Saga of the SkyRaider - A-1 Spad 80510 

Thanks for the story and for your service to our great nation.

Holloman? You mean Cannon AFB? Grab your Road Atlas.

B-52 80-100 years. Active TU-95/142 family 80-100 years. Active B-1B 40-50 years. Active TU-160 30-40 years Active F-16C/D/E/F 40 years active F-15C/D/E/EX 40-50 years Active Mig-21 family. Too many to list 60 years. Active AV-8B Harrier II 40 years. Active C-130 family. Too many versions. 70 years. Active UH-1 family too many versions. 65 years. Active AH-64 family 40 years. Active MI-24 family 50 years. Active MI-8 50-60 years active UH-60L family 40-45 years active TU-22M 45 years active A-10 A/C 50 years active Mig-29 family 45 years active. SU-27/30/33 family. 40 years. Active B-2A 30 years projected to 50. Active F-117A retired. After 20 years of service. F-111F/C 60 years Retired. KC-135 tankers 60+ years. Active. Due to retire. I cant beleive those still fly. E-3C Sentry 45 years active E-3E JSTARS 45 years active By comparison. Submarines have service life of 30-40 years. Surface warships 30-40 years. Aircraft carriers 50 -60 years. F-22A and Eurofighter have been in service around 15 years, and neither has achieved full planned combat capability. F-35A/B/C have been in service less then 10 years and have achieved partial combat capability. But Marines B versions is farthest along. Navy's C is last. SU-57 has no combat capability and force is less then 1/2 squadron strength of 6 airworthy airframes of which 4 are generated at one time. M1 family of tanks. 50 years. Active. Projected to 70. 155mm howitzer + 155mm artillery round. 90 years . No projected retirement. M-2 BMG .50 . 100 years and no sign of retirement. M-16/M-4/AR-15 rifle family 65 years projected to serve 90 maybe 100. AK-47/74 - 80 years. Projected in service to over 120. Shotgun - 180 years of service. No retirement, no projected replacement. Hand grenade - 500 years of service. No projected retirement Bayonet/combat knife - 8,000 (unknown) years of service. No projected retirement. No projected replacement. Infantryman - 10,000 (6,000 confirmed) years of service. Only weapons and tactics changed. No projected retirement. Includes PMC + mercenaries. No projected replacement Prostitute/sex worker/camp follower - 12,000 (unknown more) years of service. No projected retirement or replacement. MK1 eyeball. - 600,000,000 years if service across geo-history of Earth . No projected retirement or replacement. Brain (sentient consciousness)- At least 250,000 years of service to mankind across multiple species of man. No projected replacement. May or may not come with good judgement.

Very often...

God damn I bet that’s was one hell of a cool sight

2012 in Afghanistan I single handedly killed four trees, one brick wall and completely wasted an empty mud hut.

Ain't that the truth.

Great comment. Feel free to post on our channel at any time.

On F-35 work many different nations and that makes the interaction between teams difficult.

Thanks for your service to our great nation.

Andrew, were they maintenance heavy? They all seemed to be throwing oil in the pictures, by the look of the exhausts

6K pounds of ordinance, a regular dump truck! Low, slow and right on target! The Groundpounders friend with an unbelievable loiter time! Plus the ability to take a lot of hits!!

the watcher we have the Tucano

It’s from Brazil but it’s cheap and good

It's not sexy enough for expensive enough the right people got to make the money remember just cuz it's the best plan for the job don't mean s***

Thanks for your service to our great nation.

Thanks --

Thank you for your service Mr. Simmons!

Armond Simmons thanks for your sacrifice and service God bless you

Was there music playing the whole time you done it?

It would carry a greater war load. Have longer range. And be more resilient. And have more potent guns!

The reality is, the only things that would need to be updated are the avionics and ordnance.

I totally agree , if your going to replace the a10 with a prop plane give the job to a true warrior , proven in battle and can bring our boys home after taking damage .

@@ben41281 You would need a new engine nobody builds those engines let alone parts for those engines anymore.

