skyhawk @ upm

Assalamualaikum Wrt. Wbt.

Skyhawk vs. Mousedeer

1. While I was driving my Kancil along the KL-Seremban highway, I noticed a white tall familiar figure basking under the sun in the UPM’s Faculty of Engineering compound. Immediately, my mind recalled its name. Skyhawk!
2. The fighter/ bomber aircraft had served in the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) quite some time ago (in the 1980s). Its track record in RMAF was literally not so impressive due to chronic maintenance problems and accidents that had claimed the life of several RMAF pilots.
3. For the record, the decision to buy the aircraft was made by Malaysian government after thorough evaluation on the need of dedicated ground attack aircraft. During that time, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was the Minister of Defense. It was the first time ever RMAF received huge number of aircrafts (total 80 units, 40 for operational purposes and 40 for spare-parts).
4. Previously, Skyhawk was used extensively by US Marines and US Navy in the final phase of Vietnam War. It was a carrier-based aircraft and served well in the war.
5. Rumours claimed thad the aircrafts were kept in vertical order at Arizona’s Tucson Airplane Junkyard in the US prior to the purchase. They were refurbished and sold to Malaysia as A4-PTM (Peculiar to Malaysia) Skyhawk.
6. Rumours, once again, claimed that during a handover ceremony between the US and Malaysian governments, a US representative had sarcastically said: “You must be very brave to fly this aircraft!“.
7. It seemed that he was true. RMAF pilots were very brave indeed to face many surprising and dangerous occasion while flying the aircraft.
8. On one account, the canopy of a Skyhawk fell off during flight! The pilot, however, calmly control the aircraft, dumped gallons of fuels to reduce its weight to minimize its landing impact, and safely landed at Kuantan’s air force base (AFB).
9. Please click here or the megapixels sidebar on the right to view more images.