A7D CORSAIR II 1:48 - build diary

[hyair]

Yes - you are right. The looses were around 50 but the A7
entered the war theater very late in December 1967 or almost
at the end of the rolling thunder and this has also to do with
the relativly low loose rate.
The D and E had modernised electronic systems with head up display and accurate bombing capabilities but they joined the war only in linebacker operation that took place in 1972.
The Vietnam service will be described in later chapters.

Yair

[ashevilleangler]

Very nice model of a Tuscon based fighter.

Curt

[hyair]

Thanks Curt - Between 1996- 2001 I lived in Scottsdale AZ and visited many times the PIMA
air museum were the Corsair was.

Yair

[hyair]

The Corsair and the Super Etendard are both naval planes. The Corsair first flew in 1964 and this was some 10 years before the Super Etendard first fly in 1974. The newer A7D and E were
introduced to service around 1972. The A7E was the navy version and can be compared with the SE . Both used priceised nav -attack system and modern HUD -head up display .
The SE had the Agave radar that was good in the naval maping mode used to detect enemy ships and then to fire the deadly excocet missile. While the SE is looking very aerodynamic
and sleek the A7E will not win any beauty contest. The A-7 was nicknamed "sluf" -short little
ugly fellow". The A7 carry 7 tons of ordnance compare to only 4 tons of SE. However when it
comes to sheer performance the SE is faster at all higths . At sea level some 80 kph faster
up to 300 kph at 36000 feet . Also the climb rate of the SE is much faster- 20000 feet compare to 12000 feet for the Corsair. Both planes have integral flight refueling systems
and therefore unlimited mission range using an aircraft tanker like the KC-135.
The SE is more manuverable in dogfights and tight turns air combat.
In terms of longevity the SE served more years with the French aeronaval than the A7 in the
navy but the exeption here is the A7 service with the Hellenic air force until 2014.
The guns of the two comprise of 2 x 30 mm for the SE and 20 mm vulcan for the A7E.
Both can carry wide variety of bombs and missiles for air to ground missions with the same accuracy .
The SE is easily the better looking one of the two . The different looking is showing the different design approach of the American vs French design bouros.

Attached are photos of the two in 1:48 scale.

Yair

[hyair]

The A-7 was designed from the begining to replace the A-4. - somerhing that never happened.
When the A-7 entered the war theater at the begining of December 1967 the war was already
there for 3 long years.The air war was divided to the south and the north. In the north Vietnam
the F-105 Thunderchief was the main work horse. Every Thud was carrying 6 bombs from bases in Thailand to north Vietnam and was bombing selected targets. Targets were varried from bridges to factories and amunition centers and also supply lines in the jungles.
The Thud could fly almost supersonic with full bomb load but by 1967 the Vietnamese had one lf the most densed and dangerous anti aircraft system that was ranged from 23 mm to 100 mm AA guns all guided by radar network and the SAM 2 AA missile which was supplied
from Russia in huge quantities. In the second half of 1967 every day one Thud was lost in average. In the South the situation was much simpler with the F-100 super sabre flyning endless missions of bombing Vietcong forces in the jungles.
This is were the A-7 arcrived to the scene. The A-7 had one of the lowest loose ratio in Vietnam, only 54 were lost to enemy activity. One of the reasons to explain this low looses
was the late arrival almost at the end of the rolling thunder in mid 1968. The other reason was that the A-7 was designed especially in D and E models that arrived in linebacker operation
in 1972 to hit the target in one strike with the lowest CEP ( distance of bomb from target ) - so
there was no need to attack second time. The attscks in linebacker were very successful
with laser guided bombs that proved very accurate against bridges and small targets.
Of course the carrier activity required each task force to be replaced by a fresh one after
some months of air fighting.

Yair

[hyair]

Here is a picture I took of the A-7D at PIMA air museum
in 1998. The A-7D is in the Arizona national gourds color scheme.

Yair

[hyair]

The A7D saga was stopped for a while but will be continued soon.
In the mean time more photos of the "sluf" - short little ugly fellow" which was one of the leading nicknames for the A7.

Yair

[hyair]

In the late 80's Vought was proposing a new design of the Corsair II.The fuselage was emlarged by 120 cm and a new F100-220 with a trust of 26000 lb with AB was installed.
This engine in AB gave the YA-7F top speed of mach 1.2 in level flight and service cieling of 55000 feet - so this was the
only A-7 that had a supersonic capability in level flight.
The Vought offer was competing with F-16 offer and
eventually the F-16 wone.
The two prototypes still remained today and they represent
the ultimate A-7 ever to appear !

Yair

[hyair]

The A-7D was retired only a year ago in the Hellenic air force. This is a testimony for the
longevity of the design . Not many planes can claim to have a 50 years of service.
In the next chapters I will menchen the last years in the US navy and air force and the long
service in the HAF.

Yair

[jeanma]

good job, really, i like what you use to keep in form during process, it inspirate all of us