The A-4 Skyhawk is an attack aircraft originally designed to operate from United States Navy aircraft carriers. Fifty years after the type's first flight, some of the nearly 3,000 Skyhawks produced remain in service with smaller air arms around the world. The aircraft was formerly the A4D Skyhawk, and was designed by the Douglas Aircraft Corporation, later McDonnell Douglas, now Boeing.

The Skyhawk was designed by Douglas' Ed Heinemann in response to a U.S. Navy call for a jet-powered attack aircraft to replace the A-1 Skyraider. Heinemann opted for a design that would minimize size, weight, and complexity. The result was an aircraft that weighed only half of the Navy's specification and had a wing so compact that it did not need to be folded for carrier stowage. The diminutive Skyhawk soon received the nicknames "Scooter", "Bantam Bomber", "Tinker Toy Bomber", and, on account of its nimble performance, "Heinemann's Hot-Rod."

The Navy issued a contract for the type on June 12th, 1952, and the first prototype first flew on June 22nd, 1954. Deliveries to Navy and U.S. Marine Corps squadrons commenced in late 1956.

The Skyhawk remained in production until 1975, with a total of 2,960 aircraft built, including 555 two-seat trainers. The US Navy began removing the aircraft from its front-line squadrons in 1967, with the last retiring in 1975. The Marines would pass on the A-7 Corsair II. The last USMC Skyhawk was delivered in 1979, and were used until the mid-1990s until they were replaced by the similarly small, but V/STOL vertical landing AV-8 Harrier.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale USMC McDonnell Douglas A-4C Skyhawk attack aircraft and attached to VMA-242 "Bats", then deployed to Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West, Florida, during the so-called Cuban Missile Crisis that occurred during October 1962. Now in stock!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 4-3/4-inches
Length: 6-3/4-inches

Release Date: March 2023

Historical Account: "Over Cuba" - On October 1st, 1960, at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina the squadron was reactivated as Marine Attack Squadron 242 flying the A4D Skyhawk. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, VMA-242 deployed to Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, and maintained a ready posture until the Soviet withdrawal of offensive weapons from Cuba.

In September 1963, VMA-242 embarked for duty with the 1st MAW. The squadron operated from MCAS Iwakuni, Japan until its return to MCAS Cherry Point in September 1964, at which time it transitioned to the A-6A Intruder and was re-designated VMA(AW)-242. The transition training was conducted by VA-42, the East Coast A-6 Fleet Replacement Squadron at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia. Advance teams of key VMA-242 personnel, began arriving at Oceana in the summer of 1963. They were the second line squadron to fly the A-6A after VA-75.