T
he A-7 Corsair II was not a hotrod in
the conventional sense. Its speed,
or seeming lack of it, initially caused
concerns. Capt Henry Suerstedt,
VAX (Heavier than Air) programme manager
at the time defended the aircraft by saying:
“You don’t carry coal in a Cadillac nor race a
pickup truck at Indianapolis.”
The A-7 was a subsonic light attack
aircraft, originally conceived by the Ling-
Temco-Vought (LTV) consortium as a direct
replacement for the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
in naval service and the Douglas Skyraider,
North American F-100 Super Sabre and
Republic F-105 Thunderchief in the USAF.
In 1962 the office of the Chief of Naval
Operations (CNO) launched the Sea-Based
Air Strike Study project to re-evaluate
priorities in light of the war in South East
Asia. The United States Navy naval air arm
at the time was built around the A-4 Skyhawk.
A more versatile aircraft was needed in the
1965-1972 timeframe.
The CNO study looked at 27 existing and
future projects. By the end of the exercise
this number had risen dramatically to 144.
Once the dust had settled, the requirements
for the VAL (Heavier than Air Attack Light)
design had been selected.
The US Navy had instructed that the VAL
should be 25% heavier and about 17% costlier
than the A-4E Skyhawk, but this was offset by
twice the range and double the payload. This
cost increase was, however, still acceptable
when compared with the cost of the General
Dynamics/Grumman F-111B, which the service
had been ordered to purchase; in fact three
A-7s could be purchased for each F-111B.
Vought became aware that the US Navy
wanted the VAL to be based on a modi ed F-8
Crusader and quickly established a design
team drawn from those behind the F-8. The
A-7 was declared the winner on February
11, 1964. A $24,119,698 contract for three
initial A-7A aircraft followed. A further contract
valued at $105.8m for four Lot II aircraft was
soon added. The US Navy would go on to buy
a total of 199 of the A-7A model.
Due to a contract term, Vought was
obligated to work hard to maintain standards
and delivery times or suffer heavy nancial
penalties if they failed to do so. Failure could
have cost the company as much as $65,000
per late day.DESIGN
The A-7 Corsair II shows its heritage from
the earlier F-8 Crusader with its swept wing
and outboard leading edge extensions. The
375sq ft (34.84m ) area of the wing is swept
back at an angle of 35° at the quarter chord
line. Wing thickness was set at a constant
7% and a NACA 65A007 section aerofoil was
selected. The wing has a span of 38.73ft
(11.8m) when fully extended reducing to
23.77ft (7.24m) when folded for use on board
aircraft carriers. It also features a singlehttp://www.aviation-news.co.uk 49A-7 CORSA IR II
LTV’S BOMB TR UCK
A veteran of both
the Vietnam confl ict
and the fi rst Gulf War,
the Ling-Temco-Vought
A-7 Corsair II packed
a punch, as Patrick
Boniface describes.
This US Navy A-7E Corsair II sports sand
camou age having taken part in Desert
Storm. US Navy48-55_a7DC.mfDC.mfDC.mfDCDC.mf.indd 49 07/01/2016 16:17