@rangerrebew The ship was launched in 1964 and commissioned in 1965. An A-4C Skyhawk was the first airplane to take off from the America.
Love,love,LOVE the Skyhawks and Skyraiders! There is an excellent chance I would not be alive today if it weren't for those aircraft and their pilots coming to save us.
The old A1E design was old,but it was a tough old bird that could take an amazing amount of hits and still fly home. It also carried what seems to have been more bombs and cannon ammunition than seems possible.
In this day of "sexy jet fighters" you would think every new pilot would want one,but I have been told it was the old prop fighter/bombers that got the pick of the pack as everybody seemed to be competing to fly one.
Yes,the jets helped too,but they flew so fast it was hard for them to put the munitions where you needed them in a jungle environment. Not so with the old prop planes,and the pilots played the WW-2 fighter pilot role to a "T". I have had them come in over me on a gun run after dropping all their bombs,and the pilots would fly sideways or upside down right over us with the cockpit canopy slid back so we could see the pilot smiling and waving at us.
It seems like most even wore WW-2 era leather helmets,and had colorful scarfs tied around their necks to identify their squadrons.
Make NO mistake about it,fighter/bomber pilots got some SERIOUS stones!
