Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

Carrier borne medium bomber

Power Plant:

Two 1,790 kw (2,400 hp) Pratt & Whitney R-2800-44W 18-cylinder two-row air-cooled radial engines; and one 4,600 lbst Allison J-33-A-10 turbojet

Specifications:

Armament:

Max bomb load of 5,400 kg (12,000 lb)

History:

The North American AJ-1 Savage was the first aircraft in the category of bomber with a strategic capability designed and built for the US Navy. On 13 August, 1945 a design competition was announced for a carrier-based aircraft capable of carrying a 4,536 kg (10,000 lb) bomb, the contract being awarded to North American Aviation, the aircraft being built at the Company’s Inglewood, California facility. Later it was decided that the aircraft should be able to carry the Mark 4 nuclear bomb. Three XAJ-1 prototypes were built, the first flying on 3 July 1948. It had two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 piston engines and a turbojet mounted in the rear fuselage. It entered operational service in 1950 and, in addition to the three prototypes, 140 examples were built. A total of 30 was converted to reconnaissance duties, and during their service they were also used for aerial refuelling.

To facilitate operations on US aircraft carriers the three-seat aircraft had folding outer wing panels and the tailfin. The turbojet was only installed for take-off and for increased speed near the target. Both the piston engines and the turbojet used the same fuel. Fuel capacity is noted above but in addition three fuel tanks could be located in the bomb bay with a total capacity of 6,200 litres (1,370 Imp gals) for extra long-range missions.

The Savage suffered its share of problems during development and initial service, two of the three prototypes being lost in accidents. First production aircraft entered service in September 1949 with VC-5 (Fleet Composite Squadron) and the first take-off and landing was made from the “USS Coral Sea” on 21 April and 31 August 1950 respectively. Most were in due course updated to AJ-2 configuration.

A photo-reconnaissance variant was ordered in August 1950 as the AJ-1P. This had R-2800-48 engines and the tail was redesigned. These initially had a three man crew but this was later increased to four and the fuel capacity was increased. A forward-looking camera and a number of oblique and vertical cameras could be fitted in the bomb bay, and photo flash bombs were carried for night missions. The AJ-2 incorporated the changes made to the AJ-2P and 55 aircraft were ordered. In 1954 the surviving XAJ-1 prototype was converted for inflight refuelling using a probe and drogue system. Later a number were converted to flight refuelling tankers with a hose-and-reel unit installed in the weapons bay. By 1962 only a few examples were still in service.

When the aircraft initially entered service it was too large and heavy for most US carriers except the Midway class but it did later operate from the Essex and Forrestal class carriers. However, the type was not popular due to its bulk and difficulty of operation on board, and it suffered teething problems, having been rushed into production and into service. Units equipped with the type included VC-6, VC-7, VC-8 and VC-9 and these became known as heavy attack squadrons in November 1955.

Photographic Squadrons VJ-61 and VJ-62, later VAP-61 and VAP-62, operated the AJ-2P from the mid-1950s, the former with the Pacific Fleet and the latter with the Atlantic Fleet. VJ-61 during the Korean War flew reconnaissance missions over the People’s Republic of China and North Korea and both units frequently provided photographic mapping for agencies other than the US Navy, including the Army Map Service, the Army Corps of Engineers, the US Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the US Departments of the Interior and Agriculture. Three were loaned to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). After the type was retired three were used by AJ Air Tankers as water bombers. One survives with the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida.

It would seem four examples of the AJ-2P operated in this part of the world in 1959 – 1960, known serials including 128051 and 129195. These aircraft were part of Composite Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron 61 (VCP-61), redesignated on 1 January 1949 to that designation, and were to provide aerial photographic intelligence for naval operations and cartographic mapping in the Pacific providing detachment for deployments aboard aircraft carriers as well as land based facilities. The unit had two permanent land-based detachments, one in Da Nang in South Vietnam and the other at Don Muang International Airport at Bangkok, Thailand.

There were also semi-permanent attachments, one in Osan in South Korea and the other in Townsville, QLD. It is not known at this stage what operations were carried out by the unit from Townsville. The aircraft from the unit on occasion visited and operated in Japan, Okinawa and the Philippines. Four of the unit’s aircraft operated in New Zealand during the months of November and December 1959 for operation Coastcrawl, this operation being aimed at photographing and mapping the entire coastline of New Zealand in detail, the US Navy keeping the original negatives taken by the aircraft and the New Zealand Government being able to obtain any images it desired. RNZAF units assisted in providing printing from the negatives and the aircraft in New Zealand were based at Ohakea. A spare engine for one of the AJ-2Ps was held in storage at No 2 Squadron ATC at Petone in New Zealand and is believed to have been left behind when the US Navy aircraft returned overseas, the engine being still in situ in 1963.

The flight operating in New Zealand was from VCP-61 based in Guam, was accompanied by a Douglas R6D-1 (serial 131627), and was mainly based in Ohakea. Serials of the AJ-2P at that stage are known to be 122915, 128051, 129185 and 134073. The aircraft were to be retired after the operations in the south Pacific and there is a story, which may or may not be true, that the US Navy offered to leave the aircraft in New Zealand for RNZAF use. Be that as it may, the flight of aircraft certainly left New Zealand and it is assumed were eventually scrapped.

A Savage was developed as the XA2J-1 Turbine Savage and was fitted with the Allison XT-40 turboprop in each position, this being essentially two T-38 turboprops mounted side-by-side in each nacelle and driving a two-part six-blade contra-rotating propeller through a gearbox. However, problems with this engine continued to plague it during its development stage and the project was cancelled.