A-4 Decals

Sky's Decals has some for Israeli aircraft:

You might also try browsing the FlightDecs site:

Speaking of Israeli A-4s, I once read that they attached a metal extension on the afterburner nozzle to detonate SA-7 "Grail" missiles before they got deep enough into the engine to down the aircraft. Is that true, and are there any photos of that modification on the web?

Pat

Pat, yes it's true. If you look at Hobbycraft's 1/48th A-4E/H kit, you'll see the extension on the box art. You may find some photos if you google around for Israeli A-4s. Airliners.net may be a good place to check.

This site may be worth a look, too:

All Israeli A-4s got the extended tailpipe mode after the Yom Kippur war. The problem was so much with the SA-7s damaging the engine itself, it was the damage to the rudder and elevator controls in the tail, which would cause a loss of control. The tailpipe extension moved the detonation farther back, so the blast wouldn't destroy the tail. BTW, A-4s don't have an afterburner, just a long tailpipe. HTH.

?id=0764512&size=L Dave

Ya got me there; for some reason I thought the A-4 could go supersonic. That's a fairly slick piece of modification work on the Israeli's part. It would be interesting to know who first came up with the idea. The aircraft I was always surprised the Israelis didn't buy was the A-10. price per aircraft wouldn't be that high, so a large number could be aquired at a fairly low cost. The clear skies in the area would work well with the A-10's daylight flying capabilities, although engine thrust might suffer in the desert heat. It would make a interesting hypothetical model project. They would be bound to soup it up in some ways, and it would be fun to figure out what they would add. You would think that would be perfect for close-in air support for their tanks and troops, as well as giving the ability to rapidly engage a large number of incoming hostile tanks in a surprise attack, like happened in 1973.

Pat

I don't think it's so much the Israelis wouldn't buy the A-10, I don't think the US Gov't/USAF were willing to give them up. I agree with you that it would seem a natural for the IDF. Other than maybe some avionics changes, I really don't see that they would need to soup it up much. IMHO it would be the perfect plane for them pretty much as is. Altho, I guess adding GPS would be worthwhile, maybe the LASTE mods for current USAF aircraft. You're right, it would make a great "what if."

I number of people seem to be doing IDF what-if builds using twin seater A-10 kits.

I believe it. That's one of those things I've been thinking about doing for the past 20 years, I think. lol Altho, why the rush on the 2- seaters I can't figure out. I think Israeli pilots are quite capable of doing the job without a back seater. Altho, I guess of you're thinking night attack it kind of makes sense.