The Douglas A4 Skyhawk is a singleseat subsonic carriercapable light attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s. The deltawinged, single turbojet engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later by McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated A4D under the U.S. Navy's pre1962 designation system.

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). The aircraft's five hardpoints support a variety of missiles, bombs, and other munitions. It is capable of carrying a bomb load equivalent to that of a World War II–era Boeing B17 bomber, and can deliver nuclear weapons using a lowaltitude bombing system and a "loft" delivery technique. The A4 was originally powered by the Wright J65 turbojet engine; from the A4E onwards, the Pratt & Whitney J52 engine was used.

Skyhawks played key roles in the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War, and the Falklands War. 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.

The Skyhawk was designed by Douglas Aircraft's Ed Heinemann in response to a U.S. Navy call for a jetpowered attack aircraft to replace the older Douglas AD Skyraider (later redesignated A1 Skyraider). Heinemann opted for a design that would minimize its size, weight, and complexity. The result was an aircraft that weighed only half of the Navy's weight specification. It had a wing so compact that it did not need to be folded for carrier stowage. The first 500 production examples cost an average of $860,000 each, less than the Navy's one million dollar maximum. 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 HotRod".

The aircraft is of conventional postWorld War II design, with a lowmounted delta wing, tricycle undercarriage, and a single turbojet engine in the rear fuselage, with two air intakes on the fuselage sides. The tail is of cruciform design, with the horizontal stabilizer mounted above the fuselage. Armament consisted of two 20 mm (.79 in caliber) Colt Mk 12 cannons, one in each wing root, with 100 rounds per gun (the A4M Skyhawk II and types based on the A4M have 200 rounds per gun), plus a large variety of bombs, rockets, and missiles carried on a hardpoint under the fuselage centerline and hardpoints under each wing (originally one per wing, later two).

The shortspan delta wing did not require the complexity of wingtip folding, saving an estimated 200 pounds (91 kg). Its spars were machined from a single forging that spanned across both wingtips. The leading edge slats were designed to drop automatically at the appropriate speed by gravity and air pressure, saving weight and space by omitting actuation motors and switches. Similarly the main undercarriage did not penetrate the main wing spar, designed so that when retracted only the wheel itself was inside the wing and the undercarriage struts were housed in a fairing below the wing. Thus the wing structure was lighter with the same overall strength. The rudder was constructed of a single panel reinforced with external ribs.

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 40 ft 1.5 in (12.230 m)
Wingspan: 27 ft 6 in (8.38 m)
Height: 15 ft 2 in (4.62 m)
Wing area: 260 sq ft (24 m2)
Airfoil: root: NACA 00081.125; tip: NACA 0005.82550
Empty weight: 9,853 lb (4,469 kg)
Gross weight: 16,216 lb (7,355 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 24,500 lb (11,113 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney J52P6A turbojet engine, 8,500 lbf (38 kN) thrust
Performance

Maximum speed: 585 kn (673 mph, 1,083 km/h) at sea level
Range: 1,008 nmi (1,160 mi, 1,867 km)
Ferry range: 2,194 nmi (2,525 mi, 4,063 km)
g limits: +8 3
Rate of climb: 5,750 ft/min (29.2 m/s)
Wing loading: 62.4 lb/sq ft (305 kg/m2)
Thrust/weight: 0.526
Armament
Guns: 2× 20 mm (0.79 in) Colt Mk 12 cannon, 100 rounds/gun
Hardpoints: 4× underwing & 1× underfuselage pylon stations with a capacity of 8,500 lb (3,900 kg), with provisions to carry combinations of:
Rockets: 4× LAU10 rocket pods (each with 4× 127 mm Mk 32 Zuni rockets)
Bombs:
6× RockeyeII Mark 20 Cluster Bomb Unit (CBU)
6× Rockeye Mark 7/APAM59 CBU
Mark 80 series of unguided bombs (including 3 kg and 14 kg practice bombs)
B43 nuclear bomb
B57 nuclear bomb
B61 nuclear bomb
Other: up to 3× 370 US gallons (1,400 L) Sargent Fletcher drop tanks for ferry flight/extended range/loitering time
Missiles:
Airtoair missiles:
4× AIM9 Sidewinder
Airtosurface missiles:
2× AGM12 Bullpup
2× AGM45 Shrike antiradiation missile
2× AGM62 Walleye TVguided glide bomb
2× AGM65 Maverick
Avionics
Typical avionics fitted to A4s

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