Flew this airplane in Navy flight school when I was a lad, along about 1980 or so. Carrier qual'ed in one aboard USS Lexington. Still have a certificate naming me "Top Hook" for my class. My boyhood dream, and I even survived it. Somewhat to my surprise.
jim pollard I was also in vt-7 at that time.....plane captain, airframe shop and trouble shooter.....even got acouple of hops. 1st one was with ltcdr Hoffman, weapons delivery. Got to log 2 hrs of it...being also a pilot. I still want one. Outstanding ride.
Jim, I was a year behind you and CQd in August of 81 down in Kingsville in VT-22. Continued to fly ‘em in the Marine Corps for the next 10 years. I still dream about flying this wonderful airplane...which was a “jack of all trades, a master of none!” This video brings it all back like it was yesterday!
Its awesome to see such a beautiful aircraft flying still, my wife was a Plane captain for vt-7 around the same time, always sharing stories about experiences and people
jim pollard OK. So the leading edge flaps are retracted by speed. The faster the A4 goes the further they retract. What if one side freezes up? Won’t retract or extend. 🤔🤔🤔
When I went into the Naval Air Reserve between my junior and senior years of hight school. I was assigned to VA 879 at NAS Alameda which flew the A-4 Skyhawk. I have wonderful memories of working the flight line and looking at the skyline of San Francisco. I love this airplane!
I was a Marine Corps aircraft electrician and worked on the TA4-F from 1967 to 1971. I was lucky enough to get to fly in the back seat once after a 2 day school where I learned about the safety equipment. I also went up in the pressure chamber and training ejection seat that went up rails with a quarter charge of explosive. I was a teenager when I enlisted, so it was quite an experience that I probably did not appreciate at the time. Our pilots were in their 20s and had a least one combat tour in Vietnam.
Outstanding video. As a former USMC Plane Captain, I can appreciate all the preparation that goes into a successful launch. Sweet memories. Thanks for the upload! Damn onions.
This may be a longish post, but I'm gonna hopefully solve the bagpipes/McDougall puzzle. In 1959, my dad was a young USAF F-86 instructor. He was selected to serve 18 months Navy Exchange (NEX) duty. So, the family (dad, mom & 2 boys) packed up, left Williams AFB, AZ and traveled to Jacksonville, FL. After transitioning to the A-4 Skyhawk & passing his carrier qualifications, dad was assigned to Attack Squadron VA-46 (Cecil Field) and subsequently USS Franklin D Roosevelt (CVA 42). Still with me? Anyway, VA-46 was called "The Clansmen." Their insignia was a tartan plaid (??) of Clan McDougall. Dad is 92 and sadly time & dementia are taking it's toll. In his "I Love Me!" section of the TV room, his Navy flight helmet complete with its' Clan McDougall markings is displayed next to his USAF helmet from his F-104 squadron. He is truly blessed having had such a distinguished career.
Gloria a los inolvidables pilotos argentinos que mostraron al mundo su valor a bordo de aviones Skyhawk!!!! Gloria y honor!!!! 1 de mayo de 1982.......
Lest we forget. We must always remember the ultimate sacrifices made by the British and Argentine troops, pilots and sailors. May a conflict like this never happen again.
We saw what some of the Argys did with these Skyhawks, the Brits dodged a bullet and could have lost their entire fleet if a WW2 type strike had been made as shown here ! WHEW !ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EvvLxC1rvrQ.html
Former Plane Captain with VF-126 (Fighting Seahawks) NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA 68-74, enjoyed having the chance to ride back seat from time to time, went from San Diego to NAS Memphis to pick up some parts, stayed two days, then left, thanks for the memories.
William Wilson Thank you Mr Wilson. This is only the 2nd place I've hear the reference to Ed Heineken. The firat was a Smithsonian Air & Space Museum publication I received yrs ago. Thank you sir
I got to take a ride in the TA4F, as I was plane captain of the month. Va44 was the training squadron for the A4. I got to handle the controls for a while. Great experience.
When I went through AOCS at NAS Pensacola back in the early 70’s the A-4’s and T-2’s flying overhead on their way to gunnery practice out in the Gulf kept us motivated while we were running along the sea wall or had our faces in the mud doing PT. Some student pilots tilted their wings a couple times at us knowing that they were there with us a few months back. Tremendous motivation!
I went through that, lite, and the blues did the same thing every Tuesday as they practiced. The DIs knew exactly when to march us to class and watched for us to look up. In the grass!
