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 US Navy McDonnell Douglas A-4F Skyhawk attack aircraft that was attached to VA-55 "Torpcats", then embarked upon the USS Hancock (CV-19), operating off the coast of Vietnam in 1972. Sold Out!

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

Release Date: February 2016

Historical Account: "Topcats" - VA-55 was an Attack Squadron of the U.S. Navy. It was established as Torpedo Squadron VT-5 on February 15th, 1943, redesignated VA-6A on November 15th, 1946, and finally designated VA-55 on August 16th, 1948. The squadron was disestablished on December 12th, 1975. It was the first squadron to be designated VA-55, the second VA-55 was established on October 7th, 1983 and disestablished on January 1st, 1991.

The squadron's nickname was the Torpcats from 1943-1955, and the Warhorses from 1955 onward. Its insignia changed several times over its lifetime, ending up as a winged seahorse. They were established in 1943. When VA-55 was stood up again in 1983, it was flying the Grumman A-6E Intruder medium-attack jet aircraft.