By the end of the Second World War, with operational analysis demonstrating that Navy fighter squadrons had protected the carrier-based strike aircraft so well that defensive crew-manned weapons had proven superfluous, the Navy moved away from the multi-place dive bomber and torpedo bomber strike aircraft, and settled on one single-seat aircraft capable of undertaking both the dive bomber and torpedo strike roles, the Douglas AD Skyraider.

      The Skyraider was good, but it was World War II technology, powered by a piston-engine, with performance little better than that of the aircraft it replaced so far as speed was concerned.  The Navy looked at the jet engine and knew that was the future, they just didn't know how to bring jet engines onto carrier decks, while still providing the range and ordnance carrying-power necessary for carrier warfare.

      One power plant many designers were looking at on both sides of the Atlantic in the immediate postwar period was the turboprop, which seemed to offer higher speeds, while still offering low-speed controllability that would allow a turboprop-powered aircraft to operate off existing carrier decks.  In England, this resulted in the Westland Wyvern strike aircraft, which saw limited service aboard Royal Navy carriers, but acquitted itself well in its one experience of combat, Operation Musketeer, known to history as the Anglo-French Suez Intervention of 1956.

      Shortly after the Skyraider entered service and demonstrated its excellent qualities, Douglas Aircraft suggested a turboprop-powered evolutionary development.  The airplane would be approximately the same size as the Skyraider and capable of similar load-carrying.  With an aerodynamically cleaned-up airframe most notable in a much thinner wing, and with the 3,035 shaft hosepower with 1,225-lb exhaust thrust of the Allison T-40 turboprop, it was estimated the "Skyraider successor" would be capable of nearly an additional 200 mph top speed, while maintaining the range capability, maneuverability, and carrier qualification of the existing aircraft.

      The Navy ordered the Douglas proposal as the XA2D-1 "Skyshark," with two prototypes.  The first flew on May 26, 1950, with the second several months later.  The two Skysharks were able early on to demonstrate that the estimated performance figures Douglas had quoted to the Navy were achievable; an order for 331 A2D-1s was made that fall as Chinese Communists armies overran the UN forces in North Korea and the Skyraider was proving its worth in the crucible of war.

      Unfortunately, the Skyshark had an "Achilles heel," that being the main bearing of the Allison engine, which was basically two J-40 turbojets linked by this main bearing to provide power to the contra-rotating propellers.  Allison seemed unable to overcome the problem.

      At the same time that the Skyshark was undergoing the ordeal of being equipped with what turned out to be an undependable engine, Douglas' Chief Designer Ed Heineman proposed a new light attack airplane to the Navy.  It would be turbojet-powered, it would have the range to hit the enemy, the speed an maneuverability to protect itself, and the ability to carry one of the new lightweight nuclear weapons. 

     With the advent of what would become the Douglas A4D-1 Skyhawk, the hulking Skyshark was cut back to five production aircraft, which only made limited flights before the Navy moved on to adopt state-of-the-art technology embodied in an airplane that would become known as one of the true "greats" of naval aviation.

      Skyshark BuNo 125484 managed to evade the wrecker, and ended up out at the Planes of Fame Museum at Chino.  Many museum visitors used to marvel at the huge airplane as it sat on the flightline, completely unflyable, but exuding a certain mystique in its look.  This airframe still exists, and is up in Idaho today, the property of John Muszala, one of the original "Chino Kids."

     Before the release of this Dynavector kit, the only other kits ever made of the Skyshark were a very old "desktop model" created by Allyn in about 1950 , and a very nice 1/72 vacuform by Rareplanes, produced in the 1980s.  The Allyn kit was picked up by Microscale in the early 1980s and released with new decals.  I know several modelers - including myself - who attempted to bring this up to contemporary standards (it had - I believe - five parts, not counting the stand) with a scratchbuilt cockpit, scratchbuilt landing gear, vacuformed canopy, etc., etc.  I never saw one finished, and my own ended up one of those boxes of parts that went out to become land-fill.  The Rareplanes vacuform was - as was the case with most models from this company - very nice, with raised detail, and built up into a very acceptable model.  It can still be found and for those who build in 1/72, it is still "the model you have."

      Dynavector began producing vacuform kits in the early 1990s, and this Skyshark was the sixth of their kits.  It is the second most-popular Dynavector kit, the "soul mate" Westland Wyvern being their most popular kit; with over 3,700 sold world-wide, the Wyvern may be the most popular vacuform kit ever made.  The Skyshark is a worthy companion.

      Main parts are vacuformed on two large sheets of thick plastic.  Detail parts, including cockpit detail, landing gear, props and underwing ordnance pylons, are in white metal.  The decal sheet, which covers the three production Skysharks to ever fly, is from Fantasy Workshop. Earlier reviewers had noted that the white decals were not sufficiently opaque to successfully go over a Glossy Sea Blue paint scheme, but the decals from this kit - a new production copy made since Taro-san moved back to Japan - presented no problem when applied; it is likely the complaints were noted when new decals were printed.