Original subtitles

(airplane rumbles)

(upbeat music)

- Now I say this a lot, but how cool is this?

You guys are getting a really inside look at this thing.

Not everyone gets to do that.

Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

(mellow music)

Hitting US Navy squadrons in mid 1971,

The EA-6B Prowler was developed

from Grumman's A-6 Intruder attack aircraft.

The Prowlers primary role was to protect Navy ships

and aircraft by jamming enemy radar and communications.

But it could also perform electronic surveillance as well.

Known as electronic attack, the EA-6B

was more than capable of jamming anti-aircraft gun

and missile radars as well as radio,

internet and even cell phone communication.

Although it didn't carry any guns,

this aircraft wasn't without teeth.

Carrying up to four ALQ-99 jamming pods,

the Prowler was one of the baddest aircraft in the air.

Although the Prowler first entered service

during the Vietnam war, it has seen action

in Operation Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom,

over Bosnia, Herzegovina, Kosovo, and most recently Syria.

But after nearly 50 years of service,

the venerable Prowler is now being replaced

with a more capable EA-18 Growler,

an offshoot of the successful FA-18 Super Hornet.

Let's get up in the cockpit of the EA-6B Prowler

at Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum,

and explore the unique features of this aircraft.

Like we like to do on "Behind the Wings,"

we like to get you guys into places that most people

are not gonna see and bam,

here you are in the cockpit.

How cool is this?

And this is where two of the four crewman sat.

You had a pilot and three ECMOs,

which are electronic countermeasure officers.

And their sole purpose was to jam radar sets,

listen in on a radio conversations

and generally wreak havoc on the electronic battlefield.

And they did a great job at it.

One of the things I really love about this cockpit

is it's been signed by one of the former pilots.

It's a Lieutenant Commander J. Elrod,

who was known as Yum Yum.

But VAQ-134, which was the squadron

that flew this in combat was transitioning

over to the EA-18 growler, which is actually

the Hornet version of this plane.

And so they didn't need these anymore.

And we are lucky enough to have gotten

what's known as the CAG bird.

That's why it's so colorful.

And CAG stands for Commander Air Group,

which means the guy that commanded the entire air group

on the George H.W. Bush flew this plane

and I'm sitting in it.

If you take a closer look at our Prowler,

you start to see some interesting details.

Like on the wing of this aircraft,

there's what looks like a bomb.

Nope, this is just a drop tank,

but there used to be a weapon here.

Now, what would have been carried here on a real mission

would have been an ECM Pod, which stands

for electronic countermeasures,

which is a bigger part of this guy's mission,

which is SEAD, which is suppression of enemy air defenses.

So a whole lot of acronyms being thrown at you at once

And trust me, it does not come off the tongue very easily.

But that's the mission of an EA-6B

is to suppress enemy aircraft defenses.

Now, what does that mean?

That means that if you've got anti-aircraft missiles,

anti-aircraft guns, they're all controlled by radar today.

And the pods that would be right here are jam packed

with electronic gear that can totally take out

these things by jamming them.

But, better yet, they can launch a very specific weapon.

This thing doesn't carry bombs.

It doesn't carry its own guns.

It carries a very specific weapon called

a HARM.

One more acronym.

That's high speed anti-radiation missile.

This guy is incredible.

It's got a speed of 1,400 miles an hour

and a range of nearly a 100 miles,

which means that these guys can sit way back,

launch their missile.

And even if the bad guys turn off their radar,

the HARM remembers where they are and boom,

no more problem for the fighters and the bombers.

I'm standing in front of the spaghetti bowl,

at least that's what I call it.

It's nothing more than really just all the wing

fold mechanism for this aircraft.

Now, why would you wanna fold the wings?

Because like I mentioned earlier, this is a Navy plane.

And when you're on an aircraft carrier

space is at a premium.

So what do you do?

You fold the wings and you can jam

a whole lot more planes together.

Just look at all that detail up there.

Somebody had to think all that stuff up

and I'm glad it wasn't me 'cause I ain't no engineer,

that's why I'm in the museum field.

