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For educational purposes
The LTV A-7 Corsair II is a subsonic, carrier-capable attack aircraft used by the U.S. Navy and Air Force, known for its ruggedness, precision strike ability, and nickname "SLUF" (Short Little Ugly Feller).
These kits capture a legendary "bomb truck" famous for its role in Vietnam and the Gulf War, pioneering digital systems like heads-up displays (HUDs) for accurate, low-altitude bombing, despite its slow, unglamorous appearance.
The LTV A-7 Corsair II is a subsonic, carrier-capable attack aircraft used by the U.S. Navy and Air Force, known for its ruggedness, precision strike ability, and nickname "SLUF" (Short Little Ugly Feller).
These kits capture a legendary "bomb truck" famous for its role in Vietnam and the Gulf War, pioneering digital systems like heads-up displays (HUDs) for accurate, low-altitude bombing, despite its slow, unglamorous appearance.
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LearningTranscript
00:00The End
00:30A prototype aircraft
00:58takes to the air for the first time.
01:01This is the YA-7F,
01:03a response to a 1985 United States Air Force specification
01:07for a new close air support and interdiction aircraft.
01:28This is the YA-7F,
01:35a response to a new type of aircraft.
01:37This is the YA-7F,
01:40a response to a new type of aircraft.
01:43But this is not a new plane.
02:08The airframe of this aircraft had first flown nearly 20 years before.
02:14The new prototype A7F was the latest in a series of models developed from one of aviation's great successes, the Vought Corsair II, a plane that had first seen action on the 2nd of December, 1967, over Vietnam.
02:30They have an enduring reputation for accuracy in their strikes, but they also have their idiosyncrasies.
02:42In a supersonic age, they are subsonic, and certainly anything but pretty.
02:48Perhaps beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and their pilots did love them for their looks, but they love them more for their ruggedness, dependability, and accuracy.
03:04When the first A7s were used in Vietnam, they provided the Navy's carriers with an immediate boost in striking power,
03:14and they remained the big ship's standard light attack weapon far longer than could have been predicted.
03:21When the first A7s were used in Vietnam, they provided the Navy's carriers with an immediate boost in striking power,
03:28and they remained the big ship's standard light attack weapon far longer than could have been predicted.
03:34The Corsair II's first Vietnam missions introduced a new generation of navigation and attack avionics to the battlefield.
03:53Though these aids have been superseded,
03:59the airframe's soundness has been recognized and rewarded by technical updates ever since, and is still in service.
04:29Eight hundred and fifty-four of the fifteen hundred A7s built took part in the Vietnam conflict.
04:36They flew over ninety-seven thousand sorties in the Southeast Asian theater.
04:41Those missions were designed to deliver precise results.
04:45For a B-52 would pulverize broad acreage, the A7 would come in load to attack a specific target.
04:52The Navy flew them in Vietnam with twenty-seven squadrons.
05:14Fifty-four A7s were lost to enemy fire in those ninety-seven thousand Navy missions.
05:19The losses were higher with earlier models, because as weapons accuracy increased,
05:25so did the number of single-pass attacks.
05:28Still, the nature of the missions at valuable, well-defended targets made them highly dangerous.
05:34Relatively slow, low-level attacks invited retaliation.
05:38The North Vietnamese retaliated vigorously.
05:42So the losses were not excessive, and the returns in terms of strike accuracy were very impressive.
05:54Back in the forties and fifties, with the introduction of jet engines, and the results of research carried out during World War II,
06:00rapid advances were made in aviation design.
06:04Increasingly powerful engines were combined with sophisticated airframes.
06:08And a new aspect of performance, called avionics, changed the way planes were used.
06:14So the service life of a combat aircraft was relatively short, because by the time it had been deployed,
06:20a fighter or attack aircraft was well on its way to being outdated.
06:24The opening of hostilities in Vietnam found the Navy's attack planes in a period of transition.
06:40The type in service was the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk.
06:52This was a single-seat attack plane that had first been presented to the Navy in 1952.
06:57It had gone into service in 1956.
07:00It was the smallest and lightest jet adopted by the Navy,
07:03and was relatively simple and inexpensive to build and maintain.
07:07It performed accurately, but load and range limitations meant a limited service life.
