In the early 1950s, as military aircraft became larger, heavier, and increasingly complicated, legendary designer Ed ...

The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk gets lost in the mix sometimes—but between 1954 and 1979, nearly 3,000 A-4s were produced, making the jet a ubiquitous Cold War staple with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.

The A-4 was meant to be small, yet it was required to pack a punch. In the 1950s, in the coldest days of the Cold War, the United States Navy put out calls to its defense-industrial base to design a ...