can’t….. help…… it……..
……
must…..
…..
…..
disobey……

Is this a new low in beginning a new thread?

Aditya,
I was wondering about the ‘gondola fuel tank’ as well. Or do you mean the underwing fuel tank? I believe it is indeed a permanent one, or at least as good as permanent. The Q-5 is not a long-distance airplane, without those fuel tanks it’s range would be pathetic.

PII,
Army Cobras were there as well. I remember that in December 1991, i was in the hangar at Büdingen (a really nice and small Army airbase in Germany, the last base in Germany to have Cobras btw) where there were two AH-1F’s still left unserviceable because of all the wear they suffered in the Gulf. One of those looked very cool, it had an enormous shark mouth across it’s entire forward fuselage.

Besides, i litterally saw hundreds of US Army helos leave Germany for the Gulf in 1990 (RNAS Valkenburg was the main rally point for them, before being shipped in the port of Rotterdam) and there were plenty of Cobras among them. Officially, 145 Army Cobras were deployed but in reality a bunch more were in the desert because of rotation of airframes.

I’ve always liked those models. But pic 2 looks more like it’s taken on just your everyday airbase taxiway instead of a road dispersal – doesn’t look all that spectaculair. Pic 1 is interesting though.

‘Only’ in the Iran-Iraq war (which of course was a short war with only very limited casualties and only very rare and infrequent minor aerial operations), and prior to 1979 they had some interesting engagements with the Soviets too. Personally, i think the role of the F-4 in the IRIAF during the Gulf War was relatively much more important than the Phantom’s role for the US in Vietnam or for the IDF/AF in it’s Spook-history. It’s a debatable point obviously, but IMHO both the USAF and IDF/AF have always been far less reliant on one aircraft type (the Phantom) compared to the operational needs than the IRIAF was.

Definately me…

… especially when that clawy furry big-eyed monster on my lap takes over.