![]() ![]() The diminutive Skyhawk soon received the nicknames "Scooter", "Kiddiecar", "Bantam Bomber", "Tinker Toy Bomber", and, on account of its speed and nimble performance, "Heinemann's Hot-Rod". The first 500 production examples cost an average of $860,000 each, less than the Navy's one million dollar maximum. It had a wing so compact that it did not need to be folded for carrier stowage. The result was an aircraft that weighed only half of the Navy's weight specification. Heinemann opted for a design that would minimize its size, weight, and complexity. The Skyhawk was designed by Douglas Aircraft's Ed Heinemann in response to a United States Navy call for a jet-powered attack aircraft to replace the older Douglas AD Skyraider (later redesignated A-1 Skyraider). Design and development The XA4D-1 prototype in 1954 The second production A4D-1 ![]() In 2022, nearly seven decades after the aircraft's first flight in 1954, some of the 2,960 produced (through February 1979) remain in service with the Argentine Air Force and the Brazilian Naval Aviation. ![]() Skyhawks played key roles in the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War, and the Falklands War. The A-4 was originally powered by the Wright J65 turbojet engine from the A-4E onwards, the Pratt & Whitney J52 engine was used. It is capable of carrying a bomb load equivalent to that of a World War II–era Boeing B-17 bomber, and can deliver nuclear weapons using a low-altitude bombing system and a "loft" delivery technique. The aircraft's five hardpoints support a variety of missiles, bombs, and other munitions. The Skyhawk is a relatively light aircraft, with a maximum takeoff weight of 24,500 pounds (11,100 kg), and has a top speed of 670 miles per hour (1,080 km/h). It was originally designated A4D under the U.S. ![]() The delta-winged, single turbojet engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later by McDonnell Douglas. The 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. ![]()
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