Skyraider pictures

Here are some of the Skyraider pictures from my collection. A lot of them have probably been seen before, but these are 8x10s most having the original memogragh stamps on them.

A few more. I have met the pilot that flew the Skyraider to the retirement ceremony in pic 0034. I was working on an A-1E in Chino years ago when a guy walked up to me and asked what the Bu. Number was on that aircraft. He called it a Queer Spad. I told him the number and he said he thought he flew that aircraft and that he flew the last U.S. Navy Skyraider mission in Vietnam. I thought, yeah right, B.S. He came back later with his logbooks and he had actually flown it before deploying to Vietnam. Turns out he really did fly the last mission and did the retirement ceremony. You never know..

Good shots!

The IMG 20130916 0009 is of interest as it is the prototype aircraft flying behind a Curtiss Electric propeller. The central hub fairing that covers the pitch change motor and the round CE decal on the prop are unmistakable. The CE prop didn't last long as vibration/harmonics became an issue and was replaced by the Aeroproducts A642. Thanks for that.