A-7D Corsair - Weirton, West Virginia
Posted by: BruceS
N 40° 23.432 W 080° 35.657
17T E 534433 N 4471183
Vietnam War era air force attack jet on display at the Brooke-Hancock County Veterans Memorial Park in Weirton, West Virginia. This model was used by the US Air Force including the Air National Guard, this one used by the Pennsylvania Guard.
Waymark Code: WMK57H
Location: West Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 02/14/2014
Views: 9
"The Ling-Temco-Vought A-7 Corsair II is a carrier-capable subsonic light attack aircraft introduced to replace the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. The A-7 airframe design was based on the successful supersonic Vought F-8 Crusader. It was one of the first combat aircraft to feature a head-up display (HUD), an inertial navigation system (INS), and a turbofan engine.
The Corsair II initially entered service with the United States Navy during the Vietnam War. It was later adopted by the United States Air Force, including the Air National Guard, to replace the Douglas A-1 Skyraider, North American F-100 Super Sabre and Republic F-105 Thunderchief. The aircraft was also exported to Greece in the 1970s, and Portugal in the late 1980s...
The U.S. Army was not permitted to operate fixed-wing combat aircraft, but it nevertheless required close support for its troops in the field in South Vietnam. To meet this need, the Army pressured the United States Air Force for a specialized subsonic close-support aircraft that would suit its needs better than the general-purpose supersonic aircraft that the USAF preferred.
The Vought A-7 seemed to be a relatively quick and inexpensive way to satisfy this need. However, the USAF was initially reluctant to take on yet another Navy-designed aircraft, but Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara was insistent, and on 5 November 1965, Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown and USAF Chief of Staff General John P. McConnell announced that they had decided to order a version of the Corsair II, designated A-7D, for the Tactical Air Command.
The A-7D differed from the Navy's Corsair II in several ways. For one, the Air Force insisted on significantly more power for its Corsair II version, and they selected the Allison TF41-A-1 turbofan engine, which was a license-built version of the Rolls-Royce Spey. It offered a thrust of 14,500 pounds, over 2000 pounds greater than that of the TF30 that powered the Navy's Corsair IIs. Other changes included a heads-up display, a new avionics package, and an M61 rotary cannon in place of the two single-barreled 20-mm cannon. Also included was a computerized navigation/weapons delivery system with AN/APQ-126 radar and a heads-up display." - Wikipedia