I removed the tailhook and filled in the area under this monogram 1/48 Douglas Skyraider because I assumed the tailhook was only on the Navy versions of the Spad.
Apparently I was wrong as most of the reference photos I have seen have the tailhook on the USAF versions of the Sandy’s.
Oh well, I guess my kit will not be completely accurate. [:D]
Mike
Mike you should know better! allways look at the reference before building, [:D]
Oh well maybe I should just keep my mouth shut, god knows how many times I have made mistakes like that.
Is there no way of geting that filler out again??
No one will know, except you & everyone on this Forum[:D].
The Navy version is the only version of the Spad. The Air Force pulled a bunch of them
out of the Boneyard for use in Viet Nam.
Ray
Did they ever remove them on some of the Spads?
The photos on this review of the Tamiya A-1 shows a photo of a VNAF A-1H without a tailhook:
http://m2reviews.cnsi.net/reviews/viet/cama1.htm
Mike
I think the reason the AF left the hooks on was because they were used for emergencys when battle damaged to ensure a quick stop. The F-100, F-105, and F-4"s all had them. I believe most bases had the “poor man’s” vesion. A bunch of anchor chain on each side of the runway connected to the cable across the runway. Only one chance at a “trap” though. In the ealy 90’s I witnessed an “arrested” stop at the Naval Air Station at Bell Chase, La. after an Airshow. An F-14 was having landing gear problems and was unsure if they were in the locked position so they took the “trap” at the end of the rundway. The gear was okay and they just made a quick stop as designed.
The Fort Smith airport has a cable system that can be set up in short order in an emergency. The pilots of the 188th practice with it every-so-often. Yes, the F-16s have a tail hook, also.
They had to use it once on an A-7D of the Tulsa guard unit when it had a brake problem. I was at the end of the runway watching. Kinda neat to see it in action.
Randie [C):-)]
I just got of the phone with a friend of mine who was a wrench turner during Vietnam and asked him about this question. His reply was that when the AF first started recieving the A-1’s they left the tail hooks on but when work was required in that area of the plane and the tail hook was removed they didnt replace it. His reasoning was that AF planes didnt need it. Personaly I think it took time away from thier card games. 
So even without the tail hook you have an accurate model. (except that you filled in the well)
Thanks Aidan.
As I mentioned in the post above, the VNAF A-1H in this photo does not have one so what your friend said makes sense.
Mike
I don’t know about tailhooks, but there are some nice pics on these sites:
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2000/12/stuff_eng_detail_skyraider_01.htm
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2000/12/stuff_eng_detail_skyraider_03.htm
http://www.australianwarbirds.com/gallery_1.htm
http://www.communique.se/boh/doc15.html
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2000/12/stuff_eng_detail_skyraider_02.htm
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/AWA1/401-500/walk418__Skyraider_Andrew_Worstencroft/walk418.htm
http://www.integration.co.nz/aviation/aircraft/Thai/taf2.jpg (don’t know about you guys, but I can’t see a hook on this on. But then, it is in the Thai Air Museum!)
Just looked at some of my old pics from NKP. Two H’s, no tail hook and an E with hook. NKP had a barrier trap rigged for ememgency landings because it was the forward recovery base for all types of aircraft, with/without hook.[2c]
