AD Skyraider units of the Korean War

摘要

The hefty Douglas Skyraider has been described as the US Navy's most effective aircraft in the Korean conflict. No 114 in the publisher's 'Combat Aircraft' series describes the aircraft's early days as it succeeded such types as the Avenger and, to a lesser extent, the Mauler. More than 865 had been built by the outbreak of the 1950-53 war, and much of this title contains personal stories from AD pilots. While the standard attack Skyraiders are, of course, central to this book, others are not forgotten. Later variants included the AD-3Q/4Q ECM aircraft housing a radar operator, while the nuclear-capable AD-4B appeared over the war zone six weeks before the armistice. Little-known but covered here are the type's anti-submarine patrols -although North Korea had no subs, Russian naval vessels were often in the area. The US Marine Corps was reducing its Corsair fleet when the Korean War broke out and it was not until mid-1951 that it was able to send Skyraiders to the conflict, including AD-4Ws for AEW missions. Although the armistice came in July 1953, Marine Skyraiders rotated into Korea for several more years.