A-7D / E Diferences...

Hey Upnorth;
Your right about the pod it was a veraint of the Penny but I can't remember the official name, buy the way the late A-7E's had them too, and it's use to pick up a target laced by a Pave Tack laser or even a hand held laser so the pilot could drop their GBU's (LGB), at the target, now that we are on the subject about Pave Penny's the A-10's have LITENING II Pod's and the Pave Penny's are now being concidered obsolete, so thus brings to an end of an era of I point and they shot technolodgy, now it's they point & shot and I could just watch,
have fun & relax
cuda

Oi Nuno

Obrigado pela dica!!!!

O problema agora é encontrar um!!!!!!!!

Obrigado

Ricardo Carvalho

72cuda:

I saw an A-7D late in the type's ANG career (South Dakota ANG to be precise) and I noticed some sort of small pod on the underside centerline of the aircraft just aft of the intake. It looked like a cross between Pave Penny laser pod like on an A-10 and the undernose sensor pods seen on early F-14s. It looked like a permanent attachment as its housing was riveted onto the fuselage.

My guess, given the A-7s air to ground mission, was that it was some sort of laser sighting device.

I don't recall ever seeing such a thing on any photos of A-7Es I've seen. What was it and was it unique to the D variant?

I've also heard that the E version had somewhat larger main landing gear wheels than D versions for better shock absorption duing carrier landings, any truth to that?

Hey Fan;
The D's had Arresting hooks & folding wings too, when we had A-7's we where able to put all 24 A/C in our hanger during bad weather with their wings folded, and all high speed AF jets have a tail hook (or arresting hooks), but if Allen wants an E and the kit has the D-2 APR panel but then unfortunitly they are going have to do some modes but they wouldn't be anything hard to do just a litte shaving and some filler and then adding the refueling probe then presto problem solved like you said
have fun & relax
cuda

ricardo,

A7's navais em 1/72 são os da fujimi! mais nada lhes chega sequer perto

Abraço,
Nuno

a rather odd one, since the Revell kit has the tail hook and foldable wings of the A-7E, the hunchback (refuel system) and landing gear of the A-7D, and decals for an A-7E from VA-72 aboard USS J.F.K....

What's wrong on all this????
I think the Revell / Matchbox guys have donne a nasty homework!!!!!!

I'll try to grab another kit from other manufacturer's...
Any advice??? I wanted recessed panel lines, and as many options as possible...

Hey Fan & Allen;
I've worked both versions of the A-7D's there is block 1's & 2's, block 1's are exactly the same as the A-7E's except the seat, and the paint job, the D-2's are what Allen discribed, D-1's have the air refuel probe instead of the AFR panel on the left outboard side of the backbone of the jet, if your kit doesn't have the left hump then you have a D-1 or an E,also both have an avonics hump centered on the backbone so if you want to you could still do an early A-7D with an A-7E but just change the seat (if it matters in 1/72 scale) and paint it with the SEA scheme, also I need to inform you that the block 1's are of course the older and was phased out during the late 70's when there where enough D-2's in service to replace them and most of them are now just Gate Guards at most bases, my experience was working on a gate guard at Buckley ANGB Colo (now Buckley AFB) and I thought it was an old Navy A/C but it was an AF S/N'd plane and it had the Escapac seat in it instead of the MB seat, and I hope this may give you some comfort on building an D or an E plane
so have fun & remember to relax
Cuda

You could probably convert that D into an E but youre in for a lot of work.

That hump on the dorsal section of the D is the in-flight refueling receptacle found only in Air Force variants. The E had the Navy retractable refueling probe on the starboard side of the nose. To convert your kit, you will have to remove the hump.

The E used the SJU-8/A ejection seat while the D was equipped with ESCAPAC. The E and the D also used different main wheels. But I guess in 72nd scale these details can be overlooked.

The E also had a catapult tow bar and approach lights attached to the nose landing gear. This is absent in the D. This, pehaps, along with the retractable probe, will give your kit an "E" flavor.

The antennas you see on the tail are ILS antennas not present on E models.

Hope this helps.