April Flypast: USAF Skyraider article

You must get some cool stories from your father and post them here, Glyn.
I’m sure he could tell a few that we’ve never heard of.

Please, please, please….:D

The Skyraider has always been one of my faves due to the fact that my father flew them for the USAF in Vietnam. He too was based at NKP at the same time as the guys in the article this month.

http://courtesyaircraft.com/Douglas%20A1-H%20Project.htm

Courtesy Aircraft has one of the old NKP Skyraiders for sale as a project, $150K USD. I’ve been riding the old man for the last month that he needs to buy it and put it back the air – not too many folks out there that get to own a warbird they have logged combat hours in. He admitted that the thought had crossed his mind when he saw it – I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

Now if one of the old Alconbury F-5s came up for sale that he used to fly…..:eek:

Yes, the ex-TFC aircraft is now based at North Weald with Kennet Aviation.

Originally posted by Propstrike
Here is a quick reminder for anyone who enjoyed Paul Bonhomme’s performances in the (now- ex) Fighter Collection Skyraider. Taken at Duxford 1999.

Has it been sold??
I saw him flying it at Duxford for the first time this year, and I must say I was very impressed..!

Another good movie with Spad scenes in it is “We Were Soldiers”…the Mel Gibson one. Great movie and the aerial scenes are brilliant.

Also agree about the Flight of the Intruders. Good aerial stuff too.

Here is a quick reminder for anyone who enjoyed Paul Bonhomme’s performances in the (now- ex) Fighter Collection Skyraider. Taken at Duxford 1999.

I just had to know how that cathedral looked!

Also try

http://www.skyraider.org/

One is a “virtual” book – very interesting.

The other has got engine noise, radio tapes from different battles and rescues. (I haven’t tried them all yet)

Digressing try PPRUNE – Military aircrew – “Did you fly the Vulcan?” a lot about the V-force and tactics.

Oh yes – the A-1 lifting like a B-17 – on one engine.

Here is a chilling acount of US NAVY Skyraiders:

http://www.danford.net/toss.htm

Carrying a Nuke to Sevastopol
“Like I said, I was a 24-year-old Marine lieutenant at the time, and I wasn’t afraid of anything”–Jay Velie, Dallas, Texas
What should you fear? Well, see how this fits:

(This article began as a study of lofting or tossing nuclear weapons.I became fascinated with the notion of using the prop-driven Skyraider for this purpose, and the story evolved into an account of what it would have been like to drive this WWII-era plane to Sevastopol on the first day of World War III. The article published in Foundation magazine of the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola in its Fall 1999 issue. — Dan Ford)

I remember an article in Flypast a few years ago which showed a picture of two immaculate Skyraiders in a hangar in Southern Vietnam along with a huge number of brand new engines stored in air tight containers.The article stated that these relics had not been snapped up on the Western market because of a trade ban imposed by the US.Has anything happenned with these since?
I agree it’s a great article in this month’s Flypast,I’ve been fan of the Spad since I saw one of Paul Bonhomme’s displays in the TFC example a few years back.I had no idea anything so big and ugly could be so capable! (No offence Paul,I’m talking about the aircraft!! :D)
Has anyone seen the movie ‘Flight of the Intruder’ or read the Stephen Koontz novel of the same name?The closing scene in the movie has some excellent scenes showing Spads covering a helo-extraction of a downed crew (I think Planes of Fame/Steve Hinton were involved in the making of these sequences).The book is great too,much better than the film on the whole.

…and

… the second two shots show the remains of a downed example on display at Boa Tang Quan Doi Museum…

The Ex TFC Skyraider was always a heck of a display to see and Legends in the past have had 3 maybe 4(my memory excapes me i think 4)together,Theres nothing like a Skyraider they are’nt good looking there are powerful and aerobatic a class a/c.

Ho Chi Min City

Here are a couple of Skyraiders photographed in March 2002 in what was downtown Saigon.

Mark

The first shot shows a complete example at the ‘War Remnants Museum’.

Never to be repeated, but was incredible, was seeing David Price’s newly restored Skyraider flown with the dive brakes out at the Chino airshow in 1989. The pilot would dive down with the brakes out….Was really something to see. Was always one of my favorites.

JH

Hard to tell. They should have been AD-4N, as Chad got seven of those from the French in 1976.

There is one AD-4NA, BuNo.126882, N91945, in the museum in Wilmington — do you mean that one?
http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/registry/a1registry/a1-126882.html <— that is your #2.

And your #1 is N91935, BuNo.124156, currently on display in Troy, Alabama, belonging to West Indies Investments Ltd.

But they were from Gabon, not Chad. Not so hard to tell after all. 😀

In March 1977, two bare metal Skyraiders staged through Dublin on the way from Chad to the US. They were registered N91345 and N91495. Does anyone know what became of them?

Yes I love the Spad as well….just the sight of it conveys toughness and effortless abundance of power…

Never had the priviledge to see one in the flesh though..:(