Freightdog VC-10 multi-role including bomb panniers

[Weaver]

I don't think Colin's ever plugged this in here, but on his website he's listing:

VC-10 Multirole Tanker kit with radar, nose, wingtip refuelling pods and offset fuselage HDU and 26Decals sheet: https://www.freightdogmodels.co.uk/military-products/military-aircraft-conversions/1-144-scale/freightdog-1-144-vickers-vc10-multi-role-proposed-tanker-conversion-set.html

VC-10 Multirole Bomber kit with all of the above plus four underwing bomb panniers and pylons: https://www.freightdogmodels.co.uk/military-products/military-aircraft-conversions/1-144-scale/freightdog-1-144-vickers-vc10-multi-role-proposed-bomber-conversion-set.html

[PR19_Kit]

OooooooooooOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooh! 

With those bomb panniers it's like a modern day Wellelsley. 

[Freightdog862]

Thanks for the plug Harold, I certainly didn't push them enough. I still have a load left, I need to build one up to show the finished item off, I will have some at Cosford if anyone is interested, along with a new conversion for Phantom XT597, the Doppler nose radome for the Airfix FG.1 and with the two Xtradecal sheets (raspberry ripple) already out.

Should also have some Supermarine 327 kits on sale, only got this Thursday to pack stuff up for weekend around shift work so going to be busy!

Thanks,

Colin

[Captain Canada]

Looks good.

[Weaver]

Thanks for the plug Harold, I certainly didn't push them enough. I still have a load left, I need to build one up to show the finished item off, I will have some at Cosford if anyone is interested, along with a new conversion for Phantom XT597, the Doppler nose radome for the Airfix FG.1 and with the two Xtradecal sheets (raspberry ripple) already out.

Should also have some Supermarine 327 kits on sale, only got this Thursday to pack stuff up for weekend around shift work so going to be busy!

Thanks,

Colin

You're welcome.

They got my attention because the VC-10 was one of the proposed carriers for that mad scheme to re-arm Tornado F.3s in flight by having them pick up a pallet of Skyflashes towed behind the carrier aircraft on a cable. Transport aircraft (FLA/A400M) were one option, the panniered VC-10 was the other. With four panniers and the wingtip refuelling pods it could be quite the one-stop-fighter-shop couldn't it? 

[Rheged]

They got my attention because the VC-10 was one of the proposed carriers for that mad scheme to re-arm Tornado F.3s in flight by having them pick up a pallet of Skyflashes towed behind the carrier aircraft on a cable. Transport aircraft (FLA/A400M) were one option, the panniered VC-10 was the other. With four panniers and the wingtip refuelling pods it could be quite the one-stop-fighter-shop couldn't it?

I am most curious as to how exactly this rearming scheme would work!!

The VC10 seems to have been  a very versatile machine. In addition to its refueling and transport functions, one of the lesser known military roles conducted by the VC10 was the 'sniffer' role, which saw it fitted with nuclear debris sensors in the place of its refueling pods. The VC10 carried out this role in a number of areas but especially when it was flown close to North Korea after it had reportedly conducted nuclear tests in 2006.  Then, of course there was the Poffler.........

[Weaver]

The re-arming scheme's in Battle Flight by Chris Gibson. Can't remember who proposed it, but it WAS a real proposal.

Basically, the Tornadoes would have been fitted with an extendable arm on the centreline, in between the missile troughs, and an infra-red homing system (like a TV remote). The resupply aircraft would trail a pallet on the end of a cable, with four Skyflash on it. The pallet also had a couple of fins, a control system to keep it flying steady and straight, and am infra-red homing system. The Tornado would lower it's arm, switch on it's homing system, and approach the pallet to the point where the pallet and the arm made contact and locked. The cable would then be released and the pallet drawn up to lie underneath the Tornado's belly. job done.

