The Flying Volks

The traditional boast of new war-planes--as of new automobiles--is that they are even faster, fancier and lovelier than their predecessors. No such claim can be made for the Navy's newest jet bomber, the A-7A Corsair II. Its touted virtues, in fact, include slowness, cheapness and unfashionably simple gadgetry.

With a top speed of under 600 m.p.h. (v. 1,800 m.p.h. for the F-lll), the stubby, single-seat craft cannot even fly all-weather combat missions. What the Corsair does have, however, is almost twice the range (4,000 miles) and twice the bomb capacity (20,000 Ibs.) of any light attack jet that is currently in the U.S. arsenal.

"It's a good solid weapons system that we think will serve us well in Viet Nam," says Vice Admiral Thomas Connolly. "In a conventional war, there are always targets, like gun emplacements on a hillside, that can't be hit by radar. The only way to hit them is by eyeballing them first." Since most of the Navy's and Air Force's operational jets were designed primarily for quick hit-run attacks in a nuclear war, they have neither the fuel capacity to loiter long over targets nor the armor plating to withstand ground fire.

Combat-Bound. As the first plane developed for close support of ground troops since World War II, the Corsair has both. It can loiter for more than four hours over a target and withstand hits by small-caliber ground fire on any of its vital parts. Just as important is the fact that--like a Volkswagen--it requires relatively little maintenance and can be outfitted with a new engine in less than an hour. Its normal armament includes two 20-mm. machine guns, plus any combination of the 200 varieties of bombs and missiles in the Navy's air arsenal. In addition, it has an advanced computer system that delivers its projectiles with pinpoint accuracy.

First conceived by the Navy in 1962, the plane went into development in 1964 because of its unique serviceability in Viet Nam. Ling-Temco-Vought, maker of the gull-winged propeller-driven Corsair fighter of World War II, produced the first craft in 18 months, has since delivered more than 125 Corsair IIs to the Navy, which has ordered 1,500 (estimated cost per craft: $1.4 million, v. $9.75 million for the F-111B). The Air Force has ordered approximately 500. The Corsair II will replace the Navy's A-4E Skyhawk and the Air Force's F-100 Super Sabre.

Though the Corsair II is not expected to edge out the two older planes before the early 1970s, the first of the new jets will soon see combat. When the carrier U.S.S. Ranger left Alameda, Calif., last week for Viet Nam waters, she had aboard a squadron of the deadly new beetles.

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