Gloster Javlin vs Vautour SO 4050 1:48

[hyair]

The Vautour was in many ways a very special plane.
It had 3 versions all of them successful - day fighter , all weather two seater
interceptor and a bomber with a glossy front.
Among the advantages of the Vautour at the time we can list :
Very long range of over 5000 km .
Ability to fly with only one engine to conserve fuel.
Internal bomb bay with sliding doors.
SUPERSONIC in a shallow 4 degrees dive.
Service ceiling of over 50000 feet.
4 tons of bombs could be carried.
Served as a test bed for new weapons in the IAF .

Things that were not so good.
Complex plane and 15 hours of maintenance per 1 hour flight.
The Atar engines had high specific fuel consumption and low power compare
to the British Avon engine.
The prototypes with the avon reached 40000 feet in 4 min while with the standard atar it took 7 min to reach 40000.

All in all we can conclude that for his period the vautour was a unique fighter with many advantages over his contemporaries.

Yair

[hyair]

The Vautour was a special plane in many ways. It was a true multi role fighter a bomber and a tactical bomber fighter and a reconnaissance plane with the IAF.
Even the americans didn't have a direct answer at the time to it and it took them 10 more years to come with an answer with the A6 Intruder !!!
Even so the Vautour was faster than the Intruder and had it recieved a proper engines the gap was even higher !!!
A simple look at the sleek body shape will reveal why this plane had such a good performance with the modest thrust of the Atar engines .

Yair

[hyair]

The f-89 was the first of the trio to get into service in the early 50's with early models A and B.
Then came model D which was the most produced- around half of the 1050 that produced.
This model could carry 104 rockets or 26x4 in the big pods at the wings edges. The firing of the rockets was automatic when the radar gave the firing command.
The more advanced models carried air to air missiles as more advanced electronics become available.
The Scorpion main drawback was the lack of speed and climb and because of this reason it was phased out from front line service in the late 50's and transferred to the air national gourd- ANG.
It served there until 1970.
The Javlin entered service in late 1956 after prolonged development stages. The main problem with the type was the big drag and the buffet it created at near sonic speeds. There was a need to experiment with arrays of vortex generators on the wings in order to improve the buffet. In type 9 engines with afterburners were installed but even that didn't cured some basic problems. While in service with the RAF it carried 4 air to air firestreak missiles and 4 30 mm aden canons. The high drag of the Javlin limited the range and performance and some limitations were set in order to prevent getting into trouble. The last squadron was operated at the far east in Tenga Singapore until 1968.
The Vautour which first flew in 1952 entered service in 1957 in both France and Israel airforces. In compare to the Scorpion and Javlin that were interceptors it was also a bomber and day attack fighter and also photo plane in the Israeli airforce. Despite the fact that he was the only plane here without afterburners the speed and rate of climb were better than the Javlin not to speak about the much better flight range of over 5000 km.
The Vautour served until 1972 with the IAF and until 1977 with the French airforce. The carier in the IAF was very glorious and many stories are in my seperate thread on it.
It not to say that the Vautour was perfect- in terms of maintenance it was very demanding plane , but the Israeli airforce did a very good gob of exploiting it's abilities to the Max. Only the Vautour was participating in fights and one was credited with a kill of Iraqi Hawker Hunter in the six day war in 1967.

Yair

[hyair]

All the planes in the trio are big planes.
The Vautour is the heavy one the Javlin is the wider one and the Scorpion the strait wing one.
The F-89 and Javlin are from WHM and the Vautour of Yoav Hozmi all in 1:48 scale.

Yair