Armstrong-Whitworth Manta NF2 - new addition to Ho229 mania!

[JayBee]

Combine your priorities and "Sovietise it".
It looks right for that. Natural metal and red markings, YES!

[kitbasher]

What with my 'Sovietise It!' GB entry, work and a lot going on within the family, progress with the Manta NF2 remains slow.  I hope to get it done by th eend of the month, though.  Anyway, some filling , sanding, canopy fitting and more filling have benn done in the last week, with more filling and anding still to come before painting can start.

On second thoughts it might not be done by the end of the month! 

[kitbasher]

Painting and decorating has begun.....

Part way through undercoating.  Canopy framing needs to be done, and some work on the undercarriage is needed (ie, assemble it!).  Target date for comletion is the IPMS Barnet show at the RAF Museum - it'll have been a close run thing if I manage it!

[Mossie]

Nice looking shape, almost hides the Ho.229 origins.  Good work!

[kitbasher]

Nice looking shape, almost hides the Ho.229 origins.  Good work!

Thanks Mossie.  Yes, the basic Ho229 shape is kind of receeding into the background somewhat - I'd not really thought that until reading your comment and looking again at the photo.
The recent work on the model, and my current Sea Vixen whif being next to it on my modelling table, has got me thinking - what would de Davilland have done to the Ho229? 
I've got a Frog Hornet fuselage left over from the Piston Perfection GB and the front end of that could replace the Ho229's.  I think of course a couple of booms would be needed - adapt some drop tanks, perhaps.  High altitude fighter scheme of Medium Sea Grey uppers and PRU undersides - I feel a whif coming on! 

[Brian da Basher]

The addition of those large wingtip rudders is sheer genius!

Brian da Basher

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

The addition of those large wingtip rudders is sheer genius!

"I wish to be associated with the comments of the last speaker !"

Ian

[ChernayaAkula]

So very cool!   

With the nose, I think it looks more like an eagle ray rather than a manta. 

[kitbasher]

At last!
After a rather turbulent June that saw no modelling being done at all it was a real pleaseure to start painting the Manta.

Camo scheme derived from RAF Meteor NF.11s and still rather a lot to do, but I know where its going and the end is just about hoving into view. 

[Tophe]

  Great enrichment to the Ho229 family, thanks!

[Sisko]

Man I am liking this!!!

[ChernayaAkula]

Looks great with colour on it!

[thedarkmaster]

I think it looks more British as it goes   

[Howard of Effingham]

yer know! i can just see this one in the circuit at baginton...... 

well done 

[kitbasher]

Armstrong-Whitworth Manta NF.2 WP256 'M', 23 Sqn, RAF Coltishall, 1953
The Manta was a radical design by any standards.  The product of a marriage of 1940s British experimentation with flying wings (eg, the Handley-Page Manx, General Aircraft G.A.L. 56 and Armstrong Whitworth A.W. 52), plus captured Horten Ho229s (see Mossies's Rafwaffe Ho229) and associated aerodynamic research at the end of the war, development was afforded priority as fears grew of new Soviet weapons developed from captured German technology, and ultimately tensions that would culminate in the Berlin Airlift.  
Manta PR.1s first entered RAF service in late 1949 (see MartG's Armstrong-Whitworth Manta PR.1.).  The NF.2 meanwhile was seen as an advanced night fighter project, offering significant performance advantages over the Gloster Meteor then in service.  It provided an alternative to the Meteor night fighters under development, and to the private venture De Havilland dH113 Vampire night fighter (provisionally referred to as the NF.10).
The first of 78 Mantas entered service in late 1951, with 25 Sqn at RAF West Malling.  23 Sqn (Coltishall) and 151 Sqn (Leuchars) were also eventually equipped.   WP256 appears as it did at the Coronation Review of the RAF on 15 July 1953.
Sadly, the type was not a major success.  As with the Northrop XB-35 and YB-49, aerodynamically the concept was too advanced for the technology of the day.  Although blessed with an exceptional rate of climb, the Manta was a relatively unstable gun platform and from an engineering perspective proved difficult to maintain.  Ironically, the remaining UK-based Mosquito night fighters were replaced by Armstrong Whitworth's night fighter development of the Meteor, the very aircraft the Manta was intended to provide a quantum leap over performance-wise.  In its NF.14 guise the Meteor began replacing the Manta in 1955, and was in turn replaced by the Gloster Javelin FAW.1 in home-based Fighter Command units.
(Donor kits: PM Horten Ho229 V7, Matchbox Meteor NF.14, Novo Javelin FAW.9, Airfix Harrier GR.1.  Markings: Matchbox Meteor NF.14, Modeldecal Sheets 1, 34, 35, 36, 47