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The Douglas A-1 (formerly AD) Skyraider was an American single-seat attack aircraft that saw service between the 1950s and early 1970s. It was a propeller-driven anachronism in the jet age, and was nicknamed "Spad", after a World War I fighter.[1] However, the Skyraider had a remarkably long and successful career and inspired a straight-winged, slow-flying, jet-powered successor, the A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog). It was operated by the United States Navy (USN), the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) and the United States Air Force (USAF), and also saw service with the British Royal Navy, the French Air Force, and the Air Force of the Republic of Vietnam (VNAF), among others.
[edit] Design and development The piston-engined AD Skyraider was designed during World War II to meet requirements for a carrier-based, single-seat, long-range, high performance dive/torpedo bomber, and was a follow-on to earlier dive bombers and torpedo bombers used by the Navy such as the Helldiver and 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 in April 1945, the USN began evaluation of the aircraft at the Naval Air Test Center (NATC).[2] 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.[3] The AD-1 was built at Douglas' El Segundo plant in Southern California. In his memoir The Lonely Sky, test pilot Bill Bridgeman describes the routine yet sometimes hazardous work of certifying AD-1s fresh off the assembly line (quoting a production rate of two aircraft per day) for delivery to the U.S. Navy in 1949 and 1950.[4] The low-wing monoplane design started with a Wright R-3350 radial engine, later upgraded several times. Its distinctive feature was large straight wings with seven hard points apiece. These gave the aircraft excellent low-speed maneuverability, and enabled it to carry a tremendous amount of ordnance over a considerable combat radius and loiter time for its size, comparable to much heavier subsonic or supersonic jets. The aircraft was optimized for the ground-attack mission and was armored against ground fire in key locations. This was unlike faster fighters adapted to carry bombs such as the F4U Corsair or P-51 Mustang, which would be retired by U.S. forces long before the 1960s. Navy AD series were initially painted in Midnight blue, but during the 1950s following the Korean War, the color scheme was changed to gray and white. Initially using the gray and white Navy pattern, 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 USN over Korea and Vietnam, the A-1 was a primary close air support aircraft for the USAF and VNAF during the Vietnam War. The A-1 was famous for being able to take hits and keep flying. Battle damage images from the Korean and Vietnam wars speak for themselves. There was added armor plating around the cockpit area for added pilot protection. It was replaced in the early 1970s by the A-4 Skyhawk as the Navy's primary light attack plane. 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 (this was not the first multiple-crew variant, the AD-1Q being a two-seater and the AD-3N a three-seater); 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 a R-3350-26WB engine. Skyraider production ended in 1957 with a total of 3,180 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. Some Skyraiders were still in combat service in 1979. [edit] Operational history[edit] Korean War Though the Skyraider was produced too late to take part in World War II, it became the backbone of United States Navy aircraft carrier and United States Marine Corps (USMC) strike aircraft sorties in the Korean War, with the first ADs going into action from the USS Valley Forge with VA-55 on 3 July 1950.[5] Its weapons load and 10-hour flying time far surpassed the jets that were available at the time.[6] On 2 May 1951, Skyraiders made the only aerial torpedo attack of the war—successfully hitting the Communist-controlled Hwacheon Dam.[7] On 16 June 1953, a USMC AD-4 from VMC-1 piloted by Major George H. Linnemeier and CWO Vernon S. Kramer shot down a Soviet-built Polikarpov Po-2 biplane, the only documented Skyraider air victory of the war.[8] 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.[6] During the Korean War (1950–1953) A-1 Skyraiders were flown only by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, and were normally painted in dark navy blue. A total of 101 Navy and Marine AD Skyraiders were lost in combat during the Korean War, and 27 were lost to operational causes, for a total loss of 128 Skyraiders in the Korean War. [edit] Communist ChinaOn 26 July 1954, two Douglas Skyraiders from the aircraft carriers USS Philippine Sea and Hornet successfully shot down two PLAAF La-7s off the coast of Hainan Island while searching for survivors after the shooting down of a Cathay Pacific Skymaster airliner 3 days previously, also by La-7s.