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[+Veltro2k]

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Edited July 9, 2008 by Veltro2k

[+Spectre_USA]

What a fine looking model of an aircraft I knew next to nothing about.

 

I just Googled `er up and found a glowing article about it in the 6 day war. A marvelous mud-mover? My favorite!

 

Great job!

[+NeverEnough]

Nice work, Veltro. Looking forward to seeing it with a new set of clothes!

[fougamagister]

Hey cool ! will it be flyable in WOE or only in WOI ?

[+Dave]

Both

 

 

I don't think there is a 3rd party Hunter pit, just the one that comes in WOE.

[Wrench]

Although not accurate, but WITH twin-engine annunciators, I just used the F-4B pit!!

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[Stratos]

I just Googled `er up and found a glowing article about it in the 6 day war. A marvelous mud-mover? My favorite!

 

Can we see this article please?? Will enjoy the reading.

Amazing job on the Vautour mate

[Atreides]

Absolutely gorgeous looking model, Veltro. With regards to the cockpit, this might be a blasphemous suggestion, but how about using the recently created Mig-19 pit ?

[macelena]

THE N "also with internal bombay"

Thx for it!

I´ve loved this A/C since it featured Buck Danny´s "Alert on Cape Kennedy" comic

 

 

Hope two weeks isn´t long

splashed that

Edited June 5, 2008 by macelena

[+Spectre_USA]

Can we see this article please?? Will enjoy the reading.

Amazing job on the Vautour mate

 

It was actually from a model building page, as I tried the Google pics area for a look at the little wing wheels. Here is the part I liked;

 

The Vautour in the Six-Day War:

 

"Operation Moked"

 

Israel was aware from 1962 that there was a high probability that they would fight the Arabs in the decade of the Sixties, and that the political maneuvering of their main enemy, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, might result in an alliance of all the Arab "front line states," in which case the Jewish state would be attacked from all sides as they had not been since the War of Independence in 1948. Ezer Weizman, who had become head of Heyl' ha Avir in 1959, dedicated his entire term of service as chief of the Air Force to developing a strategy to abort this potential alliance and give Israel the breathing space it would need to defend itself.

 

Weizman had never been a believer in the Vautour, preferring fighter-bombers which could be used as needed in the kind of rapidly-developing conflict he foresaw. Unfortunately, the Vautour did little to endear itself to the IDF/AF, with losses that resulted in the deaths of three pilots ten aircraft, all in accidents. At the same time, the entry of the Super-Mystere and Mirage into service allowed those who didn't like the Vautour to claim that it was "surplus to requirements." Fortunately, David Ben-Gurion directly ordered Weizman to use everything he had in his arsenal and to get rid of nothing, which allowed the Vautour to achieve its moment of greatness.

 

Operation Moked had its roots in the early 1950's, when it was determined that a preemptive strike on Arab airfields was the only move for an air force that was constantly inferior in quantity in comparison to its enemies. The full operational scheme was developed in 1965 by LCOL Yaakov Nevo, head of Operations, and his assistant, MAJ Rafi Sivron. Operation Moked envisaged a first strike on Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian air bases, and required the use of every operational aircraft in the Israeli inventory. It was literally a "throw of the dice," inasmuch as - if the Arabs got wind of what was coming and manned their defenses properly - the majority of the IDF/AF could be lost deep in enemy territory at the outset of the war. After the plan was accepted in 1965, every squadron of the IDF/AF rehearsed their role in the coming operation for the next two years.

 

Operation Moked involved attacks on 20 airfields in three countries at the outset, in four "range circles" built around the capabilities of specific aircraft in the inventory. The furthest circle was Upper (i.e., southern) Egypt, and there was only one airplane which could reach these bases, where the Egyptian strategic air forces with their Tu-16s were based: the Vautour.

