Douglas A-1 Skyraider
The Douglas A-1 Skyraider is an American single-seat attack aircraft in service from 1946 to the early 1980s, which served during the Korean War and Vietnam War. The Skyraider had an unusually long career, remaining in frontline service well into the Jet Age ; thus becoming known by some as an "anachronism". The aircraft was nicknamed "Spad", after the French World War I fighter.
It was operated by the United States Navy, the United States Marine Corps, and the United States Air Force, and also saw service with the British Royal Navy, the French Air Force, the Republic of Vietnam Air Force, and others. It remained in US service until the early 1970s.
Design and development
The piston-engined, propeller-driven Skyraider was designed during World War II to meet United States Navy requirements for a carrier-based, single-seat, long-range, high performance dive/torpedo bomber, to follow on from earlier aircraft such as the Douglas SBD Dauntless, the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver and the Grumman TBF Avenger. Designed by Ed Heinemann of the Douglas Aircraft Company, prototypes were ordered on 6 July 1944 as the XBT2D-1. The XBT2D-1 made its first flight on 18 March 1945, and the USN began evaluation of the aircraft at the Naval Air Test Center in April 1945. In December 1946, after a designation change to AD-1, delivery of the first production aircraft to a fleet squadron was made to VA-19A.The AD-1 was built at Douglas's El Segundo plant in Southern California. The low-wing monoplane design started with an 18-cylinder Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone radial engine capable of producing well over, which was upgraded several times, ultimately to. The aircraft had distinctive large straight wings with seven hardpoints apiece. The Skyraider had excellent maneuverability at low speed, and carried a large amount of ordnance over a considerable combat radius. It had a long loiter time for its size, compared to much heavier subsonic or supersonic jets. The aircraft was optimized for ground attack and was armored against ground fire in key locations, unlike faster fighters adapted to carry bombs, such as the Vought F4U Corsair or North American P-51 Mustang, which were retired by US forces before the 1960s.
Shortly after Heinemann began designing the XBT2D-1, a study was issued showing that for every of weight reduction, the takeoff run was decreased by, the combat radius increased by and the rate-of-climb increased by. Heinemann immediately had his design engineers begin a program for finding weight savings on the XBT2D-1 design, no matter how small. Simplifying the fuel system resulted in a reduction of ; by eliminating an internal bomb bay and hanging external stores from the wings or fuselage; by using a fuselage dive brake; and by using an older tailwheel design. In the end, Heinemann and his design engineers achieved more than of weight reduction on the original XBT2D-1 design.
The Navy AD series was initially painted in ANA 623 glossy sea blue, but during the 1950s, following the Korean War, the color scheme was changed to light gull gray and white. Initially using the gray and white Navy scheme, by 1967 the USAF began to paint its Skyraiders in a camouflaged pattern using two shades of green, and one of tan.
Used by the US Navy over Korea and Vietnam, the A-1 was a primary close air support aircraft for the USAF and RVNAF during the Vietnam War. The A-1 was famous for being able to take hits and keep flying thanks to armor plating around the cockpit area for pilot protection. It was replaced beginning in the mid-1960s by the Grumman A-6 Intruder as the Navy's primary medium-attack plane in supercarrier-based air wings; however Skyraiders continued to operate from the smaller s.
The Skyraider went through seven versions, starting with the AD-1, then AD-2 and AD-3 with various minor improvements, then the AD-4 with a more powerful R-3350-26WA engine. The AD-5 was significantly widened, allowing two crew to sit side-by-side ; it also came in a four-seat night-attack version, the AD-5N. The AD-6 was an improved AD-4B with improved low-level bombing equipment, and the final production version AD-7 was upgraded to an R-3350-26WB engine.
For service in Vietnam, USAF Skyraiders were fitted with the Stanley Yankee extraction system, which acted in a similar manner to an ejection seat, though with twin rockets extracting the pilot from the cockpit.
In addition to serving in Korea and Vietnam as an attack aircraft, the Skyraider was modified to serve as a carrier-based airborne early warning aircraft, replacing the Grumman TBM-3W Avenger. It fulfilled this function in the USN and Royal Navy, being replaced by the Grumman E-1 Tracer and Fairey Gannet, respectively, in those services.
Skyraider production ended in 1957 with a total of 3,180 having been built. In 1962, the existing Skyraiders were redesignated A-1D through A-1J and later used by both the USAF and the Navy in the Vietnam War.
Operational history
Korean War
The Skyraider was produced too late for use in World War II, but became the backbone of United States Navy aircraft carrier and United States Marine Corps strike aircraft sorties in the Korean War, with the first ADs going into action from with VA-55 on 3 July 1950. Its weapons load and 10-hour flying time far surpassed the jets that were available at the time. On 2 May 1951, Skyraiders made the only aerial torpedo attack of the war, hitting the Hwacheon Dam, then controlled by North Korea.On 16 June 1953, a USMC AD-4 from VMC-1 shot down a Soviet-built Polikarpov Po-2 biplane, the only documented Skyraider air victory of the war. AD-3N and -4N aircraft carrying bombs and flares, flew night-attack sorties, and radar-equipped ADs carried out radar-jamming missions from carriers and land bases.