07:13Douglas had done a fine job with the Skyhawk,
07:16filling a gap that had opened up when the Navy introduced heavier attack aircraft to handle nuclear weapons.
07:22Earlier attack types had been supplemented by fighter bombers,
07:26but when the limitations of jet technology forced fighters into more specialized shapes,
07:31they were unable to carry much additional load.
07:34This created a need for a light attack aircraft.
07:38In Korea, that role was taken by the chance-vaught Corsair One,
07:42the bent-winged F4U, one of the World War's outstanding fighter designers.
07:47It had stayed in production and service after 1945,
07:51and in Korea was a versatile and potent workhorse.
07:55But it did not have the load capability of other tanks,
07:59and was no longer competitive as a fighter.
08:05It passed into well-deserved retirement,
08:08to be remembered as one of the finest planes of its era.
08:13The Corsair's inverted gull wing symbolized an attitude of the Vaught Company,
08:18a willingness to adopt unconventional designs where they served a worthwhile purpose.
08:24But their first jet, the Pirate, was fairly conventional.
08:28The Pirate was ordered in 1944, and first flown in 1946,
08:33but was not particularly effective, and few were built.
08:37Vaught's next Navy design, the F7U Cutlass, was far more radical and far more successful.
08:44It re-established the company's good reputation with the Navy.
08:48In a period of innovation and experimentation,
08:51this was the most advanced and adventurous design to go into production.
08:56With two engines, no tail, and twin rudders set midway out on the wings,
09:01it was a single-seat fighter unlike anything in service.
09:05The wing was stubby and swept back at 38 degrees,
09:08and the plane resembles today's F-14 more than it did its contemporaries.
09:14The design of the Cutlass had started in 1945, and prototypes flew in 1948.
09:25Like many planes of its time, it was ordered in small numbers,
09:29and did not stay in service long.
09:31It suffered high attrition from accidents and engine failures.
09:44The elongated nose strut, which allowed a higher angle of attack during landing,
09:49also limited pilot visibility.
09:51The design, though a success, had other disadvantages that cut development short.
10:03By the time Vaught's next Navy fighter went into carrier service in 1955,
10:08it had passed Mach 1 on its first flight.
10:11This was the F-8U Crusader,
10:16which was to be the Navy's first 1,000-mile-an-hour plane in service.
10:20Its story began with a Navy request in September 1952
10:24for supersonic day fighter designs.
10:27The Vaught proposal won the contract in May 1953,
10:31and the experimental plane took off for the first time on March 25, 1955.
10:41At first glance, this is a far more straightforward aircraft than the Cutlass,
10:46but in fact, it was highly innovative.
10:49It was the first aircraft designed from the ground up
10:52to use the new design concept called Area Rule
10:55for minimum drag at and above the speed of sound.
10:58And its superb wing design introduced many refinements still standard on today's fighter aircraft.
11:04Today, the Crusader has an unassailable reputation.
11:09It had outstanding maneuverability, performance, and a powerful attack.
11:14In addition, it proved to have immense development potential.
11:17Back in 1955, two prototypes embarked on a test series so successful
11:31that by December that year, only nine months after the first flight,
11:35they were ordered into quantity production.
11:37There was no need for the third prototype,
11:43and the Navy orders were placed well before completion of the testing.
11:52Half the fuselage was occupied by the giant engine fed by the chin inlet
11:57and a large duct running down the center of the plane.
12:00The cockpit was perched right at the aircraft's nose,
12:04and despite the low drag canopy, the pilot had very good all-round vision.
12:10The wing was the center of outstanding innovation.
12:13The whole wing was pivoted, hinged at the rear to allow a variable angle of incidence.
12:18This was a response to the need of carriers
12:21and allowed slower landing and takeoff speeds without harming high-speed performance.
12:30Where the Cutlass had sacrificed pilot vision with its nose-up attitude,
12:38the Crusaders' hinged wings supplied good low-speed performance with a level fuselage.
12:44The pilot's view was clear, and the plane handled superbly, the best of both worlds.
12:50The variable wing had to be mounted on top of the fuselage, unusual in a fighting,
12:55but the level approach meant the plane could have shorter than normal landing gear,
12:59which retracted into the fuselage.
