The Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc. presents The A4D “Skyhawk,” a late 1950s or early 1960s promotional/sales film on the production, maintenance, and features of the A4D Skyhawk (also known as the DA101). The film opens with a shot of a hawk perched on a rock, then of it flying through the air. Douglas A4D Skyhawks fly through the sky (00:48). The attack bombers sit idle at an airstrip (01:34). A Skyhawk lands on an aircraft carrier, carrying a large bomb. The film shows the design sketches of the Skyhawk (02:40). A man works on the aircraft’s fuselage (02:54). The film then shows the Skyhawk’s cockpit; men work on the construction of the cockpit (03:12). Footage shows the attaching of the plane’s wings and landing gear to the fuselage. A set of wings are lowered in a production warehouse (04:09). Viewers are shown the attachment hardware for carrying ordinance. The A4D is tested for landing gear retraction. Men lower the pilot seat into a Skyhawk’s cockpit (05:42); footage shows ejection testing of the seat. A Skyhawk is towed out of a hanger (06:11). The payload and weapons that can be used by the Skyhawk are laid out on the ground in front of the aircraft (06:40); the film then shows where the bombs, rockets, and guns go on the ship. A Skyhawk lands on a runway (07:37). Men attach a fuel tank underneath the Skyhawk. A Skyhawk refuels inflight behind a tanker aircraft (08:25). Four Skyhawks fly over coastal terrain. A graph shows the maintenance of the Skyhawk, which has a high operational time and a limited manpower requirement for maintenance. Men work on repairs of an A4D (10:50). A J-65 Turbojet Engine is fitted into the plane (11:37). Two A4Ds take off from a runway at an airstrip (13:22); a Skyhawk takes off from an aircraft carrier. Rockets are fired from an A4D (14:46). A Skyhawk maneuvers in the sky then delivers a payload on a target in a desert (15:11). The film ends with a montage of footage of the planes being produced at a production facility, lined up at an airstrip, flying over mountains, refueling, dropping payloads, taking off from aircraft carriers, and flying in formation.

The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single seat subsonic carrier-capable attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s. The delta winged, single turbojet engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later by McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated A4D under the U.S. Navy’s pre-1962 designation system.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com