Hobby Master HA1422 1:72 Douglas A-4H Skyhawk – Miniature Marvels: Airplane Models & Painted Dice* Airplane Model

Description

Hobby Master 1:72 Douglas A-4H Skyhawk No 03, 109th Valley Sqn HA1422

• True 1:72 scale
• Professionally painted
• Great attention to detail
• All markings are Tampoed (pad applied)
• Option to display the model on a stand that is provided
• Model can be shown with the landing gear in the down or up positions
• Optional armament has been provided
• Canopy displays open or closed
• Extremely heavy metal with a minimum of plastic
• Highly collectable

Designed to replace the Douglas AD-1 Skyraider the Skyhawk first flew in 1954. Its smallsize was a radical departure from the normal Big thinking of the time. The USN first tookdelivery in late 1956 with the USMC receiving theirs 3 months later. Over the years manynicknames were used, Tinker Toy, Heinemanns Hotrod (the designer was EdHeinemann), with the E and F models labeled the Camel because of the electronicshump along the dorsal. Probably the most well known nickname used for the 2,960 A-4sthat were produced is Scooter.

The first 4 of 48 Skyhawks arrived in Israel by ship on December 19, 1967 and were
assigned to the 109th Valley Squadron. These aircraft didn’t have the electronics dorsalspine hump. On January 1, 1968 the first flight of the IDF A-4H Ayit (eagle) took placeusing A-4H BuNo. 155244 #03. This was followed by the first A-4H operational sortie onFebruary 15, 1968. From March 1969 to August 1970 Israel was part of the War ofAttrition with Egypt and occasionally other neighboring countries. On May 15, 1970 whileflying #03 A-4H Col. Dotan (Mr. Skyhawk) destroyed two Syrian Mig-17s over Lebanonusing Zuni rockets and 20 mm cannons. On October 18, 1973 #03 was shot down by anEgyptian SAM and the pilot, Jacob Kubik was successfully recovered. Eventually Israelwould be the largest export customer for the Skyhawk with 278 of several variants.