A-1H Details: ‘Lieutenant America’

I shot these pics of a restored A-1H, "Lieutenant America", at Lonesome Pine Regional Airport in Wise County, Va., back in 2011.For a restoration, this Skyraider compares well to photos from Wayne Mutza's book on A-1's in Vietnam, Bert Kinzey's A-1 monograph and the Squadron Walkaround. These pics came in handy when I did my Tamiya A-1H MiG killer a couple of years back, and they should be of use doing the ZM Spad as well.

Some things to note:

• The only framing on the windscreen is the bow framing. The 'frames' on the front are seams where the armor 'glass' sets against the inside of the windscreen.

• The 'helmet hook' just below the port windscreen is actually a visual approach reference for carrier landing, but it did get a workout as a hat rack.

• The landing gear mains have a variety of placards on them for oleo loading and servicing, They are VERY noticeable.

• Tamiya left them off their kit main gear struts, but there are very noticeable anti-shimmy struts that run from the axle tow links diagonally across and front of the struts up into the gear wells.

25 additional images. Click to enlarge.