XAJ-1 Savage 121460 walkaround - lots of photos

[Chris Brame]

I've already posted a couple images of this plane on the scrapyard thread, but WIXer Leon (Woodsy Airfield) sent along a bunch more photos - enough that I'm giving it its own thread. To reiterate, this is the first North American Savage built, first flown in 1948. By 1967, its outer wings and engine cowls had been removed and 10,000 lbs. of iron was loaded in the bomb bay. In this configuration it was used for dead-load catapult testing (Question: Does anyone have info or photos of these tests? I'm trying to figure out whether the plane was manned and running/taxiable for the tests). By the mid-'70s it had gone derelict at the Naval Air Engineering Center at Mustin Field in Philadelphia; then at some point it was moved to NAS Norfolk and offered up for sale as scrap. Leon inspected the aircraft and took these photos on May 23, 1980:














Now for a look inside...


"View of Savage just behind pilot seat on left side"


"Looking aft behind pilot's seat"


"Data plate verifies aircraft as XAJ-1, BuNo 121460"


"Right side of cockpit - no seat or panel" (Note: Large gauge on the left is some sort of ammeter)


"Cockpit of 121460 ... Pictures taken during inspection period before award of aircraft" (Note: Several hand-written labels on panel; what I could decipher were notations for port and starboard tachometers, manifold, oil and fuel pressure, and oil temperature)


"Iron in bomb bay - view taken from steps into cockpit"


"Bomb bay loaded with 10,000 lbs. of iron for ballast, welded in place while aircraft was at Philadelphia" (Note: view aft is of jet exhaust port; the jet engine was removed in 1954 and the opening was used for refueling hose tests)

So there you have it. According to Leon, the plane was apparently headed for the museum at Pensacola, but a complete and flyable example (BuNo 130418/N68667, used by Avco Lycoming as an airborne jet engine test bed) was offered up. The XAJ-1 was purchased by Peck Iron Metal of Portsmouth, VA and presumably scrapped. Too bad some other museum didn't get it.

Many thanks to Leon for taking and saving these rare photos!

P.S. For you A-6 Intruder fans here's a closeup of NA-6A (formerly YA2F-1) 148617:

[lmritger]

It's often nigh on unbelievable to me, just how much naval aviation history we had littering the grounds of NOB Norfolk which either got sent elsewhere or crushed into beer cans. I very distinctly remember seeing the Truculent Turtle, the H8K Emily and the Pogo all sitting together when I was a kid in the 70s... at least all of those were saved. Seeing that the prototype AJ Savage AND a prototype Intruder were here for the taking and wound up in the shredder is depressing. Thanks for sharing these pics!

Lynn

[Woodsy Airfield]

Chris - All I can say is WOW!. You took some iffy photos and made them a complete story. Very nice work. By the way, when I told salvage yard officials I wasn't set up for a recovery of the Savage at the time, they offered me the A-6...one look at it and I figured it would have been an even bigger project...Thanks again...Leon...

[RHenry]

Sure hope someone got to save those -44 nose cases...

[Chris Brame]

Addendum: A couple notes to Leon from the Navy, re the Savage:



Can't find any info on a "Fourth Naval District Museum" - was it closed or renamed?
Wonder what happened to the Panther?