My father flew in 'Nam with the VA-52. The A1 was a work horse in Vietnam and the LAST of the true propeller warplanes in combat. There were even A1's that shot down Mig Jets!!!! Let's give credit were credit is do. The men who flew the A1 Skyraiders were true heros! They ought to have there own hour show on the Military Channel Wings Over...
The A-1 SkyRaider is one of the best aircraft flown. Not only as son of a spad pilot wrote that they shot down Mig 17's but this is the only plane I know of that was launched, flew, and landed from the deck of an aircraft carrier, WITH THE WINGS FOLDED. I served on one of the carriers that a spad shot down a North Vietnamese Mig. They were some crazy spad drivers as they were called. Additionally this plane could carry 150% of its weight in ordnance- or bombs. brian
An A1E had to land in An Khe (RVN) sometime in late 69. One of it's 500 lb napalm bombs was hung and our runway was too short for him to take off being off balance. We (25th EOD) removed it, took it back to our AO and cut it open with an axe, then lit it. That thing burned for 4 days, black smoke could be seen for miles. The A1 was about the coolest looking bird in our theater.
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