But let's do one more thing here.

Let's go talk about the history of this plane

in VAQ-134, because that's the important part.

(upbeat music)

Bam!

What is this?

It's Garuda.

All right, what is Garuda?

We'll Garuda is the Hindi folklore Mount of Vishnu.

All right, I don't understand all that,

but it was pretty cool to the guys that started VAQ-134

because they named their squadron the Garudas.

So this is one of two aircraft in our collection

that has actually seen combat.

I liked that kinda stuff.

Most of the other planes into here are just trainers,

but this guy, been there and done that.

While the EA-6B Prowler is no longer in service,

VAQ-134 still is.

So let's go check out what the Garudas are flying

at the home of electronic attack,

Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington.

(mellow music)

Woo, it is a chilly brisk morning here

in Washington State and we're at NAS, bam, Whidbey Island.

NAS standing for Naval Air Station.

It's the home of VAQ-134, the Garudas, woo-hoo.

And it's the home for airborne electronic attack

for the entire Department of Defense.

That's a huge job, which means there are 8,400

different sailors here on base.

And since we haven't seen anything, it's time to get going.

Naval Air Station Whidbey Island is located two hours

northwest of Seattle and has two locations on the island.

Ault Field is where you'll find the EA-18 Growlers,

which we'll check out in a bit.

But first we're going to the original side of the base

on the Sea Plane side.

So we're on the support side of NAS Whidbey Island.

So what does that mean?

Well, actually it means that the base exchange

is right over there and you can't see it,

but you're gonna see it through the magic of the camera.

There's also the grocery store and the gas station,

basically everything you need to live here on the island.

Now, the cool part about it is that the building that

the basic exchange is in used to be a PBY base.

Now a PBY, you'll probably know it better

as the Catalina was one of the most famous aircraft

of World War II,

and it's a sea plane.

So you're actually looking at an old sea plane base

from 1942.

Now, why was it here?

Well we're right next to the Pacific.

Who is in the Pacific with us?

The Japanese.

It's 1942, we got to keep an eye on them.

They had submarines out there and we had to have

our patrol boats out there flying around to make sure

that they didn't come here.

As cool as that is and as beautiful as the scenery is,

there is way more to this base

and let's go check out some of the awesome stuff

that's here.

As we headed up to Ault Field to find some Growlers,

we stumbled across this interesting contraption

that we had to show you.

Holy smokes.

Look at this thing?

We were just driving around kind of exploring the base

and we came across this.

What is it?

Well, it's actually where the ABs train.

Now, what is an AB?

If you don't speak Navy,

that's aviation boatswain's mate.

And those are the guys that are on the flight deck

of a carrier.

And they're responsible for aircraft movement,

aircraft firefighting, all that kind of stuff.

And if you get onto an aircraft carrier,

you have to take this training.

And that all goes back to 1967,

when there was a massive fire on the USS Forrestal

and they had a heck of a time trying to get it out.

So now, no matter where you are on a carrier

you take this training.

It's kind of like the Marine Corps,

every Marine a rifleman, every carrier sailor a firefighter.

There's still more to come.

Let's keep going.

(upbeat music)

So we've been boogieing around the base on a windshield tour

and we've seen some awesome things,

but this is why we're here.

Home of electronic attack, more than 17

different VAQ squadrons.

But why is NAS Whidbey Island right here?

That's what we're gonna find out next.

Good timing too.

I was ready to get out of this Pacific Northwest weather.

To answer my questions about the base

was Public Affairs Officer Mike welding.

So Mike as we were doing

our kind of windshield tour of the base,

we started on the other side which was the Sea Plane Base,

but we're not, I mean, we're right next to the water,

but we've got a runway here and it's called Ault Field.

How did Ault come about and is it named for anybody?

- Well, so when they established the base,

Sea Plane Base was of course the first base

that they had here for patrol missions.

And it was surveyed in 1941, and they established that,

but they were also looking for a base

where they could have land attack aircraft,

and they needed some place that was relatively flat.

Clover Valley provided that ideal location.

