Type: single-seat carrier-based attack aircraft
Bureau Number: 159291
NMNA ID: 1993.577.001
Powerplant: one 66.6-kN (15,000-lb-thrust) Rolls-Royce Allison TF41-A-2 turbofan
Maximum speed: 1123 km/h (696 mph) at sea level
Initial Climb rate: 4572 m/min (15,000 fpm)
Combat radius: 1151 km (714 miles)
Service ceiling: 12,800 m (42,000 ft)
Weights: empty 8988 kg (19,744 lb); maximum take-off 19,050 kg (41,910 lb)
Armament: one M61A1 Vulcan six-barrel 20-mm cannon, plus up to 6804 kg (14,970 lb) of ordnance
Dimensions:
Span: 11.81 m (38 ft 9 in)
Length: 14.06 m (46 ft 2 in)
Height: 4.88 m (16 ft)
Wing area: 34.83 m2 (375 sq ft)
This aircraft is on loan from the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Pensacola, FL
The A-7 Corsair was a carrier based light attack aircraft designed to take the place of the A-4 Skyhawk. If the Corsair looked like a shorter version of the F-8 Crusader its because the Navy based its design request on Crusader's successful supersonic track record. The A-7 was given its popular name by manufacturer Chance Vought in honor of the legendary WWII F4U Corsair.
First deployed by the Navy in 1967 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger, the A-7 gained the nickname "SLUF", an anacronym for Short Little Ugly Feller (although its been suggested "feller" was often replaced by a more colorful term). While there would be downed pilots over the course of the war, in the initial months of service the A-7 squadron VA-147 flew 1,400 sorties losing only one aircraft.
In the 1980s, the A-7 supported operations in Grenada, Lebanon and Panama. In 1986 in a skirmish with Libya over the Gulf of Sidra, a Navy A-7 fired the first HARM missiles in combat destroying a Libyan radar station.
In the 1990-91 Gulf War, A-7 Corsairs made some of the last combat sorties of the war. The last Navy A-7s were retired shortly after they returned from the Persian Gulf in 1991.
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CV-10 was to be known as the Bon Homme Richard but was renamed in honor of the only American carrier lost in the pivotal Battle of Midway, USS Yorktown (CV-5).
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