skyhawk77 wrote:
. F7s must have been in really bad shape at the start of the war.
Sky that is unsubstantiated and a “throw away” comment = one of those comments people make and believe because there is so much negative press against Zim … … expect nobody to say anything good about Zim.
Zim went into DRC before sanctions. Their exploits defending Kinshasa and through out their stint there are acknowledged if one tries to be unbiased. (We all have a bias I know). It could be that the squadron was not at full strength due to attrition but the fact that a few planes were out of service or lost in accidents is separate and has little or no bearing on the serviceability of the remaining planes. There is nothing to suggest the AFZ sent anything less than “fully mission capable” F-7s to DRC.
If indeed the AFZ was hunting for Ugandan MiGs with Hawks, then be assured they knew what they were doing.
If BAe and the RAF task the Hawk with secondary air defence/defending air fields again a Soviets attack (read MiGs) the knew what they were doing.
http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/tag/bae-systems Quote:
The Hawk gained an additional role from January 1983, when modification of 88 RAF aircraft to carry Sidewinder missiles commenced. The resulting T.Mk 1A variant was intended for emergency use as a point-defence fighter, supporting Phantoms and Tornados in the UK Defence Region.
This article below mentions a point I was trying to avoid: that of experience/training/expertise as this is questionable and may not have a measure, i.e. AFZ might have known the MiG-21 to be a better dog fighter than the Hawk but they were confident of their pilots mastery of the Hawks. Here the UK would have tasked instructors to use the Hawks, i.e. make up for any possible machine short comings with having a superior operator.
http://www.bcar.org.uk/hawk.htmlQuote:
From 1983 to 1986, some Hawks were equipped as the short-range interceptor aircraft for point defence. 88 T.1s were modified to carry two AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missiles in addition to the centerline gun pod carrying a single 30 mm ADEN cannon. These aircraft were designated T.1A. In the event of war, they would have worked in collaboration with Tornado F.3 aircraft, which would use their Foxhunter search radars to vector the radar-less Hawks against enemy targets. Such missions would have been flown by instructor pilots. Conversions were completed in 1986. With the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, RAF Hawks are no longer tasked with this role.
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