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Aviation History
1970
1970 - 1434.PDF
164 mini DEFENCE One reason for this appears to be that although missiles have been destroyed by the IAF, they have quickly been replaced by the Egyptians and their Soviet advisers under cover of darkness. The officer commented that "missiles we have destroyed, or which have fired at Israeli aircraft, are being replaced with out any trouble." He said that the Egyptians had not moved their Sams closer to the Canal, nor had the number of sites been increased, but a new Soviet heat-seeking missile capable of being fired by one man was being deployed in the Canal zone against low flying aircraft. So far. however, there had not been any reports from Israeli Air Force pilots that it had been used against them. Israel's Tanker Force CONFIRMATION THAT THERE ARE StratO- cruiser tankers in the Israeli Air Force inventory has been obtained from news film and reports made during a big Air Force Graduation Day display on July 16. The Stratocruiser which took part was one which had been converted by Israeli Aircraft Industries; it was fitted with refuelling pods outboard of the engines and flew over with two A-4 Skyhawks attached. Five of these ex-Pan American air liners are known to have been converted to swing-tail transports by IA1 but pre viously unconfirmed reports have men tioned the fact that others already modified for in-flight refuelling were obtained from surplus United States Air Force stocks some years ago. Although comparatively slow, these piston-engine tankers now give the IAF an even longer strike range than before and it seems likely that some targets in the west and south of Egypt will now be within range of Israel's Phantoms and Skyhawks. The Egyptian High Com mand will now have to decide exactly which targets outside the Canal zone— additionally to those already covered— warrant SA-3 protection, and this may mean more imports of Soviet equipment to support such sites. F-lll Wing Box 16,000hr GENERAL DYNAMICS STATE that the F-lil wing carry-through box has been tested to the US Air Force requirement for a ten-year service life. In General Dynamics News the company say that it has with stood test loads equivalent to 16,000hr of flight—four times the estimated number of hours that the aircraft would actually fly in ten years. The 16,000th hour was passed recently in tests at Fort Worth division. Ground tests of the wing carry-through box are continuing to determine its ultimate fatigue life. The F-lll's variable-sweep wings are attached to the wing carry-through box, a high-strength steel assembly. Test results have verified the structural fatigue life of wing carry-through boxes installed in all production F-Ill aircraft. These carry-through boxes will be qualified for a minimum of ten-year FLIGHT International, 30 July 1970 service life by incorporation of three refinements resulting from earlier experi ence in the fatigue test programme. These refinements include the addition of small gussets at the corners of an access hole, a more exacting treatment of bolt holes and bolt fit, and polishing some parts of the surface. A four-to-one safety factor is employed in fatigue testing of F-lll structural components, mean that the wing carry- through box has to withstand four times the number of manoeuvre loadings antici pated during ten, years of service opera tion at the rate of 400hr flying per year. The laboratory tests have now simulated manoeuvre loadings equivalent to 16,000hr flight during a 40-year period. Switzerland's Ground-attack Choice POSSIBILITIES THAT Switzerland might "shop around" still further for a re placement for the 200 Venoms in the Swiss Air Force, having at one time looked fairly certain to buy LTV A-7D Corsair 2s, have been made certainties with an instruction issued on July 15 by the Federal Council to the Military Department to submit alternative pro posals to the Corsair. These proposals bring in American, French, Italian and Swedish possibilities—respectively the McDonnell Douglas Skyhawk A-4, Mirage Milan, Fiat G.91Y and Saab 105XH (Flight, July 9). From this list it looks as though the likelihood of the A-7D being chosen is now fairly remote, apparently because of its high cost; and there is no mention of the Sepecat Jaguar, which had been con sidered a possibility. The Military Department has been asked to submit its new Venom replace ment proposals before the end of 1970. This unusually marked C-130 of the USAF was photographed from "Flight's" Baron over Germany on July 15; the markings are be lieved to be associated with the low-level snatch role for which these aircraft are employed Spanish Air Force Starfighters, some of the 20 F-l04Gs and TF-l04Gs operated by the Air Force in an all-weather interception rile Impalas for Havards HARVARDS IN THE Citizen Air Force squadrons in South Africa are being replaced over the next two or three years by Impalas (Aermacchi MB.326Ms, built under licence by Atlas Aircraft Corporation, Kempton Park, Transvaal). The eight CAF squadrons operate about 100 Harvards and also C-47s. The South African Defence Minister. Mr P. W. Botha, said recently at a SAAF wings parade at Dunnottar that the Air Force was today equipped with the most modern aircraft and ground equipment. During the past few years purchases to the value of R100 million (£50 million) had been made, and further expansion was envisaged.
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