The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club: Naval Aviation in the Vietnam War by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

Author:Thomas McKelvey Cleaver [Cleaver, Thomas McKelvey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: history, Military, Vietnam War, Aviation, Asia, Southeast Asia, Naval, General
ISBN: 9781472845924
Google: QLoaEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2021-10-14T23:53:45.799283+00:00

9

SPADS vs. MIGS

In a naval air force composed of jets, one anachronism stood out, seemingly a throwback to naval aviation of World War II; it was so old technologically that pilots called it the “Spad,” after the well-known World War I fighter. The piston-engined Douglas Skyraider began life as a 1944 Navy proposal for an airplane to replace the SB2C Helldiver dive bomber and TBF Avenger torpedo bomber, a single-seat aircraft equally capable in either role. Designed by the legendary Ed Heinemann, the prototype was ordered as the XBT2D-1 on July 6, 1944, with its first flight on March 18, 1945. The airplane was “right from the beginning” and passed manufacturer’s tests by the following April, at which time the Navy began testing it over the next year. It was ordered into production in April 1945 as the BT2D-1, with a production run of 548 aircraft. This was reduced to 277 in September 1945. In 1946 the aircraft was redesignated AD-1 (Attack, Douglas, first model). VA-1B took the first AD-1s aboard USS Midway in November 1947. Named the Skyraider, it was the first navy attack aircraft capable of lifting its own weight in ordnance. The AD-1s were followed by AD-2 and AD-3 sub-types, with a night-attack version introduced at the end of the AD-1 production which carried two electronics technicians in the fuselage just aft of the wing to operate the on-board radar; in subsequent production these aircraft were identified by an “N” in the designator (i.e., AD-3N). An airborne early warning version with a bulbous radome under the fuselage designated with a “W” (i.e., AD-2W) was also developed and saw extensive carrier service.

The Korean War saved the Skyraider, which was set to go out of production in 1950 following completion of the order for AD-3s. However, the turboprop-powered A2D Skyshark was delayed and then found unable to proceed with development. With no other aircraft capable of taking the Skyraider’s role aboard ship, the AD-4 that first appeared in mid-1950 increased armament from two to four 20mm cannon in the wings and later added significant armor protection as the result of combat experience.

The Skyraider first saw combat immediately following the outbreak of the Korean War when USS Valley Forge struck Pyongyang on July 3–4, 1950, and provided the medium attack squadron for Navy carriers throughout the conflict. One notable Skyraider operation was breaching the Hwachon Dam in 1951. Conventional bombing was unable to breach the dam, so the pilots of VA-196 came up with the idea of using the aerial torpedoes discovered in the ship’s magazine. The mission was the first (and last) use of aerial torpedoes in combat by the Navy since World War II. Rear Admiral John W. Hoskins, commanding Task Force 77 stated “I am convinced the Skyraider is the most effective close-support aircraft in the world!”

Production continued through the 1950s, as no other design was able to replace the piston-engined Skyraider in terms of capability and dependability. The AD-6 appeared in 1953, produced in parallel with the multi-seat AD-5, with 713 AD-6s off the line by 1956.

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