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- 21 May 2006
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G’day gents
- I’ve just read some interesting information in the excellent book Famous Russian Aircraft: Sukhoi Su-7 and Su - 17/20/22 Fighter Bomber Family by Yefim Gordon and Dmitriy Komissarov
I thought the following might interest those who are fans or critics of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
"The Su-7 had its share of accident attrition. In the first five years of service alone (1959-1963) there were 13 fatal crashes and 15 non-fatal ones which were total hull losses. Of these, 82.16% (!) were due to design flaws and defective workmanship; 10.7% were caused by pilot error and the remaining 7.14% by other factors .........................
"..........In 1964 the overall MTBA (due to all factors) involving total hull losses was 1,770 hours for the Su-7, compared to 3,225 hours for the MiG-21 ['Fishbed'] and, surprisingly, 3,264 hours for the Fitter's closest relative - the Su-9 ['Fishpot'] .............................
"Interestingly, the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, which was regarded as accident-prone, had an accident rate at least twice lower than the Fitter's, while the Republic F-105 Thunderchief's MTBA was an awe-inspiring 10,000 hours!.....................
P.S. It’s funny, I’ve never been much of a fan of the Fitter, predominantly due to the designs range or weapons compromise! But this book made me fully appreciate that my ignorance, blinded me to the fact that it has participated in so much more combat than I gave it credit!
Regards
