6 Sqn RAF's Moby Dick's

[Gondor]

Eager to replace the ageing English Electric Canberra and to join the Phantom club, the Royal Air Force managed to persuade the government to buy enough "off the shelf" F-4 Phantoms direct from the US government as part of the deal where the US provided nuclear weapons to the UK under a dual key system. Thus two squadrons based in Germany became the recipients of brand new, right off the production line, aircraft which were processed in the UK and furnished with UK radios and paint scheme.
Initially the two squadrons flew their aircraft from a common servicing pool and were devoid of squadron markings, this was also partly to keep the identity of the squadrons secret for fear of their personnel being targeted by aggressive peace campaigners or agent provocateurs but towards the end of the aircraft's short life span squadron markings became more frequently seen as the role of the aircraft and NATO's stance changed.

The model is a Hasegawa F-4, modified from an F-4E partly from use of the knife and saw, and partly from my spares box of Hasegawa parts, to produce an F-4C/D look alike. Decals are by Kit's DeKals and the crazy idea behind an anti-flash white RAF F-4 is all mine, with a little help from a few others to flesh out the details 

Gondor

[Gondor]

I should have added that I already have the decals as the idea has been in my head for a while. Last night I started putting parts together for this build and it being a Hasegawa kit the parts go together very nicely and easily. The removal of the M61 from the nose also allows me to add another gun armed Spay F-4M to my collection with the radome being swapped between the two builds.

Gondor

[zenrat]

Does duel key system mean that the RAF couldn't nuke anything without Uncle Sam's permission?

[PR19_Kit]

Does duel key system mean that the RAF couldn't nuke anything without Uncle Sam's permission?

IIRC that was the case.

It was how the RAF's Thor missiles were meant to have been fired if it came to it.

[Gondor]

Here is a picture of work previously carried out in the hope of providing a conversion kit which resulted in this happening



The radome from a previous build where a Fujimi F-4M lost its nose will end up on the front of this aircraft.

So far work has only progressed to building the cockpit ready for paint, the wings are together as is the rear fuselage so I hope the rest of the build goes as quickly.

Gondor