The A-4 Skyhawk Light Attack Plane

[Talyn]

The Last Skyhawk built...​

last Skyhawk built, an A-4M Feb 1979 2960th BuNo 160264

2960th. U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation (Photo No. 2011.003.237.035)

laststandonzombieisland.com

From A to M, the last of the Best, A-4M Skyhawk BuNo 160264​

Major General Leblanc on acceptance of last Skyhawk 27FEB1979

The incredible 25 year Skyhawk production run, which began in February 1954 when A-4A Skyhawk BuNo 137812 was rolled out for engine run-up, came to an end on February 27, 1979 when the U.S. Navy accepted A-4M BuNo 160264 from McDonnel-Douglas. It was the 2,960th versatile and rugged Skyhawk manufactured by Douglas and by McDonnel Douglas and was delivered to VMA-331 based at Cherry Point, NC.

Marine Corp Lt.Col. M.R. (Sid) Snedecker, CO of VMA-331. Also in attendance were U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Robert P. Coogan, commander of Naval Air Forces, Pacific Fleet and U.S. Marine Corp Major General William R. Maloney, commanding general of the Third Marine Aircraft Wing at MCAS El Toro.

Shortly after delivery to VMA-331 BuNo 160264 was transferred to NWC China Lake and subsequently spent time with NATC Patuxent River (7T-305 in 1985), with VX-5 (XE-15 in 1986) and with VMA-124 (QP-00 in 1990 & 1994) before being retired and transferred to the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar, San Diego, CA, where she is on display in the markings of VMA-124, QP-00.

 

[Talyn]

The story of Douglas A 4 Skyhawk || A4 Skyhawk Documentary (46:14)

 

[Talyn]

A-4KU (Kuwaiti "A-4M")

 

[Faulkner]

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

Amazing how long it takes for internet disinformation to die.

 

[Talyn]

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!

Those "green" Draken A-4s are former Israeli "N" models, which where the Israeli version of the USMC "M".

 

[powerboatr]

Amazing how long it takes for internet disinformation to die.

i have no idea...it was always shown to us how HE jumped out of the plane that was spitting fire out the tail pipe at every time we had to watch the forestall fire movie at ship board fire fighting .. way before my time

 

[Snake45]

Those "green" Draken A-4s are former Israeli "N" models, which where the Israeli version of the USMC "M".

I might or might not have an A-4M kit in my enormous stash/hoard in the Snakepit. Pretty sure I have at least one or two unbuilt E/Fs.

In high school, I converted a common E kit to a C or D for a particular paint scheme I wanted to do at the time. Later, in the late '70s or early '80s, when I was much better, I did an E from the Hancock. Those are the only A-4s I've actually built, though I know for a fact I have a prototype and an A-4B kits in the stash. I might have many others--I've probably bought 20 kits for every one I've actually finished over the years--and I've been building model airplanes a LONG time.

 

[Talyn]

Top Aces’ A-4 Skyhawk Advanced Aggressor Fighter

Douglas A-4 Skyhawk - Top Aces

www.topaces.com

Top Aces Announces Important Upgrade To CATS Program In Canada Through 2029 - MilitaryLeak.COM

Top Aces, the world’s leading provider of advanced adversary air (ADAIR) and joint terminal attack controller (JTAC) training to allied forces, today

militaryleak.com

Top Aces’ Aggressor A-4s Are Now The World’s Most Advanced Skyhawks

Fitted with advanced sensors including AESA radars, the contractor-operated jets will put the German military to the test.

www.thedrive.com

 

[3L120]

Remember calling them in on an air support mission. Had a NVA position on Charlie Ridge, overlooking Hill 37. As a FO, I called in arty from the battery co-located with us. Next was a section of 106s, finally the ALO called in a couple of A-4s, firing their 20mm.. Interesting show to watch unfold. Never did find out if there were any KIAs on the NVA side.

 

[Gofer]

Great aircraft for the mission. Few of the pilots wanted to fly the AV8 Harrier that was scheduled to replace it. The F18 was by far the preferred aircraft by the pilots.

 

[USMC6094]

I've known quite a few Harrier pilots that converted from the Skyhawk, and they never complained about flying it over the Scooter.
The Intruder, and Phantom were the main converts to the Hornet, not the Skyhawk squadrons, they were all, more or less converted to the AV-8B, if they hadn't converted to the AV-8A already.
But there were Phantom squadrons that did go to the Harrier, namely VMFA-542, they went from the Spook, to the Harrier EARLY, around 1973 I think.

 

[Ascout]

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.

Recognizing that this is an old post the account above is even more interesting in Wyden's "Bay of Pigs" and likely also Haynes Johnson's book of same name....
The USN pilots were also sanitized, turning in various dogtags, ID's professional associations indicators for a Navy aviator. They did not appreciate this....an "I didn't sign up for this." moment that was professionally valid. Being a uniformed aviator was their chosen field, not a lot of spook stuff that literally denied the very identity they had striven so hard to assume & achieve. This & related incidents in post-WWII operations are one of the contributing factors in the formation of specialized units with exactly that quasi-covert aspect. They generally keep their identity, but accept that the legions of support they are accustomed to in conventional units may well not be there.