flight of the intruder

[desert1]

Saw this Vietnam movie a few weeks back flight of the intruder, at the end of the movie a pair of prop driven fighter/ bombers came down and did some low level bomb runs, curious if anyone knows what kind of planes they were.....had a nickname, sandman.
Bruce

[John]

They were probably A1 SkyRaiders. That is about the only piston pounding aircraft used in a combat role in 'Nam. They could fly 'low 'n slow' and stay in the air a long time.

[desert1]

Right on

Just checked that plane on Google and I believe its the one....thanks for the answer to that......just on another plane topic, where I live in Nova Scotia during the 1950s the air force (Canadian) had a bombing range on the beach here in front of my house maybe 2000 feet away they straffed with 50 calibers and dummy rockets and bombs plus they had built a sighting tower on the beach, the place is still quarinteened, unexploded ordinance the planes were "Sea Hawks"or "Sea Avenger" I think anyway during the Korean war one of these type of planes actually shot down a jet in a dog fight!
Bruce

[desert1]

Sea Fury

Sea fury, not the Sea Hawk or Sea avenger......
Bruce

[wingnut]

Carb

You think rebuilding and settting the carbs on your 1100 is a PINA . You should see the carb on that old Prat & Whitney 2800. That's cubic inches not CCs. Carbs the size of a suitcase

[Ken Talbot]

Bet they wouldn't have those fine pilot screws that bust off so easily then have to be removed with a push pin...

[Jerry]

Just a side note...

Have a cousin who was a pilot during the Vietnam war. He flew a Piper Cub as a spotter, and was shot down 3 times, once over water. He doesn't talk about it much, even to his family. Anyway, there were a few other piston planes that saw service, although probably not classified as combat aircraft.

[desert1]

flyers and bikers

Back then and now seems a lot of bikers take up flying and visa versa flyers like a set of wheels under them instead of wings....
Bruce

[jeffe]

The Douglas A1 Skyraider was originnally designed at the end of WW2. Also as an FYI the Skyraider also know as a "Spad" had a Wright R-3350 engine, same as B-29. It was known under a different desigination. Can't remember it right off. It was designed by a man named Ed Heinimen {sic} who was at the time one of the leading designers in the world. He also designed the A-26, later know as the B-26 Invader that was a light twin engined bomber also put into service at the end of WW2. It fought ,just like the Skyraider, in Korea and Vietnam. He also designed the A-4 Skyhawk which was the jet that the guys in the movie Top Gun flew against. It was used in Vietnam and was the plane that Senator John Mc Cain was flying when he was shot down.
He designed many planes that were inovative and sometime swere thought impossible to do.

Sorry to be longed winded but this kind of stuff is my hobby and I am always interested in people like Mr Heinimen.

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

The Skyraider flew from Carriers and was known as "Sandy". They were great for low level suppression of ground troops, carrying 50 cals, small bombs, bomblets and napalm. They worked in close concert with the Rescue copters to recover downed pilots and were very effective because of their low airspeed and manuverablity. One of the largest Prop jobs to ever fly from carriers. They also seemed to have a realtionship to my Battle Cruiser because they were infamous for leaking engine oil all over every thing!

[desert1]

Sky raider

In the movie "Flight of the Intruder" they called the planes Sandy or Sandman but I think they may have used a standin prop plane as the plane in the movie doesnt quite look like an exact match for the SKYRAIDER on the google sight; an awesome warbird it really is....during the 1950s several Sea Furys crash landed here where I live, some on the beach some in local farmers fields, there are a few pictures in the area showing the downed Sea Furys.....as I mentioned in an earlier post Grand Desert area was a bombing range for Sea Furys.....

Bruce Doucette
78XS1100 Alpha

[jeffe]

They were armed with 4 wing mounted 20mm cannon, they also had numerous underwing hard points for anything from drop tanks, air to ground rockets, napalm,torpedos,mines, and up to 500 or 1000 pound bombs. The US Airforce also used the Skyraider in Vietnam. Th AF Museum has one on display that was used on a rescue mission and the pilot was the CMH. Some Skyraiders actually had room inside for passengers, causulties, or some cargo. The biggest ferature was that they could "loiter" for 4 to 6 hours and wait to be called in. It was common practice to actually pack a lunch for the pilot to carrry.The range of variants is amazing. Like many of the planes that Douglas built the user always wished that they had bought more of them. Here a place to see a little bit more of their history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-1_Skyraider

[Materi]

Re: Sky raider

Originally posted by desert1
....during the 1950s several Sea Furys crash landed here where I live, some on the beach some in local farmers fields, there are a few pictures in the area showing the downed Sea Furys.....as I mentioned in an earlier post Grand Desert area was a bombing range for Sea Furys.....

Hey that's pretty cool in its own right. Warbirds is a hobby of mine as well, and the Sea Fury is one of my favorites. I would have to look it up, but I think the Brits actually used the Sea Fury to chase down and "tip over" the V rockets towards the end of WWII. There was another British plane called the Tempest wich, as I recall was close to the Sea Fury. Talk about massive engines, Gigantamus! Though I think the Tempest may have used a water-cooled plant, but again I'd have to look it up. I actually got to see a Sea Fury up close at an Air Show in Gillette, WY several years ago, though it had a 4360 instead of the original Griffon installed, still what a sight and sound. When the guy was leaving the show, his prop became entangled in a barricade cable wich was tied to several steel posts attached to old steel wheels. He had to spend several months in Gillette for repairs. As I recall he was not too happy with the Gillette ground personell for not warning him that he was taxiing into the pylons.

[Pat Kelly]

One of my favorite planes (that my Dad flew) was the Grumman F7F "Tigercat". Only a few made at the end of WW2 yet before Korea. Fuselage was testbed for the F8F "Panther".

P38 "Lightning" is another design I like from that era.

[jeffe]

The Furys and Tempests used a couple of different engines. One was an air cool radial, and the other was the Napier Sabre. The Sabre was a liquid cooled 24 cylinder in an H configuration. The best way to descibe it would be to take 2 flat 12 engines, stack them on top of each other and gear them together. The planes with the radial were much more succeseful.