But the Skywarrior’s losses didn’t change the fact that the ‘Whales’ saved hundreds of pilots. who would never have made it back to safety without their aid, to the extent that Skywarrior squadrons kept individual tallies of their rescues. 

A companion article looks at the colorful career of Skywarrior variants serving as spy planes and electronic warfare aircraft. 

Sébastien Roblin writes on the technical, historical and political aspects of international security and conflict for publications including The National Interest, NBC News, Forbes.com and War is Boring. He holds a Master’s degree from Georgetown University and served with the Peace Corps in China. You can follow his articles on Twitter. This article is being republished due to reader interest. 

Image: Reuters.