Re: Aircraft Used in Korea-AD's

[Love Shack <Home@DanSources.com>]

I believe that the Corsair was more plentiful in Korea
then the AD at the beginning of the war..

The AD was a new model AC the US did not need another
special purpose fighter after WW2 and suspect production runs were low.
The Corsair did have better fighter performance and carried
about the same war ordinance as the AD, initially.

My feeling based on the relative performances was that the
AD was easier to fly and land, safer overall, though a bit slower.
But not necessarily in full up war trim.  The AD had the
CurtisWright 3350 and the Corsair had the P&W 2800

It seems the AD was a good dogfighter in 1954 had to battle Chinese
La7 a dogfight off Tiawan shooting down 2 of the Chinese
attackers. Other Corsairs and AD Came to battle.

Here is the info from Cold War Shootdowns
26 July 1954 Two US Navy AD-4 Skyraiders from VF-54, piloted by William
Alexander and John Zarious,were launched from the USS Phillipine Sea (CVA 47) to
look for survivors from the Cathay Pacific DC-4 shot down four days previously.

They were attacked by two Chinese La-7s. A number of other VF-54 AD-4s and a
F4U-5N of VC-3 came to the aid of the USN aircraft. One La-7 was shot down by
AD-4 pilots Roy Tatham and Richard Cooks. The other LA-7 was shot down by AD-4
pilots John Damien, John Rochford, Paul Wahlstrom and Richard Ribble and the
F4U-5N pilot Edgar Salsig. A Chinese gunboat also fired upon the US aircraft,
but no damage was sustained.

Hope this helps.

However off topic I cannot understand this information regarding P47's!!??
22 May 1954 In combat with Six People's Republic of China PLAAF aircraft,
Republic of China Air Force pilots Chien and Yen, flying P-47s, shared in the
downing of a MiG-15.

Dan


Joe Brennan wrote:

> Here's a link from Naval History Office of Navy/Marine Korea OOB, the source
> I was using to suggest additional AD variants used.
>
> USAF use dated from 1964. At around the same time the type was selected for,
> and became a permanent mainstay of, the VNAF. Accounts I've read suggest the
> two moves were related: It was decided to equip the VNAF with them, the USAF
> was going to train the VNAF so got a small number themselves, and decided it
> was a suitable plane for their own SEA operations. It's also sometimes
> suggested the AF considered the AD as far back as pre-Korea, but new
> non-jets were not then acceptable in the new USAF.
> http://www.history.navy.mil/download/app25.pdf
>
> Joe
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ed Evanhoe" <evanhoe@arbuckleonline.com>
> To: <KOREAN-WAR-L@listproc.cc.ku.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 6:29 PM
> Subject: Re: Aircraft Used in Korea
>
> > Cookie & Mike,
> >
> > > >>AD is the original designation of the Skyraider (okay, for the very
> > > technical it was XBT2D-1). The A-1 was a change made after 1962 when
> > > McNamara standardized the designation system. <<
> >
> > Granted aircraft aren't my thing but I never have seen anything indicating
> > the USAF used ADs in the Korean War for ground support.  Would appreciate
> > knowing what units exactly did have AD's so I can update info on my web
> site.
> >
> > Ed
> >
> > Ed Evanhoe, PO Box 916, Antlers, OK, 74523-0916
> > Life Member: Special Forces & Special Operations Associations
> > Author:  DARKMOON:  Eighth Army Special Operations in the Korean War
> >