North American and Republic vs Dassault - 50's Jets

[hyair]

The two are looking quite similar if we are looking from the front. From other directions there
are differences - the tail and location of horizonal surfaces are drfferent and the wings had
wider span and shape despite same swept angel of 45 degrees.

Both are in 1:48 scale for comparetion reasons.

Yair

[hyair]

The two started their life as interceptors due to the ability to climb faster and to go super- sonic in a level flight. The Super Sabre entered service in 1955 and the intire fleet was grounded after the accident of the chief test pilot of NA - George Welch. He was checking the
limit mach number of the F-100 in a dive around mach 1.5 when suddenly his plane disintegrated in the air. After an unprecedented investigation it was found that the problem resulted from the tail hight which was shortened. The F-100A was returned into service
after the elongated tail was implemented. The next version was the F-100C which had more fuel and air refueling capability. The firsts F-100C were transferred to Germany using air-refueling capability. The next model was the D which was adapted to air to ground missions
and was produced in higher numbers -some 1200 were produced. The last model was the two
seater F. Throughout its service the F-100 was suffered from many accidents. The landing
speed was very high and many were destroyed because of the "snake dance" phenomena.
Also the after burner had reliability problems and was later replaced with the F-102A after burner which was very relailable. The F-100 was phased out from the interceptor role as newer types entered service and was adapted to ground attack missions.
The Super Mystere entered service in 1957-59 time frame and only 180 were produced including some 60 which were delivered to Israel until 1967. The SAMBAD - Super Mystere B
duex was liked by its israeli pilots while the main problem was the atar 101G engine reliability.
When the Mirage III become available in France and Israel it was moved into second line and
started a carrier of an attack plane almost in the same pattern of the F-100 Super Sabre.
In the next chapters the combat history of the two will be described.

Some images of the two in 1:48 scale.

Yair

[hyair]

The combat history of the F-100 is mainly related to the Vietnam war in 1965-1970 while the Super Mystere combat record was related to the Israeli air force glory years between 1959- 1974. The F-100 was used as flying artillery in south Vietnam which was his territory while north Vietnam was the F-105 Thud territory. The south Vietnam theater was more suited to
the "hun" as the anti aircraft fire was very easy in compare to the North. At some point in 1968no less than 400 F-100 were operated in Vietnam and ANG squadrons came from the states to give support to the fighting units. The F-100 flew endless missions over the jungles
using all kind of bombs , rockets and the built in 4x20mm guns against the guerilla Vietcong
forces. The looses were high as more than 250 were shut down but if we put into the equation
the huge number of sorties than the attrition rate was not that high. Touard 1969-70 most were replaced by the F-4 Phantom. The remains stayed in service mostly with the ANG until the late 70's when they were retired. The F-100 saw some combat activity with the French air force and Turkish air force but this activity will be described later.
The Super Mystere story is different. Israel bought it to counter the russian mig 19 that was supplied to Egypt and Syria in 1959. The Super Mystere served as front line fighter from 1959 till 1963 when Mirage III first squadron 101 was formulated. Later it was adapted to be a fighter bomber and the late version was the sa'ar with the non after burning J52 american engine of the Skyhawk proved very successful in Yom Kippur October 1973 war. The attrition rate of the Sa'ar was the lowest of all the Israelien fighting jets as only 6 were shut down in compare to 54 Skyhawks.
After the war the remains were sold to Hundoras where they served till the early 90's.
Will be continued.

Some more photos in 1:48 scale.

Yair

[jetman]

Hi Yair
You should really put the Ouragan side by side with the Thnderjet, not the Thunderstreak, which is more advanced.

[hyair]

The Thunderjet only exsist in two paper releases - the better one is from Ecardmodels and the second is from Electronic models. As I have the two in 1:72 plastic models I will compare them later.

Thanks Jetman !

Yair

[hyair]

To the request of jetmam I attach here photos of the two in 1:72 scale . Both are having French airforce decals and the manufacturer is the French firm Heller.

Yair

[hyair]

Both types started their life as interceptors. The F-100 has only one probable mig 17 kill in Vietnam. The Super Mystere had 2 mig 17 , 2 mig 21Wes and 2 IL-14 transport planes .
In terms of performance the two are very close. The more powerfull J57 engine of the F-100
is a necessity because the much heavier weight in order of 45 percent ! Of it. The wing load of the Super Mystere is lower and together with the saw tooth arrangement gives slightly better
maneuverability. The service ceiling is also better with 55000 feet against 51000 feet of the
F-100. Both types served in the French air force during the 60's and early 70's and while some
120 Super Mystere served some 100 super sabre were served ( 85 D model and 15 F two seaters ). The Super Mystere was adapted to carry sidewinder missiles while the F-100
served as fighter bombers. I am shure that the two were rivaled each other in training mission
but I have no data on who was a better interceptor or winner in simulated training dogfights.
I can only assume that the super mystere was better because of the skilled Israeli pilots who
exploited his performance to the maximum.

Yair

[hyair]

I attach here more photos of the two in 1:72 scale.
The F-100 is Hassegawa model while the Super Mystere is airfix
British firm. The photos are showing the different design approach
between the two types and also the size differences.
Overhall the F-100 is slightly bigger.

Yair

[hyair]

To match between the two without the Mig -19 it's like hiding a very important rival. The Mig -19 fall exactly into the same category in terms of developing period of time and performance. The first mig -19 flew back in 1953 at the same period as the F-100 and entered service in 1955 - the same period as the F-100 while the Super Mystere in 1957.
The mig-19 was not popular in the USSR and had a nasty tendency to blow up in the air . The main reason for that was the aft section that was needed constant cooling for the two RD-9 afterburning engines. Thats the reason why the type had so many cooling vents in the aft fuselage section.
The Chinese developed slowly the mig -19 into a much better type that was called F-6 and was produced in huge scale of more than 4000 including a two seater training version .
It is very important to note that none of the trio encountered with the others in a real combat. The IAF Super Mystere was
close to encounter with Egyptians mig -19's but they stayed
behond the border and no fight took place. In Vietnam the mig-19 arrived too late to participate and only fought for a brief period in 1972 and some were able to shut down a couple of F-4 Phantoms in linebacker II of 1972 - by then all the F-100 were widrouned from the war theater and the remains were moved to the air national gourds -ANG .
Overall because the numbers and long period in operational service the F-6 derivative is considered the most successful
of the trio . The two seater served until 2007 in China.

Yair

[hyair]

Some photos of the trio in 1:48 scale.
The mig-19 is smaller than the other two despite being the only one here to have two engines.

Yair