Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “The A-4 Skyhawk Light Attack Plane” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/a-4-skyhawk-light-attack-plane/.
![](https://www.thearmorylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/forum-a-4-skyhawk.jpg)
![](https://www.thearmorylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/forum-a-4-skyhawk.jpg)
Very cool. The logical evolution of the TA-4F, which was actually used as a FAST FAC in 'Nam.The last of the Marine Scooters, the O/A-4M, near exclusively flown by the H&MS squadrons as a FAC bird.
View attachment 47366View attachment 47367
This is the one displayed at MCAS Iwakuni Japan.
First Blue Angels display I remember was when they flew the Scooter.
The Kuwaiti Air Force flew until after Desert Storm.
Draken Aviation still does contract DACT training with them, the ones I've seen of theirs are the extended tail pipe Israeli version.
At your suggestion, I googled "Douglas A-1 Skyhawk." As I suspected it would, it returned thousands of results for Douglas A-1 Skyraider. Completely different airplane, although designed by the same man. Also an immortal classic which I believe has been previously discussed here.This was a great plane and a good read. If you liked this, I suggest you research the Douglas A-1 Skyhawk. I believe it is still the weight to payload ratio king.
I always liked the Singapore A-4s and wanted to do a model of one because they used Vietnam-era USAF-type camo and paints: 34079, 34102, 30219, and 36622 (hope I'm right on those FS numbers, just going from memory here). AFAIK they were the only A-4s so painted. Pretty sure I have the pattern in some reference book somewhere. Maybe I WILL build that model sometime soon. Thanks for reminding me!Singapore modernized their A-4 Skyhawk fleet (ex-US Navy A-4B & Cs) to the A-4SU standard with new avionics and replaced the original engines with the GE F404-GE-100D turbofan (non-afterburning version), which resulted in greatly improved performance compared to the specs listed in the OP article.
View attachment 47378
Oh, man, I've never seen that one before! Nothing appeals to me more as a modeler than an overall one-color paint scheme! (That's why I love the 1944-1956 USN/USMC and early '60s USAF airplanes so much--they're all one color!) That sure looks like 34079 but if it's not, I'm sure I have some suitable dark green on my paint bench. Practice bomblets on MER on centerline? This one would be EASY to model! Thanks so much for this pic!
Oh man, ANOTHER one-color and a completely different airplane! This one could be 34092 Euro I Green, or maybe it's the Euro I Gray, hard to tell from the photo but I should be able to find out. Thanks AGAIN for these!
actually there is strong evidence he caused the fire, by dumping fuel in the engine to get a hot start with fireball, as per the show offs at the time, except it got out of control and his dad washed the event to protect said turd.I'm generally a USAF guy, but the A-4 is an awesome little airplane.
Some fun facts about A-4 not mentioned in the Will Dabbs piece:
*A-4 was a veteran of the failed Bay of Pigs "invasion." When JFK finally got off his butt and decided to let USN provide some air cover, A-4Bs (at that time designated A4D-2s) of VA-34 "Blue Blasters" off the Essex got the nod. They never dropped a bomb or fired a shot, just showed up to "rattle sabres." Interestingly, they had to be "sanitized" by hastily painting out all US markings, despite the fact that no other country in the world was operating A-4s at the time.
*John McCain was shot down in an A-4. Even more interestingly, he had earlier been sitting in his cockpit when the disastrous 1967 fire erupted on the Forrestal. Film exists of McCain exiting the aircraft through the fire.I'm not a fan of McCain's politics, and he wasn't the smartest Naval Aviator ever, but there's no denying that he had Big Brass Ones.
That is a complete BS lie that was put out by the DNC during the 2008 campaign. There is NO evidence of that. In fact, there is evidence to the contrary. His A-4 was parked with its tailpipe hanging over the edge of the flight deck. There's been a published diagram showing where every airplane on deck was at the moment the fire started. AND there's the film of him exiting his aircraft and it's exactly where the diagram says it was. The fire was caused by a Zuni rocket that accidentally came off an F-4.actually there is strong evidence he caused the fire, by dumping fuel in the engine to get a hot start with fireball, as per the show offs at the time, except it got out of control and his dad washed the event to protect said turd.
as a navy guy, we never liked him