From 1968 until 1984
A Pictorial History of the Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm Skyhawk A-4G
by
HELLO! intro by Gorillaz
Please click above for video clip
In the beginning there were Sea Furies, HMAS Sydney and the Korean War…
Sblt Fred Lane
… Then came the Sea Venom F.A.W. 53 era…
Click Earth image, zoom to NAS Nowra, NSW Australia This opening video (or any other video in this PDF) can be stopped at any time by clicking the "X" in the top right hand corner of the window showing the video Please use the ‘Bookmarks’ tab to navigate to an individual aircraft history Opening Page Only. Please go to the next page of this PDF for the Pictorial History of RAN
Click above for USN pilot story & exclamation !?!!
Singapore RSAF Super Skyhawk A-4SU 926 at Tengah Nov., 2002
1st Skyhawk catapult HMAS Melbourne, May 1965
BuNo. 144874 – First A4 to land on HMAS Melbourne in May, 1965
USN VC-5 ‘Checkertail Angels’ A-4B
Page replicated from 805 Sqdn linebook 1967-68
Then came the A-4G Skyhawk era.… …read on…
Please click graphic below for video clip
Page from VF-805 linebook
805 Squadron Linebook Entry 1968
HMAS Creswell RAN College
SKYHAWK
A pictorial history of the Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm complement of Douglas A-4G Skyhawk aircraft — 1968–84. Please click the ‘Bookmarks’ tab on the left hand side of this page to navigate to an individual ‘side number’ of an aircraft.
Royal Australian Navy A-4G Skyhaw k Pictorial Histories PDFs
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Det ails
The PDF shows in gr aphical f or mat t he hist or y of RAN A4G 870. This A-4G 2541 Skyhawk sur vived a mid-air collision in 1975 but was lost due t o engine 870 KB f ailur e on 23/ 01/ 1979. For t unat ely SBLT C. Tomlinson sur vived his ej ect ion int o r ugged bushland A-4G 871
Another pictorial history of the use of RAN A4G 871 (second-hand 5059 USN A4) now conver t ed t o NZ6215 Kahu st andar d. Per haps it will f ly KB again in t he USA
Sadly ASLT Malcolm McCoy died in RAN A4G 872 when he collided A-4G 3309 with another Skyhawk whilst practising 'divisional bombing' (in loose 872 KB f or mat ion) on 17/ 07/ 1975. The PDF shows a pict or ial hist or y of t his aircraf t - 872
TA4G 879
The Story of TA-4G 879. The last page of the PDF ref erences the or iginal 724 line book page. Click on t he icon in t he lower r ight hand cor ner of t his page t o see t he or iginal phot o of t he page (much 3670 weat her ed). The image t hat will pop up is in Flash f or mat . I f you do not KB have a Flash player inst alled t hen t he OS will ask t o download t his f r om t he web. Many t hanks t o Australian Museum of Flight and Dave Mast er son f or t his phot o.
TA4G 880
RAN TA4G 880 which became NZ6255 and st ill going st r ong has had 6240 an hist or ic "last " f light f or t he RAN Fleet Air Ar m r ole. St or y in t he KB PDF wit h video clips and gr aphics
RAN TA-4G side number 881 had a long lif e unt il j ust bef or e t he cessat ion of use by t he RNZAF it cr ashed on 20/ 03/ 2001 wit h t he pilot ejecting successf ully over water west of Perth WA. This PDF has TA- 5851 a glimpse of t he r ugged count r y ar ound Nowr a as well as some gener ic 4G 881 KB inf or mat ion about t he ' leading edge slat ' pr oblem f or an A-4 pilot f r om a USN saf et y magazine. The ver y last page of t his PDF expr esses hope f or t he r emaining A-4Ks t o have a f lying f ut ur e somewher e soon
For mer RAN Skyhawk A-4G 882 had a long ser vice lif e unt il a f at al cr ash in 16/ 02/ 2001 at NAS Nowr a while wit h t he RNZAF as NZ6211. Pr eviously t his Skyhawk had been damaged in mid-air collision wit h A-4G 1438 NZ6210 dur ing Kiwi Red pr act ice doing t he r oll under br eak manoeuvr e 882 KB on 24/ 10/ 89, r et ur ned t o ser vice 17/ 11/ 90. Ser ved wit h 2 Sqn RNZAF RAN A4G 874 had a var ied lif e, f ir st wit h t he USN wit h ser vice in 2001. Cr ashed while conduct ing pr act ice of bar r el r oll wit h NZ6213 A-4G 5358 Viet nam and t hen a second lif e wit h t he RAN Fleet Air Ar m; and f inally hooked up at Nowr a NSW. NZ6213 escaped. Tr agically Sqn Leader 874 KB anot her lif e wit h upgr ades wit h t he RNZAF and t he Kahu updat e. Mur r ay Neilson RNZAF was killed. A st or y in gr aphics is t old of t he hist or y of RAN A4G 873 which A-4G 3914 cr ashed af t er engine f ailur e 05/ 06/ 1973. The pilot SBLT Tony Der 873 KB Kinder en f r om VF 805 Squadr on ej ect ed over wat er saf ely. 873 was t he f ir st Skyhawk loss in t he RAN