[9] [edit] VietnamThe Skyraider in Vietnam pioneered the concept of tough, survivable Counterinsurgency (COIN) aircraft with long loiter times and large ordnance loads. The Douglas Skyraider was arguably the best tactical and close air support/strike (CAS) aircraft the U.S. had in Vietnam. Its heavy weapons load and long loiter time made it a favorite of those on the ground in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. In the beginning, the A-1E had dual controls, because pilots were deemed advisors and Vietnamese pilots ostensibly were performing the combat duties. When USAF took an active role, the Skyraider was flown as a single-seater. The USAF lost 201 Skyraiders to all causes in Southeast Asia, while the Navy lost 65 to all causes. Of the 266 lost A-1s, five were shot down by surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). Three Skyraiders were lost in air to air combat, two of them shot down by North Vietnamese MiG-17s. The first was lost on 29 April 1966, and the second almost a year later on 19 April 1967. Both were from the 602d Air Commando Squadron. The third Skyraider lost to a jet aircraft during the war was from US Navy Squadron VA-35, and was downed by a Chinese MiG-19 on 14 February 1968. The Skyraider pilot, Lieutenant (j.g.) Joseph P. Dunn, USN, had flown too close to the Communist Chinese held island of Hainan, and had been intercepted. Lieutenant Dunn's A-1 Skyraider was the last U.S. Navy A-1 lost in the war, and he did not survive. [edit] USN and USMC During the 1950s, the Skyraider was the main attack aircraft of the Navy and Marine Corps, with 29 USN and 13 USMC squadrons flying the aircraft.[10] The US Marine Corps began a gradual phase-out of its Skyraiders in 1956 and retired the last examples by the end of 1960.[10] The early 1960s also saw the USN phasing out its Skyraiders, replacing them with A-4 Skyhawks and A-6 Intruders. The Navy began to transfer some of these aircraft to the USAF for special operations beginning in 1962. But the war in Vietnam intervened to push the Skyraider back into front-line service with the Navy, and beginning in August, 1964, Navy Skyraiders were used to bomb North Vietnam and later to provide close air support in the South. During the war, U.S. Navy Skyraiders shot down two North Vietnamese Air Force MiG-17 jet fighters: On 20 June 1965, LT Clinton B. Johnson and LTJG Charles W. Hartman III from VA-25 shared a MiG-17 air to air victory.[11] On 9 October 1966 LTJG William T. Patton[12] of Attack Squadron 176 (VA-176), engaged a MiG-17 with his four 20mm cannons, striking the aircraft in the tail end. Patton followed the MiG through a cloud and upon exiting the cloud observed the MiG pilot descending in his parachute.[8][13] The Navy continued to fly Skyraiders until the end of 1968, gradually transferring most of them to the USAF and VNAF. Following the U.S. withdrawal of its military forces from South Vietnam in 1972, all remaining A-1s, including those based in the U.S., were transferred to the South Vietnamese Air Force.[14]. In 1965, to highlight the dropping of the six millionth pound of ordnance; Navy Commander Clarence J. Stoddard, flying an A-1H, dropped a special, one-time only, object in addition to his other munitions – a toilet.[15] [edit] USAF In 1963, USAF modified 150 Skyraiders into A-1Es for use by the 1st Air Commando Wing. USAF units began flying the Skyraider in Vietnam in 1964 and by the end of 1972, the last of the A-1s of the 1st Special Operations Squadron were turned over to the VNAF. In those eight years of operations, the Air Force used the Skyraider for a variety of missions. There were A-1 squadrons which flew exclusively at night to interdict truck traffic along the Ho Chi Minh trail. Other squadrons were supporting General Vang Pao and his loyalists in Laos. Army special operations were also supported by A-1s on priority missions. The common bond between all A-1 squadrons was SAR , They were also used to perform one of the Skyraider's most famous roles: the "Sandy" helicopter escort on combat rescues.[16] USAF Major Bernard F. Fisher piloted an A-1E on the 10 March 1966 mission for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing Major "Jump" Myers at A Shau Special Forces Camp.[17] USAF Colonel William A. Jones, III piloted an A-1H on the 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.[17] The Skyraider had all the necessary assets; speed, ordnance carrying capability, communications, and the ability to withstand punishment. Since the A-1 was frequently operated near its maximum gross weight, its speed capability was not fast. There was a standing joke among Spad drivers. There was only one speed you had to remember- 120 knots. You took off at 120 knots, cruised at 120 knots, and landed at 120 knots. Weapons deliveries were planned at higher airspeeds, maybe as high as 250 knots, but after third or fourth pass, 120 knots worked for weapons delivery too.  