This color educational/training film is about the new AD-1 Skyraider, an American single-seat attack aircraft. Copyright 1947.
Opening titles: U.S. Navy Training Film – Aircraft Recognition AD-1 Skyraider (:08-:42). POV cockpit footage of shooting from the plane at a target on land and at sea. Shooting at targets. AD-1 Skyraider plane flies above the clouds. Tail of the AD-1 Skyraider. Torpedo and Scout Bomber planes fly. AD-1 Skyraider flies and has a new feature – fuselage brakes (:43-2:20). AD-1 Skyraider flies at different speeds. AD-1 Skyraider flies above the clouds. The narrator explains the features of the AD-1 Skyraider (2:21-3:53). AD-1 Skyraider does a 360 and twists and turns. AD-1 Skyraider goes upside down and flies straight down. Aerial shot of the AD-1 Skyraider. A person waves the plane down to land on the runway. The plane comes in and lands (3:54-5:50). The propeller shuts down. The pilot exits the cockpit and climbs down on the wing. Bombs on the wings of the AD-1 Skyraider. A torpedo can also be placed on this plane. AD-1 Skyraider goes higher and higher into the sky with its bombs in place. The plane does a dive bomb maneuver (5:51-7:52). AD-1 Skyraider turns and dives. Aerial shot of the AD-1 Skyraider. AD-1 Skyraider fires its cannons, then does a 360. Features of the AD-1 Skyraider are explained. AD-1 Skyraider lowers its wheels down and heads for the Cruiser to land on. AD-1 Skyraider flies with the setting sun in the background (7:53-9:57). End credits (9:58-10:05).
The Douglas A-1 Skyraider (formerly AD Skyraider) is an American single-seat attack aircraft that saw service between the late 1940s and early 1980s. The Skyraider had a remarkably long and successful career; it became a piston-powered, propeller-driven anachronism in the jet age, and was nicknamed “Spad”, after the French World War I fighter. It was operated by the United States Navy (USN), the United States Marine Corps (USMC), and the United States Air Force (USAF), and also saw service with the British Royal Navy, the French Air Force, the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF), and others. It remained in U.S. service until the early 1970s.
The piston-engined Skyraider was designed during World War II to meet United States Navy requirements for a carrier-based, single-seat, long-range, high performance dive/torpedo bomber, to follow-on from earlier types such as the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver and Grumman TBF Avenger. Designed by Ed Heinemann of the Douglas Aircraft Company, prototypes were ordered on 6 July 1944 as the XBT2D-1. The XBT2D-1 made its first flight on 18 March 1945 and in April 1945, the USN began evaluation of the aircraft at the Naval Air Test Center (NATC). In December 1946, after a designation change to AD-1, delivery of the first production aircraft to a fleet squadron was made to VA-19A.The AD-1 was built at Douglas’ El Segundo plant in Southern California.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
