The Skyhawk first entered service with the US Navy almost 50 years ago. It is still in service with various US units and remains the backbone of many of the air forces of those countries to which it has been exported. It was originally conceived as a carrier-borne fighter bomber, but as the aircraft has evolved it has taken on other roles.This is an in-depth look at the design, production, evolution, operation and performance of the aircraft. It will also include first-hand accounts of flying the Skyhawk in action.

The light and agile A-4 Skyhawk was the first modern American jet to be offered to the Israeli Air Force, marking the point where the US took over from France as Israel's chief military supplier. Deliveries began too late for the A-4 to fight in the Six-Day War, but it soon formed the backbone of the IAF's ground-attack force. From 1969 to 1970 it flew endless sorties against Egyptian forces in the War of Attrition. Then, during the Yom Kippur War, five squadrons of A-4s saw combat and 50 planes were lost as they battled against the Arab armored onslaught. Using previously unpublished first-hand accounts and rare photography from the IAF archives and pilots' private collections, Shlomo Aloni tells the definitive history of the IAF's A-4 squadrons, including the story of Ezra “BABAN” Dotan who became an ace with an unique double-kill of MiG17s.

A member of Light Attack Squadron 212 s "Rampant Raiders," A-4 pilot Stephen R. Gray writes about his experiences flying combat sorties from the deck of an aircraft carrier during one of the most intense periods of aerial combat in U.S. history. From the perspective of a junior naval aviator, Gray reveals the lessons he learned first at the Naval Aviation Training Command and then in actual combat flying the Skyhawk from USS Bon Homme Richard in Vietnam. Training strengthens commitment, Gray points out, allowing ordinary men like him to fly dangerous missions. Readers will discover how circumstances created heroe--heroes who managed to overcome their personal fears for a greater cause--and how, despite the lack of public support for the war, the men remained committed to one another. The book addresses how men react to service during contentious political times to offer lessons relevant today.

The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is one of the most successful military aircraft programs in history. Skyhawks are still flying in military service in 2019, over 60 years after the first flight of the A-4. This latest entry in the Illustrated series contains over 250 photos and diagrams, most of them in color, many of them published here for the first time. The Skyhawk story is told by the men who flew it in testing and in combat and in peacetime. These first-person accounts are the highlight of the book, putting the reader in that tiny cockpit that has seen so much action in the Skyhawk's long and illustrious career.

The light and agile A-4 Skyhawk was the first modern American jet to be offered to the Israeli Air Force, marking the point where the US took over from France as Israel's chief military supplier. Deliveries began too late for the A-4 to fight in the Six-Day War, but it soon formed the backbone of the IAF's ground-attack force. From 1969 to 1970 it flew endless sorties against Egyptian forces in the War of Attrition. Then, during the Yom Kippur War, five squadrons of A-4s saw combat and 50 planes were lost as they battled against the Arab armored onslaught. Using previously unpublished first-hand accounts and rare photography from the IAF archives and pilots' private collections, Shlomo Aloni tells the definitive history of the IAF's A-4 squadrons, including the story of Ezra “BABAN” Dotan who became an ace with an unique double-kill of MiG17s.

Few modern military aircraft can claim the longevity and success of the legendary Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. First flown in the mid-1950s, the A-4 Skyhawk achieved combat fame in the Falklands and Vietnam wars and saw service with the air arms of seven foreign countries including Israel and New Zealand. It is still in use today in South America. The A-4, also known as the Bantam Bomber and Scooter, was a small, subsonic aircraft which was originated during the 1950s. The A-4 dramatically bucked the trend toward ever bigger, faster, and more complicated tactical jet airplanes in favor of simplicity and low cost. Although originally optimized for the delivery of a nuclear bomb, it proved to be far more versatile in service and as a consequence the A-4 enjoyed a 25-year production run and operation for many more years by not only the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps but in the service of the foreign air forces to whom it had been supplied. For several years the U.S Navy's famed Blue Angels aerobatic team employed it for their air show demonstrations, a role for which it was ideally suited given its performance and maneuverability. Those same characteristics were utilized as a challenging adversary in the training of fighter pilots for air-to-air combat--A-4s flown by both the U.S Navy and the Israeli Air Force shot down faster Soviet-built fighters in combat operations. This is a fully revised and updated edition of the definitive history of the A-4 written by one of the leading authorities on U.S. naval aviation.

The Skyhawk was involved in Vietnam from the very beginning, including the first offensive operations in 1963 into Laos, and the Pierce Arrow operations immediately following the Tonkin Gulf Incident of August 1964. Navy and Marine Corps A-4s quickly established a presence in south-east Asia participating in thousands of sorties against the entrenched communist forces in the South and the heavily defended targets in North Vietnam. A-4 pilots also struck targets along the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail, working with ground-based and airborne forward air controllers to interdict the flood of supplies to communist forces in the south. This book will include many first-hand accounts from the pilots who flew one of the greatest attack aircraft ever built and will provide an insightful account of some of the most thrilling aerial combats that took place during Vietnam.