Hobby Master Archive
Air Power Jets 1/72
A-4
Designed as a lightweight low-cost attack and ground support jet for the US Navy and eventually the USMC to replace the A-1 Skyraider the A-4 Skyhawk was first delivered in late 1956. It weighed less than half the Navy’s requirements and small enough not to need folding wings for carrier operations. The Navy started replacing the A-4 in 1967 with the A-7 Corsair II but production continued until 1979 when the Marines started to replace the A-4 with the Harrier. More than ten other countries flew the A-4.
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 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.
Designed to replace the Douglas AD-1 Skyraider the Skyhawk first flew in 1954. Its small size was a radical departure from the normal “Big” thinking of the time. The USN first took delivery in late 1956 with the USMC receiving theirs 3 months later. Over the years many nicknames were used, “Tinker Toy”, “Heinemann’s Hotrod” (the designer was Ed Heinemann), with the E and F models labeled the “Camel” because of the electronics hump along the dorsal. Probably the most well known nickname used for the 2,960 A-4’s that were produced is “Scooter”.
The A-4 Skyhawk was designed by Ed Heinemann from the Douglas Aircraft Corporation and first flew in 1954. Designed as a lightweight single engine attack aircraft it was consider by many to be the most famous ever built in this category. The A-4 was the pioneer of the “buddy” air-to-air refueling concept where aircraft of the same type could transfer fuel from one to the other without the use of a dedicated tanker. A total of 2,960 A-4 aircraft were produced with the USMC retiring the last one in 1996.
Developed to replace the A-1 Skyraider the A-4 Skyhawk was extremely lightweight maneuverable inexpensive and didn’t need folding wings. One of the upgrades saw 499 A-4E’s built, some received a lighter weight 8,500 lb thrust engine and some late production planes had the 9,300 lb thrust engines as well as an upper fuselage “hump back” avionics pod added. All had one hard point added under each wing, re-designed center fuselage, air intakes, and airframe strengthening with bomb and navigation upgrades. Because of all the missions and tonnage of weapons delivered the A-4 was dubbed “The Workhorse of Vietnam”, this is “The Little Plane That Could”. Eight A-4E’s were sold to Royal Australian Navy.
The A4D-5 later renamed the A-4E was a major upgrade for the Skyhawk. It received a new engine, stronger airframe, 2 additional weapons pylons for a total of 5, new avionics. The former A-4s were designed more for a nuclear capability but at this time this need was becoming less important. The designers went to work to make the A-4E capable of delivering conventional munitions. The addition of the pylons now made the A-4E capable of carrying a more varied weapons and fuel load up to a maximum of 8,200 pounds.
The McDonnell Douglas A-4M was designed specifically for the Marine requirements and was chosen over the Ling-Temco Vought A-7. The new A-4M engine was an updated version of the J52 that was rated at 11,200 lb.s.t. This was a huge 20 percent increase in power with only a 1 percent increase in the engines weight. Douglas also added smokeless burner cans to reduce the amount of visible exhaust and all this was done without increasing fuel consumption. A new electrical power generator provided 60 percent more energy so a self-contained engine starter was added. The pilot was given a larger canopy that was three inches wider and greatly increased his all round view. A drag chute was provided to help with landing on short airstrips. A new refueling probe that was canted out was added so it wouldn’t interfere with the target-acquisition system. A new IFF antenna was needed so the A-4M tail was squared off. The new M model first flew on April 10, 1970 and the last A-4 was accepted on February 27 1979. After 27 years of producing the Skyhawk this made it the longest production run of any U.S. tactical aircraft up to that date. The total production of the A-4M variant was 160 aircraft.
