On the secret-helicopter hunt in Elmira, N.Y., Editor-in-Chief Bill Sweetman indeed found a unique military aircraft—the last survivor of 30 Douglas BTD Destroyer carrier-based bombers, kicked ...
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.