Douglas AD-5 Slyraider
(USN Photo)
A U.S. Marine Corps Douglas AD-5 Skyraider (BuNo. 133885) of Marine Attack Squadron 331 (VMA-331) “Bumblebees” in flight. VMA-331 was operating from the aircraft carrier USS Leyte (CVS-32), circa in the mid-1950s. 133885 was transferred to the U.S. Air Force and was shot down by ground fire near Ban Senphan, Laos, on 15 February 1966 while in service with the 602nd Air Commando Squadron. The pilot was killed.
(USN Photo)
U.S. Navy AD-5Q Skyraider aircraft (BuNo 132618) from Airborne Early Warning Squadron VAW-33 Det.41 Night Nawks in flight. VAW-33 Det.41 was assigned to Carrier Air Group 7 (CVG-7) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Independence (CVA-62) in the early 1960s. The AD-5Q 132618 later crashed into sea about 8 km aft of the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CVA-59) on 12 June 1964. All three crew members were rescued safely.
The piston-engined, propeller-driven Skyraider was designed during the Second World War 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.
The Douglas A-1 Skyraider (formerly designated AD before the 1962 unification of Navy and Air Force designations) 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 (when most piston-engine attack or fighter aircraft were replaced by jet aircraft); thus becoming known by some as an “anachronism”. The aircraft was nicknamed “Spad”, after the French First World War fighter. It was operated by the United States Navy (USN), the United States Marine Corps (USMC), and the United States Air Force (USAF), and also saw service with the Royal Navy in the UK, the French Air Force, the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF), and others. It remained in U.S. service until the early 1970s. (Wikipedia)
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 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. (Wikipedia)
(USN Photo)
A U.S. Navy Douglas AD-5N Skyraider (BuNo 135020) of All-Weather Attack Squadron 33 (VA(AW)-33) Det.42 “Night Hawks” in flight. VA(AW)-33 Det.42 was assigned to Carrier Air Group 10 (CVG-10) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CVA-59) for a deployment to the Mediterranean Sea from 11 July 1958 to 12 March 1959.
(Photographer’s Mate First Class Wilcox, USN Photo)
A U.S. Navy Douglas AD-5 Skyraider (BuNo. 134976) from Attack Squadron 85 (VA-85) taxies forward after landing on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid (CVA-11) on 20 April 1956. Note the squadron insignia under the cockpit . VA-85 was assigned to Carrier Air Group 8 (CVG-8) aboard the Intrepid for a deployment to the Mediterranean Sea from 12 March to 5 September 1956.
(NMUSAF Photo)
U.S. Air Force Douglas A-1E Skyraider (USN BuNo 132619, nicknamed “Carolyns Folly”) from the 1st Air Commando Squadron (later the 1st Special Operations Squadron) escorting an HH-3C rescue helicopter as it goes to pick up a downed pilot in Vietnam in 1966. Note: Skyraider.org says that this is a 602nd SOS A-1E.
(USAF Photo)
Douglas A-1E with wings folded at McClellan Air Force Base, California, 15 Feb 1968.
(USN Photo)
U.S. Air Force armament technicians (l-r) A2C Michael J. Hall, A1C Robert V. Greer, and A1C John Smith, prepare to load 250 lbs (113 kg) bombs onto the wing pylons of a U.S. Air Force Douglas A-1E Skyraider at Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam, c1966.
(NMUSAF Photo)
A hydraulic bomb loader raises a 500 lb (227 kg) bomb into position under the wing of a U.S. Air Force Douglas A-1E Skyraider (s/n 52-132649) of the 1st Air Commando Squadron, circa in 1966. This aircraft is the one Maj Bernard F. Fisher later used to make the daring rescue of Lt.Col. Dafford W. Myers at A Shau on 10 March 1966 for which Maj. Fisher received the U.S. Medal of Honor.
(USAF Photo)
U.S. Air Force Douglas A-1E Skyraider (s/n 52-135141) of the 1st Special Operations Squadron at Ubon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, in December 1968. This aircraft was later shot down by a 9K32 Strela (NATO reporting code: SA-7 “Grail”) over South Vietnam on 2 May 1972. The pilot was rescued.
(USN Photo)
U.S. Navy Douglas AD-5W Skyraider (BuNo. 132751) of Airborne Early Warning squadron VAW-11 Det.J Early Eleven on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge (CVA-33) in the western Pacific. VAW-11 Det.J was assigned to Air Task Group 3 (ATG-3) aboard the Kearsarge for a deployment to the western Pacific from 9 August 1957 to 2 April 1958.
(USN Photo)
Douglas AD-5 Skyraider (BuNo. 133878) of utility squadron VU-1 used for target towing on the ground at Naval Air Station (NAS) Barbers Point, Hawaii (USA), some time between 1954 and 1962.
