In 1956, France purchased 20 Douglas AD-4 Skyraider strike aircraft along with 88 AD-4N and 5 AD-4NA night attack aircraft to replace the ageing P-47 Thunderbolt. The French AD-4 saw service during the Algerian War as well as several colonial conflicts before it was retired in 1970, and was later given to various former colonies, including Cambodia, the Central African Republic, Chad, and Gabon.

Introduced in Update 1.73 "Vive la France", the French AD-4 is identical to its American counterpart. It is an extremely effective ground striker, and can utilise many different types of bombs and rockets. In addition, the four 20 mm autocannons perform very well against both ground and air targets. However, this all comes at the cost of flight performance. Although the AD-4 has a powerful engine, it has abysmal manoeuvring energy retention and is overall a heavy aircraft. The Skyraider can turn tightly for a few turns, but quickly becomes slow and vulnerable to enemy fighters.