I was in Iceland last August and this plane was island hopping from France back to the States. Someone with extra cash purchased it and had it brought back over. According to the ferry pilot, the guns had to be removed and shipped back to the states prior to departure from France. He had to cover the holes with 100mph tape and you can see it in the pic. It was heading to Alabama for restoration. Our PA took several pics and this is one of them. I thought I'd post this one up for the Skyraider fans.

It's a beautiful old AD.

A couple more to chew on....

Thank you. I spent a lot of time and sweat under those old Birds.

If I was king for a day or rich, I'd love to fly on some old war birds such as the Corsair, B-17, etc. The closest I've been so far is some 1940/50's Beavers and Otters during hunting trips. I was able to sit up front as ballast. It was quite the treat to rumble across the lake taking off and landing.

I don't mean to come off as a smart A-- or know it all but twenty years ago I belonged to an air Mueseum in Topeka,Ks. I was fortunet enough to ride in a lot of old war birds. For seven years I went to the annual airshow at forbes field. Duering that time I rode in the following.
B-17
B-24
HE-111
B-25
A-26
PV-2
C-47
TBM
AT-6
I miss those day's.

quote:

Originally posted by ordmate:
I don't mean to come off as a smart A-- or know it all but twenty years ago I belonged to an air Mueseum in Topeka,Ks. I was fortunet enough to ride in a lot of old war birds. For seven years I went to the annual airshow at forbes field. Duering that time I rode in the following.
B-17
B-24
HE-111
B-25
A-26
PV-2
C-47
TBM
AT-6
I miss those day's.

That's an impressive list. Consider yourself lucky.

The pilot doing this ferry flight said he is checked out in many old war birds. It sounded like this was his job. Buyers and collecters would pay him to ferry aircraft back to the states. This particular job he was doing was somewhat gutsy (or crazy). He was flying over open ocean, single pilot, by himself. The leg crossing the Davis Strait from Greenland to New Foundland was a long one over open ocean. I could tell he was slightly nervous by the questions he was asking us (Coast Guard). He must have made it to Alabama though. We never heard anything from him.

My older bother used to work on them Skyraiders at Marine base Quantico.

How does the old saying go:: If I had a doller for every time I;; Well, If I had a doller for every pound of Ordnance I helped hang on those old spads I would have been a millionaire. But like a true Sailor I'd have spent it on houses & lots.

TVC John:--- Great photos of a great aircraft. Thanks! Military Channel had a program on recently about the Skyraider--- That plane could do just about anything.

Im not sure if I remember all the correct spect's. but It seems that those old birds could linger ,T.O.T. for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. You could hang a ton of Ordnance on them and the 20MM cannons could chew up anything you shot at.

If you can catch it, the Military Channel has the program Great Planes. The show about the Skyraider was on a couple weeks ago.

quote:

Originally posted by gumbydammit:
If you can catch it, the Military Channel has the program Great Planes. The show about the Skyraider was on a couple weeks ago.

Thank's Gumby. I've seen it and the one on this forum in shock and awe.

Neat pics.
I know they were revered for the amount of ordnance and timeon station they had.
Friend of mine's father flew them in VN.

I was at Bien Hoa, the world's biggest airshow in 1968.
I was hitching a ride back to camp in a Caribou.

There was a Spad in line ahead of us with stuff hanging all over it.

It turned onto the takeoff strip and something big fell off and rolled to the side.

They held things up til some guys in a couple vehicles roared up and policed it up with some gear they had.

Excellent condition...I hope the Folks at the airshows realize it's history...

Just for the record. You can go to youtube and watch over 50 videos of Skyraider's. I watched over 100 videos of about every kind of aircraft you can think of earlier. Airshow buzz is another good site. Military.com has a 5 min. video on shock and awe. "douglas skyraider", I've watched it several times.

The neat thing about the Skyraider is that it came in so many different versions. From a single seater to a 4-person cockpit. There was even a transport version that could hold 6 or 8 people.