Key Points and Summary – The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk was the compact Cold War attack jet that did everything. Designed as a lightweight successor to the A-1 Skyraider, the nimble “Scooter” packed two 20mm cannons and more than 8,000 pounds of ordnance into a tiny airframe built for carrier decks.
The A-4AR Fightinghawk is an upgrade version of the A-4M Skyhawk. The aircraft are called Fightinghawk because the have avionics of the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Three were at Anápolis (Brazil) for the exercise Cruzex.
-It flew the first U.S. Navy strike of the Vietnam War, logged more combat missions there than any other naval attack aircraft, and later proved its worth in Israeli and Argentine hands from the Sinai to the Falklands.
-Kuwait’s Skyhawks even fought Saddam.
-Today, upgraded A-4s still fly with Argentina and Brazil and star in museums worldwide.
A-4 Skyhawk: The Tiny Attack Jet That Punched Above Its Weight
To ornithologists, the word “Skyhawk” is a tad redundant, since all hawks are birds of prey that fly through the sky. (Yes, penguins are flightless birds, and they are indeed predators, dining on fish, but they aren’t officially classified as birds of prey.)
Zoological semantic nitpicks aside, “Skyhawk” became the name of a historically significant Cold War-era jet-powered mechanical bird of prey that fought ferociously for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps as well as multiple foreign militaries. We now swoop down into a deeper dive into the story of the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk.
A-4 Skyhawk Initial History
The A-4 Skyhawk made its maiden flight on June 22, 1954, and entered into official operational service with the USN on October 1, 1956. It was built by the Douglas Aircraft Corporation (which eventually became McDonnell Douglas, which in turn merged into Boeing), the same firm that built the legendary SBD Dauntless dive bomber of WWII and the A-1 Skyraider (aka “Sandy”), a prop-driven fighter that fought faithfully in Korea and Vietnam.
A U.S. Navy Douglas A-4E Skyhawk (BuNo 151194) from Attack Squadron 164 (VA-164) “Ghost Riders” en route to a target in North Vietnam on 21 November 1967. VA-164 was assigned Attack Carrier Air Wing 16 (CVW-16) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CVA-34) for a deployment to Vietnam from 16 June 1967 to 31 January 1968. The aircraft was piloted by Cmdr. William F. Span, executive officer of VA-164 and was armed with six Mk 82 500 lb (227 kg) bombs and two AGM-12 Bullpup missiles. The A-4E 151194 is today on display at Pacific Coast Air Museum, California (USA), painted in the colours of Marine Attack Squadron 131 (VMA-131) “Diamondbacks”.
In fact, the USN and USMC ordered the A-4 as a replacement for the A-1. Unlike another famous mechanical “hawk,” e.g., the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, the Skyhawk wasn’t a fighter, but rather a light attack aircraft.
A-4 Technical Specifications & Vital Stats
Fuselage Length: 40 feet 1.5 inches (12.230 meters)
Wingspan: 27 feet 6 inches (8.38 meters)
Height: 15 feet 2 inches (4.62 meters)
Empty Weight: 9.853 pounds (4,469 kilograms)
Max Takeoff Weight (MTOW): 24,500 lbs. (11,100 kilograms)
Powerplant: 1 x Pratt & Whitney J52-P-6A turbojet engine generating 8,500 pounds-force (38 kilonewtons) of thrust
Max Airspeed: Mach 0.87 (585 knots; 673 mph; 1,083 km/h)
Range: 1,008 nautical miles (1,160 statute miles; 1,867 kilometers)
Armament:
2 x 20 mm (0.79 in) Colt Mk 12 cannon
5 x hardpoints with a capacity of up to 8,200 lb. of ordnance, such as:
16 x Mk 32 Zuni rockets
6 x Mark 20 Rockeye II (CBU-100) Cluster Bombs
4 x AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared (heat-seeking) air-to-air missiles
2 x AGM-12 Bullpup radio-guided air-to-ground missiles
2 x AGM-45 Shrike anti-radiation missiles
A total of 2,960 A-4 airframes were built.
