Douglas A4D-2 Skyhawk

Shown here are Douglas A4D-2 Skyhawks of U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy attack squadrons on the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) in 1960/61. Carrier Air Group 15 (CVG-15)' aboard the Coral Sea had four Skyhawk squadrons assigned for a deployment to the Western Pacific from 19 September 1960 to 27 May 1961. Two additional Marine Corps squadrons were assigned, VMA-121 Green Knights, and VMA-324 Vagabonds. Both squadrons did not adopt CVG-15´s tail code "NL", but kept their own tail codes, "VK" (VMA-121) and "DX" (VMA-324). This picture shows five A4D-2s: Three from (VMA-324) in the foreground, DX-616, DX-624 (BuNo 142873), and DX-626 (BuNo 142854); NL-502 (BuNo 145046) and NL-510 from (VA-155) Silver Foxes. In the foreground, two Douglas A3D-2 Skywarriors of Heavy Attack Squadron Two (VAH-2) Royal Rampants are partly visible, in the background is one of Helicopter Utility Squadon One (HU-1) Det. D Pacific Fleet Angels Piasecki HUP-2 Retriever helicopters. The A4D-2 145046 was later sold to Singapore (converted to an A-4S). Photo by John Lyons, USN