Much of the Vietnam War that involved the USN and USMC, was fought by the Skyhawk. The Marines operated in country, attacking targets in the South while the Navy operated from aircraft carriers and usually attacked targets in the North.

This particular sheet is the first of several that are dedicated to the A-4 of different versions that operated during the 1964-69 time period. There are 13 different schemes all of them in the light gull grey and white scheme. Note that the grey was matte while the white was gloss.

The majority of the markings on this sheet are from VMA-223 'Bulldogs', which operated mostly from Chu Lai from 1966-1969. These are A-4C and A-4E aircraft, some of the E variants being retrofit with the upper fuselage avionics package.

For the Navy contingent, we start with three schemes from VA-144' Road Runners'. These are A-4C and A-4E aircraft, again, with one scheme having the avionics package. There are three different ships listed over the 1964-69 time period.

VA-106 has a single scheme from 1968 when the unit flew A-4Es from the USS Intrepid.

The final two are from VA-216 'Black Diamonds'. One is an A-4C from 1964-65 while the other is from 1968-69.

The sheets themselves are superbly printed and AOA provides stencils for one aircraft. This is their sheet 48-004 (not shown), which can also be purchased separately if you wish to do more than one of the markings options. Instructions are superb providing all sorts of details on the markings of each aircraft on the sheet. The markings are sized for the excellent Hasegawa Skyhawks. As as note, the grey on the bulldog in the VMA-223 insignia is too dark and an addendum sheet is on the way.

This is a 'must have' for Vietnam era Skyhawk fans who build in 1/48 scale. 

January 2017

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Thanks to AOA Decals for the review sheet. You can find this sheet at this link, where you can also see profiles of each markings option.

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