The Sandy SAR load was perfect. It had ordnance such as CBU-25, HE 2.75 " rockets, and 20 mm to kill trucks and other light skinned vehicles. It had the highly accurate, high rate of fire SUU-11 mini-gun pod with 7.62 mm ammo. And it had specialized SAR ordnance such as the M-47 smoke bomb, CBU-22, and WP rockets. The A-1 had three different radio capabilities. The UHF radio was used to communicate with the survivor and strike aircraft that had only UHF. The UHF also had an ADF (automatic direction finder) capability that was used to help pinpoint the location of the survivor on the ground. Additionally, the UHF Guard receiver had to be left on to avoid missing the inevitable bandit calls from the various GCI agencies covering the area. The VHF-AM radio was used to coordinate with command and control agencies, primarily King, the HC-130 that also served as an airborne tanker for the HH-53 Super Jolly Green rescue helicopters. Finally, the VHF-FM radio was used by the Sandys for inter-flight communications. It was quite normal for all three radios to be in use at the same time. It was normally the wingman's job to handle the coordination with King while Sandy Lead worked with the survivor. With the total remaining A-1 assets in 1971-1972 residing in one operational USAF squadron, the SAR effort got first priority for several reasons. First and foremost, the absence of a viable and capable SAR force would have had a negative impact on the rest of the air operations in SEA. The prospect of getting shot down with no possibility of rescue was not a happy one. Certainly, the SAR force was not as robust with 20 A-1s as it was in the earlier days of the war when there were over 100 Skyraiders spread out over a half dozen squadrons. But the capability was there. One need look no further than the pickup of Capt Roger Locher near Yen Bai Airfield northwest of Hanoi to see this was true. A story on this mission was written in the August 1997 issue of Flight Magazine. The SAR for Bowleg 02 was another example of being able to go onto Hanoi's doorstep to retrieve downed aircrews. Another factor was the impact these SARs had on the enemy. Certainly, we did not get every downed airmen back home safely, but we got our fair share.  Another high priority mission during this final chapter in the Skyraider's SEA war experience was the support given to Gen Vang Pao in Laos. He had his headquarters at Long Tien with a landing strip (LS 20A) nearby. High to the north and east of LS20A was a large ridge of mountains called Skyline Ridge. These "Barrel Roll" missions were never dull, always unpredictable, and usually dangerous. The bulk of these missions were flown to northern Laos which was comprised of mountainous areas with limestone karst pinnacles and terrain elevations of at least 4,000 ft. There was seasonal drama here when the communist forces would wait for the rainy season to invade when US air power would be hampered by low ceilings and poor visibility. The A-1 was well suited to work this area including the infamous PDJ (Plaine des Jarres). This was a relatively level plateau in northern Laos that was about 15 nautical miles across from south to north, and 20 nautical miles wide from east to west. Still another high priority mission for the 1st SOS in the final year was support of "special operations" in Laos. These were protecting the insertion and extraction of special teams in the border area. These missions could either be boring as hell or so busy that you wished you had another set of hands. [edit] South Vietnamese Air Force The A-1 Skyraider was the close air support workhorse of the South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) for much of the Vietnam War. The US Navy began to transfer some of its Skyraiders to the VNAF in September 1960, replacing the VNAF’s older Grumman F8F Bearcats. By 1962 the VNAF had 22 of the aircraft in its inventory[18], and by 1968, an additional 131 aircraft had been received. Initially Navy aviators and crews were responsible for training their Vietnamese counterparts on the aircraft, but over time, responsibility was gradually transferred to the USAF. The initial trainees were selected from among VNAF Bearcat pilots who had accumulated 800 to 1200 hours flying time. They were trained at Corpus Christi, Texas., and then sent to LeMoore, California for further training. Navy pilots and crews in Vietnam checked out the Skyraiders that were being transferred to the VNAF, and conducted courses for VNAF ground crews.[19] Over the course of the war, the VNAF acquired a total of 308 Skyraiders, and was operating six A-1 squadrons by the end of 1965. These were reduced during the period of Vietnamization from 1968 to 1972, as the U.S. began to supply the South Vietnamese with more modern close air support aircraft, such as the A-37 and F-5, and at the beginning of 1968, only three of its squadrons were flying A-1s.[20] As the U.S. ended its direct involvement in the war, it transferred the remainder of its Skyraiders to the South Vietnamese, and by 1973, all remaining Skyraiders in U.S. inventories had been turned over to the VNAF.[21] Unlike their American counterparts, whose combat tours were generally limited to 12 months, individual Vietnamese Skyraider pilots ran up many thousands of combat hours in the A-1, and many senior VNAF pilots were extremely skilled in the operation of the aircraft.