Douglas A-4G Skyhawk

McDonnell Douglas · United States · first flew 1967 · fighter

The A-4G was the Royal Australian Navy's version of the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, a compact, single-seat carrier-based light attack jet.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Low-mounted, delta
E — Engines	1 × turbojet, fuselage-mounted
F — Fuselage	12.27 m fuselage
T — Tail	Conventional

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Spot it by:

Tiny delta wing, small enough that it never needs folding for carrier storage
Bulbous nose ahead of a stepped, bubble-canopy cockpit
Tall, spindly undercarriage giving a nose-up stance on the ground

The Skyhawk's unmistakably small, non-folding delta wing and bulbous nose set it apart from larger contemporary carrier jets; RAN aircraft carried Australian naval markings rather than US Navy colours.

Specifications

The Douglas A-4G Skyhawk has a length of 12.27 m (40 ft).
It has a wingspan of 8.38 m (27 ft).
Its maximum speed is 1086 km/h (675 mph).
Typical crew: 1.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

Built to an Australian order and closely related to the US Navy's A-4F, the A-4G entered Royal Australian Navy service in 1967 aboard the carrier HMAS Melbourne, giving Australia its first genuine carrier-borne strike jet.

Variants

Single-seat A-4G attack aircraft were supplemented by a handful of two-seat TA-4G operational trainers sharing the same airframe and systems.

Where you'll see it

The type flew from HMAS Melbourne until the Royal Australian Navy retired its fixed-wing carrier arm in 1984; surviving airframes are preserved in Australian aviation museums including the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Nowra.

Related aircraft

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