(NMUSAF Photo)
U.S. Air Force Douglas A-1E Skyraider armed with six LAU-3 rocket launchers in Vietnam. The aircraft probably belonged to the 1st Air Commando Squadron, 14th Air Commando Wing, which operated from Nha Trang Air Base in 1966-1967 (tail code “EC”).
(USAF Photo)
U.S. Air Force Douglas A-1E (s/n 52-135206) from the 1st Special Operations Squadron, 56th Special Operations Wing, in flight, circa in the late 1960s. This aircraft was a former U.S. Navy EA-1E (before 1962: AD-5W) radar warning aircraft (BuNo 135206) that was converted to an attack plane. It was later transferred to the South Vietnamese Air Force.
(NMUSAF Photo)
U.S. Air Force Douglas A-1E Skyraider (s/n 52-133919), probably at McClellan Air Force Base, California (USA), in the late 1960s. This aircraft was later transferred to the South Vietnamese Air Force and was one of eleven Skyraiders to escape to Thailand, in April 1975. McClellan was home to the Sacramento Air Logistics Center, where the former U.S. Navy Skyraiders were retrofitted for USAF/VNAF service in Southeast Asia.
Preserved Douglas AD-5 Skyraiders
AD-5 (A-1E)
(Fly-by-Owen Photo)
(Dziban303 Photo)
132683 – based at the National Museum of World War II Aviation in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Reg. No. N39147.
AD-5W (EA-1E)
(Valder137 Photos)
135152 – based at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison, Texas. Moving to the North Texas Regional Airport in Denison, Texas.
(Andre Wadman Photo)
135178 – privately owned in Saint Charles, Missouri.
(Thornfield Hall Photo)
(Author Photo)
135188 – based at the Collings Foundation in Stow, Massachusetts. It was donated to the Collings Foundation in May 2012.
AD-5 (A-1E)
(kb7yl Photo)
(Alan Wilson Photo)
132463 – Aerospace Museum of California at the former McClellan Air Force Basein North Highlands, California. c/n 9480, EC, 1st Special Operations Squadron, painted as USAF (Serial No. 32463), EC.
52-132649 (former bureau number 132649) – National Museum of the United StatesAir Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. This aircraft was originallya US Navy aircraft. Transferred to USAF, it was flown by then-Major BernardFrancis Fisher (Colonel, USAF Retired) on 10 March 1966 when he rescued afellow A-1E pilot shot down over South Vietnam in the midst of enemy troops, adeed for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. The aircraft was severelydamaged in combat in South Vietnam and was returned in 1967 for preservation bythe then-US Air Force Museum. It is the only surviving US Air Force Medal ofHonor Aircraft.
52-247 – Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill AFB in Roy, Utah. It is an A-1E that wasapparently remanufactured from various components taken from several other A-1s(both Air Force and Navy versions) in South Vietnam.
AD-5N (A-1G)
(Valder137 Photo)
132534 – Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.
(USAF Photo)
52-598 (former bureau number 132598) – Hurlburt Field Memorial Air Park,Hurlburt Field, Florida. Former U.S. Air Force Douglas A-1G Skyraider (Serial No. 52-132598) This aircraft had been delivered as a U.S. Navy AD-5N night attack plane (BuNo 132598) which was redesignated A-1G in 1962. The aircraft is painted in the 1964-1966 scheme used by the USAF in Vietnam. However, it wears the tail code of the 1st Special Operations Squadron (“TC”), which was applied only later on camouflaged Skyraiders. The tail code is also too small.
AD-5W (EA-1E)
(Michael Barera Photo)
132443 – Historic Aviation Memorial Museum, Tyler Pounds Field (East Side) in Tyler, Texas.
(Tomás Del Coro Photo)
(Magic Aviation Photo)
132789 – March Field Air Museum, March AFB (former) in Riverside, California.
AD-5Q (EA-1F)
132532 – National Museum of Naval Aviation at NAS Pensacola, Florida.
135018 – Pima Air and Space Museum adjacent to Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, Arizona. The aircraft is painted in the markings of VAW-33 as embarked withCarrier Air Wing 6 (CVW-6) aboard the aircraft carrier USS America (CV-66) in1967.
AD-6 (A-1H)
135300 – National Museum of Naval Aviation at NAS Pensacola, Florida. Thisaircraft is painted in the markings of Attack Squadron 25 (VA-25).
137602 – on a pylon near the near base headquarters and the base chapel at NASLemoore, California. This aircraft is also painted in the same markings as the NAS Pensacola museum aircraft, i.e., Attack Squadron 25 (VA-25) and a”false” BuNo of 135300.
134600 – on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force atWright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.[53] It is painted to represent the secondA-1H named “The Proud American” from the 1st SOS “Hobos” -the second “Proud American” (which the museum is trying to represent)was the last USAF Skyraider to be lost in combat over Vietnam.
Under restoration or in storage
AD-4W
126867 – in storage at the Erickson Aircraft Collection in Madras, Oregon.
AD-6 (A-1H)
135332 – in storage at the National Air and Space Museum of the SmithsonianInstitution in Washington, D.C.