Why the EA-6B (Prowler) Had a Nuclear Trefoil Nose Art

Naval Flight Officer explains why the EA-6B (Prowler) had a nuclear trefoil nose art:

‘The “trefoil” helped Paddles confirm visually whether it was a Prowler or Intruder in the groove,’ Andy Burns, US Navy Surface Warfare & Flight Officer.

In 1960, as part of the development of the new A2F (later A-6) Intruder all-weather attack aircraft, Grumman engineers began evaluating an ECM version of the airplane. The result was the EA-6A Intruder, which entered service in Marine Corps squadrons in December 1965. Concurrently, Grumman developed Tactical Jamming System and defined the requirements for the airplane to serve as a platform for it. The result was the EA-6B Prowler, which built upon the success of the EA-6A, but differed in some respects including size to incorporate a four-man crew consisting of one pilot and three electronic counter-measures officers (ECMO).

The first Prowlers arrived at VAQ-129 at NAS Whidbey Island, WA, in December 1971, and the initial fleet squadrons equipped with the new airplane flew combat missions over North Vietnam as part of Operations Linebacker I and II. This began a lengthy service that lasted over four decades with the Prowler developing into the foremost electronic attack platform in the US military arsenal, supporting combat missions in Grenada, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Bosnia, and Afghanistan and other crises around the world.

As the main image of this post shows, the EA-6B had a very distinctive feature: “nuclear trefoil” painted on its nose.