13:05Soon, a number of variants were being developed,
13:08including the 2N night fighter and the 2NE multi-role fighter bomber.
13:13The basic airframe was to appear in 18 production versions.
13:30In 1958, the F-8U-2 was introduced, an upgraded and refined Crusader.
13:36From this, in 1960, came the development of the 2N, a night fighter version,
13:42still making use of the standard Crusader features, like the airbrake and retracting refueling point.
13:48The Crusader already had its unguided rockets augmented with rails for the Sidewinder missile,
13:54but the 2N also had new powerful radar to provide target illumination for its own special version of the Sidewinder.
14:02The F-8 had been designed from the start for weapons versatility,
14:20and it was to serve as a launching platform for the majority of United States airborne weapons.
14:25Its high wing made stores mounting easy,
14:32just one of the factors that helped the Crusader do its job well.
14:36The design was so sound that it stayed in production from 1956 to 1965,
15:01and from 1960 to the late 1970s,
15:06the plane went through major rebuilding and updating programs.
15:10Almost all the surviving F-8s were rebuilt.
15:13At the same time, their contemporaries were simply junked as obsolete
15:17and no longer capable of frontline service.
15:20At the heart of the Crusader's success was the still very modern profile wing,
15:31a masterpiece of aerodynamic and structural design.
15:34In 1952, supersonic flight was still a realm of mystery and guesswork,
15:40but the Vought team managed to engineer a design of great understanding and clear vision.
15:45According to the pattern of the times, the Crusader should have had a short service life,
15:54but when specifications were issued for another breed of Navy fighter in 1955,
15:59Vought took the opportunity to rework the design again,
16:03this time as an all-weather interceptor, the Crusader III.
16:07If this competition could be won, the company would have an assurance of continued work.
16:22At the heart of the new version was the J-75 engine,
16:25a monster that pushed up the top speed of the Crusader by over 500 miles an hour to Mach 2.3.
16:32It also had a larger radar and provision for three big Sparrow missiles,
16:38but the most striking external change was the addition of hinged ventral fins to enhance maneuverability.
16:45Despite the era's theories of missile dominance,
16:49the Crusader kept its guns with their close-in fighting ability.
16:53This was not the case with the plane that beat it in the competition fly-offs in 1958,
16:59McDonald's superb F-4 Phantom.
17:05The Phantoms would, ironically, later have guns added,
17:08but at that stage, complete reliance on sophisticated missiles was a factor in their victory.
17:14The Crusader III was a design success and in many ways was equal to or better than the Phantom,
17:21but it was out of fashion.
17:24Its strengths did not satisfy the needs of the market.
17:27The Navy wanted a plane with two crew members and two engines.
17:31The Phantom was about to make its own mark in history.
17:35Five Crusader III's were built, only three flew, and the orders were cancelled.
17:45For Vaught, the rebuff was not only a disappointment, but a threat to the company's existence.
17:51It was now possible that production work scheduled to December 1964
17:56would be finished without any new orders to occupy the plant.
18:00The next Navy role to be filled was the replacement of the carrier's light attack planes.
18:17The excellent Skyhawk had entered service in 1956.
18:21By 1960, the Navy was looking for a replacement.
18:25In Vietnam, the light and nimble little Douglas planes were later to provide valuable service,
18:37and the Marines would order updated versions to replace their much-loved Skyhawks.
18:42But the carriers had different needs from the Marines.
18:46New Navy specifications were issued in 1963.
18:50The requirements for range and load were roughly double those of the Skyhawk.
19:05The Navy also set very tight production targets.
19:08Viability and maintenance schedules were specified.
19:11To help speed delivery and save money, it was made clear that all proposals should be based on existing aircraft.
19:28This also meant the Navy could make its selection with confidence in the technology and performance of the plane,
19:34and its ability to fill the naval attack role.
19:37The Navy's specifications were connected to the Navy.
19:40The Navy's specifications were connected to the Navy.
19:42one aspect of the Skyhawk's performance, its speed.
19:45The Navy's specifications were content with one aspect of the Skyhawk's performance, its speed.
19:47Studies had shown that a demand for supersonic capability would result in a heavier and more expensive
19:51speed.
