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Socrux S.FA-240 Gaviao

13.7k FlyingHueman  5.0 years ago
218 downloads

CONTROLS:
AG 1: Drag Chute
AG 2: Jettison External Fuel Tanks
AG 3: Jettison Anti-Ship Missiles
AG 4: Jettison Bomb Racks on Wing Stations (NOTE 1) (NOTE 2)
AG 5: Jettison AGM Racks on Wing Stations (NOTE 1) (NOTE 2)
AG 6: Jettison Air-To-Air Racks on Wing Stations (NOTE 1) (NOTE 3)
AG 7: Arresting Hook
AG 8: Nav Lights
VTOL: From NEUTRAL to DOWN: Adjust Wing Sweep. From NEUTRAL to UP: Airbrakes.
Trim: Flaps Down/Up

NOTE 1: Do not jettison wing stations when wing is swept. It is technically possible to jettison them with the wing in mid-sweep, but it is advisable to jettison any sort of payload with a fully unswept wing.

NOTE 2: Pressing AG 4 or 5 will jettison the bomb / AG missile racks on the wings. These racks are also equipped with ordnance retardation chutes that will deploy automatically with their respective activation groups. This allows these pylons to be effectively used as low-level ordnance, and as long as the aircraft flies at moderately fast speed they can be safely employed even at very low altitude.

NOTE 3: Refrain from jettisoning air-to-air pylons at high speed (over 700 mph).

IF MANEUVERING REQUIRED: Press AG 2, 3, 4, 5 in sequence. If fighting against only one opponent, consider AG 6 as well. This aircraft is never particularly agile but flies like a brick when carrying payload.

"It looks like some madman mashed a Tomcat, an Aadvark and a Tornado together. It's disgusting. I... I kinda like it." - random individual interviewed at the 1981 Paris Air Show

The S.FA-240 Gavião (Hawk) is a carrierborne, low-level variable sweep wing tactical strike aircraft designed to perform interdiction and anti-shipping missions. Despite being one of the largest fighters produced by Socrux at the time, it is not overly large like a Tomcat, with its size being more comparable to that of a Tornado.

It was, in many ways, a testbed for many concepts that were being employed for the first time by Socrux engineers. Its variable sweep wings were fitted with rotating pylons to follow the wing's rotation, an arrangement that was to prove troublesome through its entire career. Maintenance crews reportedly hated the aircraft.

It had satisfactory speed and payload capacity, but its performance was considered vastly underwhelming. Unwieldy and hard to maneuver, especially when under load, the aircraft did not enjoy a particularly long career and was soon replaced by more capable fixed-wing types.



S.FA-240 performing a low-level attack run.

Spotlights

General Characteristics

  • Created On Windows
  • Wingspan 55.9ft (17.0m)
  • Length 58.8ft (17.9m)
  • Height 19.4ft (5.9m)
  • Empty Weight N/A
  • Loaded Weight 42,971lbs (19,491kg)

Performance

  • Power/Weight Ratio 1.568
  • Wing Loading 70.0lbs/ft2 (342.0kg/m2)
  • Wing Area 613.5ft2 (57.0m2)
  • Drag Points 8124

Parts

  • Number of Parts 270
  • Control Surfaces 5
  • Performance Cost 1,562
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  • Profile image

    Perfect for when you have to wipe out a squadron and obliterate a fleet at the same time. Almost Perfect.

    1.4 years ago
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    Plane very good

    5.0 years ago
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    25.5k Mustang51

    @FlyingHueman there is a reason why I never build them hahaha

    5.0 years ago
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    13.7k FlyingHueman

    @Mustang51 I'd say whether it flies well is debatable, lol. This thing made me a slight bit traumatized with variable sweep wings...

    5.0 years ago
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    25.5k Mustang51

    I was just going to say this looks like the child of a Tomcat and Tornado but you already put it in your description! It’s an incredibly cool plane and flies very well. Really well made!

    5.0 years ago