Part 1 DOUGLAS A-1 SKYRAIDER: The MASSIVE Single-Engine Heavy Recip 

Thanks for video! Had the honor to fly the A-1 in 1969-70 with 224 combat missions and close to 900hrs total. Was one great bird!

The firepower this baby packed made it a lifesaver to hard pressed infantry in a close support roll.

Really nice video. I know a Vietnam vet and the A-1 saved him and his team from being overrun several times. Great plane. Thanks.

EXCELLENT video. Thanks and greetings from Mexico City

Big, single engine attack bomber able to carry the same load as a WWII B-17! Now THAT is impressive!

The AD-6 was one of my very first model kits as a kid. I loved that aircraft.

Great vid! Even the propeller was a work of art!

Very good video ,basically due to the good flying scenes,and also the good comments/information. Thank you for bring it to us.

Another truly outstanding AeroDinosaur documentary!

Excellent channel. Informative and direct. No bullshit. Refreshing change. Bravo!

Thanks, the A1 is an amazing aircraft. It's got one engine but is fast, tough, an excellent ground attack aircraft and can carry twice the bomb load of a Mitchel B-25.

I flew two tours in Vietnam,70-71-72. Both tours I flew in an Air Cavalry troop. Air cav troops are somewhat self contained. By that I mean we have our own infantry platoon(Blues), our own maintenance section, and then we have our "Lift section",that is the Huey's, which also carry our infantry(ARPS= Aero Rifle Platoon), Gun platoon=our Cobra Gunships, and our Scout Platoon which we flew treetop level nice and slow to purposely draw fire giving the snakes something to do. I was in the Scout platoon, and my second tour was up on the DMZ,(71-72).As one can imagine, we often,(as in multiple times a day) ran into trouble and the guns rolling in with various rockets and mini gun fire to kill the enemy. But often up there we ran into stuff we didn't have the firepower to deal with so we would call for assistance. Sometimes it would be fast movers, one time we found MORE than enough that the Air Force FAC actually diverted a B52 airstrike heading for north Vietnam, to come our way and drop their loads on the large targets we found. Sounds great, but 99% of the eggs they dropped landed in Laos instead of the target which was right on the northwest corner of the DMZ, on our side. The FAC assigned to us then called for local support and sometimes we had AD's come and bomb the crap out of the targets we found, AND that was super ACCURATE bombing too. But most of the time we got diverted fast movers and they were only okay at destroying the targets. The AD's were THE BEST fixed wing close air support we ever had, and trust me when I say this, whenever you guys came to us, you destroyed first time-every time, and then we would go in and do a BDA and then you guys cleared the AO. So once again, I will thank you AD drivers for your superb close air support, and saving my ass many times. Over.

I worked on the A1 E at UT ,Thailand when it landed and refueled . It sure was great engine sound and short takeoff back to VN.

Great video.

Love this channel

A-1, P-47 and A-10 are all from the same heritage. Heavy, able to carry anything and devastating to the enemy for close air/fire support.

A-1 was the best aircraft I ever worked on. Wish I could go to Vietnam and find one. I was at NKP, Thailand from 72 thru 73. Alkeyhall

Whow, great job .collecting all these facts and technical data, í´ m very glad to see this, because i am a great skyraider-fan. I collected some Scale models of these type in Scales from 1/72 up to 1/32. A very impressive Airplane!

First saw this bird in a aviation magazine back in the nineties and immediately fell in love. Same with the Connies. They just look 'right'.

I worked on A-1's at NKP Thailand from October 1968 to June of 1969. This was after working EC-121D'S at McClellan AFB Sacramento California.

The picture of the AD-4 with the "Atlanta" fuselage band and model # 168 was the very first civilian AD. Restored to flying condition by Dave Forrest of Atlanta, GA. (BU# 23827) was a 12 year project. Dave didn't know at the time he was starting a trend. Great documentary! Thanks.