It was a very rural area, and there were mostly farms

that were there so the government was looking at that.

And at the time there were hostilities going on

with the Japanese and not an outright war,

but the survey for Ault Field actually happened

on December 8th, the day after the attack at Pearl Harbor.

So the Navy bought out all the land from about 20 farmers

and it was about 4,000 acres And that was Ault field.

The base was ultimately named after Commander William Ault

who led the airborne attack against the Japanese fleet

at the Coral Sea, which was very significant

in stopping the Japanese advance down towards Australia.

And it was the first time that they had met

the Japanese forces and fought them to a stalemate.

- That's a big deal.

So let's jump forward quite a few years.

Now, Whidbey Island is literally the home

of electronic attack.

And it's not just the home for electronic attack

for the Navy, it's kind of service wide.

- Yeah, so electronic attack is one of the primary missions

that we have here and Whidbey is the home base

of the Department of Defense's airborne electronic

attack community.

So in 1972, they brought the EA-6B Prowler here,

and that was the Navy's electronic attack aircraft.

The air force used to do the electronic attack aircraft.

They had the F-111, which was taken out of service

in the 1990s.

And then that mission became the Navy's mission

electronic attack with the EA-6B Prowler.

So the Prowler brought a significant improvement

to the safety of our aircraft when they operate

in a hostile environment.

Over 1,600 American aircraft were shot down over Vietnam

before we had that capability.

By Desert Storm it was down to about two aircraft

that were shot down.

So that played a significant factor in us being able

to control that environment when we go

into a hostile territory and it has remained like that.

With the Prowler, it came here in 1972,

it was an aging platform in the early 2000s.

And they picked the EA-18G Growler, which is a derivative

of the FA-18 Super Hornet to replace it.

And that transition started in 2008

and was completed in 2015.

- Now that we have the base established,

it's time to see these EA-18 Growlers up close.

Now if we could just find a Garuda to show us around.

Bam, here's a pilot, Lieutenant John MacDonald.

Tell us a little bit about how you got into the Navy

and what you do for the VAQ-134 Garudas.

- Well, I've been flying since 2012,

so a little over six years now.

Been in Whidbey since 2014 and then

with the squadron since 2015,

I'm a pilot in the squadron. - Nice.

- So yeah.

- So you are flying this lovely thing right here.

- Yep.

That's the EA-18G Growler.

The Garudas have been flying it or about three years now.

We are the last squadron to go a safer flight

in this airframe.

Before for that we flew the EA-6B Prowler,

then sundown that in 2014.

- And we are lucky enough actually to have the old CAG bird

for VAQ-134. - That's right.

- And we were really happy to have it.

Thank you, US Navy.

Let's go take a walk around this thing

and look at some of this stuff.

- [Lt. McDonald] All right.

- So since the EA-18 Growler is primarily a carrier

aircraft, you guys have got a really serious

set of landing gear here.

- Yes, we do.

So you notice it's obviously a lot beefier,

more robust than the landing gear you find on your basic

civilian aircraft or even an air force fighter jet.

How big it is really is so when we land

on the aircraft carrier, we fly like a constant angle

of attack all the way down to the flight deck.

So there's no flaring or any kind of pushing

of that landing at all.

- You literally just slamming right into-

- Yeah, it's gotta be able to absorb that abuse.

So hence the largeness of the landing gear.

- That's cool.

Well, while we're talking about being on a carrier,

let's go take at the wings because you guys

do something that every carrier aircraft does.

- Yep. - And you fold the wing.

- That's right, yep. - Let's go look at that.

What?

Oh, sorry.

I get all goofy when I'm looking at planes.

All right, so right here is the wing fold.

And so you guys can literally fold the tips of your wings up

so you can get, what?

- Correct.

So from here to the length of the wingtips on either side,

you can fold the wings up and that's so

when you're on the deck of an aircraft carrier,

it's obviously close quarters.

So we raise those wings in order to create more space

on the flight deck so the directors

can park us in a tighter.

- So, and your wingspan is like, what?

40.. - About 45 feet.

