The Douglas A4 Skyhawk is a post World War II plane which played primary roles in Vietnam.
It was also in the Yom Kippur War and the Falklands War.
The original prototype was developed in 1954, and ultimately there were over 3,000 of these planes manufactured.
They are able to carry a payload of over twenty-four thousand pounds.
This aircraft can reach a top speed of almost six hundred miles per hour.
There are five hardpoints on the aircraft where it carries the payload of bombs and other munitions.
It is designed even to be able to deliver a nuclear weapon using a low altitude delivery system.
These planes were designed to be small and lightweight.
In fact, it weighed only half of the Navy specifications for weight when it was built.
Unlike prior aircraft, the wings did not have to be folded for storage.
This aircraft actually pioneered the practice of air-to-air refueling, making it able to stay in flight for longer distances.
Because it was so small, it could be flown from the aircraft carriers of the 1960s, which were smaller than the ones built today.
They were the primary bomber used in the Vietnam war.
Although the Navy stopped using this plane on their front line squadrons in 1967, they continued being utilized as a training aircraft until the 1990s.
In fact, of those three-thousand that were originally made, many of them are still in service to this day.
This craft also replaced the F4 Phantom II which was previously used by the Blue Angels.
After World War II, till the early 1960s, these planes were used to provide daytime protection for anti-submarine warfare carriers.
The A4B did not have air radar, but the capability of flying fast at low altitudes made it perfect for visual identification of potential targets.
The small size made it easier to take off and land from the carriers in use at that time.
The first combat loss of a Douglas A4 Skyhawk occurred on the fifth of August in 1964.
Lieutenant Alvarez was shot down over North Vietnam while attempting to launch an attack on enemy torpedo boats.
The officer was able to eject from the aircraft after being hit by anti-aircraft fire.
As such, he is famed as having been the first prisoner of war of Vietnam.
He was released on the twelfth of February in 1973.
Approximately 395 of these planes were lost during the entire Vietnam War.