They lived for the night life.

The Intruder was a low living night walker.

The Intruder was best when the light and the height......was limbo low.

Night Vision Goggles (NVG) were just coming on line by the time of the 1991 Gulf War.

In 1972, A VA-75 Intruder was flying "NAPE" (Nuts Above the Palms) over North Vietnam when it crashed through something solid enough to make the plane shake. The Pilot and B/N both lived with the pleasant aroma of scented pine and burnt wood until they landed back aboard the USS Independence where to their shock they found out....they had gone tree pruning. The Intruder had passed over a high ridge while evading a Surface to Air radar lock and chopped off the tops of several trees!

Before Night Vision Goggles became standard equipment with US Navy pilots, low level flying was a full attention affair amid dim cockpit lighting and the early computerized radar displays such as the A-6 DIANE system. Pilots had to "feel" their way around the night and depend on their eyes and their altitude indicators to get back safety from low level penetration attacks.

Night time low level flying was a dangerous affair and miscalculations could easily end in tragedy. In 1987 during her six month Indian Ocean deployment, USS Midway lost one of its EA-6B Prowlers and four flight officers to a low level crash. It was suspected that the Prowler was between 500 and 200 feet off the Indian Ocean and most likely its pilot suffered disorientation and lost attention to his flight instruments. Both plane and crew plowed into the Indian Ocean and sank to the bottom. Known as "Ironclaw 606" the Prowler and the Commanding Officer of VAQ-136 have never been found.

 EA-6B Prowler BoNo. 162226/NF-606 of VAQ-136, US Navy. Missing on operations November 19, 1987: Loss occurred during a night Emcon departure from the USS Midway (CVA-41) while rounding the tip of India heading into the North Arabian Sea. Cause of the accident was unknown. Search by helicopters that night and fixed wing aircraft the next day found no trace of wreckage or the four crew.

All four crew were killed - LT John Carter (pilot), Commander Justin (Noel) Greene (Commanding Officer of VAQ-136) Lt Doug Hora and Lt Dave Gibson - were all posted initially as "missing". This was later changed to KIAS/lost at sea 

The landing was to be Commander Greene's 1000th trap, so there was cake awaiting in the ready room.

A-6 Pilots were truly a rare breed in the days when combat flying took more human skill than technological assistance. Today's aircraft, like the Super Hornet, are extensively equipped for low level flying and every Navy pilot uses NVG's to enhance their capabilities but there is nothing that took more skill than the days when the Intruder pilots were nearly "barm-storming" their way in and out of the enemies yard.