@ Ford Island, HI
January 2023
A tired Douglas A-4 Skyhawk sits on the ramp of the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum in Hawaii. This aircraft was from the collection at the former Naval Air Museum Barbers Point. This A-4 survived multiple combat deployments in Vietnam before becoming a Top Gun aggressor with the Navy Fighter Weapons School, then transferring to Hawaii in 1990 and retirement in 1992. This Skyhawk wears the colors of VC-1 (the Blue Alii) a composite unit that supported defense exercises, conducted joint operations with Hawaii Air National Guard, supplied aerial photography to the fleet, conducted air intercepts and towed aerial targets for ship/air gunnery. The Blue Angels used the A-4 for 13 years before switching over to the F/A-18. Even fifty years after the aircraft’s first flight in 1954, some of the nearly 3,000 Skyhawks produced are still in service with air arms around the world.