A fighter plane designed for the US Navy during World War II was still taking down jet fighters over Vietnam 20 years later

• The Douglas A-1 Skyraider was designed for the US Navy in the final years of World War II.
• The A-1, a piston-engine propeller plane, held its own even as the US embraced jet-powered aircraft.
• When the A-1 left US service in the 1970s, about 30 variants had been used for different missions.

On August 5, 1964, US Navy aircraft kicked off US air operations in the Vietnam War, launching from the carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation to strike North Vietnamese targets.