David Jefferis looks at a miniature masterpiece
The A-4 Skyhawk was designed by Douglas Aircraft’s Ed Heinemann to be a bantam-weight carrier aircraft. Simplicity ran through the whole design, from a tiny wing that needed no folding mechanism, to leading-edge slats that worked without complex actuators. In fact, the A-4's small and nimble design tipped the scales at just half the weight demanded by the US Navy specification.