I worked on this bird (F model)and the OV-10A Bronco at Kaneohe Bay MCAS Hawaii as a young Marine in the early 1970's..do a Calendar Check on the TA-4F's...lot's of fun...LoL....great video, keep 'em coming...
This could be one of my all time favorite jets and possibly all aircraft. I was spoiled living near NAS Lemoore and my brother stationed there, I got to see the Blues fly the A4s and F4s. F4s were just nuts, A4s were so classy. I got all access(even to the Stone Ranch) so it was something I will never forget.
dirtcurt1. Why do you say " F4s were just nuts?" Is it because the F4 was a much larger and heavier fighter and that it had 2 J79 engines as compared to the smaller, lighter and single engine A4?
F-4's are the Centurian tank. When I worked on the A-4 I wasn't impressed with the look of it. I liked the T-38 a whole lot better. Looked like a 'vette. Another one of my favorites going just on looks; F-111. Even the number is cool.
Living in "Air Force country" near Ellsworth AFB, we don't get to see many Navy jets. But the really cool military museum at the little Cheyenne River town of Wasta, SD along I-90 has one of these little beauties on display. Stop and see it !
The dip on power and the jump on release is a fond memory and a great feeling....better with 2 Rolls Royce speys though...kicks yer balls back in...great days..
Brought back memories. Spent 4 years in VT-24 working on J models. We didn't have headset communication though, just hand signals. Really trouble free except for hung landing gear from a brake line. Two new drop tanks and a drop check and it's back in the air in no time. They where tough little birds.
I've always loved studying these aircraft. I was given an all inclusive book on every aircraft used in Vietnam and I learned their names, ordinances, manufacturers, etc. Now, I'm sad to admit it appears drones, tomahawk cruise missiles, and lasers have made manned aircraft obsolete. I had a retired Air Force General tell me the only reason the F35 and F22 programs even exist is the old obsolete mindset of "my boy is gonna be a pilot like his old man" that is so deeply ingrained in their mindset that the military contractors play off of that instead of refusing to quote what is, ultimately, a limited aircraft due to the man being strapped to it. I have to agree. Easier to make good judgements when it's not your ass about to become BBQ
While stationed at NAS Lemoore, CA (in VA-163), I received my backseat flying license for TA-4J Skyhawk aircraft. I was able to fly often (including nights) with pilots and share some great experiences on bombing runs, in-flight refueling from our aircraft, dog fighting in the clouds over the Sierra Nevada mountains, and touch & go landings at NAS Lemoore while we were returning from Fallon NAS. ;-)
Worked on Marine A4C Skyhawks in Viet Nam in !965. Check out the Videos and Slide Shows films at Cherry Point, West Pac and Viet Nam on the VMA 225 You Tube Channel !!!
The guy who founded the company was named Donald Wills Douglas, and people are asking what Scotland has to do with the Douglas Aircraft Company? REALLY?
Yea ........ some people haven't a clue. I was privileged to work for the company this son of Scottish heritage founded. That's why the bagpipes are appropriate
God I hate bagpipes. I got to take a ride in one when I was stationed at NAS Kingsville. Actually twice. The E ticket as they used to say. I was a lowly plane captain but I got sent to Beeville(I think) to do ejection seat training in case they needed a mech somewhere. I made a point to take advantage of my training and submitted a request for a ride.
Ejection seat training was at NAS Corpus Christi not Beeville. I know cause I was stationed in VT-26 in Beeville, and had to get my OMAS (Oh My Ass) card to fly backseat in Corpus as an ADJ from Power Plants
A friend of mine bought like 20 of these jets. Some where sitting in Marana AZ and other in a lot near the boneyard in a storage lot.. i remember climbing all over them. I still have some gauges out of some of them. I wonder if this is one of them.
i have flight sim 2000...i feel comfortable to be able to fly one of these irl...the A4, like my girlfriend, has a super tight cockpit for my joystick.
OK. So the leading edge flaps are retracted by speed. The faster the A4 goes the further they retract. What if one side freezes up? Won’t retract or extend. 🤔🤔🤔
A couple of good questions by those who left comments. Why was the red “warning” light on soon after he closed the canopy? What did he do with the safety pins? I never saw anyone give them to the pilot.
