Douglas A-4 Skyhawk

Some snippets on A-4 Skyhawk export prospects.

Kenya:
https://archive.org/details/State-Dept-cable-1974-172333/mode/1uphttps://archive.org/details/StateDeptcable1977-189183/page/n1/mode/1up (Israeli A-4s!)

Jordan:
https://archive.org/details/StateDeptcable1975-91743/mode/1uphttps://archive.org/details/StateDeptcable1975-197596/mode/1up
Lebanon:
https://archive.org/details/State-Dept-cable-1973-85898/page/n1/mode/1uphttps://archive.org/details/State-Dept-cable-1973-117460/page/n1/mode/1up?q=skyhawk
Mexico:
https://archive.org/details/StateDeptcable1978-68011/mode/1up
Chile:
https://archive.org/details/State-Dept-cable-1974-92530/mode/1uphttps://archive.org/details/State-Dept-cable-1974-124443/mode/1uphttps://archive.org/details/State-Dept-cable-1974-147473/mode/1up
Ecuador:
https://archive.org/details/State-Dept-cable-1975-251691/mode/1up
Peru (in preference to Su-22s!):
https://archive.org/details/State-Dept-cable-1976-311579/mode/1up?q=skyhawkhttps://archive.org/details/StateDeptcable1977-43633/page/n3/mode/1up?q=skyhawk
Philippines:
https://archive.org/details/State-Dept-cable-1974-217841/page/n1/mode/1uphttps://archive.org/details/StateDeptcable1977-32105/page/n1/mode/1up
 
Somebody has found a great new resource for aviation history...

Any chance you browse A-7 similar prospects ? Aérospatiale, France, was to manufacture some of them for the Aéronavale circa 1972 as an alternative to the doomed Jaguar M.
Competitors were a naval F-1, Skyhawk, Harrier, and a dark horse: the Super Etendard, except with a J52 turbojet rather than Atar-8.
 
I had a cursory look for the A-7 (the search feature is sub-optimal but it is a great resource!) and only really turned up an LTV rep visit to Peru. I didn't post it because it wasn't clear how interested the Peruvians were or whether export was even permissible (in the era of the documents available it was policy to only allow A-4s, F-5s or A/T-37s for "Latin America"). I will have another look soon and maybe try to look for any P&W/SNECMA linkage as the TF30 may lead me there by another route?

ETA: There was also some discussion on Pakistan and the A-7 but as it was quite intimately linked with their nuclear programme, I didn't post because politics.

ETA2: Scrap that. SNECMA is co-oping with GE on the CFM-56 by the time of the documents available.
 
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Thank you, saw this post after seeing the A-7 thread.

A-4 was a very strong contender for the Clemenceaus, one even tested onboard.
 
Anyone found anything on the A-4 Skyhawk International design study by Douglas? From what I've read, it was supposed to have been able to employ Aim-7 Sparrow III AAM's........
I'll try and find the source of where I read this proposal......


Regards
Pioneer
 
Going through a Kew file I found reference to a diplomatic spat in 1993 between the USA and UK on the US sale of refurbished A-4s to Argentina, the main point of contention was the planned fitting of an "Emerson radar" and the US decrying the potential sale of Hawk 100 and 200 to Chile as "destabilising".
The exact type of radar was not specified, but presumably the AN/APG-69 (or a lesser probability could be the AN/APQ-167).

Has anyone ever come across any mention of such an A-4 upgrade before? My copies of Jane's Civil and Military Aircraft Upgrades 1993-94 and Jane's Radar and EW Systems 1990-91 have drawn a blank.
The upgrade seems to predate the A-4AR deal by a couple of years - which of course ended up with Westinghouse APG-66V2.
 
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I wonder if an RA-4 reconnaissance version was ever considered?
 
I'm going to say probably not, at least for the USN/USMC, as the RF-8 was being bought around the same time. For foreign orders? That's a good question...
 
I trained on A-4's at NAS Millington during AMH Class A School back in 1981. Our A-4's were rigged for fault diagnostics, positioned and raised on structures to allow gear swings, we basically took the planes apart then back together, did flight controls checkouts, troubleshooting, great fun.
The AD's has their A-4 raised as well and we could again operate the gear, flight controls, engine runs, ECS you name it.
 
Hydroman said:
I trained on A-4's at NAS Millington during AMH Class A School back in 1981. Our A-4's were rigged for fault diagnostics, positioned and raised on structures to allow gear swings, we basically took the planes apart then back together, did flight controls checkouts, troubleshooting, great fun.
The AD's has their A-4 raised as well and we could again operate the gear, flight controls, engine runs, ECS you name it.
Click to expand...
This particular airframe is listed as having been in TN as a ground trainer from 68-87, so I guess it's quite possible it's one of those you worked on!
 

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