Douglas Skyraider
Sign in to saveAlso known as "Skyraider", Spad, A-1 Skyraider, Douglas AD Skyraider, Douglas Attack Design 1, A-1, A1
1945 attack aircraft family by the Douglas Aircraft Company
Key facts
- Type
- Attack aircraft
- National origin
- United States
- Manufacturer
- Douglas Aircraft Company
- Primary users
- United States Navy United States Marine Corps , United States Air Force , Royal Navy , South Vietnam Air Force , French Air Force
- Number built
- 3,180
- Manufactured
- 1945–1957
- First flight
- 18 March 1945
- Retired
- 1973 (US use), 1985 ( Gabonese Air Force )
- Developed into
- Douglas A2D Skyshark
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- torpedo bomber
- Operator
- South Vietnam Air Force
- Country of origin
- United States
- Developer
- Douglas
- Manufacturer
- Douglas
- Image
- Douglas AD-6 Skyraider of VA-65 in flight in March 1958.jpg
- Height
- 4.78
- Length
- 11.84
Show 13 more facts
- Commons category
- Douglas Skyraider
- powered by
- R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone
- Commons gallery
- A-1 Skyraider
- military designation
- A-1
- first flight
- 1945-03-18
- service retirement
- 1985-00-00
- total produced
- 3180
- wingspan
- 15.25
- different from
- A1
- wing configuration
- monoplane
- nickname
- Skyraider
- service entry
- 1946-12-00
- wing area
- 37.19
Sources (7)
via Wikidata · CC0
~29 min read
Encyclopedic overview
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 powered aircraft); thus becoming known by some as an "anachronism". The aircraft was nicknamed "Spad", after the French World War I 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 British Royal Navy, the French Air Force, the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF), and others. It remained in US service until the early 1970s.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Douglas Skyraider” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.