http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4738755,00.html48 years for a jet is pretty impressive. Darn cute little plane. Seeing it fully loaded with bombs was really something - one cannot believe it would take off with so much loaded under its tiny wings and pushed forward by an engine without an afterburner.
A most spartan design that made use of as little as possible to get the job done. This made it the most remarkable unremarkable-plane in history, and the reason it stayed in service for so long - it was easy to maintain, cheap, and simple to upgrade and modify. It did not break any speed records, or included ground-breaking technology, or could carry anything unique, yet it outlasted in service all the remarkable planes of its era. It was the first American jet in the IAF (and first combat plane since the P-51) and ushered the transition from a French arsenal to an American one. Fought in the 1970 war of attrition, 1973 Yom Kipur war, 1982 Lebanon war, and continued in operations as a porter (carrying guided munitions for someone else to guide), electronic warfare, and the advanced trainer of the IAF. It registered two kills of Mig-17s by a single A-4 - one with cannons shooting by dead reconing since it was not equipped with an A2A sight, the other by a salvo of HVAR rockets into the mig in a tail chase.
In my eyes it is one of the greatest unsang heroes of aviation, much like the Beaufighter (also served in the IAF) that are nearly forgotten. I will not forget it gracing our skies for 48 years.
