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McDonnell Douglas A4D (A-4) Skyhawk, QuickTime movie, 1.3Mb, 260x195.
| | Vought A-7 Corsair II
A-7A Corsair II: Disappearing from first-line American service in 1991, shortly after two squadrons had played a limited but nonetheless distinguished part in the UN-led campaign to drive the occupying Iraqi forces from Kuwait, the Corsair II was the US Navy's standard light/medium attack warplane for more than 20 years. The Corsair II's origins can be found in the US Navy's realization of the early 1960s that while the Douglas A4D (from 1962 A-4) Skyhawk was still an excellent light attack warplane, it was not fully optimized for the service's changing requirements. The Skyhawk had been conceived as the lightest type able to meet the service's requirement of the early 1950s, which emphasized the anti-ship mission and the ability to deliver a nuclear weapon. By the early 1960s the emphasis had shifted toward tactical attack with a heavier warload of more assorted weapon types, and though wonders were achieved in upgrading the Skyhawk toward this altered role, it remained an inescapable fact that the type had been schemed round a light warload and lacked the size, power and fuel capacity to deliver the weight of weapons now required over a useful combat radius. As development and procurement for the US Marine Corps as well as itself, the US Navy therefore began to plan its specification for a new attack warplane offering approximately double the warload/range capability offered by the Skyhawk. | |  |
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