WarSimBox
Douglas AD-4 Skyraider, the in-game model
1949USADive bomber

Douglas AD-4 Skyraider

The Douglas AD Skyraider was a piston-engined attack aircraft designed just as the jets were arriving. Despite its single engine it could carry as many bombs as a B-17 and stay over the target for hours. It fought in Korea and Vietnam, doing well what jets could not: flying slow, low and long.

In a hotel room

As the story goes, Ed Heinemann and his team drew the Skyraider overnight in a Washington hotel room in June 1944, in answer to the US Navy’s call for a new dive and torpedo bomber. It flew in 1945, but the war was over. Simple, rugged and easy to maintain, it served for years alongside the jets.

Douglas AD-4 Skyraider, side view
Douglas AD-4 Skyraider: the in-game model from the side.

Korea and Vietnam

In Korea Skyraiders attacked bridges and dams; in May 1951 they hit the floodgates of the Hwacheon Dam with torpedoes. In Vietnam, as the A-1, they escorted the helicopters rescuing downed pilots and supported ground troops; in 1966 a flight of Skyraiders shot down a MiG-17 jet.

In WarSimBox

In the game it is the dive-bomber line’s second-stage aircraft: slow but very tough, it carries up to 3,600 kg on 15 hardpoints and has four 20 mm cannon. It can stay over the target for a long time.

Unlocked in the aircraft tree after researching Curtiss SB2C-4 Helldiver.

Top speed
517 km/h · 2,500 m
Climb
15 m/s
Sustained turn
20.3 s
Stall speed
149 km/h

These figures come from the game’s flight model (climb, turn and stall at sea level).

Fly it in WarSimBox