A Douglas AD-3E (BuNo 122906) and an AD-3S <i>Skyraider</i> of U.S. Navy experimental squadron VX-1 in flight, about 1950. Two AD-3Ws (BuNos 122906 and 122907) and two AD-3Ns (BuNos 122901 and 122911) were modified as AD-3E (search) and AD-3S (attack) aircraft in an experimental program to demonstrate the feasibility of hunter/killer antisubmarine teams. Under this strategy, the AD-3E and AD-3S would operate in pairs, with the AD-3E hunting for submarines, and the AD-3S destroying the submarine once it was found, like the Grumman AF-2W and AF-2S <i>Guardian</i>. Later, one AD-3S was fitted with an AN/APS-31 radar underneath the port wing, to see if the hunter/killer role could be combined in one aircraft. A tentative proposal for a combined hunter/killer antisubmarine aircraft was issued By Douglas in August of 1950, but the U.S. Navy requested instead that the first batch of AD-4Ws be given the ability to perform the "E" submarine hunting mission and the AD-4Ns be modified to perform the "S" submarine killing mission. Eventually, all AD-4Ws and AD-4Ns were so modified before delivery, or were retrofitted in the field. However, the first aircraft to incorporate both roles was the Grumman S2F (S-2) <i>Tracker</i>. The AD was never used in the anti-submarine role.
USN
1950
U.S. Navy Naval Aviation News July 1970 <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.history.navy.mil/nan/backissues/1970s/1970/jul70.pdf">[1]</a>