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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0742.PDF
742 FLIGHT Westland Wyvern S.4. : - MILITARY AIRCRAFT 1956 CARRIER-BORNE STRIKE 'THE aircraft dealt with under this heading have been specifically •*- designed for carrier-borne attack operations (against maritime and/or land targets) and no account is taken of the numerous types of naval fighter adaptable for strike operations, though allusion was made to certain of these under "Ground Attack." Though a new type of pure-jet, carrier-borne strike machine is known to be under development for the Royal Navy as a suc- cessor to the turboprop Westland Wyvern, the pre-eminent examples now in being are the Douglas Skywarrior and Skyhawk, respectively representing the heavy and light categories. The Skywarrior is notable for its ability to combine long range atomic performance with the execution of low-level strike or mining missions. GREAT BRITAIN -« : :s~ "7 Westland Wyyern S.4 Development of the U.S. Navy's DouglasSkyshark having been abandoned, the Wyvern remains as the only turboprop strike aircraft in service. The engine is an ArmstrongSiddeley Python of 3,650 e.h.p, driving g conua-fOiaiiiig Rotol air- screw, and gross weight is believed to be well over 20,000 1b. Fourwing-mounted 20 mm guns are supplemented by under-wing bombs, rockets, depth charges or mines, and a typical load is a 2,000 lb bomb orsixteen 60 lb R.P.s. Features include hydraulically operated Young- man lift flaps, air-brake flaps on the inner wings, and a wide-track, long-stroke undercarriage. Wyvern squadrons based in the United Kingdom are practised in artillery spotting and tactical reconnaissance.Span, 44ft; length, 41ft Win. U.S.A. Douglas A3D-1 Skywarrior The Skywarrior is the world's heaviest,most powerful, and (at two million dollars) most costly naval strike air- craft, and was designed to operate from the Forrestal class of carriers. Douglas A3D-1 Skywarrior. Its official U.S.Navy classification is "heavy attack."A three-seater (pilot,bomb-aimer and gunner/navigator), il is powered by two Pratt and Whitney J57 two-spool turbojets of some 10,000 1b thrust each, andweighs about 70,000 lb all-up. Level speed is well over 600 m.p.h. (it is reported that Mach 1 has been exceeded in a dive) and service ceiling41,000ft. With JATO, full-load take-off is possible from a U.S. Navy carrier without catapult assistance. Initial deck-landing trials have latelybeen conducted, as shown by the photograph reproduced at the foot of this page. As in other Douglas naval aircraft, particular attention has beenpaid to weight reduction. For example, there is a simplified belly-type escape 'chute whereby each crew-man slides, in emergency, feet firstthrough a trap door, which also acts as a wind break. Use of this method of escape is said to save 550 1b. (For every pound savedon equipment during the preliminary design stage, incidentally, Douglas were able to eliminate an average of 9 lb in wing and tail areas, power-plant, undercarriage, etc., while retaining performance at a constant level. Many aspects of the Sky warrior's design were the subject of a specialstudy in Flight of February 18, 1955, from which these are extracts: "The necessity for rapid deceleration in the air is a fairly obvious require-ment for all attack aircraft, and the A3D was provided with a pair of huge speed brakes, one on either side of the rear fuselage. Eachtakes the form of an unperforated panel hinged at its forward edge and opened against the airstream by a hydraulic jack. As the A3Dis not intended to be flown in formation it was found unnecessary to provide for partial brake operation; accordingly, the panels can beselected 'on' or 'off' by a Switch. As both brakes arc either shut, fully open, or moving together, it was not necessary to provide any 'cross-ship' connection. "The fuel system of the A3D was made unusually simple for anaircraft of such a size. Fuselage fuel is carried in two tanks already mentioned, which are of the self-sealing type. In addition, the wholewing forms an integral tank between the spars from the side of the fuselage to the wing fold . . ."The weapons bay is worthy of note. A few large stores—presumably nuclear—are carried by a single shackle under the centre wing, butthe majority of the stores carried by the Skywarrior are attached to a removable platform located approximately half-way up the weaponsbay (this platform can also carry an additional self-sealing fuel tank connected to the aircraft fuel system). The bombs supported from the
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