My first thought was that messing around in the slip stream of a large aircraft, mere feet away from a pallet load of rocket fuel and high explosive was a non-starter, but it really depends on how steady the pallet can fly in the slipstream and how good the IR control system is. In the former respect, the VC-10 might have been better than a A400M-style transport, since it's jet wash would be high up, smooth (jet) and in the centre, whereas the A400's would be more turbulent (prop) and coming from under the wings. With the wingtip refuelling hoses, you could probably refuel from one wing and rearm from the other simultaneously, whereas the fact that A400 would be streaming the pallet from it's tail ramp would make the clearances too tight. Of course for training, inert missile would be used, thereby significantly decreasing the risk.

[bluedonkey99]

I don't think Colin's ever plugged this in here, but on his website he's listing:

VC-10 Multirole Tanker kit with radar, nose, wingtip refuelling pods and offset fuselage HDU and 26Decals sheet: https://www.freightdogmodels.co.uk/military-products/military-aircraft-conversions/1-144-scale/freightdog-1-144-vickers-vc10-multi-role-proposed-tanker-conversion-set.html

VC-10 Multirole Bomber kit with all of the above plus four underwing bomb panniers and pylons: https://www.freightdogmodels.co.uk/military-products/military-aircraft-conversions/1-144-scale/freightdog-1-144-vickers-vc10-multi-role-proposed-bomber-conversion-set.html

Done my bit too: https://kampfgruppe144.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/1144-vc-10-multirole-aircraft.html 

[AS.12]

The resupply aircraft would trail a pallet on the end of a cable, with four Skyflash on it. The pallet also had a couple of fins, a control system to keep it flying steady and straight, and am infra-red homing system.

At some point I wonder if someone chipped-in with "why not just lauch the Skyflashes from the VC-10?"

We have an odd sort of parallel these days when a pair of Typhoons and a Voyager are scrambled to shadow Russian intruders.  The Typhoons keep hitting the tanker and eventually return to base with exhausted pilots whilst the Voyager has been pacing along wth the pilot doing the Times crossword and pies heating in the galley.  Why not just scramble the Voyager...?

[scooter]

We have an odd sort of parallel these days when a pair of Typhoons and a Voyager are scrambled to shadow Russian intruders.  The Typhoons keep hitting the tanker and eventually return to base with exhausted pilots whilst the Voyager has been pacing along wth the pilot doing the Times crossword and pies heating in the galley.  Why not just scramble the Voyager...?

Reactivate and re-engine the remaining Vulcans, and kit them out with air intercept radars and missiles?

[Hobbes]

The resupply aircraft would trail a pallet on the end of a cable, with four Skyflash on it. The pallet also had a couple of fins, a control system to keep it flying steady and straight, and am infra-red homing system.

At some point I wonder if someone chipped-in with "why not just lauch the Skyflashes from the VC-10?"

We have an odd sort of parallel these days when a pair of Typhoons and a Voyager are scrambled to shadow Russian intruders.  The Typhoons keep hitting the tanker and eventually return to base with exhausted pilots whilst the Voyager has been pacing along wth the pilot doing the Times crossword and pies heating in the galley.  Why not just scramble the Voyager...?

Vickers did think of that: they proposed Red Barrel, a VC-10 interceptor with an air launched version of Sea Dart. 18 of them.

[Weaver]

We have an odd sort of parallel these days when a pair of Typhoons and a Voyager are scrambled to shadow Russian intruders.  The Typhoons keep hitting the tanker and eventually return to base with exhausted pilots whilst the Voyager has been pacing along wth the pilot doing the Times crossword and pies heating in the galley.  Why not just scramble the Voyager...?

Reactivate and re-engine the remaining Vulcans, and kit them out with air intercept radars and missiles?

There were two semi-serious proposals for this too:

One had ten Sea Darts, the illuminating radar in a shorter main radome and the AI radar in a pod underneath it. This was necessary due to the fact that Sea Dart needed a huge and powerful radar to illuminate it's targets, because of it's long range and the insensitivity of it's polyrod receiver.

The other had twelve Phoenix and an AWG-9 in the nose with no under-nose pod. This was almost certainly a better option, but it would have been very expensive to buy (all in dollars), and very expensive to train with at $1m a shot (which was one of the arguments against the UK buying the Tomcat).