F-89 Scorpion in Overseas Service Query

[rickshaw]

Talking about the RAAF - no, the F-89 was never considered, simply because the RAAF saw itself primarily as a clear weather, short-range, tactical force at the time.  The Soviets were perceived as a very distant threat and no one else who could be a threat had strategic bombers.  By the time the Indonesians got some Tu16s, the RAAF had Mirage IIIs which were all-weather, missile armed (admittedly with R530s which weren't very reliable by all accounts) which could knock down a Badger while it attempted to cross the continent to reach a target worth dropping a nuke on.   The lack of an all-weather long-range fighter was odd but considering how hard it was to screw the money for anything related to defence out of the Government of the day, it's understandable.

Interesting point to come out of "Battle Flight" WRT to the Falcon missile - the RAF determined that you need at least six on an aircraft to ensure a kill, anything else was unlikely to provide that.  Before that, all I knew about the Falcon was that the USAF, the Swedes and the Swiss (anybody else?) used it but it wasn't successful in Vietnam because of the long warm-up/cool-down times of its seekers.

[Weaver]

Before that, all I knew about the Falcon was that the USAF, the Swedes and the Swiss (anybody else?)

I understand that the Japanese bought them for their F-4s at first. The Tamiya 1/100th F-4EJ includes them. Other than that, the Greeks and Turks must have had them for their F-102s, and the Canadian had them for their Voodoos.