Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas Phantom FG.1 - 899 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, April 1982













Steaming South!

I'm aboard the good old 'Ark Royal' so forgive me for the 'L' of a mistake on the parent ship (or Air Station) identification letter but these FG.1's will see service on my 1970's 'Elizabeth' class carriers! I've worked out how to convert the games in-built 'Kittyhawk' and 'Nimitz' class carriers into RN carriers but can't work out how to get the 'R0X' hull and superstructure numbers to appear.

[SPINNERS]

If Possible, could you do a Phantom as a World Navy Fighter?

World Navy Jets - the marking has been described as combining "the standard USAF 'star and bar' with a West German Air Force cross".

















Hope you like it Dan!

This is the Royal Navy F-4K skin adapted to fit the F-4B and then given a white fin with a black leading edge and fin tip and then some markings to give it that 'World Navy' look. I really like the triple LAU-33 set up on the inner wing pylons.

[SPINNERS]

Gloster Sea Javelin FAW.1 - 899 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1964















I've been fortunate in being given an excellent Javelin template by 'Paulopanz' for the 'Veltro2K' Gloster Javelin 8/9/9R and my recent interest in carrier aviation has made a Fleet Air Arm 'Sea Javelin' my first port of call. This is probably heresy to many as the Sea Vixen served the Senior Service so well but I just had to do it!

[SPINNERS]

Gloster Sea Javelin FAW.2 - 892 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1971













An alternate timeline 892's farewell cruise!

[SPINNERS]

BAC A-9C Strikemaster - 522nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, Vietnamese Air Force, 1973









This is the New Zealand Strikemaster camo with some VNAF markings including the fiendish fuselage sash which is a nightmare to do properly as the gaps between rows gets wider and wider towards the top and bottom of the fuselage so I've cheated and just posed my screenshots to hide the hideous stretching.

[SPINNERS]

BAC A-9B Strikemaster - 8th SOS, 14th SOW, Bien Hoa, 1972













I like the Jet Provost and Strikemaster family but I think it would need a bit more poke to match the A-37 Dragonfly's weapon-toting ability. After writing that, I've just checked the thrust/weight ratios for fully-loaded aircraft and the A-37B is 0.4 compared to the Strikemaster's 0.27 meaning that the Strikemaster needs an engine rated at 4,600lbs... or a non-afterburning Adour rated at 6,000lbs!

[SPINNERS]

Gloster Javelin J36A - F21 Luleå, Flyvapnet, 1960

By 1949 it could be seen that bombers would soon be flying at Mach 0.9 at altitudes exceeding 10,000 metres or more and that subsonic fighters were going to find intercepting such aircraft very hard indeed. Therefore the Swedish Air Board issued a challenging draft specification called Project 1250 for a supersonic interceptor capable of being operated from existing Swedish runways and also from a planned network of dispersed emergency wartime bases utilising sections of the Swedish road system. Erik Bratt, Chief Designer at Saab, and his small design team at Linköping studied the requirement and by 1951 their studies had led them to a technically brilliant 'double-delta' design where all the essential components required to fulfill the mission (radar, avionics, pilot, engines, intakes, undercarriage and fuel) were arranged in an optimal nose to tail configuration and then the outline shape was chosen. This optimal packaging saw the fuel and main gears migrate to the wings which, to preserve the required thickness-chord ratio of 5% for supersonic flight, were elongated from nose to tail to provide sufficient volume and to house simple inlet ducts feeding an axial-flow turbojet engine.

In March 1952 the specification was finalised and development was authorised by the Swedish Air Board and designated as the Type 35 Draken. However, the necessity to first prove the handling characteristics of the futuristic design by building and flying the half-scale Model 210 and then the forecast development time of the advanced Type 35 airframe and integtated weapon systems made an in-service date of 1956 look highly unlikely and Saab indicated that 1959 was more realistic. This quickly led the Swedish Air Board to issue an additional requirement for an interim 'off-the-shelf' interceptor to fill the gap from 1956 to 1959.

