Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcello
The Su-7s seldom left the base without at least a couple of drop tanks, the ventral ones usually. While I have read of at least one mission when bombs were carried on all six hardpoints it was a very short range mission (few minutes of flight) on an high priority target (an israeli HQ in 1973) and the pilots had at least one eye permanently glued to the fuel gauge. A typical CAS combat load would be well short of the theoretical maximum.
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That's why I wondered, if we have some policy on using maximum payload of aircraft. Most missions were with drop tanks, but some could use all armament. On the other hand, it's lousy to use such a big plane to deliver only 2x16 57 mm rockets (speaking of 4-hardpoint version, before 32-rocket pods were introduced), which are of limited efficiency (and none against armour).