Pilots and tankers!

For the last part of our sneak peek at incoming reinforcements for development in War Thunder, here is our current vision to further enhance the national trees of air vehicles in the game. We will be highlighting the most noteworthy models not yet introduced and today we present to you our vision (not final) for American aircraft.

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AJ-1 (North American AJ Savage)

Developed from a US Navy request for an attack bomber able to carry nuclear weapon - the AJ-1 was the largest aircraft carrier plane of that time. Powered with two piston engines and a turbojet engine buried in the fuselage “Savage” was a fast plane, capable of flying 471 mph (750 km/h). Speed was it's main defence as the plane did not have any defensive armament but could carry up to 12,000 lb (5,400 kg) of bombs. The “Savage” started carrier operations in 1950, it was used in 1953 as nuclear deterrent in the Korean War and many of them went through a conversion to fuel tankers and reconnaissance aircraft known as AJ-1P / AJ-2P. In January 1960 planes were pulled out of active service.

P-61 "Blackwidow"

The P-61 Black Widow was developed by Jack Northrop based on a request by British Royal Air Force for a night fighter. The USAAC joined the program a bit later and in January 1941 a contract for prototypes was signed. The P-61 was a big plane for a fighter, powered with two Pratt & Whitney radial engines that were capable of pushing it to 366 mph (589 km/h). Armed with 4 x 20mm Hispano M2 cannons in the ventral fuselage and 4 x .50 cal machine guns in remotely operated fully traversing turret on top of the fuselage the plane had very formidable firepower. Four bombs up to 1,600 lb (726 kg) each or six 5 in (127 mm) HVAR rockets could be equipped for ground attack. It had 3 crew members and SCR-720 radar set which was used to guide pilot to targets. The P-61 was credited with scoring the final kill of the war when it shot down a Nakajima Ki-44 "Tojo" on August 14/15.

A-1 "Skyraider"

Designed during WW2 to fulfill USN requirement for single-seat, long-range torpedo/dive bomber, the “Skyrider” went into service in 1950 and in the years to come proved to be a great ground attack machine armed with 4 x M2 Hispano cannons and up to 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) of ordnance on 15 external hardpoints. The First “Skyraider” went into the action from the Valley Forge with VA-55 on 3 July 1950 and last “Skyraiders” were taken from USN/USMC/USAF service in 1972, while serving in the French l’Armee de l’Air in Chad until 1976. This truly remarkable plane was serving in both the Korean and Vietnam war and was also flown by British, French, South Vietnamese and Swedish air forces. The Plane was also used as an early warning aircraft equipped with a powerful radar.

Join the discussion about the future of the American aircraft tree here!

Also take a look at the British, Japanese, Soviet and German trees!

The War Thunder team