Surely enjoyed the splendid documentary on a splendid aircraft. If not stated directly, you most certainly alluded to the versatility of the Skyraider. On of the most unusual "variants" was as a "tanker"! I saw this while on a Mediterranean cruise (Lake Champlain, CVA 39) in 1957. Refueling-equipped Skyraiders were launched to provide emergency fuel for planes running low while in the landing queue. Bit of a strange sight seeing Cougars, Demons, and others, "nursing" from an A1.

Very nice. Neglected to mention that for the Navy, our primary mission between Korea and Vietnam was "nuclear delivery". The concept was penetration at about 100' theoretically below radar; and then lofting the bomb with 1/2 Cuban 8 maneuver. The engineers said we had a 90+% survival of the blast. No one talked about surviving to the target and back. We spent hour after hour doing low level navigation (typical flight about 7hrs), and practicing the loft maneuver. Fortunately never done operationally. The loss of Vietnamese pilots during training was fearsome; but, they persevered.

I was ships company on the USS Ranger CVA61, '64-66. 2 deployments to Yankee Station (Vietnam.) I watched one of the Skyraiders come back with damage. It was flying on ground affect and couldn't get up to flight deck level. After several attempts it was decided to ditch along side the carrier. The sea was moderately rough and the plane flipped on its top as soon as it hit the water. The helicopter was over it almost instantly but it sank with no sigh of the pilot. There was no ejection seat and no time to get out of the cockpit and onto a wing. They always deck launched. Wind the engine, release the brakes and chug down the deck. Neat at night, because at full take off power, the tips of the props produced an electric blue "flame." Bullet holes were "fixed" with a piece of tape and a rattle can of grey paint.

As an engineer, have always admired Heinemann and the simplicity of what he put together. Watching this video got me thinking, what would happen if someone put a modern turbo prop setup on the front of an A-1.

There was alot of exposure to A1 Skylanders in the movie Bridges of Toko Ri...actually had a scene where they had 2o or more A1s tied down on the deck of a big carrier and used the power of the propellers to maneuver the carrier into position at docking...

Loved this bird…got to fly it as copilot twice at Quonset Point for post maintenance test hop…power beast, would have loved to fly it in action.

I didn't hear it mentioned in part 2 but I believe a Navy A1 is credited with the first air-to-air kill of the VN war.

Dad flew these before he transitioned to F-4's. love em

Yes, we have that movie--engine audio is very accurate for a 1950's movie.

The EA-1E with the number 31 on the nose, bu#135178, is in fact the very last A-1 to fly in the Navy. In its original gray color it was assigned to the Navel Aerospace Medical Institute at NAS Pensacola. Its stated mission was for use in testing flight cadets who were experiencing motion sickness. After taking a certain medicine the would get in the back, pull the curtains so they couldn't see out, and the pilot would take them for a ride. Though this was, as I said, the stated purpose it was more often used for "training" flights. What better way to get in your required flight hours. I had the privilege of being the plane captain in '71 and enjoyed taking numerous flights beside the pilot, once flying from Pensacola to St. Louis and then on to the pilots hometown field in Indiana then returning. Pretty good duty for an enlisted man.

Great video! Referring to a previous post mentioning the "nuclear delivery" period during the late 1950's, as a pilot for VA(AW)33, our long range speed was 160 kts, rather than the 140 kt speed mentioned in the video. Just an FYI.

This video is great, but the music is crawling under my skin so deep I can't handle it.

Check e- mail, will try and add info on A-1 daily and also some issues about A-1 operations for Your Info! sent e mail on 56 SOW, and Sqd''s, enjoy. Brakes next!

I know the P-51 is the more popular of the prop warbirds but I think the A-1, P-47 and F-4U are the best looking and I think they are beautiful (the same as a classic pickup truck is). A great video series would be one on Ed Heinemann and all of his designs. He had so many great designs and his career was astonishing.

