AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 225 / 313

Plate 225 of 313 · Early jet age · Carrier light attack jet

Douglas A-4 Skyhawk

A-4F BuNo 155033, painted as Douglas A-4F Skyhawk BuNo 155033, Blue Angel 3, one of four Blue Angels A-4Fs hung in diamond formation in the Blue Angel Atrium of the National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida, where it flies the left-wing slot: Ed Heinemann’s small single-seat carrier attack jet with a Pratt & Whitney J52 turbojet, a compact delta-like wing with leading-edge slats, side intakes and a tall swept fin: Blue Angels gloss blue overall with gold wing tips, tailplane tips and fin cap, a large gold ‘3’ on the fin, gold ‘U.S. NAVY’ on the rear fuselage and under the port wing, ‘Blue Angels’ script along the intakes, the team crest below the windscreen and a gold stripe along the nose and canopy sill, without the avionics hump, refuelling probe or guns, as photographed at Pensacola, shown on its undercarriage although it hangs gear-up (no Skyhawk is preserved in a UK museum; shape from an A-4E three-view drawing checked against an A-4M drawing and photographs).

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as Douglas A-4F Skyhawk BuNo 155033, Blue Angel 3, one of four Blue Angels A-4Fs hung in diamond formation in the Blue Angel Atrium of the National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida, where it flies the left-wing slot: Ed Heinemann’s small single-seat carrier attack jet with a Pratt & Whitney J52 turbojet, a compact delta-like wing with leading-edge slats, side intakes and a tall swept fin: Blue Angels gloss blue overall with gold wing tips, tailplane tips and fin cap, a large gold ‘3’ on the fin, gold ‘U.S. NAVY’ on the rear fuselage and under the port wing, ‘Blue Angels’ script along the intakes, the team crest below the windscreen and a gold stripe along the nose and canopy sill, without the avionics hump, refuelling probe or guns, as photographed at Pensacola, shown on its undercarriage although it hangs gear-up (no Skyhawk is preserved in a UK museum; shape from an A-4E three-view drawing checked against an A-4M drawing and photographs). Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (1.2 MB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (A-4A to A-4M & TA-4); engine, crew and dimensions are for the A-4F BuNo 155033 modelled here.

History

The A-4F Skyhawk

In 1952 the US Navy asked for a carrier jet to carry a nuclear weapon, expecting an aircraft of about 30,000 lb. Ed Heinemann’s team at Douglas’s El Segundo plant offered one of roughly half that weight, saving it wherever they could: the small, low-aspect-ratio wing was built as a single piece through the fuselage and was short enough that it did not need to fold on a carrier deck, and its leading-edge slats opened by themselves at low speed. The prototype XA4D-1 first flew at Edwards Air Force Base on 22 June 1954, and the type entered service with attack squadron VA-72 in 1956. Pilots called it the ‘Scooter’ and ‘Heinemann’s Hot Rod’.

The Skyhawk grew through a long series of marks, with more powerful engines, better navigation and attack equipment and, from the A-4F, a dorsal ‘hump’ housing extra avionics. In 1962 the A4D became the A-4. It was the Navy’s main light attack aircraft in the early years of the Vietnam War, flying from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin, and Marine squadrons flew it from shore bases. Two-seat TA-4F and TA-4J trainers taught a generation of Navy pilots, and Skyhawks played the nimble enemy in the Navy’s Top Gun air combat school. The last Marine Corps A-4M was delivered in 1979, when production ended after 2,960 aircraft.

Skyhawks went abroad to Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Kuwait, Argentina and others. In the Falklands War of 1982 Argentine air force and navy A-4s attacked the British fleet at low level, sinking HMS Coventry and contributing to the loss of HMS Ardent and HMS Antelope, and dozens were lost. From 1974 to 1986 the Blue Angels, the Navy’s display team, flew the A-4F with the avionics hump removed, before changing to the F/A-18 Hornet. The US Navy retired its last Skyhawks in 2003. No A-4 is in a UK museum.

This airframe

A-4F BuNo 155033

155033The airframe modelled

BuNo 155033, Douglas constructor’s number 13849, is one of the four Blue Angels A-4Fs hung in diamond formation in the Blue Angel Atrium of the National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida, where it flies the left-wing slot as number 3. The model shows it as photographs of it there do: Blue Angels gloss blue overall, gold wing tips, tailplane tips and fin cap, a large gold ‘3’ on the fin, gold ‘U.S. NAVY’ on the rear fuselage and under the port wing, the ‘Blue Angels’ script along the intakes, the team crest below the windscreen and a gold stripe running along the nose and canopy sill, with no avionics hump, refuelling probe or guns, as the team flew it. In the atrium it hangs with its wheels up; the model stands it on its undercarriage. Its shape comes from an A-4E three-view drawing, checked against an A-4M drawing and the photographs; the starboard underside, unseen in the photographs, is left plain, and the script lettering is the nearest available font.

Where to see one

Not on charge

Many survive in the United States, among them four Blue Angels A-4s in the atrium at Pensacola. None is in a UK museum.

All 313 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.