A-4 Skyhawk
Operational Performance/Combat History Part I: American A-4s
The Skyhawk made history for the U.S. Armed Forces several times over:
– First aircraft to drop ordnance in the Vietnam War, occurring on August 5, 1964, during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.
-In that same incident, then-Lieutenant (j.g.) (eventual retired Commander) Everett Alvarez was shot down and captured, becoming the second-longest-held U.S. POW of the war.
-Logged more Vietnam combat missions than any other naval attack aircraft, more than the A-6 Intruder or the A-7 Corsair II.
-Flown by eventual U.S. Senator (R-AZ) and 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain on the day of his shootdown that resulted in his 5.5-year ordeal as a POW in the horrific Hanoi Hilton
-Also flown by USMC Captain (eventual Lieutenant Colonel) James P. Walsh, Jr., the last Marine POW of the Vietnam War
-Flown by the Blue Angels demonstration team from 1973 to 1986
The Marines retired the Skyhawk in 1998, with the Navy following suit in 2003.
Operational Performance/Combat History Part Deux: Non-Stateside Skyhawks
The Skyhawk also performed ably in the hands of multiple foreign militaries:
-The Israeli Air Force (IAF), which affectionately renamed the warbird the “Ayit” (Eagle), was the foreign military sales (FMS) of the A-4, making heavy use of it during the 1973 Yom Kippur War; in one engagement, an Ayit driver found himself facing three MiG-21 “Fishbeds,” and the Israeli pilot skillfully maneuvered his A-4 and shot down two of them, and was reportedly on the third Fishbed’s tail when an IAF Mirage IIIC pilot stole a bit of his comrade’s glory by blowing away the Fishbed.
MiG-21. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
MiG-21. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-During the 1982 Falkland Islands War, the daring pilots of the Argentine Air Force (the first foreign buyer of the A-4) pulled off numerous impressive feats against their British foes in their Skyhawks, including the sinking of the HMS Coventry; however, the Argentine Skyhawk drivers were easy pickings in air-to-air combat for the Fleet Air Arm’s Sea Harriers.
-The last nation to use the Skyhawk in major combat operations was Kuwait, doing so during the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War. In response to Saddam Hussein’s initial invasion of their country in August 1990, Kuwaiti Air Force pilots strafed an Iraqi armored column of the al-Medinah al-Munawera Division, and shot down three Iraqi helicopters. After the occupation, escapee “Free Kuwaiti Air Force” A-4s operating out of Saudi Arabia flew 1,361 sorties during the liberation of their tiny, oil-rich nation, incurring only one combat loss (due to a SAM); the pilot, Moqaddam (Lt. Col.) Mohammed “Mo” Al Mubarak was safely ejected and taken prisoner.
A-4 Skyhawk: Where Are They Now?
Amazingly enough, the A-4 remains in service with: (1) the Argentine Air Force, specifically the A-4AR/OA-4AR variant, which has been redubbed the Fightinghawk; and (2) the Brazilian Navy.
The World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft (WDMMA) notes that the Argentines have eight A-4ARs in the fighter-bomber role and three OA-4ARs in the fighter-trainer role. As for the Brazilians, they have five single-seater and two two-seater airframes, which they have redubbed the AF-1B and AF-1C, respectively; these have been modernized and upgraded by Embraer.
Meanwhile, Skyhawks have been preserved for posterity in airworthy condition or as static displays in at least 10 countries. For the benefit of museum lovers, this writer can personally vouch for the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola in Florida.
As for airworthy Stateside Skyhawks, there’s Navy Bureau Number (BuNo) 148609 at the Warbird Heritage Foundation in Waukegan, Illinois. In addition, Draken International, LLC of Lakeland, Florida, has 13 of the planes, whilst A-4L, LLC (AKA The Skyhawk Association AKA Sky Resources) owns seven and currently operates three of them, which are based at North Texas Regional Airport/Perrin Field (ICAO: KGYI) in Denison, Texas.
About the Author: Christian D. Orr, Defense Expert
Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He is also the author of the newly published book “Five Decades of a Fabulous Firearm: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Beretta 92 Pistol Series.”