Don Cornwall there was a canopy, fire, shit only 30 + years ago I know it took a 327 bulb sometimes u had to drop a little solder on bulb to get em to work well what ever it was did not seemed to worried
They are allowed but many fast jet warbird operators have them deactivated on safety and or cost grounds. Fact is using an ejection seat is far more dangerous than most realise, something in the region of 1/4 of all ejections results in serious injury or death. The operating windows of older seats are severely restricted compared to modern seats, best approach is to keep yourself out of situations where you may need to use one.
C17 fly I remember a bunch of A 4s stored by that airport.I flew there for a while as well.I guess this one is in private hands.I haven't been out there since 2006.
Do they still use LOX(Liquid Oxygen) for breathing in these civilian versions,or do they stay below,say 12,000-feet? And also I wonder if the the Plane Captain put the landing-gear safety-pins in a compartment on the under side of the Aircraft? In the Training Squadron I was in,we used to roll them up and hand them to the pilot as he pre-flighted the aircraft or he pulled them himself. Went up one time for flight-skins as Plane-Captain-Of-The-Month and our Plane-Captain and the Instructor I was flying with,forgot to pull them. So it was a very short flight.
Never ever pull the landing gear pins on an A-4 without hydraulic power on the aircraft. The landing gear can collapse. I panicked the first time I saw that done on an F/A-18 but its gear is designed so it can't physically collapse with the weight on wheels. A-4 is not designed that way. Gear pins are pulled along with the arming pins and shown to the pilot for counting and then stored in the bag in the aft "hell hole"
B W Neuberger--Thanks for the info on the A-4. The only time I came in contact with the A-4,was when they had a HURREVAC of Aircraft from Pensacola to NAAS-Meridian,Miss,where I was stationed 1962-1965. I was in VT-7 as a Plane-Captain,and then was on Line-Service. I still treasure my time(hours),I had in the rear-seat of the T-2A-Buckeye Jet Trainer we had in VT-7,and VT-9.By making Plane-Captain of the month,and Line-Service member of the month,I was able go up in the rear-seat of the T-2A Jet Trainer we had when the instructor was flying solo-chase on his students who were also flying solo. While on Line-Service our job was to put in LOX,Canopy-Air,and Bail-Out-Bottle air in the aircraft. Plus we as the Ground-Crew had to use a GTC-85(Gas-Turbine-Compressor-85)mounted in a large tractor to air-start the T-2A on the ground.
I was a Marine Corps avionics tech on A-4F's, TA-4F/J's, and OA-4M's from 1979-1986. I got back seat time in the two seaters. Loved my time as a Sergeant of Marines. Later got commissioned and spent the rest of my 32 year career as an Aircraft Maintenance Officer. I treasure the time I spent down in the squadron. Made friends of the pilots and maintainer's that are proving to last a lifetime.
B W Neuberger--Glad to hear that you made a lifetime of memories too. If I remember correctly the A-4's I helped park during the Hurrevac from Penacola to Meridian were the 2-seat trainer or TA-4's. I don't think I put the landing gear-pins in them because they were taxiing in so fast,we were just going to the next parking-spot and waving them in. It seems to me that when they left,we had to connect 2-air-start-hoses together from the GTC-85 to the aircraft to make up the distance between the two. It's been over 50-years ago,so things are a little vague at times about exactly what happened.
I used to be low and hi-power turn up license. Electric cord hooks up in the left wing root and the "huffer" hose hooks up to a receptacle in the right engine bay. Pilot signals "one" for the external electric power to be turned on, "two" for the buffer to start blowing. At 5-7% RPM, move the throttle "around the horn", at 15-17% RPM "bang" the ignitors. Wait for engine to light off at ~35% RPM and stabilize at ~45% RPM. Turn on internal power. Pilot signals "3" to kill the buffer and "4" to switch off external electrical power. LOL. Last time I did that was 1984. Cant believe I can still recall the startup procedure.
Nazis: puts sirens on dive bombers for psychological terror. Nazi’s enemies: scared but don’t surrender, unless they’re French. Someone puts bagpipes on an A-4. Enemy: surrender to end their torment.
I do not know the use of communication as the one used by your mechanic. How is this possible? is typical of the model or you made a change. Thank you for your attention.
Terminal panel 21 in the nose wheel well had an access point to be able to use comm cable, but we never did..........everything was done using hand & arm signals. Worked on these birds (A-4E, A-4F, A-4M, "Super Mike", and TA-4F and J models through my 20 year career (1971 - 1991). Avionics.
Thank God those awful bagpipes stopped. The noise created by those devices is beyond awful. Another 5 seconds of that horrible screeching and I’d have most likely skipped the video.