- [Matt] 45 feet.

So if you can shave anything off of there,

it's good for the carrier and getting more aircraft on.

- Yep. - All right,

so you guys are more than just a regular Super Hornet.

You're carrying ECM Pods.

I mean, that's the reason you exist.

- Correct.

So we carry typically up to three ALQ-99 jamming pods,

which are the same pods that the EA-6B carried as well.

- Okay, yeah. - So those are used

to target enemy radars and jam their signals.

We also have ALQ-218 on each wingtip,

which are essentially receiver pods,

which can detect emitting signals from radars

and then we can geo locate them.

And then we also have air to ground

and air to air capabilities.

So our air-to-ground weapons are the HARM AGM 88.

- Okay, yep. - Which targets

radiating emitters.

And then our air to air capability is the AIM 120,

the AMRAAM used to target enemy fighters.

- Well, that's very cool.

Well, I know people are gonna ask when they see this video,

so let's go look at what powers this bad boy

so we can talk about how fast it goes.

'Cause that's what you wanna know, right?

So this is where all the cool stuff happens.

This is the arresting hook, which does what?

- Yep, so our tail hook, when you're landing aboard

the aircraft carrier it'll be down and it'll take you

from your approach speed.

So roughly 130 to 140 knots based on your weight

to an abrupt stop, as he tried to catch one

one of the wires with this hook.

- Oh, I bet that's a fun ride.

- Yeah, it is pretty fun.

- (chuckles) I bet.

And then these guys are the GE 414s

and that gets you from point A to point B

really, really fast. - Yep, so dual engine.

You'll notice there these look like turkey feathers

on the back.

Those are the vents, the variable exhaust nozzles.

So the shape of the engine will actually expand

and contract based on a throttle position

and how much thrust you're kicking out

at that time. - Oh, that's very cool.

Yeah, these guys kick out, what is it like 22,000 pounds

of thrust in afterburner? - That's right.

- Each? - Yep.

Each one. - That's a heck of a ride.

- It is fun.

A supersonic jet goes faster than the speed of sound

so. - Woo, what is your top speed?

- Well, if it's, don't have a whole lot of stores

hanging off the jet, it can go

above 1.5, 1.6.

So, but typically with our load out,

you're going to a little bit slower.

- Yeah, I bet.

You're carrying a lot of stuff.

Speaking of carrying a lot of stuff,

you have an EWO in back, and I hear

he's running around somewhere.

- He's somewhere.

He's behind me, yeah.

- All right, let's go, let's go find him.

It didn't take long after talking with Lieutenant McDonald

to find an ECMO from the Garudas.

And we found a good one.

Lieutenant Rob 'Slow Roll' Heller.

So you were an EWO. - Yes.

- What exactly does that mean?

- We're basically going after enemy radars.

I mean, if you think about it, I dunno, a boxing match,

or even like kids playing at a birthday party at a Pinata.

it's hard to hit that Pinata when there's a blindfold

over a kid's face, right. - Okay.

- So, I think that we basically just

put the blindfold over the enemy's face.

so the US can go in and accomplish our mission

and get out without ever being seen.

- I liked that analogy, but you mentioned something

that's interesting.

We have a Prowler in our museum and that carried four guys.

The Growler only carries two.

Is that more of a workload for you?

- It's definitely a huge workload,

but just like everything else, technology has improved.

As a crew we really work together to knock out

still the same workload that those four people had.

- That's amazing.

So, you're in your flight suit,

but when you go flying, you're definitely

in a lot more gear than just this.

- Oh yeah.

- Do you have some of that we can look at?

- Oh, of course.

- All right, Slow Roll.

Take us through what it takes to get all of this stuff on

'cause you're not just flying are ya?

- No, absolutely not.

So, the four main pieces of gear that we use,

my favorite would be the G-Suite.

So all air crew have a baseline G tolerance.

Gs being the amount of gravity on the body.

- Okay. - So one G

would be normal earth gravity, and then two to three Gs

would be two to three times the gravity, all right.

So every air crew has a baseline for that.

