Vautour vs Javline vs Scorpion 1:48 Scale

[hyair]

The 50's is the golden jet era. The number of new types that were evolved and later went
into service is huge.
Here are 3 contemporaries from the fifties. The french Vautour. The. British Javline.
The F-89 Scorpion.
All the 3 served as interceptors and had a radar for all weather interception.
Compares and stories in the next chapters.

Yair

[hyair]

In the fifties there was a need for bombers interceptors.
The common fear was from Russian bombers that will drop
atom bombs over big American and European cities.
Therefore a Fighter interceptor was developed by US ,GB and
France. Canada also had the CF-100 but I am in building process
yet so I am not going to show it here- maybe photos from build diary
later.
Anyway , the first one to evolve was the Northrop Scorpion or F-89 D which
used rockets in big tanks at the wings edges.
In later models - F-89 J the Ginney powered bomb with the tactical atomic warhead was introduced.
The Vautour and Javline had 4 30 mm guns each and both could carry rockets.
For the Javline the Firestrike missile was developed and for the Vautour
the Matra 511 missile.
The fire control system concept with these old fighters will be described in the next chapter,
Meanwhile some images of the 3 from the Israeli IPMS main event last
year.

Yair

[John Bowden]

Who published the Northrop F-89?

[hyair]

The published was wilhelmshavener. The scale is 1:50.

Yair

[hyair]

All the 3 types represent the all weather Interceptors concept.
Basically it means that all had a radar coupled with a fire system.
We need to understand some things about these radar systems.
Although 10 years passed since the time that radar sets
were installed in fighters the performance in terms of detection range
and tracking were poor if we compare it with modern fighters.
Also since the radars used vacum tubes the time between faults was small.
This made maintenance quite a burden on the ground crews at the time.
The Scorpion main armament was 104 rockets. The radar ( APQ 40) was coupled
with a fire system that released and fired automatically when the range , direction
and elevation were optimal to shoot the target.
The big problem here was that uhguided rockets had big dispersion and the firing
was not that accurate.
The Javelin had an american APQ 43 radar but in this case the radar guided the 4 30mm
aden guns.
The Javelin also received in the later models 4 firestike AA misilles which increased by
much the killing probability against targets .
The vautour used a french Drak 32A radar that
controlled the firing of the 4 30mm daffa guns.
When the target was in killing range the guns fired
automatically. Like the javelin the vautour could
carry 2 matra 511 missiles guided by radar .
These early missiles were efficient against big targets and when
fired on a maneuverable small targets they missed in most cases.

Yair

[paperengineer]

Nice models of rare to find planes yair!

[hyair]

Thanks paperengineer - the types are maybe rare but they can teach us some history !!!

Yair

[hyair]

If you will ask people about the f-4 phantom or f-105
thunderchief most people will know about them.
Ask about the f-89 scorpion and not many will know about it.
The scorpion production totaled 1050 which is 200 more than
the f-105 yet not much is known about it. Development started
as early as 1947 .
The design was of a big airplane with straight wings with two mid
engines at the lower belly and crew of two. The f-89A was built only
in small scale- only 18 were built.
The main version was the f-89 D of which more than 600 were built.
The f-89 D carried two big tanks which were dual purpose , the front
served for 52 rockets in each tank or total 104 rockets of 2.75 diameter
while the backpart served as a fuel tank.
The engines were two with after burner rated
at 7200 lb each. The design was straitforward
and rather simple.
The D version started the operational service in 1954 and
served until the late 50's with the USAF.
After that they we=re transfered to the national guard units
were they served till 1969.
The f-89 scorpion never fired his weapon against enemy of
any kind like many other planes of the same era.

About the model - whilhelmshavener 1:50 scale.
As with the publisher the model is basic but the lines
are very accurate. The two cockpits added beside
new design of the intakes and jet nozzels.
The landing gear was built from scratch according
to photos and drawings of the type.

Yair

[hyair]

In terms of performanes we have here a very interesting
comperation.
The Javlin has two engines of 12300 lb each with AB.
The scorpion has two 7200 lb each with AB.
The vautour N has two 8150 lb each .
In terms of speed the jaavlin and vautour are simillar- some 100 kph faster than the f-89 at low altitude.
The vautour has a rate of climb twise the other two.
The range of the Vautour is almost twice the other.
the vautour could carry 4.5 tons - the others 1 tone only.
Conclusion - the vautour because of a better aerodynamic
design and without AB engines has better performance.

Yair

[hyair]

The f-89 was produced in big numbers- total production 1050.
The British Javlin total pruduction was 430.
The Vautour production was only 149.
From the late 50's the f-89 served only with the national guard.
The Javlin was serving in south east asia from 1963 till 1968 and was considered old
by then.
The Vautour served till 1977 in france. but only until 1972. in Israel.
The main reason for that was that the Vautour Israli fleet was reduced to
12 by 1972 and new F-4 Phantoms and A-4 Skyhawks were supplied in big numbers.
if we look in a perpective Israel bought only 30 Vautours and gained much more in terms
of benefit from it.
Part of it was because the Vautour had a bomber version , photo version and Interceptor.
Therfore the Value that the IAF recieved from the type was huge.
The Vautour was not an easy plane to maintain and required 15 hours Of maintenance per
1 hour flight.
The Javelin and the Scorpion also were considered hard planes to maintain each plane
with its issues - the Javelin had structural issues and flight restrictions and the scorpion
had a prolonged engines problems and body fatigue problems.
It seems like Israel because of the military situation gained much more from the Vautour
than the other types here - it was the right plane at the right time !!!

Yair