Able Dog Skyraider
Near the end of the second World War, the US Navy was looking for a replacement for their obsolete SBD Dauntless dive bomber. The Douglas aircraft Company designed and tested their new Dauntless II in March, 1945. From this initial production order, just prior to the end of the war in the Pacific, came the AD Skyraider. The term "Able Dog" for the Skyraider was originally from when this was the phonetic alphabet for 'AD'. The first version of the AD1 had gradual improvements made to its design, which eventually lead to the introduction of the AD-4 Skyraider in 1949.
With the outbreak of the Korean War, more than a thousand versions of this Skyraider were built as ground attack aircraft, Airborne Early Warning, night attack, and even special nuclear bombers with a center line ejector rack.
Skyraiders continued to serve with the Navy and Air Force through the time of the Vietnam War. However, the final Skyraider of a total of 3,180 airplanes rolled off the Douglas assembly lines in February 1957. It also served with various overseas foreign governments such as South Vietnam, Sweden, and France.
AD-4 (Bureau Number 123827)
The Fighter Factory's Douglas AD-4 Skyraider was built and commissioned into the United States Navy in 1949. During its first tour of duty, it was part of the VA-55 squadron that was deployed in the Korean War. After a short overhaul in late 1951 it returned to the war with several different squadrons – VA-175, VA-15, and VA-75. Its third and final tour of active duty ended in February of 1956 with the Marine Corps Squadron VMAT-20. It then spent 10 years on static display in Atlanta, Georgia, before being purchased in 1966 and restored back into flying condition by Dave Forrest of the Atlanta area. It was eventually sold to Dr. Bill Harrison, who then sold the aircraft to Wiley Sanders of Troy, Alabama. The Fighter Factory acquired the plane from Alabama in August 2000 and it was then flown to its current location in Virginia.
In the spring of 2001, it was decided to repaint the faded design scheme of the Fighter Factory's historic Skyraider. To correspond with the EAA reunion of the VA-195 Veterans at the 2001 Oshkosh Airshow, their squadron markings were selected for the Aircraft. This AD-4 Skyraider is painted to replicate the airplane flown by VA-195 Commanding Officer Harold "Swede" Carlson. LCDR Carlson led the VA-195 Squadron on the torpedo strike of the Hwachon Dam.
VA-195 Dambusters
During the USS Princeton's third cruise to the Korean Peninsula in 1951, Navy Squadron VA-195 was making their place in history, and also earning the name &nDambusters." The Chinese Communist Forces were using the sluice gates in the Hwachon Dam to flood the lower Pukhan River, thus preventing the United Nation Forces from crossing the river and proceeding northward. Air Force B-29's were sent to demolish the dam by dropping six-ton bombs on it. The Hwachon's gigantic concrete structure was barely cracked in the attack. Captain William Gallery, of the aircraft carrier USS Princeton, made the suggestion that the Skyraiders attempt to drop Mk-13 torpedoes on the sluice gates, thus preventing the Chinese Communist Forces from controlling the flow of the Hwachon River.
On May 1, 1951, the crew of the VA-195 squadron departed from the USS Princeton in their eight AD-4 Skyraiders with World War II era Mk-13 torpedoes hanging below their planes and escorted by eight Corsairs. Most of the VA-195 pilots were never trained to drop torpedoes, or fly in the narrow 40-foot wide canyon low enough to drop the torpedoes effectively. Six of the eight torpedoes hit the target, completely destroying one sluice gate and severely damaging another. The water behind the Hwachon Dam was released and the Chinese Communist Forces could no longer control the flooding of the river.
The attack on the dam by the AD-4 Squadron VA-195 earned them the nickname "Dambusters." The Skyraiders attack on May 1, 1951, was the last time the United States Navy used torpedoes in an actual act of war.
There were seven different models of Skyraiders built and several versions of each type. Skyraiders were used for combat in all weather situations, refueling, target towing, troop transportation, medical transport, photo reconnaissance, submarine detection and numerous other missions. The Skyraider not only played a major role in the Korean War, it was also an essential aircraft in Vietnam. The airplane was successfully used by the Navy and the Marines. Equipped with a Wright 3350 engine, the Skyraider could travel up to 410 kts while producing over 3000 horsepower. It is easy to say that the Douglas AD-4 Skyraider was one of the United Stated Navy's more versatile and effective airplanes.
