13 Facts About A-4 Skyhawk

Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single-seat subsonic carrier-capable light attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s.

The delta-winged, single turbojet engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later by McDonnell Douglas.

A-4 Skyhawk is a relatively light aircraft, with a maximum takeoff weight of 24,500 pounds, and has a top speed of 670 miles per hour.

A-4 Skyhawk was designed by Douglas Aircraft's Ed Heinemann in response to a US Navy call for a jet-powered attack aircraft to replace the older Douglas AD Skyraider.

Once airborne, they topped off their fuel tanks from the tanker using the A-4 Skyhawk's fixed refueling probe on the starboard side of the aircraft nose.

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The A-4 Skyhawk was rarely used for refueling in US service after the KA-3 Skywarrior tanker became available aboard the larger carriers.

A-4 Skyhawk was designed to be able to make an emergency landing, in the event of a hydraulic failure, on the two drop tanks nearly always carried by these aircraft.

A-4 Skyhawk remained in production until 1979, with 2,960 aircraft built, including 555 two-seat trainers.

A-4 Skyhawk proved to be a relatively common United States Navy aircraft export of the postwar era.

The last USMC A-4 Skyhawk was delivered in 1979, and they were used until the mid-1980s before they were replaced by the equally small, but more versatile STOVL AV-8 Harrier II.

Trainer versions of the Skyhawk remained in Navy service finding a new lease on life with the advent of "adversary training", where the nimble A-4 was used as a stand-in for the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 in dissimilar air combat training.

The A-4 Skyhawk was the first US warplane to be offered to the Israeli Air Force, marking the point where the US took over from France as Israel's chief military supplier.

The A-4 Skyhawk served the Indonesian Air Force from 1982 until 2003.