 

The First Day:

 

Targets for the Vautours in the first wave attacks on June 5, 1967, were the home bases of the TU-16 heavy bombers at Bany-Suef, and the IL-28 bombers at Abu Sweir. Each srike package consisted a two-seater - IIN or IIBR - as leader/navigator, and two or three IIA single-seaters. The attacking aircraft were armed with 8 runway-piercing bombs. The first wave flew to their targets at an altitude of 100 feet AGL, at a speed of 450 knots The return from targets was at nearly 40,000 feet, so the attackers would have the range to get home. In addition to their bomb load, the Vautours carried large 1,300 liter external fuel tanks. The attacks included two bombing passes of bombing and two to three strafing passes, depending on flak opposition. Each attack lasted 5-7 minutes over the target. The 18 Vautours completed their missions with no casualties, though one had aborted because of a technical fault. The two main Egyptian bases suffered severe damage to their runways, with most of the Tu-16s and Il-28s destroyed. No other aircraft in the Israeli inventory could have carried out the missions.

 

In the second wave attacks, the Vautours were able to surprise the Egyptians again by attacking Luxor Air Base, where the surviving Tu-16s had sought shelter. With the conclusion of this mission, none of the Arab countries had any aircraft capable of mounting heavy bombing missions against Israel.

 

The third wave attacks against Syrian airfields saw the first loss of a Vautour in the heavy AAA environment over the major Syrian base at Dumayr.

 

On June 6, four Vautours escorted by four Mirages went back to Dumayr. Capt. Ben-Tzion Zohar, who flew the Number Three Vautour, recalls:

 

"We were sent up to the attack in the noon hours. On the previous day, another flight from our squadron had attacked H-3, but the results were not satisfactory, and we were sent to try and put a more permanent stop to the base's operation. We flew very low and tried to locate the 'oil road' on the Jordanian- Iraqi border, which was perpendicular to the direction of our flight. We saw a tremendous amount of military vehicles on the border - an entire division's worth, scattered all over the terrain.

 

"At H-3, we pulled upward in order to enter the bombing run, and suddenly there were Hunters inside our formation. It turned out that the Hunters had been on patrol duty, high above the base, and were in the process of changing shifts with their replacements when we arrived. The first Hunter landed - and one of us strafed him and blew him off the runway. At that moment Number Two informed the leader that another Hunter was on top of him. I had come out of a bombing run when Number Two decided that he couldn't take the Hunter and said to me on the radio: 'Three, I'm out, you take him'.

 

"I started chasing the Hunter and slowly closed in on him. At a certain point he pulled up. I pulled up after him, only to discover that my sights were in bombing mode. I was still messing around with the sights when the Hunter entered my line of fire. The sun lit him from the side. Instinctively, I shot off a burst from very close range.

 

"After firing, I pulled into position above him and prepared to sit on him again. All this time, I was still heavy with bombs and fuel tanks. The Hunter continued to turn gently, gradually lowering its nose, and - from a height of 200 feet - rammed straight into the ground. Since I hadn't noticed any prior explosion - it was later surmised that the pilot may have been hit directly by the burst I had shot. The other Vautours completed the bombing runs and turned to strafing.

 

"I could now finally devote myself to bombing the airfield. It felt like a firing range: the AA was relatively light and there was no sensation of danger. At the end of my run, a MiG-21 - the only one in the air - went after me. He dove down at me at very high speed, and one of the Mirage pilots shouted at me over the radio: 'let go of him... leave him alone... I'm taking him'. I had no problem with that."

 

Captain Ben-Tzion Zohar's victory was the only one ever scored by an IDF Vautour, though Vautour 66 carried markings for three Egyptian aircraft destroyed as a result of its excellent navigation in targeting the strike force in one mission.

 

Full article here, model pic below;

 

[+whiteknight06604]

thats excellent news.I'm looking forward to this along with all the other great WIP you have posted.Thanks

[Spinners]

Good news! It's a fine looking aeroplane and the two-seater will be especially welcome. Thanks.

[Stratos]

Thank's for the history and for the model!