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Douglas A-4 Skyhawk Part II:

The Pratt & Whitney J52 engine gave the A-4 a new lease on life. It was lighter than the previous J65 and offered 8,500 pounds of thrust versus the J65's 7,700 pounds. And had lower fuel consumption: Winner!

The A-4E model with its new J52 engine also had a further lengthened nose to provide space for more electronics. It also featured two more wing pylons for a new total of 5 stores stations. The first flight of a prototype took place in July 1961 and the Navy was impressed; orders were soon forthcoming and 499 A-4Es rolled off the line.

That probably would have been the end of the A-4 story but the hostilities in Vietnam gave the A-4 a new lease on life. The Navy was buying the new Vought A-7 Corsair II (aka SLUF) but wanted more light attack planes. The final Navy version was the A-4F, with even more power (9,300 lbs of thrust), nose wheel steering, wing spoilers and other improvements. Most were fitted with a dorsal "hump" that had space for more electronics. By now the Navy realized that the sophisticated air defense environment of North Vietnam required electronic countermeasures (ECM) equipment.

146 A-4Fs were delivered and the final batch of these had a squared-off vertical stabilizer and a further engine thrust increase to 11,200 lbs; these last A-4Fs were known as "Super Foxes" and gained fame as adversary aircraft for Top Gun and other adversary units. For an early 1950s design, the A-4 had come a long way indeed.

The Navy was using the early 1950s design TF-9J two-seat Cougar as an advanced and instrument training aircraft for jet pilots and wanted a replacement. Douglas proposed a two-seat version of the A-4 that would fill the bill. The resulting TA-4F was stretched 28 inches in the front and had had reduced fuel capacity to accommodate the second seat. Deliveries began in 1966 and the Navy/Marines bought 239 of these combat-capable trainers. In addition, late in the Vietnam War, the laser-guided bomb entered the picture; two-seat TA-4Fs were used with the rear-seater using a hand-held designator to lase the target for the LGB to home on.

The TA-4F was followed by the TA-4J, which was intended to replace the TF-9Js of training squadrons. The TA-4J omitted some combat features and used a lower-powered engine; the Navy bought 277 and many TA-4Fs were subsequently converted to TA-4Js. A whole generation of Navy jet pilots cut their teeth on the TA-4J.

The final U.S. A-4 production variant was the Marine Corps A-4M, which was the best of the lot; as the Navy gave up their A-4s for the newer, larger A-7, the Marines had reservations and wanted to continue to buy A-4s. The A-4M incorporated all the improvements of the A-4F Super Fox plus some: An enlarged and roomier cockpit, an auxiliary power unit for self-start capability, a braking parachute, a head-up display in the cockpit and general strengthening were all part of the package. The A-4M first flew in 1970 and 158 were delivered to the Corps, serving alongside the few British AV-8A Harrier VSTOL attack jets that were also procured during the same period.

The Marines used the TA-4F as a fast forward air controller aircraft and converted a few to OA-4M configuration with some of the A-4M features. The OA-4M was considered the ultimate two-seat Skyhawk, though only 23 were converted.

The Navy replaced the A-4s in its attack squadrons with the A-7 and the Marines replaced their A-4s with the improved AV-8B Harrier, but the TA-4s continued to serve for many years. Other than in the training command, A-4s and TA-4s were used for many years in the adversary role and modified A-4Fs and TA-4Fs were used by the Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron.

To rewind a bit, during the Vietnam War, the Navy recognized that its reserve A-4 units were not adequately equipped for combat service in areas such as ECM. 100 older J65-powered A-4Cs (see Part I) were updated to A-4L standard and used by Navy and Marine reserve units for a few years; they were the last J65-powered A-4s to be retired.

Next up: Part III of the A-4 story -- the export market and civil users.