Douglas AD-4N Skyraider
During World War II, the combatant navies of the world tended to have specialized carrier aircraft for each role—dive bombing, torpedo bombing, scout aircraft, and fighters. By 1944, the US Navy was considering combining at least the first two into a single aircraft. The Navy then duly issued a requirement for a single-seat torpedo bomber that could also be used as a dive bomber. Several companies responded, with Douglas reworking an earlier, three-seat design to the XBTD-1, designed by already legendary aircraft designer Ed Heinemann. At first, the USN ordered over 600 aircraft, then cancelled the order as the war began winding down.
Heinemann realized that, war or not, the Navy would still need something to replace the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver and Grumman TBF Avenger then in service, and persisted with the XBTD-1. What resulted was a completely new aircraft, but it interested the Navy enough that they ordered 25 of the new XBT2D-1, which first flew in March 1945. It would be too late for World War II service, but other than some structural problems discovered in testing, the new design was nearly viceless in handling, speed, and armament. The Navy put it into full production to replace their wartime dive and torpedo bombers as the AD-1 Skyraider, which entered the fleet in November 1946.
For a single-engined, single-pilot aircraft, the Skyraider was fairly large, but it was fairly simple to fly, easy to maintain, robust, and carried plenty of ordnance; Heinemann had replaced the earlier design’s internal bomb bay with a large number of hardpoints. It quickly replaced nearly all the US Navy’s wartime aircraft, leaving it and the Corsair as the last wartime aircraft in service by 1948. Its pilots nicknamed it the “Able Dog,” a play on the then-phoentic alphabet designation for the aircraft, but it also referred to the AD’s superb record. The Skyraider had also shown a lot of growth potential: the last 15 AD-1s were converted to two-seat AD-1Q electronic warfare aircraft with two crew, and three crew would be added to the AD-4W early warning aircraft.
By 1950, most US Navy units were using improved AD-3 and AD-4 aircraft in attack squadrons, with uprated engines and slightly different landing gear and cockpit arrangements as compared with earlier AD-1s. The Navy was planning on ending Skyraider production in favor of jet aircraft. The Korean War that broke out that year changed that: the USS Valley Forge’s AD-4s were the first US Navy aircraft to see combat during the war.
The Navy learned that the AD had an advantage over the jet fighter-bombers of the time, such as the McDonnell F2H Banshee and Grumman F9F Panther: it could stay in the air longer since it did not have a fuel-thirsty jet engine, it could go slow enough to bring in ordnance very close to troops in contact, and it could carry more ordnance over a longer range. It also had proven itself able to complete missions the jets could not, such as destroy well-built bridges with 2000-pound bombs and use torpedoes against North Korea’s dams. Skyraiders saw service throughout the Korean War, and were simply known as the “Blue Plane” by its Communist opponents—a compliment considering that all US Navy aircraft were painted blue during the war. The Navy reconsidered replacement of the AD, and instead had Douglas not only continue production, but increase it, as well as build more advanced versions in the AD-5/AD-6 series. These would later be redesignated A-1, and serve throughout the Vietnam War, until finally replaced in the late 1960s by the A-4 Skyhawk and A-7 Corsair II.
This AD-4N (A-1D), BuNo 127007, is displayed on the hangar deck of USS Yorktown (CVS-10), and depicts an aircraft of VA-65 ("Fighting Tigers"), which flew off the ship in the early 1950s. It is painted in overall midnight blue, standard Navy colors for the time period. The "M" was the Yorktown's tailcode through the 1950s. The AD-4N was the nightfighter version of the AD-4, and carried a three-man crew.
Douglas AD-4N Skyraider
During World War II, the combatant navies of the world tended to have specialized carrier aircraft for each role—dive bombing, torpedo bombing, scout aircraft, and fighters. By 1944, the US Navy was considering combining at least the first two into a single aircraft. The Navy then duly issued a requirement for a single-seat torpedo bomber that could also be used as a dive bomber. Several companies responded, with Douglas reworking an earlier, three-seat design to the XBTD-1, designed by already legendary aircraft designer Ed Heinemann. At first, the USN ordered over 600 aircraft, then cancelled the order as the war began winding down.
Heinemann realized that, war or not, the Navy would still need something to replace the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver and Grumman TBF Avenger then in service, and persisted with the XBTD-1. What resulted was a completely new aircraft, but it interested the Navy enough that they ordered 25 of the new XBT2D-1, which first flew in March 1945. It would be too late for World War II service, but other than some structural problems discovered in testing, the new design was nearly viceless in handling, speed, and armament. The Navy put it into full production to replace their wartime dive and torpedo bombers as the AD-1 Skyraider, which entered the fleet in November 1946.
For a single-engined, single-pilot aircraft, the Skyraider was fairly large, but it was fairly simple to fly, easy to maintain, robust, and carried plenty of ordnance; Heinemann had replaced the earlier design’s internal bomb bay with a large number of hardpoints. It quickly replaced nearly all the US Navy’s wartime aircraft, leaving it and the Corsair as the last wartime aircraft in service by 1948. Its pilots nicknamed it the “Able Dog,” a play on the then-phoentic alphabet designation for the aircraft, but it also referred to the AD’s superb record. The Skyraider had also shown a lot of growth potential: the last 15 AD-1s were converted to two-seat AD-1Q electronic warfare aircraft with two crew, and three crew would be added to the AD-4W early warning aircraft.
By 1950, most US Navy units were using improved AD-3 and AD-4 aircraft in attack squadrons, with uprated engines and slightly different landing gear and cockpit arrangements as compared with earlier AD-1s. The Navy was planning on ending Skyraider production in favor of jet aircraft. The Korean War that broke out that year changed that: the USS Valley Forge’s AD-4s were the first US Navy aircraft to see combat during the war.
The Navy learned that the AD had an advantage over the jet fighter-bombers of the time, such as the McDonnell F2H Banshee and Grumman F9F Panther: it could stay in the air longer since it did not have a fuel-thirsty jet engine, it could go slow enough to bring in ordnance very close to troops in contact, and it could carry more ordnance over a longer range. It also had proven itself able to complete missions the jets could not, such as destroy well-built bridges with 2000-pound bombs and use torpedoes against North Korea’s dams. Skyraiders saw service throughout the Korean War, and were simply known as the “Blue Plane” by its Communist opponents—a compliment considering that all US Navy aircraft were painted blue during the war. The Navy reconsidered replacement of the AD, and instead had Douglas not only continue production, but increase it, as well as build more advanced versions in the AD-5/AD-6 series. These would later be redesignated A-1, and serve throughout the Vietnam War, until finally replaced in the late 1960s by the A-4 Skyhawk and A-7 Corsair II.
This AD-4N (A-1D), BuNo 127007, is displayed on the hangar deck of USS Yorktown (CVS-10), and depicts an aircraft of VA-65 ("Fighting Tigers"), which flew off the ship in the early 1950s. It is painted in overall midnight blue, standard Navy colors for the time period. The "M" was the Yorktown's tailcode through the 1950s. The AD-4N was the nightfighter version of the AD-4, and carried a three-man crew.