At the Riverside airshow. Or was it Chino?
Some of you can probably identify the make and model.
Douglas A-1 Skyraider - First flight March 1945 and powered by a Wright R3350 double cyclone. It served Korea and Vietnam and flew from ground bases and carriers.
Hal81
Loc: Bucks County, Pa.
Looks like a Republic Thunderbolt. Thr wings folded up for storage on the carriers.
An A-10. Awesome aircraft capable of adsorbing incredible battle damage and keep on flying. Carried an incredible amount of ordinance and the ability to deliver it with suburb accuracy. Welcome sight in Vietnam.
Sky Raider - they really got a work out in Nam. Often flew cover for copter rescue missions because they could hang around for what seemed forever. And when fully loaded they packed a wallop. One comparison was if a Sky Raider let loose with everything on a run the target got the same treatment as if it was hit by a broadside from one of the 8" gun heavy cruisers of WW II.
I seem to remember that a few Sky Raider pilots had an air to air kill of a Mig. Thefirst one a Mig made the mistake of doing a head to head "chicken run" on two Sky Raiders.
The nick name for the plane was "Spad", at first an insult from the jet jockeys but the Spad pilots took to it and made it their own.
Beautiful photo of the iconic A1 Skyraider. The single engine attack plane that could carry more ordinance than a B17 four engine bomber!
Hal81 wrote:
Looks like a Republic Thunderbolt. Thr wings folded up for storage on the carriers.
The Navy never used Thunderbolts Hal, just the Airforce.
Curmudgeon wrote:
An A-10. Awesome aircraft capable of adsorbing incredible battle damage and keep on flying. Carried an incredible amount of ordinance and the ability to deliver it with suburb accuracy. Welcome sight in Vietnam.
The A10 Warthog is a different A/C, and was a twin jet!
What dumbass would identify this as an A-10 or Thunderbolt?
nimbushopper wrote:
Beautiful photo of the iconic A1 Skyraider. The single engine attack plane that could carry more ordinance than a B17 four engine bomber!
Think I read at one time it was the only a/c we had that could carry more than it's own weight. I worked with a squadron of them stationed at QuiNhon Vietnam in 1964- 65.
Huey Driver wrote:
Think I read at one time it was the only a/c we had that could carry more than it's own weight. I worked with a squadron of them stationed at QuiNhon Vietnam in 1964- 65.
It was an incredible aircraft, was replaced with the Grumman A6 Intruder, a twin jet all weather attack bomber, carrier based. It made it's own reputation in Vietnam!
vj62
Loc: Fairfax, VA
1949, As a brand new AT3 joined my first squadron VA-65 who had just a short time before transitioned to them from SB2Cs.
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