Dassault-Breguet Super Etendard by Academy

1/72 scale
Kit No. 1602
Retail: $28.00
Decals: Two versions – French Navy and Argentine Navy
Comments: Engraved panel lines, basic cockpit, separately mounted dive brakes, two Matra Magic short-range air-to-air missiles, one AM-39 Exocet anti-ship missile, optional position canopy

History

Since the early 1960’s the Etendard was the standard fighter of the French Navy. Entering service with the Aeronavale in 1962, the type completed over 180,000 flight hours and more than 25,000 carrier landings until their withdrawal from service in July 1991. In the mid-1970’s its service life was extended in the form of the Super Etendard and as of 2008, the Super Etendard remained in service alongside the Rafale on board the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, the flagship of the French Navy.

The Super Etendard arose from a 1973 proposal to replace the original Etendard with the Vought A-7 Corsair and the Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguar. Dassault argued that the French Navy would be better served with an improved version of the Etendard, which would entail significant cost savings and maintain reliance on an exclusively French aircraft. The Super Etendard had to fulfill the same specifications as its predecessor – a light interceptor that could double as a light tactical bomber, with the performance to assure air supremacy for airspace protection of the fleet. In addition, it had to be capable of anti-ship combat, ground support, and photo-reconnaissance. The maiden flight of the Super Etendard took place on December 28, 1974 and the type entered service on June 28, 1978.

The initial plan to use nine-tenths of the original Etendard as the basis for the Super Etendard evaporated at some point. The “Super” featured a completely redesigned airframe, new avionics, and an Atar 8K-50 turbojet. The new engine, a version of the powerplant fitted to the Mirage F.1C, was capable of 11, 015 foot-pounds of thrust without afterburner – and featured lower fuel consumption offering an increased operational radius of 522 miles.

The Super Etendard carried auxiliary fuel tanks of various sizes, depending on the configuration and bomb load. Armed with the Exocet anti-ship missile, it could carry a tank of 290 gallon (1100 liters) capacity; otherwise it carried two such drop tanks. It could also carry a 158 gallon (600 liter) tank under the fuselage, as the Etendard had. Its nose-mounted Agave radar had a range of up to 68.3 miles (110 km) for identification of ship targets, and a range of 18.6 miles (30 km) in the air to air mode. The Agave radar could also perform range-finding of ground and air targets, and target marking for attacks using Exocet missiles.

The Super Etendard also featured a Thomson-CSF HUD (head up display), TRT radio altimeter, and TACAN (tactical air navigation) electronics. With the improved electronics, the Super Etendard was capable of night carrier landings.

The War in the Falklands (Malvinas)
The Aerospatiale AM 39 Exocet anti-ship missile achieved a certain fame due to the Super Etendard. Using these guided anti-ship missiles, the Argentinan Air Force Etendards sank two British warships during the war for the Malvinas (or the Falklands as they are called in Great Britain). The only orders for the export version of the Super Etendard had come in 1981 from Argentina. So high was the concern about this new aircraft and its state-of-the-art weapon that as combat operations between the Argentines and the Royal Navy began to heat up, the French government, at the request of the British, stopped delivery of the Super Etendards, but five had already been delivered and were ready for service. In addition, MI6, the British Secret Service, made efforts to buy every available Exocet missile on the international arms market, to deny further such weapons to Argentina.

On May 4, 1982, a Super Etendard launched an Exocet missile at the guided missile destroyer HMS Sheffield and sank it. On May 25 two were launched at the supply ship Atlantic Conveyor and it too was sunk. The conflict came to an end before there was further bloodshed at sea, but the brief fighting had demonstrated to the world the capability of the Etendard.

The Kit

Originally released in 1983 by a manufacturer called Sunny Tri-S, Academy’s Super Etendard is a 1996 re-release, injection molded in grey plastic and consists of 65 parts, including three clear plastic parts for the optional position canopy. The cockpit is basic with a partial tub including side instrument panels, a main instrument panel, a control yoke and an ejection seat. None of the instrument panels bear engravings of any kind, nor do the kit decals include any instrumentation markings, but the ejection seat includes an integrally molded headrest.
The ventral part of the fuselage bears engraved wheel well and dive brake well detail, and there is a very well detailed, separately mounted refueling probe.

A series of blade antennae, a separately mounted arrestor hook and dive brakes round out the kit’s detail. In terms of external stores, the kit includes a pair of Matra Magic air-to-air missiles, a single 1,100 liter drop tank to be mounted on an inboard wing pylon, and an AM-39 Exocet anti-ship missile for the opposite inboard wing pylon. The Exocet missile in particular will be of interest to those who wish to build an Argentine Super Etendard operating at the time of the 1982 Falklands Wars.

Markings

The kit includes markings for Super Etendards of either the French or Argentine Navies. The two aircraft bear virtually identical paint schemes, Dark Blue Grey over White. The French Etendard is based on the aircraft carrier Clemenceau, and has Dark Blue Grey stabilizers, i.e. the same color as the rest of the fuselage upper surfaces. The Argentine Etendard is a machine of the 2nd Escuadrilla de Caza y Ataque of the Commando de Aviacion Naval Argentina, and has white stabilizers and fin strakes. All markings have realistic color and are fully in register, so modelers will not need to seek aftermarket decals unless they simply want something different.  Markings are provided for any one of five Argentine aircraft as they appeared just before the Falklands War.

Conclusion

While the cockpit is nothing special, the real appeal of this kit is its level of external detail. Highly recommended.

Reference

Fighter by Ralf Leinburger, Copyright 2008 Parragon Books, Ltd. Bath, United Kingdom.