Hehe, mal was Whiffiges zum Thema Heimatkunde...
Some background:The Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard (trans. "battle flag") is a French carrier-borne strike fighter aircraft designed by Dassault-Breguet for service with the French Navy. The aircraft was an advanced development of the Étendard IVM, the first of three prototypes, an IVM modified with the new engine and some of the new avionics, made its maiden flight on 28 October 1974. Original intentions were for 100 Super Étendard aircraft to be ordered for the French Navy, however the order placed was for 60 of the new model with options for a further 20; further budget cuts lead to only 71 Super Étendards being purchased in the end for the Aéronavele, with deliveries starting in June 1978.
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
In the first year of production, 15 Super Étendards were produced for the French Navy, allowing the formation of the first operational squadron in 1979. Dassault produced the aircraft at a rough rate of two per month, which was kept up until 1983.
Foreign customers were few: The Argentinian Navy would place an order for 14 aircraft to meet their requirements for a capable new fighter that could operate from their sole aircraft carrier. Furthermore a total of five Super Étendards were loaned to Iraq in 1983 while the country was waiting for deliveries of Agave-equipped Dassault Mirage F1s, capable of launching Exocet missiles that had been ordered. A third user of the Super Étendard with a similar background to the Iraq solution was the German Navy, with its land-based air arm, called the Marineflieger.
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
In the late 70ies, the German air force was about to replace its Starfighters, which had never been the Marinefliegers' first choice. Actually, in 1958 Germany chose the Starfighter to replace the already outdated F-84 and F-86 versions in use by then. For political reasons the Marineflieger had to join this decision, though their demands were quite different. The German Navy was looking for a two-seat, twin-engined aircraft to replace the old Seahawks, with the Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer being their favourized aircraft.
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
Neverthless, a rather political decision to buy the Starfighter for both German air arms was made, and consequently total of 132 Starfighters were acquired for naval service, including F-104G as maritime attack aircraft (equipped with Kormoran anti-ship missiles), RF-104G for maritime reconaissance and TF-104G as trainers. In addition to this, a small number of two-seat F-104F saw operational use with the Navy's Jet Air Wings. Introduction of the F-104 into naval air arm service began in september 1963, with MFG 1 being the first unit to be equipped with Germany's new standard weapon system. Sister Wing MFG 2 joined the Starfighter club in march of the following year.
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
Anyway, almost 20 years later and with the advent of the Panavia Tornado, the Marineflieger would finally receive the aircraft they had originally been calling, and the F-104Gs were starting to be phased out from 1980 on. Production of the Tornado and its delivery to both Luftwaffe (which had priority) and Marineflieger wings was lagging behind schedule, though, and in order to bridge that gap Germany decided in Febraury 1981 to lease the relatively new French Super Étendard. The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk and LTV A-7 Corsair II had been considered, too, but the French type eventually turned out to be the most economical and modern solution.
A total of 16 aircraft were ordered, and these were diverted from the running production lines. Delivery started in early 1982, when the scheduled Starfighter retirement and replacement was about to begin. All machines are allocated to MFG 2. In parallel, MFG 1 had the honours to be the first Bundeswehr unit to be equipped with the Tornado IDS multirole aircraft, as they started conversion in 1982. Before that, the multi-national conversion units in the UK had already received the initial Tornado trainer aircraft since 1980.
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
The German Super Étendards were given the tactical codes of 42+01 to 42+16 and were originally delivered in the standard Marineflieger camouflage of uniform grey upper surfaces (RAL 7012, Basaltgrau) and light grey lower sides (RAL 7035, Lichtgrau), in a pattern that was identical to the French aircraft.
Outwardly the German Super Étendards did not differ from its French cousins, since the aircraft were to be given back after only a few years of use - it was planned to keep the French fighters until 1986, when all Starfighters would have been replaced by Tornados. The Marineflieger "Sue" (nicknamed "Susi" or "Suse" by German crews, an abbreviation of the German female first name "Susanne") had no special features, as these were more or less French stock aircraft, but some components and avionics were changed.