Mine's about three and a half,

but this bad boy gives me about an extra one to two GS

without doing anything without doing any type

of anti-G training maneuver. - Oh wow.

- So, it's designed to have a few bladders in it.

One at the top of the legs and then one down

near the calves where it helps me keep all the blood

above my waist as we're pulling Gs

so I don't black out or pass out or anything like that.

- Otherwise the blood is just coming right out of your head

and then your vision goes into tunnel vision,

- Exactly. - And then boom, you're out.

- Without oxygen in your head or to your eyes,

it gets dark really quick.

So- - That's important

if you're flying. - Oh yeah.

Definitely wanna be able to see if you're flying.

You know what I mean?

The next thing would be the harness.

Now this has eight connection points that connect directly

to the seat.

Which is super important because that seat actually

has a parachute in it.

So if we eject, if that day comes for me,

if I don't have this connected,

I could be falling out of that parachute, right?

So that's gonna be super important to have

this connected at all eight points.

- All also important.

So what you're saying is all this gear is very important?

- Yes.

This is, all this is essential for survival.

- Good to know.

- Next we have the survival vest.

This has a few cool things on it.

So this is our LPUs.

If I'm ever in water, it's automatically activated

by seawater. - Oh wow.

- So if I'm knocked out or anything like that,

I hit the water, boom, this can inflate right away.

So that's super cool.

Keep you alive.

We have a radio and we have a bunch of little pockets

that have things like knives in them, we have flashlights,

we have water, all types of things that can keep you alive

if you're ever in the wilderness from after an ejection.

Lastly, on this we have our air regulator.

So this is gonna be super good to have,

having this oxygen hose because as you fly 25,

30,000 feet in the air, air is a lot thinner.

So we needed to have something pumping

pure oxygen to us at all times.

- And you wear that from start to finish.

- From take off to shutdown. - Wow, okay.

- Yeah. - Now,

this being the Pacific Northwest and this being

a survival vest, is there some way

to put like Starbucks in there or maybe Telly's?

- Oh man, I wish.

I mean maybe a few hot cocoa packets.

You can actually carry up to five extra pounds

on that thing but, - Oh really.

- It's pretty heavy already.

So it just depends.

You got to really make some decisions

on what you wanna take.

So this is the big coup de grace, right, the helmet.

This bad boy is our JHMCS, Joint Helmet

Mounted Cueing System.

And this is super expensive for what it does.

So it has a computer on the top of it.

And it basically gives me a ton of information

right to my eyes.

So it's almost like having a HUD on your head.

- Wow.

That is really cool.

And I'm assuming it also works with like

night vision goggles and all that kind of stuff.

- Yes, it definitely does.

Yeah. (Matt whistles)

- So you were telling me earlier that you can,

if you're literally wearing this

and you're looking around and you can't find a target,

you can look down and it'll look right through the plane.

- Well, it won't show you like the systems in the plane,

but yes.

You can definitely see something right through.

If it's below you, if it's to the side of you

if it's without your vision.

If I'm looking for one of my wingman,

I can definitely look out.

And if I can't see him right away

I can get an indicator showing me exactly where he's at.

- That is cool. - Definitely.

- Well, Slow Roll, I appreciate everything.

You have been awesome. - Definitely.

- Now, are you flying today?

- I'm not flying but there are a few guys

getting ready for a mission so let's stick around for that.

(mellow music)

(upbeat music)

- If you wanna rule the electronic battlefield,

this is your aircraft.

It's given stealth to the US military for nearly 50 years

and has only just recently given its job

to a more sophisticated aircraft.

From exploring the unique features of the Prowler

in our collection at Wings Over the Rockies,

to visiting Naval Air Station Whidbey Island

to check out the successor of this aircraft,

the Growler, we've taken you behind the wings

of the EA -6B Prowler.

(upbeat music)

And this says over temp, but I swear it said oven temp.

This is why it takes a long to film something.

We always got planes going around.

I have to look at them.

This is much is blah.

Ah!

Donald.

So Slow (chuckles).

All right.