19:52The Navy's specifications were content with one aspect of the Skyhawk's performance, its speed.
19:56The Navy's specifications were content with one aspect of the Skyhawk's performance, its speed.
20:11So no maximum speed was prescribed, and economy of construction and operation was stressed.
20:27The Skyhawk's replacement would be subsonic.
20:32The light attack requirement was issued on the 17th of May 1963, and the Vaught engineers set to work on the company's submission.
20:40At the head of the team was Russell Clark, one of the handful of distinguished American designers to have profoundly influenced the development of U.S. combat aircraft.
20:50He had been responsible for the Crusader's design.
20:53The Crusader began as the basis for the new Vaught proposal, which was declared competition winner on the 11th of February 1964.
21:02However, by the time the design was accepted, Vaught had strayed from the criteria.
21:08The plane was a new design.
21:10Certainly, it bore a strong family resemblance to the F-8, but there were almost no shared parts or equipment.
21:21The A-7 only retained some of the F-8's design features, like the low-turbulence chin intake.
21:28Overall, it was a new aircraft.
21:31Gone was the hinged variable incident's wing in favor of a steeper deck attitude and larger flaps.
21:37The wing was set high on the fuselage with ample clearance for a heavy store's load.
21:42It was moderately swept and tapered, giving delayed drag and better maneuverability.
21:48The original A-7s were equipped with multi-mode radar and a comprehensive navigation and attack system.
21:54This advanced electronics capability was installed in an airframe precisely modeled to the plane's mission.
22:01There were six stores pylons slung under the wings, carefully positioned to keep them in line with the center of gravity.
22:10The plane had a huge speed brake to help maneuvering during low-level attack missions.
22:16The power plant of the new aircraft was manufactured by Pratt & Whitney, an 11,000-pound thrust turbofan engine.
22:38This would give the plane a top speed of 578 miles an hour at sea level.
22:46Further company studies had confirmed that strike aircraft would gain little benefit from supersonic speed,
22:53except, of course, when trying to outrun fighters.
22:56There were only 42 steps involved in engine installation,
23:03and a four-man team of mechanics could remove an engine in around a quarter of an hour.
23:09Over time, the engine was assessed as marginally underpowered for the plane,
23:14and later A-7s were fitted with a sequence of progressively more powerful engines.
23:24The new planes were extremely impressive, with an unprecedented weapons-carrying capability.
23:42They had retained two of the Crusaders' four cannon, and, in addition, the A-7 could be loaded with a wide range of stores,
23:50up to a weight of 20,000 pounds.
23:53Other changes from the F-8 included a widened fuselage, accommodating a generous fuel load.
23:59An uplifted rear end to allow more deck clearance, and the Corsair's sophisticated navigation and aiming computers.
24:06The plane completed its first flight ahead of schedule on the 27th of September 1965, and flew 35 times in the next 33 days.
24:21It was publicly presented at a demonstration flight on the 2nd of November.
24:30Two A-7A aircraft were flown that day, one with a relatively modest but impressive bomb load, and the other with clean wings.
24:38The plane that was to become the new benchmark in naval attack aircraft was about to make the first step in establishing its legendary reputation.
24:47The appreciative crowd was treated to simulated attack passes at high speed, and dive bombing runs.
24:56The United States was by then embroiled in the Vietnam conflict, and here was a plane well suited to service in that theater.
25:19The Navy's contract had been very strict. Its targets and deadlines were backed by a range of penalty clauses.
25:26The Vought team was able to meet all but one of the requirements.
25:30The only exception was that the A-7A, with its wings strengthened for carrier operation, came in at 600 pounds over the designed weight.
25:39But with the plane performing beyond expectation, the Navy was happy to announce a contract for a further 140 production aircraft.
25:48As testing continued, the Navy became more and more involved with its new aircraft.
25:57Naval personnel began familiarization and training.
26:00Senior mechanics and armorers worked with company staff to refine servicing and maintenance techniques for the planes.
26:07As production swung into full gear, the first Navy pilots also became involved with the A-7A.
26:13Experienced Navy test pilots were first up. They began flying their own test series in parallel to the company's pilots.
26:25The Navy announced to the world its total satisfaction with the course of the plane's development.
