I was fortunate to see one of the last A-4 shows. Cool-looking little hot rods. I remember the lead pilot being interviewed on the local news. He said he would miss using the A-4, and said it had the highest roll rate in the inventory.
720 degrees per second! Twice around in one second! I was a maintainer in a TA-4J squadron in the early eighties and earned my qual to fly in the rear seat. One of the first things I asked the pilot to show me was the roll rate, head snaps to one side and then the other and it’s over.
I loved the A-4, went to Hornets right after that and spent the rest of my career in the Navy working on them.
A4=Heinaman’s (sp) hotrod.