The sturdy singleseater Douglas
A-1 Skyraider was designed as a carrier based
submarine and torpedo bomber, and the first of
25 XBT2D-1 Destroyer II prototypes flew
in March 1945. The capacities were so impressive
that the US started building the Skyraider in
large numbers. In the Vietnam and Korean wars
the new plane proved to be very valuable to the
US.
Versions of the Douglas AD-1
Skyraider:
- AD-1 (242 produced) 1864
kW Wright R-3350-24W engine, two cannons
plus 3.629 kg. other
- AD-2 (156 produced) more
fuel capacity
- AD-3 (125 produced) New
designed canopy and landing-gear
- AD-4 (372 produced) with
2.014 kW Wright R-3350-26WA engine and
auto-pilot
- AD-4B (165 produced)
suitable for nuclear load and fitted with four
20 mm cannon's
- AD-5 (212 produced)
submarine search and destroy version with a
wider hull for side by side seated crew of two
- AD-6 (713 produced)
Improved version of the AD-4B equipped
for precession bombarding at low altitude.
- AD-7 (72 produced)
AD-6 with Wright R-3350-26WB engine
and stronger construction
From 1962 only existing airframes
were refitted in the A-1 series. The
larger hull and greater load capacity of the
Skyraider made the aircraft suited for other
tasks, the marking shows what those tasks were,
for instance the letter E behind the
marking on the plane means submarine search and
destroying version with a radar unit under its
port-wing. N means night-fighter with
crew of three.
Q is
electronic warfare version with crew of two.
S was anti-submarine in cooperation with an
E-type. W was an Early Warning
Radar version with a three or four headed crew,
and radar-dome under the hull.
Total production in 1957 counted
3.180 Skyraiders, from 1962 the series
was called A-1 again.
