Dan Heller 
The North American RA-5C Vigilante was a phenomenal aircraft. Originally designed as a supersonic nuclear bomber, it instead found its niche as the most consequential Navy reconnaissance aircraft ever deployed to the fleet. The missions the aircraft flew during the Vietnam War were wrought with risk and danger, so much so that the Vigilante concluded the conflict with the highest loss ratio of any Navy aircraft that flew combat in Southeast Asia.
For naval aviators who flew the slick Vigilante in SEA, Captain James Henry Pirotte AKA “The Pirate” is a legendary figure. Though he sadly passed in February 2009, his friends and shipmates still remember him often. Please enjoy this special tribute to The Pirate from the Navy RVAH community. The stories and remembrances are sure to dredge up a memory or two of your own from those days long ago.
The attached articles delve further into the Vigilante, its missions, and the men who flew them in harm’s way:
The A-5 Vigilante—An Enduring Chapter of America’s National Defense History by Roger L. Wood
Unarmed and Unafriad—RA-5 Vigilante: Going to War with a Camera by Boom Powell (Pages are out of order but still readable)
Naval Aviation News August 1967—”Big E” Pilots Destroy Missile Staging Area (P. 36)
(Note: In the second chapter of my book Across the Wing I cover the Vigilante in detail while writing about RVAH-7 “Heavy Seven”)
-Webmaster Dan
