Douglas A-3 Skywarrior - Development

Development

Early in World War II, the U.S. Navy began to explore the concept of a jet-powered aircraft operating from aircraft carriers. Success encouraged further development of the concept, and early in the post war years, the U.S. Navy began to consider jet power as a possible means of operating carrier-based aircraft that were large enough to provide a strategic bombing capability.

In January 1948, the Chief of Naval Operations issued a requirement to develop a long-range, carrier-based attack plane that could deliver a 10,000 lb (4,536 kg) bomb load or a nuclear weapon. The aircraft was planned to operate from the proposed United States-class "supercarriers", much larger than existing carriers, and the specification set a target loaded weight of 100,000 lb (45,500 kg). Ed Heinemann, chief designer of the Douglas Aircraft Company, later to win fame for the A-4 Skyhawk, fearing that the United States-class was vulnerable to cancellation, proposed a significantly smaller aircraft of 68,000 lb (31,000 kg) loaded weight, capable of operating from existing carriers. The contract which the U.S. Navy awarded to the Douglas Aircraft Company on 29 September 1949 led to the development and production of the A3D Skywarrior. The prototype XA3D-1 first flew on 28 October 1952.

Considerable development problems, largely with the original engines, delayed the introduction of the Skywarrior until spring 1956. The A-3 was, by far, the largest and heaviest aircraft ever designed for routine use on an aircraft carrier, though ironically it was the smallest proposal among other proposals which could only be deployed on even larger carriers not yet in service. Because of its cumbersome size, and less-than-slender profile, it was nicknamed "The Whale" (after it converted to the electronic warfare role, it became "The Electric Whale"). Production ended in 1961.