Douglas B - 66 Destroyer The Douglas B - 66 Destroyer was a U . S . Air Force Tactical Air Command light bomber based on the United States Navy ' s A - 3 Skywarrior . It was intended to replace the Douglas A - 26 Invader . An RB - 66 photo - reconnaissance version was ordered simultaneously . The USAF B - 66 retained the three - man crew from the USN A - 3 , but also incorporated ejection seats that the USN variant lacked . Design and development . At first , the USAF thought the conversion would be an easy matter of removing the carrier - specific features , so no prototypes were ordered , just five pre - production RB - 66A models ( the reconnaissance mission being considered a higher priority ) . The list of modifications grew , and before long , the supposedly " easy " conversion became what was substantially a new aircraft . Many of the changes were due to the USAF ' s requirement for low - level operations , while the navy version was originally designed and initially employed as a high - altitude nuclear strike bomber . Two major differences between the A - 3 and the B - 66 consisted in the types of powerplants used , and emergency crew egress systems . The A - 3 had two J57 turbojet engines , while the B - 66 had two Allison J71s . Secondly , the B - 66 was equipped with ejection seats while the A - 3 was not . The first RB - 66A pre - production aircraft flew in 1954 , while the first production RB - 66B aircraft flew in early 1955 . The basic B - 66 " Destroyer " design proved itself to be a versatile one , and was produced or modified into a variety of versions , including the EB - 66 , RB - 66 , and the WB - 66 . Likewise , many variants of the A - 3 Skywarrior were produced . Operational history . Deliveries to the USAF began in 1956 with 145 of this model produced . RB - 66s were used as the major night photo - reconnaissance aircraft of the USAF during this period , many examples serving with tactical reconnaissance squadrons based in the United Kingdom and in West Germany . A total of 72 of the B - 66B bomber version were built , 69 fewer than originally planned . A total of 13 B - 66B aircraft later were modified into EB - 66B electronic countermeasures aircraft for the Vietnam War . Unlike the U . S . Navy ' s A - 3 Skywarrior , which performed some bombing missions , the Destroyer was not used as a bomber in Vietnam . The RB - 66C was a specialized electronic reconnaissance and ECM aircraft with an expanded crew of seven , including additional electronics warfare experts . A total of 36 of these aircraft were built with the additional crew members housed in what was the camera / bomb bay of other variants . RB - 66C aircraft had distinctive wingtip pods and were used in the vicinity of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis and later over Vietnam . In 1966 , these were redesignated EB - 66C . Unarmed EB - 66B , EB - 66C and EB - 66E aircraft flew numerous missions during the Vietnam War . They not only helped gather electronic intelligence about the North Vietnamese defenses , but also provided protection for the daily bombing missions of the F - 105s by jamming North Vietnamese radar systems . Early on , B - 66s flew oval " racetrack " patterns over North Vietnam , but after one of the aircraft was shot down by a MiG , the vulnerable B - 66 flights were ordered back , just outside of North Vietnam . On 10 March 1964 , a 19th TRS RB - 66C flying on a photo - reconnaissance mission from Toul - Rosières Air Base in France was shot down over East Germany by a Soviet MiG - 21 after it crossed over the border due to a compass malfunction . The crew ejected and were taken prisoner briefly before being repatriated . The final B - 66 variant was the WB - 66D weather reconnaissance aircraft , 36 of which were constructed . The EB - 66C / E was removed from USAF service by 1975 and most examples either scrapped in place or placed in storage for eventual scrapping . Variants . Northrop X - 21 . The Northrop X - 21 modified the WB - 66D with an unusual wing to conduct Laminar Flow Control studies . Laminar - flow control was thought to potentially reduce drag by as much as 25 % . Control would be by removal of a small amount of the boundary - layer air by suction through porous materials , multiple narrow surface slots , or small perforations . Northrop began flight research in April 1963 at Edwards Air Force Base , but with all of the problems encountered , and money going into the war , the X - 21 would be the last experiment involving this concept . B - 66 in the media . The shooting down of an EB - 66 over North Vietnam and the subsequent rescue of one of its crew became the subject for the book " Bat * 21 " by William Charles Anderson , and later a film version ( 1988 ) starring Gene Hackman and Danny Glover .