On the 20th of January 2014 Captain Jane “Sunshine” Sanchez flew this Corsair, her personal mount, nicknamed “Cricket” into the mouth of hell. VMA-611 Black Seahorses was assigned to assist Israeli Air Force and Special Forces assets in the desperate attempt to rescue Saudi Royal Family members from Jihadist forces that had lead a Coup in
The hastily created mission was a total disaster. VMA-611
lost a total of 6 Corsairs that day. All victims of MANPADS surface to air
missile systems. Captain Sanchez managed to get two Paveway II LGB’s onto a
highway overpass that slowed down a convoy of Jihadists trying to get to one of
her fellow pilots that had had to eject after his Corsair became a victim of an
SA-18.
Sanchez stayed as close as possible to her downed fellow
pilot, instigating several strafing runs at Jihadist forces as they closed in
on the stricken pilot. In the end though she had to leave as she was nearing
bingo fuel. Because of the unusually high amount of extreme manoeuvring during
her mission Sanchez ending up running out of fuel before reaching her FOB
(Forward Operating Base). She was however able to safely land her Corsair on a
nearby highway running to a silent stop with nobody around for hundreds of
miles.
2 comments:
An intriguing story -Isreal helping to extricate the Saudi Royal Family!
A question: why don't you include ordnance in your profiles? I'd love to know what Captain Sanchez's A-7 was armed with for this mission.
Hi Harps,
I don’t usually include ordnance because it would simply mean more for me to do. In my profiles I’m not trying to produce side profile ‘art’ as such. They are more or less ‘thumbnails’ for me to look at and decide if I like them or not and either pursue them further, get opinions on them or just simply put them out there.
It usually takes me all day to get just one profile completed in amongst three kids, a wife and a night job. So life is busy and I have to keep it simple. Also, in the case of these Corsair’s the artwork is being used for a decal sheet release in 72nd and 48th scale so I’m being conscious of colours used to keep costs to a minimum. So I’m basically trying to keep to 2 or 3 greys and a black.
Captain Sanchez’s Corsair was equipped with a Sniper pod, 2 drop tanks, 2 AIM-9X Sidewinder and 5 enhanced Paveway II LGB’s. Plus gun and ammo.
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