Piston (WWII?) Planes in Vietnam

[JHZR2]

Flight of the Intruder was free on Amazon Prime so I watched it tonight. Decent movie.

In the end, they crashed and are being given cover by some kind of a single engine piston aircraft.

I believe the movie was supposed to be at the end of the war... so early 70's?

I thought that piston powered fighter aircraft were all but obsolete to the US forces by the end of Korea.

What's the deal? What kind of plane was that, and what is the history?

I assume the replacement for what that piston aircraft was (ground attack and fire support), was something like an A-10, a slow, low flying ground attack airplane?

Ive always liked military planes but never know much about them...

 

[bdcardinal]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_A-1_Skyraider

Pretty awesome plane with lots of versatility.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2

I assume the replacement for what that piston aircraft was (ground attack and fire support), was something like an A-10, a slow, low flying ground attack airplane?






The replacement for the Skyrader was the A-6 Intruder (the plane the movie was based on). The A-10 is an Air Force jet that was developed a decade after the A6.

" It was replaced beginning in the mid-1960s by the Grumman A-6 Intruder as the Navy's primary medium attack plane in supercarrier-based air wings"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_A-1_Skyraider

 

[Mr Nice]

Skyraider.

Some used the turboprop OV-10 Bronco as the replacement for the Skyraider. If you get a chance you should read:
Cleared Hot by Col Stoffey. He was a forward air controller in Vietnam. Its a great book.

 

[Malo83]

The A1 was a Beast, carried tons of ordanance and could loiter for hours

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[jkhawaii]

whats with the toilet bomb? lol

 

[Malo83]

Originally Posted By: jkhawaii
whats with the toilet bomb? lol

Dropped over North VN by an A1 Skyraider from VA-25,1965

 

[Jarlaxle]

The "Spad" was widely used, especially early on...also, the Air Force used the AC-47 "Puff The Magic Dragon" gunship.

 

[cjcride]

I read it could carry the bomb load of a B-17.
Originally Posted By: Malo83
The A1 was a Beast, carried tons of ordanance and could loiter for hours

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[jrtribology]

MMO claims that their product has been used for 90 years in all piston driven engines including WWII aircraft, is this true ?

 

[Danh]

Originally Posted By: Malo83
The A1 was a Beast, carried tons of ordanance and could loiter for hours

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Hmmm. Looks like a candidate for MaxLife.

 

[JetStar]

The Spad scene was my favorite part of that movie. I think the skyraider set the pattern for the A-10. IIRC there are some A-1 scenes in BAT-21 too.

Read My Secret War by Richard Drury, He flew a spad called the Midnight Cowboy. The plane had a wright R-3350 Cyclone that was originally used in the B-29.

http://www.flyingmule.com/products/MP-5364-2

http://www.amazon.com/My-secret-war-Rich...s=my+secret+war

I don't think the Spad was actually in service during WWII, but they were flown in Vietnam into the '70s.

Also used was the EC-121 constelation, and who could forget the AC-47 gunships known as puff the magic dragon, or spooky. C-119's were also flown in country as well as C-123's, all piston engines, Radials.

 

[Stelth]

The A-1 was used extensively in Vietnam. Amazing aircraft. The US also used the A/B-26 Invader, a WWII twin-engine bomber. The T-28 Trojan was also used as an attack aircraft to some extent.

 

[mechtech2]

My uncle flew the Douglas A-26 Invader in WWII.
They were flown in Viet Nam and later, until they simply couldn't be rebuilt anymore.
The A =attack or B=bomber designation was used or dropped,according to treaties and laws.
A fantastic and versatile plane.

 

[JetStar]

Ah, I forgot about the A-26, not to be confused with the Martin B-26.

 

[Spazdog]

The US still uses a propeller driven plane in combat.

well, not so much a plane as it is an archangel of death.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Not the only one: the P-3 Orion and the S-3 Viking are still used by the Navy as ASW patrol planes.

 

[andyd]

Yah the Orions flew out of South Weymouth during the Cold War. I didn't realize they were still in service. The wiki on the A 1 is pretty impressive.

 

[JHZR2]

Yeah I dont deny that propeller aircraft are still used.

Im just saying that in this jet age, the single/two person fighter/bomber/attack aircraft rendered piston/propeller aircraft obsolete. I thought that once the F-86 got on the scene it was over for the other planes... I was just surprised to see the A-1 used in this timeframe and application.

Really just lack of knowledge on my part. I grew up in the era where F14 and F15's were on my posters and the B2/F117 were mysteries that we built funky looking plastic models of because we didnt know what they looked at. I stopped reading much about airplanes after Gulf Storm.

Ships are my gig.

 

[andyd]

Back in '86 when the shipyard closed, I read Samuel Eliot Morrison's History of U S Naval operations 1941-1945 All 17 volumes, so ships are my interest as well. But I'm a motor head too. Propellers make for slow planes. When messing with infantry and tanks, speed is isn't key, Delivering the ordnance on target is. Surviving return fire is a plus too. What Heinneman(sic) did by shaving 1800 pounds off the first design was pure craft. It is what Duncan McKay did to clipper ship hulls in the East Boston yards in the 1800s.