Douglas A-4E Skyhawk
Lt Cdr John S McCain, VA-46
USS Forrestal (CVA-59), Gulf of Tonkin, 1967
(Corgi Aviation Archive US37404)
- Engine: One 8,400 lb thrust Pratt & Whitney J52-P6A turbojet
- Span: 26 ft 6 in
- Length: 40 ft 3 in
- Height: 15 ft 0 in
- Weight: 10,450 lb empty / 18,300 lb loaded / 24,500 lb max
- Crew: One
- Max Speed: 630 mph at sea level
- Service Ceiling: 42,250 ft
- Max Range: 1,400 miles
- Armament: Two 20 mm Colt Mk 12 ccannons, one in each wing root; plus up to 9,900 lb of bombs, rockets, missiles on five weapons pylons.
- Notes: Originally designated A4D-5. This aircraft was one of 21 jets destroyed during a huge fire that engulfed the flightdeck of USS Forrestal on the morning of 29 July 1967 as the carrier prepared to launch its second strike of the day against targets in North Vietnam. The vessel, with Carrier Air Wing Seventeen embarked, had only been in theatre on Yankee Station for 48 hours when disaster struck. A Zuni unguided rocket was accidentally fired from an F-4J Phantom II, hitting an A-4 (possibly this very aircraft) parked in front of it. Strapped into the cockpit of 'AA416' was Lt Cdr John S McCain, who quickly abandoned his jet and ran for cover. Of the 21 jets destroyed in the ensuing conflagaration, 11 of them were A-4Es. By the time the blaze aboard Forrestal had been brought under control some 12 hours after it had started, 134 sailors were dead and $72 million worth of damage had been inflicted on the US Navy's first supercarrier.
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