Manufacturer: Matchbox
Scale: 1/72
Additional parts: none
Model build: Apr - May 2012
Luftwaffe Vought A-7 Corsair
Matchbox
1/72
1/72
Wings of Thunder
Atlantic Crossing
Captain Franz Hartmann gripped the control stick, sweat slicking his palms despite the air-conditioned cockpit. Below him, the churning grey expanse of the North Sea mirrored the turmoil in his gut. This wasn't supposed to be his mission. He was a pilot, an ace they called him back in '72, but now he was a glorified babysitter, tasked with ferrying a temperamental beast across the Atlantic.
The beast in question was the F-104 Starfighter, a sleek, powerful plane plagued by a reputation for deadliness. It was the Luftwaffe's new toy, and Franz, along with countless others, had voiced concerns about its suitability for naval operations. Then came the headlines: "Bundestagspräsident's Son Lost in F-104 Crash." Politics intervened, and whispers of the A-7 Corsair II, a Vietnam War hero, began circulating.
Franz had trained on the A-7 in the States. It wasn't a fighter jet, but a workhorse, a bomb-laden bulldog with the teeth to snarl back. He yearned for the day they'd replace these Starfighters. Until then, he was stuck with this Atlantic crossing, a constant dance with the gremlins that lurked within the F-104's systems.
Suddenly, a blaring alarm shattered the tense silence. Warning lights strobed, and the plane lurched violently. Franz fought for control, his heart hammering against his ribs. This was it. This was how he became another statistic. But Franz wasn't ready to meet his end babysitting a lemon.
With a surge of adrenaline, he remembered the emergency procedures, a desperate gamble against the failing machine. Sweat stung his eyes as he flipped switches, barked commands into the radio, praying for a miracle. The plane shuddered, protesting his efforts, but slowly, agonizingly, it responded.
He nursed the crippled bird towards the nearest airbase in Norway, a harrowing display of skill and sheer will. As the wheels kissed the tarmac, Franz slumped over the control stick, utterly drained. He'd cheated death, but the victory felt hollow.
News of his near-disaster spread like wildfire. The pressure mounted, and finally, the decision came: The Luftwaffe would be getting A-7s. Franz watched from the sidelines as the Corsairs roared into their new home, a bittersweet pang in his chest. He might not have been the one to fly them into combat, but in a way, he'd played his part. He'd taken a gamble, not just with his life, but with the future of the Luftwaffe's attack force. And he'd won.
The A-7 Corsair II in German Service
When the Luftwaffe introduced the F-104G Starfighter in the 1960s, the aircraft was also adopted by the Marineflieger Staffeln for naval strike operations. However, the Starfighter’s poor safety record and its unsuitability for low-level maritime strike missions soon became apparent. The tipping point came on 10 March 1970, when Olt. z. S. Joachim von Hassel—the son of the Bundestagspräsident—was killed in a Marineflieger F-104 crash. The incident caused a political outcry, and the Ministry of Defense was pressed to find a safer and more capable naval strike aircraft.
The solution was found in the Ling-Temco-Vought A-7 Corsair II, which had proven itself in U.S. Navy service during the Vietnam War. In 1971, West Germany placed an order for 64 A-7E Corsair II aircraft to serve as an interim strike platform until the arrival of the multinational MRCA Tornado in the mid-1980s. Due to delays in U.S. production lines, the first German Corsairs were not delivered until 1975.
Service Life
The Corsair II quickly became a mainstay of the Marineflieger. Its range, payload, and advanced navigation/attack systems made it far more suitable for anti-ship strikes and maritime patrol duties than the ill-fated Starfighter. Stationed at Jagdbombergeschwader (JaboG) 41 in Husum and JaboG 43 in Oldenburg, the German A-7s were tasked with Baltic and North Sea operations, including low-level strike profiles against Warsaw Pact naval units.
Between 1975 and 1985, the A-7E remained in service as the Luftwaffe and Marineflieger’s principal strike aircraft. Four were lost to training accidents over this decade, but the type earned a reputation as reliable and effective.
A-7s on the Graf Zeppelin
Modernized in the late 1960s, the carrier Graf Zeppelin was reactivated to serve in NATO’s northern flank strategy. With the withdrawal of the F-104 from carrier duty, the Corsair II became the ship’s primary fixed-wing strike aircraft.
However, the Graf Zeppelin’s relatively small size meant that it could not embark more than 10–12 A-7s at a time, usually alongside a handful of reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft. Despite these limitations, the A-7s extended the ship’s strike reach considerably. Training cruises in the North Atlantic saw German Corsairs integrate with U.S. Navy carrier groups, and in 1981 and 1982, detachments of Luftwaffe A-7s even operated temporarily from American carriers such as the USS Nimitz and USS Eisenhower to improve interoperability.
The Corsairs aboard the Graf Zeppelin were primarily tasked with maritime strike and close air support for amphibious landings, often simulating attacks against Soviet naval convoys. Although the carrier’s operational tempo was limited compared to U.S. flattops, the presence of German A-7s gave NATO an additional strike asset in the North Atlantic and Baltic approaches.
Replacement and Aftermath
By 1985, the arrival of the Panavia Tornado IDS marked the end of the Corsair’s German service. The remaining 60 airframes were withdrawn, and most were sold to Greece, already a major A-7 operator. Only three aircraft were retained for ground training purposes, while four had been lost in service.
The A-7 thus filled a crucial but temporary gap in German naval aviation—bridging the period between the troubled Starfighter and the advanced Tornado. Its service aboard the Graf Zeppelin remains one of the more unusual episodes of NATO Cold War naval aviation history.
This is a Matchbox 1/72 scale kit, build OOB.
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