Flying Dump Truck- The Douglas Skyraider...

By

Scott Schwartz

     A single engine airplane that could carry a higher payload than the B-17, the Douglas Skyraider was yet another 1940’s vintage airplane that found new life during the war in Viet Nam.

     Known by more nick names than a mob enforcer and produced in thirteen variants, the Douglas AD-4 Skyraider was designed by the famous Ed Heinemann in response to the Navy’s requirement for a Curtiss Helldiver replacement.  The requirements were simple:

The new airplane had to be able to carry a lot of ordinance (including torpedoes), perform well while carrying its payload, be able to fly far and fast, require a single pilot, and of course, be able to operate from aircraft carriers.

     The result was the XBT2D-1 (known initially as the Dauntless II), which made its first flight on March 18, 1945.  Powered by a Wright R-3350 eighteen cylinder radial engine, the first Skyraiders were delivered to the Navy in 1946 and were re-designated AD-1’s. 

     Although it became operational too late to see combat during World War Two, the AD-1 – ultimately renamed “Skyraider” –  was produced in an anti-submarine version equipped with a large radome under the fuselage, which working in conjunction with the basic attack versions patrolled the oceans in what were known as “hunter-killer” missions.

     But it was during the Korean War that the Skyraider proved its mettle as an attack airplane.  Carrying weapons loads weighing more than 10,000 pounds, as well as four 20 mm cannons, the Skyraider was a devastating close air support plane and even managed to shoot down at least one enemy aircraft.  Alright, it was a Soviet-built biplane, but the Skyraider wasn’t designed as a fighter anyway.  Besides, jets couldn’t fly slow enough to hit such a target. 

     The keys to the Skyraider’s success were its multiple under-wing weapons hard points, and its ability to loiter over the combat zone for long periods.  Jet aircraft just did not have range or the load carrying capability, and these were deficiencies that would plague jets through the early 1970’s. 

     Perhaps the Skyraider’s most famous role was that of escort to the HH-53 Jolly Green Giant helicopters that were sent out to rescue downed aircrew during the Viet Nam War.  Now being used by the USAF as A-1’s, Sandy’s (the Skyraider’s radio call sign during these operations) would pin down enemy troops so that the helicopters could affect their rescues.  Otherwise, Skyraiders were used as general ground attack aircraft and two North Vietnamese MiG 17’s were actually shot down by two Navy Skyraiders during two separate engagements in 1966. 

     Production of the Skyraider ended in 1957, and 3,180 of them were built.  By 1972, age and lack of spare parts started to catch up with the airplane, and the balance of the A-1’s remaining in Viet Nam were transferred to the South Vietnamese Air Force. 

     Some of the monikers attached to the Skyraider included Destroyer, Able Dog, Hobo, Flying Dump Truck and Spad – the latter being a type of World War I biplane.  Go figure. 

     The Skyraider was produced in too many versions to describe here, but variants included, in addition to those already mentioned, a stretched cockpit version which could carry eight passengers, and a turboprop aircraft known as the A2D Skyshark. The Skyshark was powered by a huge Allison T-40 turbo shaft engine, which consisted of two smaller engines geared to counter-rotating propellers through a complex gearbox assembly.  The whole arrangement was troublesome, and during the flight of one of these strange airplanes, the gearbox assembly failed.  Both propellers tore themselves off the airplane, leaving its jet engines screaming uselessly all the way to the emergency landing site.  The A2D was not one of the more successful Skyraider derivatives.

     Nearly 20 Skyraiders are still airworthy, and the roar of the R-3350’s two stage supercharger is loud enough that it sounds like an auxiliary jet engine. 

     The airplanes size, sound, and appearance make it a truly impressive sight, both on the ground and in the air.

Douglas Skyraider specifications, AD-6 version:

Power: Wright R-3350 18 cylinder engine producing 2700 horsepower.

Armament: Four 20 mm cannon mounted in the wings. 7 bomb racks mounted under each wing outer panel, 1 on each wing inner panel, and 1 rack under the fuselage center line.

Maximum Speed:  365mph. 

Cruising Speed: 190 mph.

Maximum Loaded Weight: 25,000 pounds.

Empty Weight: 10,550 pounds.

Wingspan:   50 ft. 9 inches.

A preserved Skyraider unfolds its wings at Nellis AFB, Nevada at a 2007 air show.
Photo by Scott Schwartz