On display at the Hill Aerospace Museum is a pristine example of the the Viet Nam era Douglas A-1E Skyraider, used as a ground attack “bomb truck.” Nicknamed “Spad” due to its slow speed (compared to the contemporary jet fighters), the Spad was nevertheless quite popular amongst American ground forces due to its ability to open up an industrial sized can of whoopass on the VC and NVA.
Also: the National Air and Space Museum in D.C has on display a copy of an early concept drawing by the A-1’s designer, Ed Heinemann. This configuration, dated December of 1943, featured both a piston engine in the nose, and a turbojet engine underneath the fuselage. At the time, a number of hybrid planes like this were under study; jets provided all kinds of power for added speed and acceleration, at great fuel cost. So the jets would be used when needed, shut down when not, and the airplane would cruise on the slower but more fuel efficient piston engine.
2 Responses to “SPAD: A-1E Skyraider”
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Date and AD-1 nomenclature are inconsistent (A for attack designation post war). Might have something to do with XBTD-2 evaluation?
>Date and AD-1 nomenclature are inconsistent (A for attack designation post war).
I would assume that that notation on the drawing was added at some later date.