Initially the Defence Council had recommended that the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom be ordered as a replacement for the BAe Canberra, which had been recommended in the 1966 Defence Review, a review which also emphasised the close-ground support role for the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The recommendation was however rejected by the Government of the day and after re-evaluation it was, in June 1968 that Prime Minister Holyoake announced the purchase of fourteen McDonnell DouglasA-4 Skyhawks. Ten single seat A-4's at a cost of $900,000 each and four two seat TA-4's at $1,000,000 each. The cost of the package rising to $23,000,000 with the inclusion of spares, support equipment, training aids, and the training of air and ground crews.
After the initial rejection, a team headed by Wing Commander Gill travelled to the United States of America to evaluate the Skyhawk ensuring that it met all the Defence Review requirements and additional considerations such as the aircraft's ability to cross the Tasman, land at Whenuapai, weapons accuracy, expected life and facilities that were required to operate this aircraft if it were to enter the RNZAF's inventory.
Early January 1970, squadron Leader Scrimshaw, Commanding Officer No 75 Squadron, lead a team of ten pilots, twenty technical personnel and an administration officer to the US Naval Air Station Cecil in Florida to undergo training on the Squadron's new mount. These personnel were to remain in the US until the Skyhawks were delivered to New Zealand.
On January 16, the New Zealand Ambassador to the United States officially accepted the first two Skyhawks, NZ 6201 and NZ 6251 on behalf of the Royal New Zealand Air Force in a ceremony at the McDonnell Douglas plant at El Segundo in California.
After the initial rejection, a team headed by Wing Commander Gill travelled to the United States of America to evaluate the Skyhawk ensuring that it met all the Defence Review requirements and additional considerations such as the aircraft's ability to cross the Tasman, land at Whenuapai, weapons accuracy, expected life and facilities that were required to operate this aircraft if it were to enter the RNZAF's inventory.
Early January 1970, squadron Leader Scrimshaw, Commanding Officer No 75 Squadron, lead a team of ten pilots, twenty technical personnel and an administration officer to the US Naval Air Station Cecil in Florida to undergo training on the Squadron's new mount. These personnel were to remain in the US until the Skyhawks were delivered to New Zealand.
On January 16, the New Zealand Ambassador to the United States officially accepted the first two Skyhawks, NZ 6201 and NZ 6251 on behalf of the Royal New Zealand Air Force in a ceremony at the McDonnell Douglas plant at El Segundo in California.
The logistics of ferrying the fourteen aircraft back to New Zealand, an exercise that would have required the input of air-to-air refuelling resources, were solved with an offer from the United States Navy to transport the aircraft to New Zealand aboard the helicopter carrier, USS Okinawa.
The USS Okinawa arrived in Auckland on May 17, 1970 with the Skyhawks cocooned in a white plastic coating being unloaded throughout the morning and in the afternoon the aircraft were towed from the wharf through the streets and motorways of Auckland to RNZAF Base Whenuapai. At Whenuapai the protective coating surrounding the aircraft and its engine was stripped away and the aircraft readied for their first New Zealand flights and transfer to RNZAF Base Ohakea.
The first Skyhawk to be readied, NZ 6254 eventually took off at 2:15pm on May 21 piloted by Squadron Leader Scrimshaw. This first flight had been planned for the previous day however bad weather forced the postponement. Low cloud on the morning of the 21st threatened this flight, but the weather cleared sufficiently in the afternoon, and after two low passes over Whenuapai, the successful completion of a number of air tests, the Skyhawk flew south to Ohakea.
Delivery dates can be found here.