...I assume the VGI was a sort of weather radar. At first I thought it was a bomb scope, or one of the new Highway-In-The-Sky displays. Did the B/N have a similar display, I'm assuming this is before for the days of glass cockpits and the ability to have multi-function displays?
VDI ... as in "Vertical Display Indicator" ... I hit the wrong key. The B/N had what you might call a more "traditional" radar screen w/cursor -- the "orange" round displays in the pix -- the pilot's (orange screen depiction, again) was a somewhat usable repeater off the B/N's main radar screen -- the B/N's always had a cover/screen on it -- couldn't see the screen w/out it in the daytime and it would light up the cockpit @ night w/out it ... 
From the web:
First used in the A2F Grumman Intruder
(old designation for what became the A-6A), the
Vertical Display Indicator (
VDI) was a forerunner in equipment designed and adapted to fit the way a pilot functions. The VDI was a head-down cathode ray tube display which simulated real-world conditions, enabling a pilot to fly an aircraft during takeoff, navigation, attack maneuvering and landing modes as though in visual contact with his surroundings. This display technique is known as Contact Analog. The
revolutionary D)“highway in the sky” concept was developed under the Army–Navy Instrumentation Program in response to a need for simplified cockpit instrumentation and all-weather flight capability. Kaiser Aircraft & Electronics (now Kaiser Electronics) built the first instrumentation system in the late 1950s. The original operational display presented ground and sky texture to the pilot with a well-defined horizon for attitude, “highway in the sky” for steering and numerous other symbols for execution of various attack maneuvers
icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol. In the mid-seventies heading, radar altitude, vertical speed, angle-of-attack and landing needles were added to the display
(I never had this mode). Both versions of the
VDI provided ground contours for low-altitude terrain avoid-ance maneuvering while in Terrain Clearance mode
(but is was most definitely TC in its infancy -- believe it).
I gotta move this stuff to another thread ... it's got nuthin' to do w/ "freedom of speech in Europe".
*edit* ... well, that certainly worked "well" .... duplicates everywhere ... fuck me.
