A 6 Skyhawk - A US Navy VA-164 A-4E Hawk, from the USS Oriskany, en route to attack a target in North Vietnam, November 21, 1967.
The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single-seat light carrier-capable subsonic light attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s. The single, delta-wing, turbojet-powered Skyhawk was designed and built by the Douglas Aircraft Company and McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated A4D under the US Navy's pre-1962 designation system.
A 6 Skyhawk
The Skyhawk is a relatively light aircraft, with a maximum takeoff weight of 24,500 pounds (11,100 kg) and a top speed of 670 mph (1,080 km/h). The aircraft's five hard points support a range of missiles, bombs and other munitions. It is capable of carrying a bomb load equivalent to a World War II Boeing B-17 bomber and can deliver nuclear warheads using a low-altitude bombing system and "lake" delivery technology. The A-4 was originally powered by the Gene Wright J65 turbojet; Outside of the A-4E, the Pratt & Whitney J52 engine was used.
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Skyhawks played a major role in the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War, and the Falklands War. In 2022, about seven years after the aircraft's first flight in 1954, about 2,960 were produced (as of February 1979).
Ed Heinemann of Douglas Aircraft designed the Skyhawk as a response to the US Navy's jet-powered attack aircraft (later renamed the A-1 Skyrider) to replace the aging Douglas AD Skyrider.
Heinemann chose a design that reduced its size, weight and complexity. The result was an aircraft that weighed only half the Navy's weight specification.
Its wing was so compact that it did not need to be folded for carrier stowage. The average price of the first 500 production examples is $860,000 each, well below the Navy's $1 million maximum.
Development] Douglas A 4b Skyhawk: A Story Of Simplicity
The little Skyhawk soon acquired the nicknames "Scooter", "Kiddycar", "Bantam Bomber", "Tinker Toy Bomber" and, due to its speed and agility, "Heinemann's Hot-Rod".
The aircraft is of traditional post-World War II design, with a low-mounted delta wing, tricycle undercarriage and a single turbojet engine in the rear fuselage, with two air intakes on the fuselage sides. The tail has a cruciform design, and a horizontal stabilizer is mounted above the fuselage. Armament consisted of two 20 mm (.79 caliber) Colt Mk 12 guns, one in each wing root, with 100 rounds per gun (the A-4M Skyhawk II had 200 rounds per gun and a version based on the A-4M), plus bombs. , a wide variety of rockets and missiles are carried on hardpoints under the fuselage line and on hardpoints under each wing (first one per wing, later two).
The short-span delta wing did not require the complexity of wing flaps, saving about 200 pounds (91 kg). Its spars were machined from a single forging that survived both wingtips.
The front rods were designed to automatically lower at the appropriate speed according to gravity and air pressure, saving weight and space by omitting motors and acclimatization switches. Similarly the main undercarriage did not fit into the main wing spur, which was designed so that only the retracting wheel was inside the wing and the undercarriage struts were placed in the fairing under the wing. Therefore, the wing structure was lighter with the same overall strength. The rudder was constructed of a single panel reinforced with external ribs.
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A4D Skyhawk with rear fuselage removed and gin sliding into place, Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, 1959
The turbojet gin was serviced or replaced by removing the rear of the fuselage and sliding the gin out. This eliminated the need for doors with hinges and latches and further reduced weight and complexity. This is the opposite of what can often happen in aircraft design where small weight increases in one area lead to complex weight increases in other areas to compensate, creating a demand for more powerful, heavier wings, larger wings and empennage area, and so of a defective circle. .
The A-4 pioneered the "buddy" air-to-air refueling concept. This allows the aircraft to be supplied to others of the same type, reducing the need for a dedicated tanker aircraft – a particular advantage for smaller air forces or those operating in remote locations. This allows greatly improved operational flexibility and reassurance against the loss or malfunction of tanker aircraft, although this process reduces the effective combat force on the carrier.
Designated A-4 provision would make a seat-mounted "friendly shop", a large external fuel tank with a hose reel on the back, and an adjustable drogue refueling bucket. This unarmed aircraft was fueled and was the first to be launched. Attack aircraft were armed and fueled as much as possible as allowed by the maximum take-off weight, which was much less than a full tank.
