| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Douglas A-4F Skyhawk | ||
|---|---|---|
image depicts later A-4M version | ||
| Description | ||
| Role | Attack aircraft | |
| Crew | one, pilot | |
| Dimensions | ||
| Length | 12.22m | 40' 3" |
| Wingspan | 8.38m | 27' 6" |
| Height | 4.57m | 14' 11" |
| Wing area | 24.15m² | 259ft² |
| Weights | ||
| Empty | 4,750kg | 10,448 lb |
| Loaded | ||
| Maximum take-off | 11,136kg | 24,500 lb |
| Powerplant | ||
| Engines | 1x Pratt & Whitney J52-P8A turbojet | |
| Power | 41.4 kN | 9,300 lb |
| Performance | ||
| Maximum speed | 1,100km/h | 686 mph |
| Combat range | 3,220km | 2,000 miles |
| Ferry range | ||
| Service ceiling | 12,880m | 42,250ft |
| Rate of Climb | 2,572m/min | 8,440ft/min |
| Armament | ||
| Guns | 2x 20mm Colt Mk 12 cannon | |
| Fuselage centreline station | 1,590kg | 3,500 lbs |
| Inboard wing stations | 1,000kg each | 2,200 lbs each |
| Outboard wing stations | 454 kg each | 1,000 lbs each |
The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk (formerly A4D Skyhawk, Douglas later McDonnell Douglas, now Boeing) is an attack aircraft originally designed to operate from United States Navy aircraft carriers. Fifty years after the type's first flight, some of the nearly 3,000 Skyhawks produced remain in service with smaller air arms around the world.
The Skyhawk was designed by Douglas' Ed Heinemann in response to a U.S. Navy call for a jet-powered attack aircraft to replace the A-1 Skyraider. Heinemann opted for a design that would minimize size, weight, and complexity. The result was an aircraft that weighed only half of the Navy's specification and had a wing so compact that it did not need to be folded for carrier stowage. The diminutive Skyhawk soon received the nicknames "Scooter," "Bantam Bomber," and, on account of its nimble performance, "Heinemann's Hot-Rod."
The aircraft is of conventional design, with a low-mounted delta-like wing, tricycle undercarriage, and a single turbojet engine in the rear fuselage, with intakes on the fuselage sides. The tail is of cruciform design, with the horizontal stabilizer mounted above the fuselage. Armament consisted of two 20mm Colt Mk 12 cannon, one in each wing root with 200 rounds per gun, and large variety of bombs, rockets, and missiles carried on a centreline hardpoint under the fuselage and two hardpoints under each wing (early versions had only one hardpoint under each wing).
The Navy issued a contract for the type on June 12 1952, and the first prototype first flew on June 22, 1954This is a list of aviation-related events from 1954: Events January January 10 a BOAC de Havilland Comet crashes into the Mediterranean Sea near Elba with the loss of all 35 people aboard. April April 1 Last operational flight by a RAF Spitfire, a photo-r. Deliveries to Navy and U.S. Marine Corps squadrons commenced in late 1956This is a list of aviation-related events from 1956: Events March March 10 Lt Cdr Peter Twiss sets a new airspeed record in the Fairey Delta FD. 2, also becoming the first person to exceed 1,000 mph. His top speed is 1,132 mph (1,821 km/h). May May 21 a B.
The Skyhawk remained in production until 1975This is a list of aviation-related events from 1975: Events January A specially modified McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle sets eight time to climb records, including one of 3 minutes 27 seconds from standstill on the runway to a height of 30,000 metres (98,42, with a total of 2,960 aircraft built, including 555 two-seat trainerTrainer may refer to: An aircraft used for training pilots A padded sports shoe ("trainer" is used commonly in British English where sneaker would be used in American English). The term "trainer" derives from "training shoe". A person who is responsible fs. The US Navy began removing the aircraft from its front-line squadrons in 1967This is a list of aviation-related events from 1967: Events January January 2 Seven North Vietnamese Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17s are destroyed by F-4 Phantoms of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing USAF in Operation Bolo January 2 the contracts for the development, with the last retiring in 1975This is a list of aviation-related events from 1975: Events January A specially modified McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle sets eight time to climb records, including one of 3 minutes 27 seconds from standstill on the runway to a height of 30,000 metres (98,42. The last Marine Skyhawk was delivered in 1979, and were used until the mid- 1990s. Trainer versions of the Skyhawk remained in Navy service, however, found a new lease on life with the advent of adversary training , where the nimble A-4 was used as a stand-in for the MiG-17 in dissimilar air combat training (DACT). It served in that role until 1999, when the last were replaced with the T-45 Goshawk. As of 2001, a few last Skyhawks remained in military use in the US for target-towing and as adversary aircraft for combat training.