Hobby Master Archive

HA1401 A-4M “The Last Skyhawk” Designed specifically for the U.S. Marine Corps the A-4M Skyhawk had some major improvements such as a new 11,200 lb thrust engine, an increased visibility canopy, a ribbon-type drag chute and electronics. The first A-4M flight took place on April 10, 1970, with the first fleet delivery Feb 1971. An A-4M aircraft BuNo 160264 was the 2,960th and last Skyhawk manufactured and was delivered to VMA-331 on Feb 27, 1979. Out of a total of 2,960 A-4 Skyhawks manufactured 158 were A-4Ms.

Designed by the McDonnell-Douglas chief engineer Ed Heinemann the A-4 Skyhawk met all the requirements of the US Navy and exceeded many. It was half the maximum weight, could carry four times the weapon load and small enough that it didn’t need folding wings for carrier duty. This small aircraft would earn many nicknames “Heinemann’s Hot Rod” “Scooter”, “Bantam Bomber”, “Tinker Toy Bomber”. The A-4M assigned to front-line squadrons would be replaced in the mid 1980s by the AV-8 Harrier II. The Skyhawk proved to be one of the most popular US naval aircraft exports of the postwar era. Because of its small size, it could be operated from the older, smaller WWII-era aircraft carriers.