[22] [edit] Fleet Air Arm use The Royal Navy acquired 50 AD-4W early warning planes in 1951 though the Military Assistance Program. All Skyraider AEW.1s were operated by 849 Naval Air Squadron, which provided four-plane detachments for the British carriers. One flight took part in the Suez Crisis in 1956 aboard the carrier HMS Bulwark. 778 Naval Air Squadron was responsible for the training of the Skyraider crews at RNAS Culdrose. In 1960 the Fairey Gannet AEW.3 replaced the Skyraiders, using the APS-20 radar of the Douglas planes. The last British Skyraiders were retired in 1962. [23]In the late 1960s the APS-20 radars from the Skyraiders were installed in Avro Shackleton AEW.2s of the Royal Air Force which were finally retired in 1991. [edit] Swedish useTwelve British Skyraiders were supplied to Sweden. All military equipment was removed and the planes were used as target tugs until the early 1970s. [edit] French useThe French Air Force bought 20 ex-USN AD-4s as well as 88 ex-USN AD-4Ns and 5 ex-USN AD-4NAs with the former three-seaters modified as single-seat aircraft with removal of the radar equipment and the two operator stations from the rear fuselage. The AD-4N/NAs were initially acquired in 1956 to replace aging P-47 Thunderbolts in Algeria.[24] The Skyraiders were first ordered in 1956 and the first was handed over to the French Air Force on 6 February 1958 after being overhauled and fitted with some French equipment by Sud-Aviation. The aircraft were used until the end of the Algerian war. The aircraft were used by the 20e Escadre de Chasse (EC 1/20 "Aures Nementcha," EC 2/20 "Ouarsenis" and EC 3/20 "Oranie") and EC 21 in the close air support role armed with rockets, bombs and napalm. The Skyraiders had only a short career in Algeria. But they nonetheless proved to be the most successful of all the ad hoc COIN aircraft deployed by the French. The Skyraider remained in limited French service until the 1970s.[24] They were heavily involved in the civil war in Chad, at first with the Armée de l'Air, and later with a nominally independent local air force staffed by French mercenaries. The aircraft also operated under the French flag in Djibouti and on the island of Madagascar. When France at last relinquished the Skyraiders it passed the survivors on to client states, including Gabon, Chad, Cambodia and the Central African Republic.[25](several aircraft from Gabon and Chad have been recovered recently by French warbird enthusiasts and entered on the French civil register). The French frequently used the aft station to carry maintenance personnel, spare parts and supplies to forward bases. In Chad they even used the aft station for a "bombardier" and his "special stores" – empty beer bottles – as these were considered as non-lethal weapons, thus not breaking the government-imposed rules of engagement, during operations against Libyan-supported rebels in the late 1960s and early 1970s. [edit] AdaptabilityIn addition to serving during Korea and Vietnam as an attack aircraft, the Skyraider was modified into a carrier-based airborne early warning aircraft, replacing the Grumman TBM-3W Avenger. It served in this function in the USN and Royal Navy, being replaced by the E-1 Tracer and Fairey Gannet respectively in those services.[6] [edit] Variants       
[edit] Operators See also: List of A-1 Skyraider operators
[edit] Survivors  
[edit] Specifications (A-1H Skyraider) Data from McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920 [29] General characteristics
Performance
Armament
[edit] Notable appearances in mediaThe A-1 Skyraider received various nicknames including: "Spad" and "Super Spad" (derived from the aircraft's AD designation, its relative longevity in service and an allusion to the "Spad" aircraft of World War I), "Able Dog" (phonetic AD), "the Destroyer", "Hobo" (radio call sign of the USAF 1st Air Commando/1st Special Operations Squadron), "Firefly" (a call sign of the 602nd ACS/SOS), "Zorro" (the call sign of the 22nd SOS), "The Big Gun," "Old Faithful," "Old Miscellaneous," "Fat Face" (AD-5/A-1E version, side-by-side seating), "Guppy" (AD-5W version), "Q-Bird" (AD-1Q/AD-5Q versions), "Flying Dumptruck" (A-1E), "Sandy" (the 602nd ACS/SOS call sign for Combat Search And Rescue helicopter escort), and "Crazy Water Buffalo" (South Vietnamese nickname). While the Skyraider is not as iconic as some other aircraft, it has been featured in some Vietnam-era films such as The Green Berets (1968), Flight of the Intruder (1991) flying as Sandy escort, and in We Were Soldiers (2002) in the ground support role. The Skyraider also played a computer-generated role in Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn (2007).[30] Skyraiders were also featured in the classic Korean war movie The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1953). A formation of U.S. Navy A-1s stood in for U.S. Army Air Force P-47s in the 1962 film The Longest Day. [edit] See alsoRelated development Comparable aircraft Related lists [edit] References
[edit] External links
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