Sud Aviation Vautour

The Sud-Ouest Aviation (SNCASO) S.O. 4050 Vautour II was a French bomber, interceptor, and attack aircraft used by the Armée de l'Air (AdA). Later, 28 of these aircraft were used by the Israeli Air Force. Vautour is the French word for vulture.

In June 1951 the French Armée de l'Air (AdA) issued a requirement for a jet aircraft capable of acting as a bomber, a low-level attack aircraft, or an all-weather interceptor. SNCASO adapted its existing S.O. 4000 for this purpose, the first prototype S.O. 4050 making its initial flight on 16 October 1952.

Subsequently named Vautour II, the aircraft was built in three versions. It entered service with the AdA in 1958, with the last French aircraft leaving frontline service in 1979. A few soldiered on in various duties into the early 1980s. The Vautour saw no combat in French service, and for much of its AdA service life it was maligned as obsolete and underpowered. Although a moderately good aircraft when originally produced, it never received sufficiently powerful engines. As an interceptor it was outclassed by the Dassault Mirage III, and as a bomber or attack aircraft its lack of an advanced navigation/attack system was a crippling limitation.

The only export customer for the Vautour was Israel, which purchased 28 for the IDF/AF. The Israeli Vautours also entered service in 1958. They saw combat against Egypt beginning the following year and in a series of actions through the Six Day War and War of Attrition. The Israeli Vautours took part in bombing, strafing and air-to-air engagements. In the Six Day War, over three days Vautours fought repeated combats with Iraqi Air Force fighters while raiding H-3 airfield in Western Iraq. 

On June 6, 1967, Captain Ben-Zion Zohar scored the type's only aerial victory when he downed an Iraqi Hawker Hunter, although two Vautours fell to the guns of Iraqi Hunters on the following day. In all 15 Vautours were lost. They were retired in 1971 in favor of the A-4 Skyhawk, and the last aircraft left service in March 1972, serving as decoys in the Sinai. The Israelis were pleased with the Vautour's range and versatility, and it was well regarded in Israeli service.

The Vautour was a shoulder-wing monoplane with a 35° swept wing and a "flying" tail. Two SNECMA Atar 101 turbojet engines were carried in pods in the wings. It had bicycle-type landing gear, with the main units in the fore and aft fuselage and smaller stabilizing gear in the engine pods. The central fuselage carried a large 5.0 meter (16 ft 5 in) weapons bay and substantial internal fuel tankage.

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General 
Crew: One
Length: 15.57 m 
Wingspan: 15.10 m 
Height: 4.94 m 
Wing area: 45 m² 
Empty weight: 10,000 kg 
Loaded weight: 17,500 kg 
Max. takeoff weight: 21,000 kg 
Powerplant: 2 × Snecma Atar 101E-3 turbojets, 34.3 kN each
Maximum speed: Mach 0.9, 1,106 km/h at sea level
Range: 5,400 km 
Service ceiling: 15,200 m 
Rate of climb: 60 m/s 
Wing loading: 403 kg/m² 
Thrust/weight: 0.4
Armament: 4x 30mm DEFA cannons with 100 rounds per gun
Internal weapons bay for maximum of 2,725 kg of bombs (typically six 450 kg , pack of 116x 68 mm rockets, camera pack, or two 1,500 liter fuel tanks


Four underwing pylons each rated at 1,500 kg (inboard) and 500 kg (outboard) for total external load of 4,000 kg; maximum practical weapons load (internal and external) 4,400 kg of bombs, rockets, missiles, or napalm tanks
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Sud-Ouest SO.4050 Vautour II (suom. Korppikotka, alk. Sud-Ouest Vautour) on ranskalainen hävittäjäpommittaja, jossa oli kaksi suihkumoottoria. Se kehiteltiin 50-luvulla, ensilento tapahtui vuonna 1952. Sitä käytti Ranskan ohella ainoastaan Israel. Konetyyppi osallistui ainakin niin sanottuun kuuden päivän sotaan, vuonna 1967.

Vautour II oli raskas ja pommituksiin soveltuva. Se ei ollut kovin nopea hävittäjänä (huippunopeus 1 105 km/h - MiG-15:n luokkaa), ja sen tehtävät peri lähinnä rynnäköinnissä Miragen pommitukseen soveltuvat muunnokset, sekä Dassault Super Étendardin ja Dassault Étendard IVin ohella SEPECAT Jaguar. 
Vautourin tyhjäpaino oli 10 000 kg, sekä enimmäinen lentoonlähtöpaino 20 000 kg. Lakikorkeus oli 15 000 metriä. N-versio oli yöhävittäjä (N - nuit).

Konetyyppiä leimasi raskas tykkiaseistus, sillä siinä oli 4x 30 millimetrin lentokonetykkiä. Vautourissa oli myös sisäpuolinen pommisäiliö ulkoisten aseripustimien ohella. Kone saattoi käyttää maamaaleja vastaan sekä pommeja max. 2 725 kg, että raketteja, tykkiaseitten ohella. Enimmäisasekuorma ulkopuolisiin ripustimiin oli 4 000 kg eli yhteensä 4 400 kg.

Vuonna 1962 Ranska suoritti ydinkokeen, jonka tuloksena operatiivinen pommitusvalmius saavutettiin 1964. Vautour II kykeni pudottamaan ydinpommeja, tyyppiä AN-11 ja AN-22. Ensimmäinen plutonium-pohjainen ydinpommi AN-11 oli vain noin 1/3 Fat Manin painosta (1 500 kg).

Sud Aviation Vautour II poistettiin lentokalustosta vuonna 1979.

Taistelukoneesta valmistettiin kolmea eri versiota:
A — rynnäkkömuunnos
B — pommitusmuunnos

N — yöhävittäjämuunnos
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The IIB bomber lacked radar and other modern navigation and attack systems, armaments were aimed by a bombardier housed in a glass nose section of the aircraft with the aid of a World War II-vintage Norden bombsight. Both the IIB and IIA were limited to clear-weather operations in daylight only. The IIN interceptor had some capacity for night and adverse weather though the use of its radar. In Israeli service, where the weather was generally favorable and daylight missions commonplace, the Vautour's lack of advanced targeting and navigation equipment was not a crippling limitation; however, in Europe it was considered a major disadvantage. As a result, the French AdA did not use the single-seat IIA in a frontline capacity, and most of its IIB bombers were quickly converted to IIBR standard to perform photo reconnaissance missions instead.

In French service, the Vantour IIB could carry either a single AN-11 or AN-22 nuclear weapon in its internal weapons bay; although the primary carrier of those weapons would the Dassault Mirage IV, which would later replace the IIB. A fleet of 40 Vautour IIBs constituted the original air-based component of the French force de frappe, the Commandement des Forces Aériennes Stratégiques (CFAS) of the French Air Force, established in 1955. Their performance were considered marginal for the strategic bomber role; thus, a requirement for a supersonic replacement aircraft was issued only a year later in 1956. The 1956 requirement would ultimately result in the selection and manufacturing of the Dassault Mirage IV bomber; Sud Aviation had also responded to the requirement with a proposal for a stretched Super Vautour. This unbuilt variant would have had a combat radius of 1,700 miles while travelling at a speed of Mach 0.9.