Vought (LTV) A-7 Corsair II Projects

Yellow Palace said:
Looking at the A-7 designations, I think that there's something missing. Namely, the A-7F and A-7J

'But', I hear you say, 'that was the transonic version tested in the late 1980s.' Yes, it was. But that was out of sequence.

You see, after the US Navy's A-7E, the next available designation was A-7F. But instead, we got:
  • No A-7F until 1985
  • The abortive A-7G for Switzerland in 1972
  • The TA-7H prototype two-seater, later redesignated TA-7E
  • The A-7E for Greece
  • No A-7J
  • The USAF two-seat A-7K
  • The USN electronic aggressor EA-7L
Yes, the 'A-7H' for Greece is claimed to come from 'Hellas'. But I don't believe any such equivalent (or precedent) exists for Switzerland to receive the 'G' suffix. And, moreover, the A-7K and EA-7L form part of this sequence. Which means the A-7F and A-7J were either skipped for some reason, or assigned to a project that never materialised.

It's a distinct possibility that the A-7J was skipped to avoid confusion with the use of 'J' for Japan. But 'K' wasn't skipped for the United Kingdom, and there have been plenty of other J-suffix aircraft, so that's not conclusive. Skipping 'F', though, doesn't have any obvious explanation.

Looking at the timelines, any abandoned A-7F would likely date between about 1969 and 1972, while the A-7J would date between 1975 and 1979.
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A-7P and TA-7P... A-7As & TA-7Cs sold to Portugal.
 
I like the SLUFF, the ugly fatty aircraft that could a lot...
 
TinWing said:
overscan said:
Vought building two seat A-7E derivative (Vought V-519) as advanced trainer; seat advanced attack version, with F100 turbofan and second crew member space given over to 30mm cannon ammo also considered.

Source:
  • Air Enthusiast June 1972, p330
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The bit about the "F100 turbofan" leads me to believe that the YA-7F had a very long gestation period.
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It took a long time to work the bugs out of the F100 engine.

Per wiki, one of the proposed engines was simply the TF41 RR Spey with a modified F100 afterburner. The greater bypass ratio of the Spey meant 26klbs in afterburner instead of the F100's 23k.
 
Steve Pace said:
Who has some good stuff on the YA-7F? Talk about 'coming full circle," it almost re-evolved into the supersonic F-8 Crusader...
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Still wasn't as long as the Crusader.
A-7E was 46ft long with a 39ft wingspan.
YA-7F was 50ft long with a 39ft wingspan.
F-8E was 56ft long with a 36ft wingspan.

But it did have a much better wing than the Crusader.
 
Archibald said:

Shazam ! Vought proposal against the Hornet, 1975-76. Was an A-7E with an afterburning TF41, called "B-32K". Unfortunately not good enough to threaten the Hornet.
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The V-526 was the better option for a Hornet competitor as it was able to fulfill both the fighter and strike roles. Meanwhile, the Corsair, at its heart, was still a bomb truck.
 
SSgtC said:
The V-526 was the better option for a Hornet competitor as it was able to fulfill both the fighter and strike roles. Meanwhile, the Corsair, at its heart, was still a bomb truck.
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Given 90% of what the F-16 does today, an afterburning, stretched A-7 would do just as well. If not better, since the A-7F had a slightly bigger bombload (wiki/Jane's says "up to 17klbs" for the F16 versus "over 17klbs" for the A7F)
 
Scott Kenny said:
Given 90% of what the F-16 does today, an afterburning, stretched A-7 would do just as well. If not better, since the A-7F had a slightly bigger bombload (wiki/Jane's says "up to 17klbs" for the F16 versus "over 17klbs" for the A7F)
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The A-7F was also a denavalised version. A carrier capable "A-7F" would have a lower bomb load. Though likely still more than the Legacy Hornet did
 

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