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
For instance, the German aircraft were modfied to carry and launch up to two AS.34 Kormoran missiles, and they were already prepared to carry the updated Kormoran 2 with a digital data bus, a bigger warhead and longer range. They were also able to carry indigenous equipment like the 'Cerberus' ECM pod or the Swedish BOZ-101 chaff/flare pod - both of these as well as the Kromoran 2 were also to carried by the Tornados, and the Super Étendards would already be used fotr practice and evaluation.
The new AGM-88 HARM missile was reserved for the Tornado, though, so that the Super Étendard was primarily tasked with anti-ship and CAS tasks. For self-defense, the German Super Étendards were able to carry the AIM-9 Sidewinder instead of the French Matra Magic AAM. An Orpheus IV reconnaissance pod could be carried on thone of the inner wing pylons, with a drop tank for balance on the other side.
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
In the course of their short German service (which actually lasted until 1987, when the last Starfighter was retired from Marineflieger service), the Super Étendards were also used to test experimental camouflage schemes. 42+10, 42+12 and 42+15 started to carry very different liveries from 1983, and the results eventually lead to the Marineflieger Tornados' 'Norm 87' wrap-around paint scheme, consisting of RAL 7009 (Grüngrau), 7012 (Basaltgrau) and 5008 (Graublau).
No aircraft was lost during the leasing service. All aircraft were, after a major overhaul, integrated into the Aéronavale from 1988 on.
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 AMD Super Étendard; aircraft '42+15' of Marinefliegergeschwader (MFG) 2, Eggebek (Germany); mid 1984 (Whif) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
General characteristicsCrew: 1
Length: 14.31 m (45 ft 11½ in)
Wingspan: 9.60 m (31 ft 6 in)
Height: 3.86 m (12 ft 8 in)
Wing area: 28.4 m² (306.7 ft²)
Empty weight: 6,500 kg (14,330 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 12,000 kg (26,455 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × SNECMA Atar 8K-50 turbojet, 49.0 kN (11,025 lbf)
PerformanceMaximum speed: 1,000 km/h (637 knots, 733 mph) at low level
Range: 1,820 km (983 nmi, 1,130 mi)
Service ceiling: 13,700 m (44,900 ft)
Rate of climb: 100 m/s[62] (19,700 ft/min)
Wing loading: 423 kg/m² (86.3 lb/ft²)
Thrust/weight: 0.42
Armament2× 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA 552 cannons with 125 RPG
4× underwing and 2× under-fuselage hardpoints with a capacity of 2,100 kg (4,600 lb) maximum
Ein simples Projekt, und ursprünglich ist dies von einem anderen User auf whatifmodelers.com inspiriert:
Fand ich spannend - und war beim Ehrgeiz gepackt, denn "das geht authentischer"! Und in Hardware. Da ich ein "Fan" des trüben Norm '87-Anstrichs bin, habe ich diesen einfach mal auf eine Sue adaptiert, mit obigem Ergebnis.
Der Bausatz ist eine Super Étendard von Academy, die fast OOB gebaut ist. Im Cockpit habe ich einiges verändert (Sitz, Pilot), die Lande- und Bremsklappen sind ausgefahren, und die Außenlasten stammen von einem Tornado, damit es "passt". Der Anstrich ist in authentischen Tönen gehalten; RAL 7009 und 7012 gibt's von Revell, RAL 5008 habe ich mir von Xtracolor besorgt - leider stimmt der Farbton GAR nicht, ist viel zu petrolblau. Ich habe ihn dennoch benutzt, weil's in diesem Fall eh nur ein experimenteller Anstrich sein sollte.
Die taktischen Codes 42+xx sind AFAIK nie von der Bundeswehr vergeben worden, sie passen aber perfekt in die Zeit und die Anschaffung zwischen Alpha Jet (40 & 41) sowie Tornado (ab 43). Aufkleber sind aus der Grabbelkiste zusammengepuzzelt.
Bilder sind - wie üblich - mit dem Modell vor "realem" Hintergrund entstanden, wobei später der Ständer und Fahrwerksteile wegretuschiert wurden.