26:30The A-7A seemed to be just what they were looking for.
26:35Despite several aircraft losses during testing, there had been no fatalities.
26:40None of the crashes gave evidence of design flaws. And so, the A-7A went into service.
26:45Initial carrier trials showed up the first major problems with the design.
26:57During launch, steam from the catapult was sucked into the intake, reducing the already low power.
27:03This could lead to a compressor stall. And while a permanent solution was being found, the Navy imposed a reduction of 3,000 pounds in take-off weight.
27:13The steam ingestion problem was to tarnish the A-7's reputation until the introduction of the B model with a more powerful engine.
27:22In spite of the problem with the engine's power, the Corsair was needed in Vietnam.
27:37Deployment of the planes into active service proceeded through 1967 with squadrons training on aircraft.
27:44On the 4th of December, pilots flying from the USS Ranger took the Corsair on its first combat strikes.
27:52The Corsair was pushed, produced by the Corsair at the Corsair as a result of the Corsair.
27:56The Corsair from the Corsair has been made to be used while the Proclaimers.
28:00The Corsair was moved away from the Corsair.
28:04And the Corsair was musun- from the Corsair as its first-high- belt.
28:07I was very well aware of the force and the Corsairnhals.
28:12The Corsair is so clear that it was not the case that it was used in the diagnosis of a the current application,
28:15the Corsair was finally alive.
28:17The Corsair was piered and the Corsair.
28:19The Corsairs from Ranger were soon being used in a variety of missions, not only interdiction
28:32against the bridges and roads of the Vietnamese transport system, but also against missile
28:37sites.
28:46On another type of mission, armed reconnaissance patrols, small numbers of aircraft spent hours
28:52taking advantage of the A-7's range, searching the Vietnamese roads for targets of opportunity.
29:08The raids were not to be without cost.
29:11The first A-7 lost was one of the original squadron aboard Ranger.
29:15It was hit by ground fire on the 22nd of December, 1967, 18 days after the first combat mission.
29:29The squadron aboard Ranger, VA-147, was to fly the Corsairs for almost two decades.
29:36They would be replaced by F-A-18s in 1985.
29:45From the first Vietnam deployment, under the leadership of Commander James Hill, the Ranger
29:50squadron tested the plane's war-making potential extensively.
29:55Their results confirmed what the Navy had been asserting for two years.
29:59Ranger was the world's finest light attack aircraft.
30:03And enthusiasm for the A-7 was not misplaced.
30:07The Navy's confidence was to be rewarded time and again by their rugged and dependable performance.
30:16The men of VA-147 were to have a long and eventful cruise, including a side trip to the waters off North Korea.
30:23The USS Pueblo, an intelligence ship, had been seized by the North Koreans.
30:28It would be the end of May, 1968, before Ranger was relieved by the USS America.
30:37During most of that time, Ranger had operated off the North Vietnamese coast.
30:42Her pilots flew their deadly missions from the Gulf of Tonkin against an increasingly well-organized air defense.
30:49The A-7, with its hitting power, fitted neatly into the aircraft complement aboard the carriers.
31:02The aircraft alongside them each had their own strengths, and the big ships often launched coordinated assaults using a variety of planes.
31:10These mass raids were called Alpha Strikes, and typically might consist of F-4 Phantoms, A-6 Intruders, A-4 Skyhawks, and the Corsairs.
31:21Together with supporting electronic countermeasures, tanker, and reconnaissance aircraft, a raid might consist of 50 planes, each with its own part to play.
31:40A variety of weaponry could be selected to make up a package for a sortie.
31:56For missions against the surface to air missile sites, Shrike missiles would be used.
32:01Whereas for an attack on a bridge, 500-pound bombs were loaded.
32:05Standard, in case of MIG attacks, were the Sidewinders.
32:25The variety of ordnance used with the A-7s, and the precision with which it could be delivered, emphasized the success of the Vought Team.
32:33If they had attained their goals, the reputation of the A-7 as a preeminent attack aircraft is now secured.
32:51The carrier's mix of aircraft included some outstanding types.
32:56Among these were the Grumman Intruders, the all-weather medium attack planes that replaced the venerable A-1 Skyrails.
