Skyraider II
2025-03-03 20:57:19.894993+01 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
When I was a young lad, I was enthralled with airplanes. Sucked down everything I could about aviation. Flying right seat in my uncle's Cessna 150 was amazing. Looking down from that same uncle's cabin above Lake Sacandaga on the A10s flying low passes over the lake was similarly amazing.
Somewhere in there, I remember reading an article in a magazine proposing to bring back the P51 to fill similar roles to the A10, with the advantage that a piston aircraft could have different fuel logistics, that a taildragger would be more suitable for landings on rough terrain and makeshift runways, that the speed characteristics weren't that far out of line, and...
There are all sorts of reasons why it's not really a drop-in for that role, but it's the thing I flashed to when I read the Air Force getting the first of 75 OA-1K Skyraider II light attack fighters, a taildragger built on the Air Tractor 802 cropduster frame, that can carry 6,000 pounds of weapons, and cruise at 180 knots for 1500 nautical miles.
So much slower than the P51, very different role than the A10, but still interesting.