McDONNELL DOUGLAS A-4C SKYHAWK

S/N 149516, c/n 61-0022, acceptance date 31 January 1962.

To replace the Canberra bomber aircraft, the RNZAF purchased 14 Skyhawks in 1970 from the United States. A later purchase followed in 1984 when the Royal Australian Navy's remaining 10 Skyhawks were procured. The Skyhawks served with No 75 Squadron, and with No 2 Squadron at Nowra in Australia, until they were withdrawn from service when the NZ Government disbanded the RNZAF's combat force in 2001. The Skyhawk was a multi-role aircraft capable of conducting fighter ground attack, battlefield interdiction, air to air and maritime strike operations. The Skyhawks were extensively upgraded in the late 1980s to improve their operational capabilities.

This aircraft is on Long Term Loan from the United States Navy in an agreement arranged by McDonnell-Douglas in 1987. It had been reconfigured to A-4L specifications and came from the stock at Davis Monthan Air Force Base, and was transported to New Zealand by C-130 Hercules. Considerable work was carried out by the Museum's Technical Section to reconfigure the aircraft to early A-4K specifications as operated by the RNZAF in the early 1970s. The aircraft is displayed as NZ6207 - the original aircraft being lost after engine failure in October 1974.