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Once airborne, they topped off their fuel tank from the tanker using the A-4's fixed refueling probe on the starboard side of the aircraft's nose. They can be sorted with full armamt and fuel loads. The A-4 was rarely used for refueling in US service after the Skywarrior KA-3 tanker became available on larger carriers.
The A-4 was also designed to be able to make an emergency landing, in the event of a hydraulic failure, on the two drop tanks that this aircraft almost always carries. Such a landing caused only minor damage to the nose of the aircraft which could be repaired in less than an hour.
The last production A-4, the A-4M of Marine Squadron VMA-331 had the flags of all the nations that operated the A-4 painted on its fuselage sides.
The Skyhawk was a fairly popular US Navy aircraft export in the post-war era. Because of its small size, it could be operated from the older, smaller World War II aircraft carriers still in use by many small navies during the 1960s. These older ships could not match the newer Navy fighters such as the F-4 Phantom II and F-8 Crusader, which were faster and more capable than the A-4, but much larger and heavier than the older Navy fighters.
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The Navy operated the A-4 in the Navy and Naval Reserve (VA) Light Attack Squadrons. Although the A-4 would continue to be used as a training and counterattack aircraft into the 1990s, the Navy began phasing out the aircraft from its forward attack squadrons in 1967, with the last of them (the Super Foxes of VA- 55/212/164). Discontinued in 1976.
The Marine Corps will not adopt the US Navy's replacement warplane, the LTV A-7 Corsair II, instead it will keep the Skyhawks in service with the regular Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve Attack Squadrons (VMA) and order the new model A -4M. The last USMC Skyhawk was delivered in 1979, and was used until the mid-1980s before being replaced by the smaller but more versatile STOVL AV-8 Harrier II.
VMA-131, Marine Aircraft Group 49 (The Diamondbacks) retired its last four OA-4Ms on 22 June 1994. Trainer versions of the Skyhawk remained in Navy service, however, getting a new lease on life when announced "hostile training". , where the agile A-4 was used as a stand-in for the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 in Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT). He was in that role at TOPGUN until 1999.
The A-4's agile performance also made it suitable as a replacement for the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II until the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets became available in the 1980s, when the Navy reduced its aircraft to crew Blue Angels demo. . The last model US Navy Skyhawks, TA-4J models attached to a joint VC-8 squadron, remained in military use as target towing and anti-aircraft aircraft for combat training at Naval Station Roosevelt Roads. These aircraft were officially retired on 3 May 2003.
The Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron A 4f Skyhawk Ii Aircraft No. 6 Retracts Its Landing Gear After Taking Off During An Air Show
Skyhawks were loved by their teammates for being tough and agile. These features, along with their low purchase and operating costs, as well as easy maintenance, contributed to the popularity of the A-4 with the American and international armed forces. The U.S. Also, at least three other nations used the A-4 Skyhawks in combat (Argentina, Israel and Kuwait).
Skyhawks were the US Navy's primary light attack aircraft used over North Vietnam in the early years of the Vietnam War; They were later replaced in the US Navy light attack role by the A-7 Corsair II. The Skyhawks served the United States during the conflict. he carried out some of the first air strikes and the Seahawk is believed to have dropped the last American bomb on the country.
Notable naval aviators who have flown the Skyhawk include Lieutenant Commander Everett Alvarez, Jr. and John McCain and Commander James Stockdale. On 1 May 1967, VA-76 Lieutenant Commander Theodore R. A-4C Skyhawk carrier USS Bon Homme, piloted by Swartz, shot down a North Vietnamese Air Force MiG-17 with Richard with an unguided Zuni rocket as the only air Skyhawk. - Winning the Vietnam War from the air.
Since 1956, Navy Skyhawks were the first aircraft to be equipped with the AIM-9 Sidewinder outside the USA.
Attack Aircraft Of The Us Navy And Marine Corps
In the early to mid-1960s, the standard Skyhawk A-4B US Navy squadrons
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