When I was at the Vungtau airfield in the 60s we saw a Vietnamese A1 circling the field . He made a few passes showing off before landing .when he lined up for we thought he was just doing a low flyby because the gear was still retracted . To our surprise he landed with the gear up . That big prop made a few strikes on the runway and it came to a stop on the runway . The top popped open and the pilot and a white women jumped out of the plane . They ran down the runway and down the road to the main gate and disappeared into downtown Vungtau . The AF took the plane away on a flatbed . Scratch one A1 .

Navy crash fire man 1964 to 1968. A1 was a bad ass resip and could carry anything.

Thanks for making top notch aviation history videos sir! I'd like to get you some beer if you visiting Indonesia 🍻

Kind of surprised you didn't mention one of the most attention-catching stats of the AD-1 [maybe in Pt.2?], that being that its lift capacity was the same as the famed B-17 of WW2 [mounted on external stores on the AD-1, of course!] 1 engine vs.4, and a crew of 1 vs.10. Now *that's* efficiency! ;-)

Very interesting presentation but also, such a rare pleasure nowadays to hear English used with such flawless precision.

Very cool. Although I must say, if I had to fly combat in ‘Nam, it would have been in an F-4 Phantom!

I built a model of this in early 80s in England and had it dangling off ceiling by fishing wire. Question: did those folding wings, with heavily loaded pylons, not cause stress problems on/around the wing hinges etc?

I’ve seen the sky raders working in Nam ,like bad ass they were💪

I love this plane. It is a workhorse.

those pilots were tough. god bless them all

ÓTIMO DOCUMENTÁRIO SOBRE Ô SKIRIDER 👍👍 🇧🇷

Very informative though I did find the music a little distracting.

I want an AD5! Why? Why fly if you can’t take your friends with you? Now all I need is money! Seriously,I’m watching the footage of the restored AD-5 making a low level flight over the airfield at an air show, and could only imagine how devastating it would have been with a pair of Gatling guns under the wings. What an amazing aircraft. All it needed in my opinion was improved armor, along the line of what is used today in the A10 warthogs.

What happened to the volume. I have music but no voice?

Thanks for the video. You could cut the first minute and 30 seconds from it.

Much data. Illustration with video/jpegs would help.

Sir, you look like Nick Nolte's older brother. The one that finished school

What's wrong with the sound?

that slow they really need to bring the hellfire

The Skyraider never really caught on as a sub hunter, at all, because, according to Squadron Signal's A-1 Skyraider In Action,(Aircraft #-246) (2nd Edtition), Douglas only built one AD-5S, so your statement about the Skyraider being a sub hunter is wrong.

Awesome presentation. Too bad most of the presentation was for all the A1E's brethren aircraft.

Did you talk about it’s duration? It could linger for hours.

And before becoming the A1D-x they were the BT2D-x.

I love the content, but for god’s sake, please drop the background music. It makes it difficult to understand the speaker! Very distracting! In fact, I would suggest that you re-upload all your videos without the music.

Sky raider was key to French defense of Dien Bien Phu.

It utilized a B-29 engine.

Wasn't one of its nicknames "The flying Dump Truck"

Thanks for the video. Some of us airplane nerds like the "Just the Facts" presentation. I will say, if you want more subbies, try adding explosions and ladies in sexy outfits. Me, I'll take the "Sandy", I am just that boring.

Im fairly sure we still use these in a limited role

The plain is well armed

Love these babes. I would love to see them in the Ukraine

The legend is wrong. It wasn't the Navy that who had problems with the Douglas BTD, but Heinneman (he considered it was only an interim design). He and his colleagues had been working on a better aircraft for weeks and asked the Navy for permission to withdrawn the BTD from consideration. They asked for 4 weeks to resubmit, the Navy agreed to the withdrawal request and gave them 16 hours to submit the new design scheduling the next meeting with the team from Douglas at 09:00 the following morning.

10 passengers

You have a great speaking style and voice, Consider getting rid of the distracting music in the right channel and record your voiceover on BOTH left and right channels. The music does not add to the presentation at all IMO. I appreciate the information and your knowledgeable narration but please ditch the music!

Lose the music! Or turn it down

Great video, but I recommend dropping the music. It is louder than the narration and adds nothing to the content.