Military Aircraft For Sale

Douglass A-4 Skyhawk

The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk was originally developed to replace the A-1 Skyraider for the US Navy. Douglas Aircraft’s Ed Heinemann was the chief design engineer of the project. He designed a small, lightweight aircraft that was simple yet effective. The avionics are in the nose, the engine is in the fuselage, and the fuel is in the wings.

Heinemann’s aggressively compact bomber was later nicknamed “Heinemann’s Hot Rod”. The Navy began using the Skyhawks just after the 1950s conflict in Korea, and soon they were being delivered to the Marine Corps as well. By the conflict in Vietnam, there were at least two A-4 Skyhawk squadrons in all carrier wings performing light air attack missions regularly. The A-4 was also the first to debut the concept of “buddy” air-to-air refueling. It is still in active service with non-US countries, but that doesn’t mean that someone can’t find their own A-4 on the US civil register.