Meanwhile, in Britain, the official production order for the Gloster Javelin had recently been issued and the Javelin's 'super priority' status and adoption by the United States Air Force (who purchased a number of aircraft for the RAF as part of the Mutual Defense Aid Program) led the Swedish Air Board to consider the Javelin as being the best available choice and the purchase of 72 Javelin Mk.50's was authorised with the aircraft designated as the Type 36. The Sapphire engines of the British Javelins were replaced by the Svenska Flygmotor RM5, a version of the Rolls-Royce Avon already being produced under licence by Svenska Flygmotor to power the Saab A32 Lansen, and these engines gave a useful improvement in performance.

Entering Flygvapnet service in April 1957 as the J36A, the Swedish Javelins were initially armed with 4 x 30 mm ADEN cannons but also introduced the Rb22 (a licence-built version of the British Firestreak missile) and the much superior Rb25 (a licence-built version of the British Red Top). The aircraft was largely replaced by the far superior Saab Draken during the mid-1960's although one wing remained in service until 1974.

[SPINNERS]

Gloster Javelin J36A - F13 Norrköping, Flygvapnet, 1965

[SPINNERS]

Gloster Javelin J36A - F7 Såtenäs, Flygvapnet, 1974











Happy New Year!

[SPINNERS]

Gloster Javelin J36A - F7 Såtenäs, Flygvapnet, 1974











I only have the Rb04 missile (a favourite of mine) in my install and didn't think it would fit but there's sufficient depth on the Javelin's pylons to accommodate it albeit on the outer pylons only as putting it on the inner pylons fouls the undercarriage. On the outer pylons the vertical 'endplate' fins are really close to the ground so shorter pylons are required to give room for the suspension travel.

[SPINNERS]

Gloster Javelin A36C - F11 Nyköping, Flygvapnet 1970













@ Dizzyfugu - Good call on the blue/green camo!

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom - 1st & 3rd Escuadrillas, Aeronaval de Caza y Ataque, 1982















I've shown these before (gulp, over four years ago) but not on board the ARA Bernardino Rivadavia.

[SPINNERS]

Gloster Javelin Mk.52 - No.6 Squadron, Royal Saudi Air Force, 1966

The persistent overflights of Saudi territory by Egyptian Air Force reconnaissance aircraft and the influx of insurgents on the Yemen border during the late 1950's led to an urgent approach to the UK Government made by King Saud for the supply of modern aircraft for the Royal Saudi Air Force. In response, the UK Government announced the sale of 36 Gloster Javelin Mk.52's (from a cancelled Belgian order) and 36 Hawker Hunter F.6's (drawn from RAF stocks) together with the associated supply of armament, ground-support equipment and training. The deal was code-named 'Operation Ardah' and initial deliveries were made to the recently upgraded RSAF airbase at Riyadh during 1960 with No.5 and No.6 squadrons both becoming fully equipped and operational by the end of that year. The Javelin Mk.52 remained in RSAF service until 1971 when they were replaced by McDonnell Douglas Phantom F-4E's.







I've taken the camo colours from the Omani Hunter FGA.73's and it looks pretty good on the Javelin.

[SPINNERS]

Gloster Meteor NF.14 - F21, Flygvapnet, 1960











I don't think this one quite works due to the high demarcation line that's a legacy of the RAF Meteor NF.14's I did the skins for a few years ago. 

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas Phantom FR.2 - No.2 Squadron, RAF Germany, 1970











I've previously shown RAF and RN Phantoms with J79 engines and this is the RF-4E given the stock RAF Camo but with a few tweaks to fit the different nose and engines. I'm not too happy with the demarcation line (a bit too high close to the nose cone) but it's not too bad. The RF-4 is not a stock aircraft in 'Strike Fighters' but there is a superb family of Photo-Phantoms created by 'Ravenclaw_007' whose commitment to high detail is legendary.