North American AJ Savage

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_AJ_Savage

The North American AJ Savage (later A-2 Savage) was a carrier-based medium
bomber built for the United States Navy by North American Aviation. The aircraft
was designed shortly after World War II to carry atomic bombs and this meant
that the bomber was the heaviest aircraft thus far designed to operate from an
aircraft carrier. It was powered by two piston engines and a turbojet buried in
the rear fuselage. The AJ-1 first became operational in 1950 and several were
based in South Korea during 1953 as a deterrent against the Communists. Of the
140 built, plus three prototypes, 30 were reconnaissance aircraft.
Inflight-refueling equipment was deployed on the Savage in the mid-1950s. The
bomber was replaced by the Douglas A3D Skywarrior beginning in 1957.

The AJ-1 was a three-seat, high-wing monoplane with tricycle landing gear. To
facilitate carrier operations, the outer wing panels and the tailfin could be
manually folded. It was fitted with two 2,300-brake-horsepower (1,700 kW) Pratt
& Whitney R-2800-44W Double Wasp piston engines, mounted in nacelles under each
wing with a large turbocharger fitted inside each engine nacelle, and a
4,600-pound-force (20,000 N) Allison J33-A-10 turbojet was fitted in the rear
fuselage. Only intended to be used for takeoff and maximum speed near the
target, the jet was fed by an air inlet on top of the fuselage that was normally
kept closed to reduce drag. To simplify the fuel system, both types of engines
used the same grade of avgas. One 201-US-gallon (760 l; 167 imp gal)
self-sealing fuel tank was housed in the fuselage, and another 508-US-gallon
(1,920 l; 423 imp gal) tank was located in each wing. The aircraft usually
carried 300-US-gallon (1,100 l; 250 imp gal) tip tanks and it could house three
fuel tanks in the bomb bay with a total capacity of 1,640 US gallons (6,200 l;
1,370 imp gal). Other than its 12,000-pound (5,400 kg) bombload, the bomber was
unarmed.


Role
Medium bomber

National origin
United States

Manufacturer
North American Aviation

First flight
3 July 1948

Introduction
1950

Retired
1960

Status
Retired

Primary user
United States Navy

Number built
140, and 3 prototypes

Developed into
North American XA2J Super Savage

When first deployed, the AJ-1 was too large and heavy to be used by any American
aircraft carrier except for the Midway class. The modernized Essex class
carriers with reinforced decks and the very large Forrestal class could also
handle the Savage. The aircraft was not popular aboard ship as "it was so big
and cumbersome that it complicated any other flight operations the ship was
required to conduct." One problem was that the wings had to be folded one at a
time by a crewman on top of the fuselage with a portable hydraulic pump, a
time-consuming process, so that the bomber could be moved out of the way to
allow other aircraft to land or take off. One pilot reported that the AJ-1 was
"a dream to fly and handled like a fighter", when everything was working
properly. The aircraft, however, was not very reliable, possibly because it was
rushed into production before all the problems could be ironed out.

Early in the Savage's career, squadrons would typically deploy a detachment to
Naval Air Station Port Lyautey, Morocco, for service with the Sixth Fleet and
fly the bombers aboard aircraft carriers that were already deployed to the
Mediterranean as needed. The plan was that the Savages would then be loaded with
atomic bombs already aboard the carriers and launched once the carriers were in
the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The tactic to deliver the bombs was to fly at low
level through Bulgaria and Romania before climbing at maximum power to the
proper altitude to release the bomb. The aircraft would then perform a wingover
maneuver and dive to low altitude, keeping the tail of the aircraft aimed at the
target to avoid serious damage from the shock wave of the explosion.

Specifications (AJ-1)

General characteristics
Crew: three
Length: 63 ft 1 in (19.2 m)
Wingspan: 71 ft 5 in (21.8 m)
Height: 20 ft 5 in (6.2 m)
Wing area: 836 ft2 (78 m2)
Empty weight: 27,558 lb (12,500 kg)
Loaded weight: 47,000 lb (21,363 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 50,954 lb (23,161 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Allison J33-A-10 turbojet, 4,600 lbf (20 kN)
2 × Pratt & Whitney R-2800-44W radial engines, 2,400 hp (1,790 kW) each


Performance
Maximum speed: 471 mph (409 kn, 758 km/h)
Range: 1,731 mi (1,505 nmi, 2,787 km)
Service ceiling: 40,800 ft (12,440 m)
Rate of climb: 2,900 ft/min (14.7 m/s)
Wing loading: 63.2 lb/ft2 (309 kg/m2)
Power/mass (prop): 0.091 hp/lb (150 W/kg)
Thrust/weight (jet): 0.087

Armament

Bombs: 12,000 lb (5,400 kg) of conventional bombs or 1 nuclear bomb




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