Just saw my first Mauler at Tillamook this weekend with another aviation junkie. We hit the Evergreen museum in June and love the Tillamook. It is a neat place with most of the warbirds flyable. Still oil on the floor under the engines. I loved the dive brakes on the Mauler and how they folded together to act as flaps.
Gregg

The AM Mauler should have been selected as the standard attack aircraft instead of the Skyraider,it was faster[591km/h vs 515km/h] and could carry a much larger load

A few years back,in Lubbock,Tx.I saw my first Mauler,and it at the time was a member of the CAF there. I was just intrigued by the size and the feel of the cockpit. And I was just chasin' some sparks and trippin' breakers. Thanx

In 1949 (Fresh from boot camp)I went to CAG-8, @ NAS JAX. was assigned to VF-82, over staffed, they sent me to VA-84. also overstaffed. When I got there, the chief pointed at the most beautiful plane I'de ever seen, (The AM-1Q) Said "Son, you're the plane captain, go clean 'er up." Only a short time though. CAG-8 shipped out and gave me to FASRON-6

The Tillamook Air Museum in Tillamook, Oregon, has one of these on display. It has the P&W R4360 engine in it. If you get a chance, I recommend the museum. It's less formal than many and is housed in a WW2 Blimp hangar. I actually prefer the Tillamook museum to Evergreen Aviation Museum at McMinnville, although both are good. The Spruce Goose is at Evergreen.

I was assigned to VA-84 during 1948-49. We received the AM-1 in December of 48 and carqualed on Midway several months later. The airplane was pleasant to fly if a bit heavy on the controls. Unfortunately it had a tendancy for the hook to bounce and was sent to the reserves who crashed a bunch for various reasons. Except for one occasion when a wingman chopped off a piece of my stabilizer, I survived my tour in the airplane without problems.

thawkins is right. The AM was powered by the P&W 4360. I was stationed at NAS Atlanta, Chamblee and worked on the AM line from 1951 to 1953. I now live in Pensacola. Old number 139, pictured at the Naval Aviation Museum, was one that the check crew I was in maintained. As a 19 year old youngster, I thought it was hot stuff to taxi that big bird around. That is a cut-away 4360 sitting next to 139.

Yes, Jean,the aircraft gained a mostly-deserved reputation for being hard to land on carrier decks, leading to the nickname of "Awful Monsters". However, pilots who liked the plane's payload read AM as "Able Mable." They flew from aircraft carriers from 1948 to 1950, when they were replaced by the Douglas AD-1 Skyraider.They flew from shore reserve bases until 1953. Hope this answers your questions!

Is this the plane that was also called the Able Mable and was used on aircraft carriers around l948 or l949?

Wrong engine!!! This aircraft was powered by th Pratt& Whitney R-4360 engine.