Maybe it will f ly again in t he USA
A-4G 875
RAN A4G 875 was lost af t er engine f ailur e immediat ely af t er being 1231 cat apult ed f r om HMAS Melbour ne 02/ 10/ 1980. LCDR Clive KB Blennerhassett ejected with minor injuries
People t o t hank f or phot os: Australian Museum of Flight ; Dave Mast er son; Calum Gibson; Don Simms; Laur ie Hillier and mor e - t he list A-4G 4084 is long. Usually t he st or y concent r at es on t he individual air cr af t but of t en t her e will not be a lot of mat er ial f or each one. Then aspect s of 876 KB t he over all Skyhawk RAN t o RNZAF (including pr evious USN) hist or y ar e included. Any er r or s or omissions can be easily cor r ect ed - please advise A-4G 5168 For mer RAN A4G 877 af t er becoming NZ6218 suf f er ed a maj or accident during landing on a wet runway. The aircraf t was repaired to 877 KB f ly again. St or y of t he air cr af t in t his PDF TA-
On 28/ 04/ 1980 RAN TA4G 878 suf f er ed an engine f ailur e dur ing t he
The st or y of RAN A-4G 883 in pict ur es. Thanks again t o usual supplier s of phot os, J ohn Bar t els, Laur ie Hillier , Don Simms and Calum A-4G 4224 Gibson and ot her s (RAN and RNZAF of f icial). I f any f ur t her pict ur es or / and inf or mat ion can be supplied t hen t hat would be most welcome. 883 KB
A-4G 5180 Anot her long pict orial st ory about f ormer RAN A4G 884 becoming 884 KB NZ6213 - per haps t o f ly again one day in t he US of A The PDF shows t he colour f ul hist or y of RAN A-4G 885 bef or e it went A-4G 5835 t o "Davy J ones' Locker " on 21/ 10/ 1980. Thankf ully SBLT David 885 KB Baddams ej ect ed at t he end of t he sof t cat apault shot , being r escued by helicopt er minut es lat er wit h minor injuries
A Pictorial history of A4G Skyhawk. This pictorial history of 887 in the RAN, wit h a swansong in t he RNZ AF compiled, unf or t unat ely wit hout A-4G 3787 phot os of 887 in RNZAF gar b; t her ef or e t he last 2 pages ar e of anonymous RNZAF A4s. The bir d st r ike phot os ar e of t he act ual 887 KB f or mer RAN 887 (NZ 6214) however . Thanks t o Laur ie Hillier , John Bart els and ot hers f or t heir excellent colour phot os RAN A-4G 888 was usually r ef er r ed t o as "t r iple 8" unt il 23/ 05/ 1979 A-4G 4500 when it was lost over the side of HMAS Melbourne af ter the arrestor 888 KB wir e br oke dur ing an ar r est . LCDR K. Finan USN ej ect ed successf ully as t he Skyhawk went nose down of f t he deck RAN A4G 889 was lost of f t he cat apult due t o cat apult malf unct ion on A-4G 6068 08/ 11/ 1973. SBLT Bar r y Evans did a gr eat j ob sur viving being r un over almost by t he ship, sur f acing af t er it passed by, t o be t hen r escued 889 KB quickly by t he plane guar d W essex. A video embedded in page 390 shows the story of this event in brief
THE A-4 ALLEY
Aussie A-4G Histories and Documents The Royal Aust r alian Navy oper at ed A-4G and TA-4G Skyhawks f r om ar ound 1968 t o 1984. Af t er t his t he r emaining air cr af t wer e sold t o t he Royal New Zealand Air For ce, event ually t o be come RNZAF A-4K' s. I n t he ult imat e ir ony t hey r et ur ned t o t heir or iginal home at HMAS Albat r oss in 1991 f or a 10 year st int suppor t ing t he RAN. This page cont ains a lar ge number of PDF' s on var ious subjects related directly and indirectly to the operation of the A-4G Skyhawk by t he RAN. Many of t hese PDF' s cont ain video f iles and f lash animat ions. For help on t hese PDF' s you can t r y t his e-mail addr ess:
[email protected]
