Our protagonist A-4M was manufactured in 1975 at the McDonnell Douglas plant in Long Beach, Los Angeles (California), and was allocated Bureau of Aeronautics Number 159473.
Delivered to United States Marine Corps (USMC) squadron VMA-223 on 07/31/1975, the aircraft had a varied career in the USA.
American service
After starting operations with VMA-223 to perform routine training flights, on 04/28/1976 it was reassigned to VMA-311 at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro (California).
On 08/23/1976, still at the same base, it was assigned to VMA-211, then returned to VMA-311 on 06/09/1977 and on 11/10/1983 moved to VMA-211, which relocated it to Naval Air Station (NAS) Iwakuni in Japan.
On 12/21/1984, it was reassigned to VMAT-102 MCAS Yuma (Arizona), whose primary function was to train new pilots in the close air support role.
On 09/12/1987, it relocated to Marine Air Group 49 (MAG-49) at NAS Willow Grove (Pennsylvania), performing training missions and remaining available for emergencies.
Then on 07/24/1992, it passed through the Naval Fighter Weapons School (NFWS), the famous “Top Gun” at NAS Miramar (California), where it was employed in the aggressor role.
Two years later, on 05/24/1994, it was retired from active duty and stored at the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC), wearing inventory number 3A777.
On 10/03/1995 it was sold to the Argentine Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Argentina, FAA) in a batch of A-4M Skyhawk II surplus airframes that would never fly in country and served to source spare parts for 36 similar aircraft that were converted to the O/A-4AR Fighting Hawk configuration.
In 2010, FAA’s Rio Cuarto Material Area (Área de Material Río Cuarto, ARMACUAR), donated it to the city of Leones to be placed as a monument in memory of conscript soldier José Luis Allende, a Leones native who was killed in action on 05/28/1982 while fighting with Section R of Infantry Regiment 25 (Regimiento de Infantería 25, R I 25) during the Malvinas War’ Battle for Darwin.
Honoring a Leones KIA conscript
A large number of residents gathered during the snap hours of Tuesday, 11/30/2010, to see ARMACUAR technicians raising the Skyhawk to its final pedestal with the help of a Reale and Serri’s crane.
The monument was located in the northwest corner of the railway property about 300 meters from the Leones train station and occupies about 340 square meters surface.
Working to place this 4.5 tonne A-4 at a height of four and a half meters were senior non-commissioned officers Néstor Miloch and Víctor Rolón and civilian officials an supervisors Jorge Bernardes, Sergio Hirsuta and Hugo Gorostidi.
The Leones city hall provided invaluable help, with engineer Rosso, architect Eduardo Hartón,materials warehouse head, Gustavo Emiliani, and assorted technical personnel from both the municipality and private company RyS Construcciones.
Variants
- A-4M (1975) and “fake A-4AR” (2010).
Identities
- BuNo 159473 (1975), AMARC inventory number 3A777 (1994) and “fake” C-939 (2010).
Owners and Operators
- USN/USMC/USAF-AMARC: VMA-223 “Bulldogs” (07/31/1975) MCAS Yuma (AZ), VMA-311 “Tomcats” (04/28/1976) MCAS El Toro (CA) “WL-11” (1978), “WL-460” (1978), “WL-11” (1980), VMA-211 “Avengers” (08/23/1976) MCAS El Toro (CA), VMA-211 “Avengers” (10/11 /1983) MCAS Iwakuni (Japan), VMAT-102 (12/21/1984) MCAS Yuma (AZ),MAG 49 (09/12/1987) Det Willow Grove, NAS Willow Grove (PA), NFWS (Naval Fighter Weapons) School), MCAS Miramar, CA. (07/24/1992) “57”, AMARC (Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center) (05/24/1994) “3A777”, stored at Davis Monthan AFB, Tucson (AZ).
- FAA: ARMACUAR (1995).
Fate
Preserved as a monument in Malvinas Park square in Leones, Córdoba (Argentina) wearing “fake” A-4AR serial number C-939.
Internet sources: Airliners Net, AMARC Experience, Caminos y Pueblos, El Informante Net, Rollout and Skyhawk Association.
