USS Yorktown - The Flight Deck - Skyhawk!

At the stern of the Flight deck an A-4 Skyhawk sat with its arresting hook deployed.

 

The A-4 Skyhawk was an outstanding light attack aircraft.

This one is pretty well wrapped up.

Designed in the early 1950's by Douglas'  brilliant aircraft designer Ed Heinemann, it came in under both the weight and cost limits of the Navy contract that led to its creation.  It proved to be a very successful design remaining in production until 1979.

While a lightweight strike aircraft, weighing 9,853 lbs, it can carry the same bomb load as that of a B-17 Bomber that weighted 34,000 lbs.

2,960 Skyhawks were produced and they served in some of the notable conflicts of the 20th century - The Vietnam War, The Yom Kippur War, The Falklands War, and The First Gulf War.

Israel Day 5 - israel Air Force Museum - The Skyhawk

After the Six Day War, the United States became interested in Israel as an ally not just as the one democracy in the Middle East, but now that it had won some strategic depth and other factors such as the Arabs flocking to the Soviet Union as their arms suppliers. This was fortuitous, for as just discussed, France had decided its interest lay with appeasing the Arabs and had embargoed arms sales to Israel.

This meant a significant shift in the Israeli Air Force's composition.

The first plane the US agreed to sell to Israel was the A-4 Skyhawk.

Both an F model and an H model are in the museum. The H model was made specifically for Israel.

The F Model:

Here's an example of the H model.

The Skyhawks served as the IAF's main ground attack aircraft for the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur war.

They suffered heavy losses to Egyptian and Syrian SAMs in the opening days of the Yom Kippur War. The Skyhawks flew 1,000 sorties on the Egyptian front alone in that war.

After 1990 the Skyhawks were removed from tactical service and converted to trainers as lead-in-fighter aircraft to train pilots before transitioning to the F-16 and F-15, the Skyhawks were only retired from the IAF in 2015.

The Skyhawk in Israeli service was called the "Ayit", meaning Eagle. As such the F-15 Eagle is not called the Eagle in Israeli service.

More Of The A-4

After the TBM completed its flyby with the A4, the scooter jet got a chance to strut its stuff alone.

We got to see slow flight from a Skyhawk: Flaps down, gear out, hook out:

Then some beauty passes and rolls showcasing the maneuverability of Ed Heinemann's wonderful design:

In for a landing after a great demonstration.

The Scooter Jet And The Bomb Truck

Two Navy bombers from the piston and jet ages flew together at Thunder Over Michigan.

The Grumman TBM and the A-4 Skyhawk.

It was an amazing formation flyby from two classic warbirds.