Photo: Eric Johnston/Platinum Fighters
The name McDonnell Douglas may no longer mean a lot for today’s folk, given how it merged with Boeing back in 1997, but the moniker was, in a slightly different form, pretty much on everybody’s lips back in the years following the Second World War.
The group was formed by the alliance between the McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft companies in 1967, but prior to that each of the two was involved in making its own planes. In the Douglas stables, the A4 Skyhawk was a major product.
Introduced in 1954 as a delta-winged turbojet subsonic aircraft with carrier capabilities, the Skyhawk would go on to play major roles in the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War, and the Falklands War. Close to 3,000 of these winged machines were made and deployed by the Air Forces of the U.S., Israel, or Argentina – in fact, they are so well made that even today some countries, like Argentina and Brazil, are still using them as part of their active air fleets.
When new, the Skyhawks had a maximum speed of 673 mph (1,083 kph) at sea level and a range of 1,160 miles (1,867 km). It could be armed with guns, rockets, bombs, and wide range of air-to-air or air-to-surface missiles.
We found a pack of Skyhawks awaiting a buyer willing to pay $5 million for them. We’re talking about three 1961 examples, all of them restored at some point in the past and with the number of landings since restoration ranging between 547 and 2,286.
The seller is also throwing into the mix a wide range of parts and accessories, including “additional airframes ready for overhaul, spare overhauled engines, spare parts and grounds equipment.”
As a side note, we are unable to determine whether the $5 million asking price is for the entire lot of three Skyhawks and their equipment, or just for one.
Introduced in 1954 as a delta-winged turbojet subsonic aircraft with carrier capabilities, the Skyhawk would go on to play major roles in the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War, and the Falklands War. Close to 3,000 of these winged machines were made and deployed by the Air Forces of the U.S., Israel, or Argentina – in fact, they are so well made that even today some countries, like Argentina and Brazil, are still using them as part of their active air fleets.
When new, the Skyhawks had a maximum speed of 673 mph (1,083 kph) at sea level and a range of 1,160 miles (1,867 km). It could be armed with guns, rockets, bombs, and wide range of air-to-air or air-to-surface missiles.
We found a pack of Skyhawks awaiting a buyer willing to pay $5 million for them. We’re talking about three 1961 examples, all of them restored at some point in the past and with the number of landings since restoration ranging between 547 and 2,286.
The seller is also throwing into the mix a wide range of parts and accessories, including “additional airframes ready for overhaul, spare overhauled engines, spare parts and grounds equipment.”
As a side note, we are unable to determine whether the $5 million asking price is for the entire lot of three Skyhawks and their equipment, or just for one.
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