@@louisbabycos106 the engines could be put back into production.

Mike OBrien wait... are you telling me that A-1 was able to carry A NUCLEAR BOMB? I’d buy that for a dollar!

VA-15 flew Skyraiders until switching to A-4 Skyhawks-which can carry nukes.

The A-1 was the A-10 before there was an A-10.

william larson-- Yes, never allow politicians to make tactical decisions ever. They usually get us in it, then refuse to help

A-1 was great until the commies were armed with russian SA-7 and plenty of 12.7mm, 37,57mm AA batteries made it tough for VNAF slow flying aircrafts. We held SVN from 72-75, the US being hipocriptes meeting the north behind SVN back. Not only US pulled almost all fighting units out by 72', SVN military aids were cut drastically. When the commies violated 1973 treaty, the US promised B-52 back, guess what, nothing happened! They just abandoned SVN after shaking hand with china and russia. And yes there were corruptions in SVN government and lack of great leadership too contributed to a total defeat!

The old Douglas plant has been taken over by the USAF as the Los Angeles Air Force Station and has been totally redeveloped except for the main assembly building which was sold to another aerospace firm. Strangely, the USAF has no concern for U.S. Navy aviation history.

This is an incredible story. I have read it twice.

One of the key design goals of the XBT2D-1 "Dauntless Ii" was to eliminate all crew but a single pilot. It was intended to replace the TBF/TBM and SB2C. The XBT2D-1 became the AD Skyraider which was redesignated A-1 in '62. (The original BTD was the predecessor of the TBD and SBD).

The A-1 was one brute of a fighting machine!

In his autobiography Heinemann said that under test they ran out of hard points for hanging bombs before they reached the point that the AD couldn't fly. Although the suspension was fully compressed by the load.

I thought that too, having lived there between 1964-1969. I remember when they were still Skyraiders flying there. VA-25 this bird belonged to, was stationed there.

It did and I was there . I have over 900 flight hours in EA1F Skyraiders flying rightseat as a NFO in a Electronic Warfare operation on Yankee Station Gulf of Tonkin

Lemoore still has a Spad “gate guard”. Quality aircraft along with the pilots that flew’em and the folks that maintained’em.

I would also add the A-7

I agree the A-7 Corsair,

SANDY was the air rescue mission.

"SANDY" call sign for SAR support flew with the "JOLLYS out of NKP Thailand with the 602nd SOW. A1's call sign "HOBO" flew truck interdiction over the "Ho chi minTrail" with 601st out of NKP. from 68 thru 73 I was there in 70' What an aircraft today's A10 is the reincarnation of that A/C.

They could land on a carrier. I believe the Navy wanted to get the Avgas off the ships as much as possible.

b: Why? Because the A-10 doesn't meet future needs of the services. It's slow and a sitting duck on a modern battlefield. Handheld SAM's make it unable to operate. Any other modern jet can deliver precision bombs and do the same job.

20 F105s attacked a bridge in N. VIETNAM and the bridge still survived. The 602nd Fighter Sq sent 6 A1s to hit the bridge. The first A1 put a bomb in the middle and destroyed the bridge.

I DO NOT RESPECT THE COMMUNIST PARTY RUNNG MY COUNTRY. IF YOU WANT RESPECT THEN GET THOSE SUM BITCHES OUT. UNTIL THEN, DO NOT TELL ME HOW TO FLY MY FLAG. MY FRIENDS, FAMILY, VETERANS SERVED, IN WWI & WWII KNOW EXACTLY WHY THIS FLAG FLY'S UPSIDE DOWN. DO NOT INSULT ME WITH I AM DISRESPECTING AMERICA AGAIN. GET YOUR ASSES EDUCATED AND LEARN HOW TO BE AMERICAN AGAIN. OR SHUT THE FRONT DOOR

@@howardwilkerson2958 I don't understand what that has to do with a music complaint, but great war story. Glad you made it home Howard,. Thank you for your service..

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