North American AJ-1 Savage

At the end of World War II, the US Navy requested a new bomber capable of launching directly from the deck of an aircraft carrier with nuclear weapons.
At first this was considered impossible for a typical carrier aircraft due to the size of the bomb, but in 1947 the Mark 4 bomb appeared, which could potentially fit in the bomb bay of a twin-engine bomber. In the same year, North American proposed the concept of a carrier aircraft with two piston engines supplemented by a jet engine to speed up takeoff from the aircraft carrier deck and improve performance in emergency flight situations.

After the start of the Korean conflict, several aircraft carriers equipped with the AJ-1 were sent to Southeast Asia, but no decision was made to use nuclear-armed aircraft.
These aircraft continued in service until the mid-1950s, after which they were transferred to ground-based training units or converted to tankers for in-flight refueling.

plastic model kit

1:72 scale

unbuilt / unpainted