Super - Tiger 1:48 Scale

[Vinalssergio155]

Awesome Mig, looks fantastic.

[hyair]

I tbe mid 1950's the engine technology was not so developed in Europe as it was in US.
Therefore tests were carrid with mixed power of jets and rocket in the same plane.The Trident was such a plane with rocket engine for top perfornance and two small engines for take off and landings.
The drawback of this method was the short range of the system but when it worked the plane had unpresdented performance.
At the same time the US had a turbo jet named J79 which was far better than anything Europe had the time so the Super tiger didn't need anything eles !
Both planes comepeted in the contract that the F-104 wone for Germany Nederland and Italy - by the biggest bribing in militry Aviation history.

Yair

[Vinalssergio155]

Great job in another strange bird for me, he didn't know it either. It's amazing what you learn here apart from modeling.

[hyair]

Hi Sergio - All my models are1:48 scale.
This way the different models can be compared side by side very easy !!!

Yair

[hyair]

Super -Tiger and Miarge competed on the big contract in the late 50's but as we all know the Starfighter "won" and the rest was a very bad history.
Some images of the two with the Mirage from mali in IAF scheme.

Yair

[hyair]

In the late 1950's there was a fierce competition between several aircraft types on a contract for more than 1000!!! mach 2.0 fighters for German airforce Italy and Nederland. The types that participated were
Mirage III and Trident from France , F-104 and Super-Tiger from USA .
The F-104 won despite being not popular with US airforce , it was found that Lockheed bribed very high ranking germans in ordwr to win the deal. Main issues with the F-104 was the need for very long runways , poor turn rate due to very small wings , ejection seat that eject downwards.
In the service with the German airforce 116 pilots died and 300 crashed and the name widow maker came very fast.
In fact every other plane bar the Trident was much better. The Super -Tiger had the same engine J79 and if we see the Tiger blue angels safety recored of 12 years we can conclued a much better safety record.
Grumman even conducted a special program to show the Super -tiger to carry bombs and missiles of different types.
The plane had a much better flight envelope than the F-104.
We can only asume that had the Super Tiger won it could do with much less lose of Pilots life.

Yair

[hyair]

The F-5E is a light weight fighter that is known for it's agility and is nimble as well.
The drawback is low power of only 4.5 ton in AB compare to 7.5 of the Super-Tiger !!!
So in speed Mach 2.05 vs 1.6 the Super -Trger is better ! and the rest - climb 30 k feet per min and agility they are the same despite the F-5E younger in 10 years and more modern in design.
Attched here some images of the Super -Tiger vs two F-5E models.
One is from IAF magazine and the second from Mali model arz.
All models in 1:48 scale.

Yair

[hyair]

A comparition between the two is not honest because the Super-Tiger was only a proposal to the German airforce but we can assume that had the Super-Tiger was choosed the rate of accidents was less then a third compare to the Starfighter !!!

Yair

[hyair]

The two are not a direct competitores but share simillar look. The Tiger is a clear interceptor while the Pantan is an attack plane. The Super- Tiger is from stalhart and the Pantan from hoby model both in 1:48.
The scheme of painting is vivid in both of them .

Yair

[hyair]

There is one thing which is common regarding the two - they never entered service ! the Sky lancer was produced with 5 prototypes and was handeled to NASA - one was flown by Nil Armstrong the first man on the moon.
The Super Tiger was built with two prototypes.
The Skylancer had J57 P21 engine with 7.5 ton thrust and max speed was 1.44 mach at hight with climb of 25K feet per min.
The range was improved by adding 2 meter to the fuselage and air to ground capability was not tested and only the Air to Air cabability for 20 mmguns and sidewinders
was there but it served as a plane for training Astronauts in NASA.
The Super Tiger with J79 of early series with only 6.8 ton thrust did 2.04 mach and 30 k feet per min.
Again the better aerodynamic lines and less drag of the fuselage gave clear advantage to the Super Tiger !!!
The Super Tiger was competing against the Starfighter F-104 in Germany but the last won due to heavy bribing of high ranking German officers by Lockheed company !!!
As a multirole fighter the Super Tiger as it was developed was much better and safer
fighter as history proved later with the F-104 which was named the widow maker with 116 pilots died in crashes and total 300 crashed from a fleet of 900 !!!

Yair