33:02Specialized attack versions of the Intruders, they were also used as ECM and tanker aircraft.
33:11The A-7s shared the decks with the planes that had terminated the Crusaders' production, the F-4 Phantom.
33:17There were reconnaissance variants of the Phantom, but its primary role was that of fighting, with the Marines and the Air Force, as well as the carriers.
33:30One of the most striking-looking planes on the carrier deck was the North American RA-5C Vigilante, a two-seater reconnaissance aircraft.
33:47Vigilantes provided tactical intelligence with their infrared line scan, side-looking radar, and battery of cameras.
33:56Capable of Mach 2, they provided their services throughout the Vietnam conflict.
34:01The Crusaders had stayed in service due to their better ability to operate from small carriers.
34:14They deployed their four cannon and missiles to good effect in the skies of Vietnam.
34:20So valuable were they on the smaller ships that the Crusaders used by the Marines were withdrawn from land bases and refitted for shipboard deployment.
34:31This potent mixture of aircraft made the carriers major players in the air war over Indo-China.
34:42They could assert local air superiority over any target in North Vietnam and deliver devastating strikes.
34:50Their power from close offshore was such an immediate threat to the North that they could almost totally restrict the activities of Vietnamese aircraft over their own country.
35:01The carriers contained a complete air-fighting force.
35:08They could locate targets and assess damage with their recon flights and then strike with devastating power, clearing defenses as they went.
35:19Though the pilots were kept busy dodging anti-aircraft cartoons and surface-to-air missiles, much of the North Vietnamese firepower was electronically suppressed or showered with anti-radiation strikes.
35:31The targets identified in surveillance were dealt heavy and swift punishment.
35:36On the big ships, there was almost constant activity and bustling.
35:46The deck of the carrier is a noisy place, and at sea near Vietnam, there were very few days off.
35:52The attacks during rolling thunder went on without cause and thoroughly tested the big ships as single-weapon systems.
36:12They passed that test with flying colors.
36:15They passed that test with flying colors.
36:27Proving themselves in the midst of this frantic activity were the A7 Corsairs.
36:32They had completely won over their pilots.
36:35Initially, they were seen as just another F-8, and they were nicknamed Sluss, S for short, L for little, U for ugly.
36:45But although the name stuck, it became a term of endurance rather than of sport.
36:50The Corsairs multiplied rapidly, and by 1972, they had replaced most of the A4s as the Navy's light attack weapon.
37:10Their virtues were noticed in other quarters as well, with the Air Force giving the design an intense scrutiny as the candidate for the role of tactical fighter.
37:19They had ordered test planes only three months after the first flight.
37:27Designated the A7D, the Air Force variant went into service evaluation in April of 1968.
37:34The A7Ds were the first Air Force subsonic fighters in 15 years.
37:40They replaced supersonic types, which had proved to have inadequate load-carrying and loiter capability for the job in Vietnam.
37:47Only 72 of these Air Force variants were deployed to the war, where they performed well, not only in their attack role, but in flying search and rescue missions.
37:59In the course of one of these missions, an A7 stayed airborne for almost nine hours, achieved by aerial refueling and amazing pilot standard.
38:09In spite of their limited war exposure, the Air Force planes were of major significance in the story of the Vought Corsair.
38:16The U.S. Air Force had not been content simply to buy a Navy plane.
38:21They had stipulated several upgrades and changes.
38:24These changes made an already excellent aircraft into something even better.
38:39Navy orders for the early variants had totaled 462.
38:44199 A models, 196 Bs, and 67 Cs.
38:50These, with the 459 ordered for the Air Force, represented a major production route.
38:56But the Navy was very impressed by the changes made on the Ds, and ordered a similar plane, the A7E.
39:04Eventually, 535 of these were also built.
39:09The principal modifications in the new versions were a change of engines and a boost to the sophistication of the plane's equipment.
39:17The already remarkable accuracy of these planes now became truly phenomenal.
39:23The aircraft were very stable in flight, making them an excellent launching platform.
39:28With their new nav attack system, they excelled.
39:33This increased accuracy is believed to account for the far lighter losses in Vietnam operations with later models.
39:40They simply spent less time where it was dangerous, because the job was done more quickly.
