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McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk

The A-4 was deployed from earlier AD Skyraider and designed to meet a requirement for a carrierborne light attack aircraft, and first flew on June 22, 1954. A variety of models were built throughout the mid to late 1960s for the US Navy, as well as for the Argentine, Singapore, and New Zealand Air Forces. It is still actively used in South-East Asia for both combat and training, in the US the A-4M and the TA-4F are currently used by Marine Corps Reserve squadrons. All models have two internally mounted 20mm (.8 inch) cannons, and are capable of delivering conventional and nuclear weapons under day and night visual meteorological conditions. The A-4M uses a heads-up display and computer aided delivery of its bomb load with the angle rate bombing system. The Marine Reserve has two squadrons of A-4s with 12 aircraft each. Additionally, each squadron has two TA-4 aircraft.

General characteristics
Contractor	McDonnell Douglas
Primary function	Light attack aircraft for carriers
Crew	One
Power plant	one Pratt & Whitney J52-P-8B non-afterburning turbojet
Thrust	9,300 lb	41.4 kN
Wingspan	27 ft 6 in	8.38 m
Length	41 ft 9 in	12.72 m
Height	15 ft	4.57 m
Max. takeoff weight	22,500 lb	10,206 kg
Ceiling	40,000 ft	18,144 m
Range	2,055 miles	3,307 km
Max. speed	701 mph	1,128 km/h
Armament	Two Mk12 20mm cannons with 200 rounds each, plus up to 8,200 lb including ASMs, AIM-9 Sidewinder AAMs, bombs, or fuel tanks
Built	2960

Jirka Wagner

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Last updated 11.04.2009