” The Ling-Temco-Vought A-7 Corsair II was the result of a May 17, 1963 Navy design competition named VAL, which stood for Light Attack Aircraft. The VAL aircraft was to replace the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, and was to have as its primary mission the delivery of conventional ordnance as opposed to nuclear weapons. The aircraft was to have a single seat, and the requirement specified that the aircraft would have to be in service no later than 1967. The Navy was interested in low cost, and specified that the aircraft would have to be based on an existing design. In addition, in order to save even more money, the requirement did not call for supersonic performance. A maximum bombload of 15,000 pounds was called for.
Only four aircraft companies entered the competition. Douglas offered a derivative of the A-4 Skyhawk with a larger airframe and powered by a TF30 turbofan. Grumman offered a single-seat variant of the A-6 Intruder (Model 128G-12). North American Aviation proposed a TF30-powered veresion of the AF-1E Fury. Ling-Temco-Vought (into which the Vought Corporation had merged in 1961) proposed the Model V-463, which was a shortened version of the F-8 Crusader fighter. Since the aircraft did not have to be capable of supersonic performance, the aircraft was shorter, had a wing with less sweepback, had no provision for varying the wing incidence, and was powered by a turbofan engine with no afterburner. Outboard ailerons, which were not used on the F-8, were introduced on the wing of the V-463. The structure was strengthened to allow the aircraft to carry the required weapons load of up to 15,000 pounds. “
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