Avro Lancaster B III Gunship Operation Firedog

[Hman]

It's too good to risk wrecking it.
You've got two or three other excellent entries for the GB.
Give it time so you can do it justice.  You'll only regret rushing it.

I agree, don't rush it, it a lovely build...

[Weaver]

I agree with the others Dave: don't spoil the model for an arbitary deadline. People fail to complete GB entries all the time for all sorts of reasons: this is a perfectly good one.

Makes one wonder why gunships were not more common between WW2 and the introduction of MANPADS.

The French had some adventures with side-firing 20mm MG 151s in Algeria but I think the hidrance on 'going bigger' was the performance / capacity of transport aircraft at the time, and the lack of ability to target at night ( which in turn was necessitated by the vulnerable pylon-turn attack profile ).  Daylight ops against opponents with HMGs seemed to be too dangerous.

It was only when the likes of the C-130* became available that heavier ordnance could be fitted that stayed out of range of HMGs and made the gunship more survivable. 

A Firedog-era real-World gunship would probably be restricted to 20mm Oerlikons due to weight, ammunition and recoil which might make ops a bit dodgy.

* Wasn't there an FC-124 proposal at some point?

On the other hand, the AC-47, operating from 1964 against VC who certainly had 12.7mm DShKs, only had 7.62mm miniguns and the AC-199, and early AC-130s only had 20mm vulcans. The Basler AC-47Ts in use today by Colombia and El Salvador only have 12.7mm gatlings.

I've long fancied the idea of a French gunship for the Algerian conflict, consisting of a Noratlas with side-firing MG 151s...

[63cpe]

Ok, I've put the lanc back in the spray booth as is the AW Artemis...also some filler not cured. Spraying would mean as mess...

Two entrants less...ow well, some day.....

David aka 63cpe