During the Korean War, AD Skyraiders were flown by only the US Navy and US Marine Corps, and were normally painted in dark navy blue. It was called the "Blue Plane" by enemy troops. Marine Corps Skyraiders suffered heavy losses when used in low-level close-support missions. To allow low-level operations to continue without unacceptable losses, a package of additional armor was fitted, consisting of thick external aluminum armor plates fitted to the underside and sides of the aircraft's fuselage. The armor package weighed a total of and had little effect on performance or handling. A total of 128 Navy and Marine AD Skyraiders were lost in the Korean War – 101 in combat and 27 to operational causes. Most operational losses were due to the tremendous power of the AD: ADs that were "waved-off" during carrier recovery operations were prone to performing a fatal torque roll into the sea or the deck of the aircraft carrier if the pilot mistakenly gave the AD too much throttle.
Cathay Pacific VR-HEU incident
On 26 July 1954, two Douglas Skyraiders from the aircraft carriers and shot down two Chinese PLAAF Lavochkin fighters off the coast of Hainan Island while searching for survivors after the shooting down of a Cathay Pacific Douglas DC-4 Skymaster airliner three days previously.Vietnam War
As American involvement in the Vietnam War began, the A-1 Skyraider was still the medium attack aircraft in many carrier air wings, although it was planned to be replaced by the A-6A Intruder as part of the general switch to jet aircraft. Skyraiders from and participated in the first US Navy strikes against North Vietnam on 5 August 1964 as part of Operation Pierce Arrow in response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, striking against fuel depots at Vinh, with one Skyraider from Ticonderoga damaged by anti-aircraft fire, and a second from Constellation shot down, killing its pilot, Lieutenant Richard Sather.Shoot-downs
During the war, US Navy Skyraiders used their cannon to shoot down two Vietnam People's Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 jet fighters. The first, on 20 June 1965 by Lieutenant Clinton B. Johnson and Lt. Charles W. Hartman III of VA-25, was the first gun kill of the Vietnam War. The other was on 9 October 1966 by Lt. William T. Patton of VA-176.Tactical operators
As they were released from US Navy service, Skyraiders were introduced into the Republic of Vietnam Air Force. Skyraiders were also used by the US Air Force, specifically Special Operations elements of the Tactical Air Command, for search and rescue air cover. They were also used by the USAF to perform one of the Skyraider's most famous roles — the "Sandy" helicopter escort on combat rescues. On 10 March 1966, USAF Major Bernard F. Fisher flew an A-1E mission and was awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing Major "Jump" Myers at A Shau Special Forces Camp during the Battle of A Sau. USAF Colonel William A. Jones III piloted an A-1H on 1 September 1968 mission for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. In that mission, despite damage to his aircraft and suffering serious burns, he returned to his base and reported the position of a downed US airman.Losses
On 5 August 1964, the first A-1H Skyraider was shot down during Operation Pierce Arrow. The pilot, Lt. Richard Sather, was the first Navy pilot killed in the war. On the night of 29 August 1964, an A-1E Skyraider was shot down and the pilot killed near Bien Hoa Air Base; it was flown by Capt. Richard D. Goss from the 1st Air Commando Squadron, 34th Tactical Group. The third A-1 was shot down on 31 March 1965 piloted by Lt. Gerald W. McKinley from the on a bombing run over North Vietnam. He was reported missing, presumed dead.While on his first mission, Navy pilot Lt. Dieter Dengler took damage to his A-1J over Vietnam on 1 February 1966, and crash-landed in Laos.
Col. Oscar Mauterer ejected from his A-1 after taking heavy enemy fire while providing cover for a damaged friendly aircraft on February 15, 1966. Radio reports confirmed Mauterer had a good chute, but was captured by enemy forces. Mauterer is still POW/MIA status.
The next A-1 was shot down on 29 April 1966, and Pilot Capt. Grant N. Tabor, was lost on 19 April 1967; both were from the 602 Air Commando Squadron. A Skyraider from Navy Squadron VA-25 on a ferry flight from Naval Air Station Cubi Point to was lost to two Chinese MiG-17s on 14 February 1968: Lieutenant Joseph P. Dunn, USN flew too close to the Chinese island of Hainan and was intercepted. Lieutenant Dunn's A-1H Skyraider 134499 was the last Navy A-1 lost in the war. He was observed to survive the ejection and deploy his raft, but was never found. Initially listed as missing in action, he is now listed as killed in action and posthumously promoted to the rank of Commander. In October 1965, to highlight the dropping of the six millionth pound of ordnance, Commander Clarence J. Stoddard of VA-25, flying an A-1H, dropped a special, one-time-only object in addition to his other munitions – a toilet. During the Vietnam War, the US Navy lost 65 Skyraiders, 48 of these in combat.
The US Air Force used the naval A-1 Skyraider for the first time in Vietnam. As the Vietnam War progressed, USAF A-1s were painted in camouflage, while USN A-1 Skyraiders were gray/white in color in contrast to the Korean War, when A-1s were painted dark blue. After November 1972, all A-1s in US service in Southeast Asia were transferred to the RVNAF. The Skyraider in Vietnam pioneered the concept of tough, survivable aircraft with long loiter times and large ordnance loads. The USAF lost 191 Skyraiders in Southeast Asia, 150 of these in combat. Of the combined total of 256 lost A-1s, five were shot down by surface-to-air missiles, and three were shot down in air-to-air combat; the rest were shot down by anti-aircraft artillery.