Today, nearly seven decades after the aircraft took its first flight in 1954, some A-4 Skyhawks remain in service with the Argentine Air Force and the Brazilian Naval Aviation.
The A-4 was designed as an attack aircraft to replace the Douglas AD Skyraider (A-1). The Navy sought a lightweight platform that was simple and inexpensive, which Douglas Aircraft developed. The A-4 cost roughly $800,000 dollars, less than the Navy’s $1 million budget for the unit
At the height of the Vietnam War, Kathy Foley’s father, Michael Estocin, was an A4 pilot based out of the Lemoore Naval Air Station. Fifteen minutes after leaving for work