Dhimari Skyhawks

[Spinners 15,986]

Douglas A-4D Skyhawk - No.7 Squadron (The Rattlesnakes), Royal Dhimari Air Force, 1977

During the early to mid-1950's almost every US Navy aircraft programme hit some sort of propulsion trouble with engines that were either down on thrust or simply so unreliable that they were a hazard to flight safety. Douglas were no exception and the SkyKnight and Skyray programmes were hit especially hard and the A4D Skyhawk programme initially didn't fare much better with the J65 down on thrust and the Pentagon bizarrely ordering that reconditioned Air Force J65's should be used for Skyhawk production. Ed Heinemann's wish to shoehorn the Rolls-Royce Avon into the Skyhawk fell apart when a production licence was granted to Westinghouse who then decided to only produce (with Navy funding but without telling Douglas ) a six-tenths scale version as the XJ64 giving less thrust than the J65! 

However, by 1955 the Navy BuWeps had decided to fund the promising Pratt & Whitney JT8, essentially a scaled-down JT3 or J57 and by 1957 the resultant J52 was running sweetly on the bench and Ed Heinemann could plan growth versions of his brilliant 'Bantam Bomber'. At about the same time the Navy were hinting that perhaps a more flexible machine was required than the high-altitude nuclear bomber of the original A4D requirement and the increased thrust of the J52 meant that two more stores pylons could be added and higher gross weights permitted. 

Douglas had planned to introduce the engine in the A4D-3 (A-4D) and A4D-5 (A-4E) variants but the US Navy cancelled the A4D-3 in 1959 and slowed the A4D-5 programme down. Douglas then looked at export opportunities resurrecting the A4D-3 designation to produce a multi-role fighter version later designated the A-4D which introduced the new J52 engine rated at 8,500lbs thrust plus a small and simple multi-mode radar. Oil-rich Dhimar became the launch customer ordering 60 A-4D's in 1961 and these were delivered in early 1963 initially to No.7 Squadron of the Dhimari Air Force who operated the type until 1982.

 

 

 

Skin Credit: salvatorestupido 

[Stratos 3,192]

One of the first "what if" we got back in the old days IIRC. Love the snake emblem.