39:51In another change, the two cannon were replaced by a single Gatling gun,
39:56firing 20-millimeter ammunition.
39:59For the first time, the pilot could select a rate of fire, 4,000 rounds a minute, up to 6,000.
40:06The E models were to fly almost as many Vietnam missions as all other models combined,
40:12as the A7s carved themselves a major part in the history of the Southeast Asian Air War.
40:18With a mission average of two and a quarter hours, 90,000 sorties means that the Corsairs spent well over 8,400 complete days aloft in the combat zone.
40:31When the nature of their missions is born in mind, their loss ratio not only makes sense, but it is surprisingly low.
40:38The final Navy Corsair combat operations during the linebacker raids from May 1972 to January 1973 involved mostly the later models.
41:03The campaign was an all-out effort to subdue the North Vietnamese tactical exploitation of the Paris Pistols,
41:10and included some of the fiercest raids of the war.
41:14The Corsairs flew a lot of the most dangerous missions against bridges and missile launch and storage sites.
41:26These sites were marked by powerful aircraft defenses, SAMs, AAA, and ground fire rising in a ragged but extremely dangerous curtain to meet the attackers.
41:37The A7s had a long road. The E-models flew some of the last missions in the spring of 1975 when they supported the Mayaguez rescue and the Eagle Pull and frequent wind evacuations of Phnom Penh and Saigon.
42:02Two years before, an A7D flying some 40 miles north of Phnom Penh had dropped the last American-delivered ordinance of the conflict.
42:12This event occurred around noon on the 15th of August 1973. Navy combat operations had ceased that January with the end of missions over Vietnam.
42:22The Corsairs have seen action several times since Vietnam days over Libya, Lebanon, Grenada, and the Persian Gulf.
42:43Each time they proved their worth and the value of their continued upgrading.
42:48But it was in the Southeast Asian skies that they really made their reputation.
42:53They are not the most glamorous aircraft, but then again, glamour was not one of the specifications.
43:00They represent a fine and enduring approach to a particular type of work.
43:05They can only reasonably be assessed in the light of that job.
43:08There is no doubt at all about the excellence of their record.
43:12For Vaught, hopes of further major sales overseas were not realized.
43:30The plane was twice selected by Air Forces, Canadian and Swiss, only to have politicians overturn the choice in favor of the cheaper and more basic Northrop F-5.
43:43In the end, only two foreign Air Forces equipped themselves with Corsairs.
43:47The Greeks bought 60 new aircraft and the Portuguese bought 50 that had been refurbished.
43:53The Greek planes designated A7H are essentially A7Es, built without carrier gear.
44:00The last of these was delivered to Athens in 1977.
44:04Greece also purchased six twin seat trainers, two serving with each of the three Corsair squadrons.
44:10The trainers were delivered in 1980.
44:23Since delivery of the Greek planes, Vaught's production has been limited.
44:30They have worked as subcontractors, producing assemblies for Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, among others,
44:35and undertaken some systems installation and assembly work.
44:39Together with other companies, they have also teamed to develop helicopter designs.
44:44Unlike the specially constructed Greek planes, the Portuguese aircraft, designated A7P, were refurbished ex-US Navy A7As.
45:09They had a more powerful engine and A7E standard navigation and weapons delivery systems.
45:15The last of these modernized A7s was delivered to Portugal in 1984.
45:26The Corsair has, despite its age, refused to die.
45:30On the 7th of May, 1987, a U.S. Air Force contract was issued to upgrade two A7Ds to a new standard for testing.
45:39These Corsairs had already received several updates during their careers, including a sophisticated low-altitude night attack system.
45:48The outstanding thing about the new specification was that as part of an extensive rebuilding,
45:54the planes were to emerge as supersonic for the first time.
45:59The Air Force is seeking an improvement in its air-to-ground support capability.
46:03A list of modifications specified is long and impressive.
46:09It is yet another tribute to the fine airframe that the Corsair II is still regarded as worthy of major modification.
46:17If the trials are successful, it is expected that over 300 of the now venerable planes will be rebuilt to fly on into the next century.
46:29major combustion blowing
46:43Infinity War
46:47Clinic
46:53Theordeal gesagt
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