Between the lines....stories of the Empires Twighlight

[thedarkmaster]

A new thread for the guys whom i sent the kits to for the Empires Twighlight to showcase their stories and kits

thanks lads

TIM

[Kerrillc]

Sparrow-hawk strike fighter/Interceptor

Hawker developed the Sparrow-hawk as a strike fighter/interceptor from the Harrier and Sea Harrier and served solely in Germany in service with RAF units supporting the BAOR and the Queen's German Legion (27 Squadron). A superlative dog fighter with a blown wing giving outstanding manoeuvrability and outstanding STOVL performance. Powered by a 32,000 lb dry thrust variant of the Spey, this gave the Sparrow-hawk a maximum speed of Mach 1.5. The armament fit varied from mission to mission. In the fighter mode four "taildog" missiles and two or four BVR missiles (Aspide, Sparrows, SARH Red Tops or Skyflash) as well as a 25mm Equaliser gun-pod with some three to four hundred rounds.

This picture shows one of the Sparrow-hawks with an atypical load out, four single round taildog tube launchers and four of the Sidewinder clones known as Copperheads which were fitted with an extremely sensitive heat seeking guidance unit which claimed to have a 90% hit ratio (this claim has not been verified owing to any records being lost in the disaster).

There are also unconfirmed notes about variants of missiles which had seeker units that homed in on fighter radars, details of such missiles are scant. This however might tie in with some fragmentary pilots notes that were recovered noted that "Radars should be left in standby mode or turned off". Again any verification about the reasons behind this statement are of course lost in the Disaster.

[Kerrillc]

[thedarkmaster]

loving the Sparrow Hawk and loving the Queens German Legion       

[Black Knight]

Aerotech Atlas

The Atlas began as an Operational Test bed for high-speed aircraft systems analysis, which eventually led to Bae Tornado (no unified Germany, so pure British design/build), Bae produced SR-71 and various systems used in Concorde. Aerotech numbered the Atlas, type 111 built as a pure test bed for flight testing of new systems and software.

The testing was conducted at Aerotechs private facility located on the Falklands islands to hide the project away from rival companies and other nations, friendly or otherwise. The Atlas was painted gloss black and received full colour markings prior to the "91 disaster, the new black scheme suited the Atlas' night operations making it hard to be seen while conducting its flight tests.

The systems and software was offered to the RAF and Commonwealth air forces available only from the Aerotech company as a branch of Bae. The Airframe was not taken into squadron service although a derived version was accepted. At the time of the "91 disaster the Atlas is believed to have been converted into post strike reconnaissance mission capable status to analyse the Commonwealth affect .

Operating within this role the Atlas was deployed to RAF bases and flew with the strike team for use as a post strike recon platform. It continued in this limited role until the later part of the 1990's with unconfirmed sightings well into 1999.

The sole airframe is believed to be still in flying condition at the Aerotech facility flight testing new systems for frontline aircraft.

The aircraft illustrated is wearing the gloss black test scheme which was used during the trials. The aircraft received modifications for its role such as various aerials, bulges, pods and received the squadrons black knights emblem.

[Black Knight]

photos of the atlas

[Black Knight]

Last for now.

Thanks Tim