Captain Scarlet - Viper!

[pwagner]

With Airfix about to re-release the Angel Interceptor, I figured it was time to do something with the scrappy 30+ year old one left over from my childhood collection.

I came across some reference to the fact that in the world of Captain Scarlet, the Angel was actually derived from a more conventional military jet, the World Air Force “Viper” – so I thought I’d make one of them!

So, in my pan-Gerry-Anderson Universe, the story is this:

With the creation of SHADO in 1970, four lines of defence were envisioned: moon-based interceptors, ground-based interceptors, sea-based interceptors, and ground units.

Current aircraft evaluated for the role of land-based interceptor – the F-104 Starfighter, the EE Lightning, the Mirage III, and the Mig-21 – were all considered inadequate; while the Lightning and F-104 had the desired climb rate, speed and ceiling, they lacked the manoueverability necessary to track the highly agile UFOs, and lacked suficient ground attack capability to support SHADO ground forces.

Under the cover of the USAF’s Lightweight Fighter (LWF) proposal, six designs were developed, and the General Dynamics YF-16 and BAC/Lockheed YF-13 were selected for evaluation. However, the LWF study converged with the NATO “Multinational Fighter Program Group” (MFPG) and the Navy Air Combat Fighter (NACF) program, and it was decided that a “conventional” version of the YF-13 would be developed for military use in the US, and a specialised version developed in Britain specifically for SHADOs needs – this later became the “Angel”.

In 1974 the sham LWF program was abandoned in favour of a new Air Combat Fighter (ACF) competition. Further competitors intent on securing what was touted at the time as “the arms deal of the century” joined the competition; Dassault-Breguet’s Mirage F1, the SEPECAT Jaguar, the Saab 37 Viggen, while Northrop re-entered with the P-530 Cobra, which was very similar to its original YF-17. On 13 January 1975, Secretary of the Air Force John L. McLucas announced that the YF-13 had been selected as the winner of the ACF competition and the initial production-standard F-13A flew for the first time on 7 August 1978. The F-13 was given its formal nickname of “Viper” on 21 July 1980, entering USAF operational service with the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill AFB on 1 October 1980.

From it’s origins as a lightweight, daytime interceptor, the BAC/Lockheed F-13 Viper has developed into a successful multirole aircraft. Over 7,000 aircraft have been built since production was approved in 1976, giving it the nick-name of the “World Air Force Fighter”. In addition to US Air Force, Naval and Marine squadrons, F-13 has also been selected to serve in the air forces of 42 other nations. The US’s NATO allies purchased the aircraft in large numbers, including Britain, where is was selected over the “manifestly stupid” idea of developing a fighter version of the Tornado strike aircraft.

And here it is!:

(still working out the attaching photo stuff, apparently they're too big....)



http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/5386485311/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/5386486099/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/5387095806/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/5386487171/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/5386489539/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/5387092824/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/5386483049/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/5386484549/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34860818@N06/5386483695/

Paul

***edit to include one of the images from your image account.  you can do this too by first using the right mouse button on the image in your account and selecting the "VIEW IMAGE" option which will then open the image up with the appropriate url link in the address bar.  Copy the url from the address bar and use the in your topic to create the image with brackets as used in this example without the extra spaces in the code:  [ i m g ] url [ / i m g ] ***

[buzzbomb]

Great stuff.. love the Captain Scarlet stuff and this is an excellent follow on

Cheers

[Old Wombat]

Spreading the love, I see, Paul!

[beowulf]

nice....works well 

good to see you went for a camo rather than just an all over grey (yawn) 

[Doc Yo]

 Well, its still got that great bloody barn door of a rudder,  but its a sweet looking build, and a fine backstory.
I like your incorporation of the SHADO mythos into the Captain Scarlet continuity.

[beowulf]

looking at it again has given me an idea 

*waits for kit to hit the shelves*

[Joe C-P]

That works!

[sotoolslinger]

COOOOL

[Taiidantomcat]

Fantastic camo and markings 

[Weaver]

Nice Cammo! 

A question though: what does it land on? The original Angel landed on wingtip skids and I don't think the AIM-9s will take that very well....

[rickshaw]

Nice Cammo! 

A question though: what does it land on? The original Angel landed on wingtip skids and I don't think the AIM-9s will take that very well....

Why ever not?  The Sidewinder had wheels on it. 

[Tophe]

Wow!