Fairgrounds breaks ground on new base for display of military jet

Area dignitaries and fairgrounds representatives joined former Marine pilot Kevin Donahue in breaking ground Thursday on the future home of an A-4 Skyhawk jet outside the Heroes Hall veterans museum in Costa Mesa.

The Vietnam War-era single-seat attack aircraft will be moved to the OC Fair & Event Center from the Santa Ana Civic Center this fall to make way for new county buildings.

Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for the new location of an A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft at Heroes Hall at the Orange County fairgrounds.

(Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer)

The Fair & Event Center plans to develop a new base for the jet that will spruce up the lawn outside Heroes Hall with artificial turf, benches and a paved plaza where the jet will rest on a pedestal. The aircraft is on loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fla.

The Skyhawk is expected to be rededicated around Veterans Day in November.

A-4 Skyhawks were developed by Douglas Aircraft Co., and later McDonnell Douglas, beginning in the 1950s and were used by the Navy and Marine Corps for a variety of missiles, bombs and other munitions. The last Skyhawk was produced in 1979.

Kevin Donahue, a former A-4 Skyhawk pilot in the Marine Corps, speaks during Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the new site of a Skyhawk jet being moved from the Santa Ana Civic Center to Heroes Hall at the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

(Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer)

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