History

The North American AJ Savage was a a heavy bomber flown by the United States Navy. They were capable of carrying atomic bombs to give the US a nuclear deterrence from the early 1950s. A total of 140 were built.

The North American AJ was designed immediately after the end of World War II to give the US Navy a bomber capable of carrying an atomic bomb and flying from aircraft carriers.

The prototype first flew on 3 July 1948 and the first version, the AJ-1, began entering service in February 1951.

The second version, the AJ-2 was developed in the early 1950s and most AJ-1s were converted to this standard.

They served until the late 1950s, some as aerial tankers and others in reconnaissance roles, until they were replaced by jet powered bombers.

This model represents a AJ-2 flying with VAH-7 of the US Navy in 1956.

Anigrand 1/72 kit with Xtradecal decals completed by Leigh EdmondsJanuary 2014.

Data

MODEL: North American AJ-2

ROLE: bomber

TIME PERIOD: 1948-1960

ENGINES: two Pratt & Whitney R-2800-48W radial piston engines of 1864kW and one Allison J33-A-10 auxiliary turbojet engine of 2,067kg thrust

WING SPAN: 22.91m

LENGTH: 19.20m

MAXIMUM TAKE OFF WEIGHT: 23,973kg

MAXIMUM SPEED: 758km/h

RANGE: 2,787km

CREW: 3

ARMAMENT: up to 5,400kg of conventional weapons or one atomic bomb

SCALE: 1/72

KIT:

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