Profile 167: A-4E Skyhawk as flown by Martin Lenzini, VMA-211

 

Long time, no post!

Certainly it's not because of a dearth of drawing — since my last full post in 2022, no fewer than NINE new aircraft have been successfully drawn (with corresponding interviews).

I will catch up.  Partly because I want to.  But mostly?  It's because I HAVE to.   And this A-4E is a brilliant symbol.

This morning, the folk behind the excellent "Cold War Conversations" podcast were charitable enough to include me in their episode list (evidently, I'll be #301).  They let me pontificate about Freeman Bruce Olmstead's undeserved 'shoot down' of his RB-47 in 1960 (and subsequent heroic representation while held in the infamous Lubyanka prison).  I drew Bruce's beautiful Boeing in 2014... click here (it's worth your trouble).

But most poignantly, podcast host Ian Sanders and I ended up riffing on the reality that 'these stories,' as told by those who've lived them, are quite literally, dying.  Of course, ALL stories (as told by those who've lived them) are dying.  No one gets out of life alive, right?

And once they're 'gone,' shmucks like me are (too often) all that's left to carry the tune.

In this particular A-4's case, her pilot, Col Martin Lenzini, is healthy, strong, smart, brilliant... and I promised him I'd draw his bird back in 20-when?! All of a sudden, I realized how I'd let the urgency of lesser-moments eclipse the more illustrious power of the past. 

"Dangit.  I gotta get Marty's story."

So, have a look at the A-4E on top.  It's a progress-shot of A-4E BuNo 151193.  It will be armed with Marty's chosen load out of "snakes and nape."  I'll be explaining more about that in the next couple of posts. 

Now, have a look at the photo below.  That's "Marty," circa 1969, Chu Lai, South Vietnam.  It too is an A-4E but with the more characteristic hump atop the fuselage.  This add-on bit may have detracted from the inherent attractiveness of the pure A-4 form but it increased its ability to survive in combat as the hump contained crucial ECM (Electronic CounterMeasure) gear.

In effect, there are two forms of E-models - humped and humpless.  (I'm glad Marty suggested 1193 as his representative Skyhawk as I think the humpless variety is just a wee bit prettier...

I digress.

Marty in front of a VMA-211 A-4E Skyhawk.

Anyways, in the event the reader is not an A-4 Skyhawk devotee, there are a few things to know:

1.  ONE A-4E Skyhawk could have stopped World War Two.  How so?   Well, in comparison to the B-17G, an an A-4 could carry twice the ordnance, had 1/8th the crew, was three times faster AND was nuke capable.  So, assuming one had a Time Machine, my statement is correct.

And the first A-4 flew in 1954, a mere nine years after WWII ended.  Progress, eh?

2.  2,900+ (of all variants) were manufactured from 1954 to 1979.  That's a twenty five year production run. 

3. The A-4 could (almost) do-it-all.  Though designed as an "attack" aircraft — meaning, tactical airstrikes, close air support, interdiction — it was also a capable fighter, level-bomber and even air-to-air tanker!

4. The A-4 was def combat proven.  History geeks know the bulk of her combat sorties were flown during the Vietnam War.  Still, Skyhawks fought under the Israeli flag in their myriad of conflicts, with the Argentinians in the Falklands Crisis and also in Kuwaiti markings during the Gulf War.  No fewer than nine nations used the A-4.

I could go on.   When asked if he had any particular affection for the airplane, Marty replied with gusto, "I loved it!"  Of course, it's not uncommon for pilots/crew to have particular affection for 'their' airplane.  But in the case of "the Scooter" (as it was nicknamed), the sentiment is that rare alchemy that happens when function + form + finesse come together to = "COOL!"

And indeed it is.  A while back, I designed a little cut-out A-4F in the markings of DFC Society Director, Charles "Chuck" Sweeney.   While flying with VA-212 Chuck was awarded three DFCs in ONE WEEK flying the A-4 in Sept of 1972.

I have a couple more.  Want one?  First come, first served.

I'm an A-4 fan boi for sure.   But what do I know? I just draw them.  Marty, on the other hand, flew them, as intended, in harms way, 350 times.  In the process, he was awarded four DFCs.  

And Marty's (as well as Chuck's, et al) DFCs weren't awarded for refilling the coffee pot while sitting on alert. 

Stay with me.  In Marty's words, "We're cleared in HOT."