And yet, while the 1960s were fought and won on behalf of the era of military airpower, speed and altitude were its passions, for every successive jet was faster and more streamlined than before. As the war against speed was being waged, a humble subsonic attack aircraft quietly set about becoming one of the most practical and affordable of America’s fighters. The A-7 Corsair II charmed the eye with neither shape nor speed, but captured hearts with utility, dependability, and pure flying excellence, and performed for U.S. forces to exceptional effectiveness for over 25 years. The origins of the A-7 start with the Navy’s ask for a replacement A-4 Skyhawk.
The supersonic aircraft were getting to be costly and hard to keep in good condition, and the Navy needed something that flew farther, carried more rounds, but was still low-maintenance. The choice was made in 1963 to design a new airplane, but rather than starting from scratch, engineers were tasked with taking an available platform and reinventing it as a means of saving time and money. Vought Aircraft, already familiar from World War II legend F4U Corsair, stepped up to the challenge to be met.
John Russell “Russ” Clark led the design team in embracing the F-8 Crusader as its parent. They shortened the fuselage by some ten feet, eliminated the variable-incidence wing, and replaced the afterburning engine with a more efficient turbofan. The outcome was a lighter Crusader but one whose performance qualities rendered everyone dumbfounded in terms of its range, payload, and reliability. What truly set the A-7 apart was its groundbreaking design.
The first US fighter to feature a heads-up display, the pilots could receive critical flight and targeting data without ever glancing at gauges. Its electronics, ranging from the AN/APQ-116 radar to subsequent improvements, delivered consistent bombing under adverse weather conditions, an astronomic quantum leap for the period. Its digital bombing system allowed pilots to deliver ordnance with unprecedented accuracy, transforming strike missions into revolution.
The Air Force A-7D was powered by the Allison TF41-A-1 engine, the U.S. version of the Rolls-Royce Spey, as well as aerodynamic improvements such as increased wingspan for providing lift and maneuverability. These collectively provided the plane with better range and excellent weapons capability. Its 1,200-mile-plus range in combat and its capacity to carry more than 15,000 pounds of ordinance on eight pylon points made the A-7 capable of delivering everything from indiscriminate bombs to cluster bombs, Walleye guided bombs, and Maverick missiles.
Though it was subsonic, the pilots loved the A-7 because it was forgiving. Fast and responsive yet stable and reliable, it performed like a jewel in the high-threat, low-altitude Vietnamese environment, where fast speed was less critical than stability and dependability.
Its ruggedness earned a legendary reputation. Pilots loved the armor-over-plated cockpit, redundant systems, and soundly built aircraft that permitted pilots to fly home intact after escapes from disaster. Navy and Marine A-7s completed more than 97,000 combat flights in Vietnam and lost only 54 planes, and Air Force A-7Ds flew nearly 13,000 missions with six lost. Those statistics only helped to further solidify the airplane’s unrivaled ruggedness and reliability.
The Corsair II remained effective far beyond Vietnam. It was utilized in Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, Libya, and the Gulf War, where it performed close air support and interdiction missions with accuracy. Its ability to repeat missions and deliver a precision payload made it an extremely capable weapon in the majority of wars.
The A-7 was upgraded countless times during its operational life. Early A-7As were upgraded into more powerful A-7B and A-7C variants with improved engines and new transmissions. The Air Force’s A-7D came with improved navigation, TF41 engine, and M61 Vulcan cannon. The Navy’s A-7E was the model’s high-water mark, equipped with the most advanced avionics and smart modern bombs carry capability. Allied air forces operating in Greece, Portugal, and Thailand flew the Corsair II into the early 21st century.
One of its greatest strengths was cost. Under $1 million per aircraft in the 1960s, the A-7 was half the price of the F-4 Phantom and similar. It was a fuel-sighter with its non-afterburning engine, and because it had clean, streamlined lines, it was a simple aircraft to fix for ground crews. Engines were simply swappable, and its systems were more dependable than those on the F-8 Crusader.
In hindsight, the A-7 Corsair II is a legend of combat air power. It showed that aerial dominance is not always a matter of speed or genius of appearance. Even all these years ago, since it was retired from military duties back in 1991 and the last ever flight by the Greek military in 2014, the Corsair II is still a hero to pilots, flight staff, and flying fans who are amazed at just how much this humble plane accomplished without ever cracking the sound barrier.