Cross Keys in Chamblee in DeKalb County, Georgia — The American South (South Atlantic)

AD 4 Skyraider Navy Attack Plane

Photographed by Tracy Andersen Roberts, June 21, 2026

1. AD 4 Skyraider Navy Attack Plane Marker

Inscription.
AD 4 Skyraider
Navy Attack Plane

Donated to the City of Chamblee and DeKalb County by the Officers and Men of the Naval Air Reserve in honor of those who trained and flew from this field

1941 - 1959

Erected by Officers and Men of the Naval Air Reserve.

Topics. This memorial is listed in these topic lists: Air & Space • Patriots & Patriotism • War, Korean.

Location. 33° 52.594′ N, 84° 18.233′ W. Memorial is in Chamblee, Georgia, in DeKalb County. It is in Cross Keys. It can be reached from no nearby street near Clairmont Road. Touch for map. Memorial is at or near this postal address: 2000 Airport Road, Atlanta GA 30341, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this memorial is in Georgia’s Piedmont

and in Metro Atlanta.

It is also in the American South

and specifically in the Deep South.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen

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Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: 1917 ✯ Camp Gordon ✯ 1919 (within shouting distance of this marker); 1941 ✯ Naval Air Station Atlanta ✯ 1959 (within shouting distance of this marker); H.F. "Doc" Manget, Jr. (within shouting distance of this marker); The Rainey Plantation (approx. 1.2 miles away); The Samuel House Plantation (approx. 1.4 miles away); Site: Blake’s Mill (approx. 1.4 miles away); Oglethorpe University (approx. 1½ miles away); Old Cross Keys (approx. 1.7 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Chamblee.

Regarding AD 4 Skyraider Navy Attack Plane. The marker identifies the location of an American attack aircraft that served as an airport gate guard from 1959 to 1966 and has since been removed.

Also see . . .
1. Listing at War Bird Registry.

SKYRAIDER/Bu. 123827

Bureau #: 123827
Construction #: 7133
Civil Registration:
N54162
N23827
Model(s): AD-4 Skyraider
Name: None
Status: Airworthy
Last
Photographed by Tracy Andersen Roberts, June 21, 2026

2. marker shown as mounted to stone
info: 2006
History: Gate guard, DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, GA, 1959-1966.
David M. Forrest, Avondale Estates, GA, 1966-1987.
- Registered as N54162.
- Registered as N23827, 1978.
- First flight as 168B/Navy Atlanta.
James McMillan/FOAG Inc, Breckenridge, TX, Feb. 1987-1988.
Wiley C. Sanders, Troy, AL, 1990-1992.
Jerry Yagin/Fighter Factory, Suffolk, VA, March 23, 2000-2006.
- Registered as N23827.
Source(s):
Chapman, John & Goodall, Geoff, Edited by Paul Coggan - Warbirds Directory,Warbirds Worldwide Ltd., Mansfield, England, 1989.
Goodall, Geoff - Warbirds Directory-4th Edition, 2003.
Federal Aviation Administration, www.faa.gov, Washington D.C., 2006.

Photo Source(s):
Chuck Gardner - Warbirds Resource Group
Steve Tournay
Mark Silvestri

(Submitted on June 21, 2026, by Tracy Andersen Roberts of Atlanta, Georgia.)

2. Military Aviation Museum, description of event highlighting this collection item.

Event Details
August 24, 2024 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Event Series (See All)
Our Skyraider BuNo 123827 was built as an AD-4 in 1949 at the Douglas plant in El Segundo, California.
Photographed by Tracy Andersen Roberts, June 21, 2026

3. marker shown as mounted on stone with pole and with Peachtree-DeKalb Airport runways in background
BuNo 123827 was deployed three times during the Korean War – the first time from May to November 1950 on the USS Valley Forge (CV-45). Its next deployment was on the USS Essex (CV-9) from June 1951 to March 1952 before it returned to the USS Valley Forge for a final tour from November 1952 to JUne 1953. After spending a few years stateside, it was placed in storage until 1959, when it was sold to the city of Chamblee, Georgia and became a gate guard at the former NAS Atlanta, now Dekalb-Peachtree Airport.

Saturdays at 1pm from May to September, the Military Aviation Museum will be showcasing historical aircraft and commemorating important wartime events through narrated flying demonstrations.

Experience the rumble from the engine up close as you hear from the pilots about what it is like to fly these incredible aircraft, learn about the battles they participated in, and about the men and women who built, flew and maintained them during the war!

Summer of Flight is included in your general museum admission and free for museum members. Each event starts at 1:00 pm unless otherwise noted.

Flights, Aircraft and Topics subject
Photographed by Tracy Andersen Roberts, June 21, 2026

4. marker as seen from the parking lot
to change. Due to inclement weather, dates may be rescheduled to a later date or canceled. All flights are weather and maintenance permitting.

(Submitted on June 21, 2026, by Tracy Andersen Roberts of Atlanta, Georgia.)

3. Aviation News post.

Vintage Aviation News
August 2, 2022
Oshkosh, WI
Same airplane, 56 years apart.
1966 - Dekalb-Peachtree Airport
2022 - AirVenture, Oshkosh

The Military Aviation Museum’s AD-4 Skyraider served at NAS Atlanta (now Dekalb-Peachtree Airport) in Chamblee, GA for a period following WWII. AD-4 Skyraider BuNo.123827, built in 1949, saw three combat tours in Korea, firstly with VA-55 Torpcats aboard USS Valley Forge (CV-45) where she was involved in the type’s combat debut and indeed the U.S. Navy’s first carrier strikes against North Korea on July 3rd, 1950 when VA-55 struck airfields and fuel depots near Pyongyang. ‘827’s ultimate combat cruise off the Korean coast was during the aircraft’s time with VA-75 Sunday Punchers aboard USS Bennington (CV 20). Following the frenetic action during the Korean War, ‘827 returned stateside to take up a training role with the U.S. Marine
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Corps’ VMAT-20) at MCAS Cherry Point near New Bern, North Carolina. In early July 1956, ‘827 flew to NAS Atlanta, where the Navy soon struck her off. She lingered there in storage until 1959 when the Navy donated the airframe to the City of Chamblee as a gate guard for the newly established civilian airfield which NAS Atlanta had once called home (the Navy having decamped to Marietta, by this point). ‘827 sat atop a pole on display for the next few years, slowly deteriorating due to neglect, until a local pilot named Dave Forrest bought it from the city in 1966. Over the next decade, Forrest, with assistance from Pat Epps from @eppsaviation , restored the old warrior back to flying condition, getting it back into the air again on December 5th, 1978. The Skyraider has been through several different owners since those days, with Jerry Yagen’s Military Aviation Museum acquiring her in September, 2000. The AD presently wears the livery of an aircraft which LCDR “Swede” Carlson flew during the Korean War while leading VA-195 from aboard USS Princeton (CV 37). (As some will remember, VA-195 gained their nickname, Dambusters, when Carlson and his men breached the heavily defended North Korean dam at the Hwachon Resevoir on May 1st, 1951)

#osh22 #pdkairport #kpdk #avgeek #skyraider #aviationhistory #warbirds See less

— at EAA - Warbirds of America.

(Submitted on June 21, 2026, by Tracy Andersen Roberts of Atlanta, Georgia.)

Credits. This page was last revised on July 3, 2026. It was originally submitted on June 21, 2026, by Tracy Andersen Roberts of Atlanta, Georgia. This page has been viewed 8 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on June 21, 2026, by Tracy Andersen Roberts of Atlanta, Georgia. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.