The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk was produced for the United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy from 1954 to 1979 at a cost of approximately $3 million per unit. With a top speed of more than 670 mph, it played a key role in the Vietnam War. In Purdy, a Douglas A-4 Skyhawk donated by the Department of Navy, Naval Air Systems, through the joint acquisition efforts of the late Norman “Gabby” Gibbons and U.S. Navy Commander Edward Estes, was dedicated on July 23, 1977 as a tribute to those who sacrificed in defense of the nation's freedom and specifically to Commander Edward Estes, whose similar A-4 Skyhawk was shot down in North Vietnam and who was a Prisoner of War there from 1968 to 1973.