facing upward, to film the seats punching their way through the canopy. In this photo, the bombardier/navigator has already ejected (you can tell by the telescoping ejection seat pole sticking out at the back of the canopy).
The seats were recovered, refurbished, and returned to the Navy.
Danny Glover and his squadron mates prepare for a major daylight alpha strike (left). They are going “downtown” at the beginning of Operation Linebacker II, which brought North Vietnam to the conference table.