Australian "Canberra".

[Rory]

When the Austrailians declined the chance to buy B-47E's as an interem type pending the delivery of F111's some of the government were happy at the thought of all the money saved, some of the RAAF were not. When Austrailia comited forces to the war in SE Asia the RAAF found itself looking around for an aircraft that could carry out recon missions and/or ECM flights in support of the F111 force.

Thoughts turned once again the the rejected B-47, it was (relitivly) cheap, had the legs, range and capacity for the job. BUT how to get money out of the government for an "out of date" aircraft?

Picture the scene, the Boss of the RAAF gets on the phone to the Prime Minister, probably disturbing his weekend barbie

RAAF " hi boss, look we have had a bit of an accident and have broken a couple of our Canberras"

PM   "And?"

RAAF  " Well can we get some new ones?"

PM  " Is it gonna cost us much?"

RAF  "Oh no Boss we will just replace the broken ones with older models "

PM  " Ok just remember though be carefull we ain't made of money!"

RAAF   "ok I'll"

PM   "Sorry i have to go me shrimp is burning on the barbie"

RAAF   "Ok Boss , regards to the missis"

And so the RAAF got





Painted in Canberra colours and marked the same as the first Canberra lost by the RAAF ( IIRC) and used for ferreting about hostile airspace the aircraft flew succesfully for several years . The USAF were so impressed by the missions flown by the "Canberras" that they started copying the idea. Their  missions developed into active suppression raids by armed Wild Weasel aircraft!



( Please mister the wheels come off! Bu**er )

[GTX]

Rory,

I love it (and the back story is the icing on the cake!).

Welcome aboard - this is a great start.

Regards,

Greg

[Matt Wiser]

Interesting take on getting the RB-47H. Hate to nitpick, but even in USAF service the RB-47 kept the two 20-mm tail guns-one RB-47 actually shot down an attacking North Korean MiG-17 off Wonsan on 28 May 65 with the tail guns. However, the RB was written off after landing at Yokota AB in Japan (two engines shot out and major damage to the fuselage and port wing). The other two known intercepts by MiGs (Soviet-flown) weren't so fortunate: one shot down off of Kamchatka in 1955 (3 MIA) and one shot down off Kola on 1 June 1960 (two captured and returned 25 Jan 61, one KIA returned in June 1960, one KIA buried on Kola, and two still MIA).  

[Archibald]

Lovely! What model of the B-47 ? what scale ? After all, Indonesia had B-47 so why australia couldn't have B-47 ??
Hmmmm we need a thread on a Australia / Indonesia war in the 60's. Interesting things (Indonesia received Tu-128s, so Australia bought a batch of
CF-105       or F-108s           )  

[Archibald]

  My brain is disfunctioning this morning... file-404 everywhre... Indonesia had Tu-16

[lancer]

Brilliant build and back story Rory. Hell of a way to make an entrance. Welcome to the loony bin. You'll fit in well. Just don't feed the Canadians or build thing with the dreaded and butt ugly things called SPATS...      

[kitnut617]

Now that is one great looking model      

Robert

[Ollie]

Excellent build!

Woo!

Welcome aboard!

 

[Brian da Basher]

Woah Rory that's one hot bird there and a smokin' backstory! What a great way to introduce yourself to the board! Welcome to the asylum! Newbie buys the first round.

Brian da Basher

[Mike Wren]

very nice!    

[Rory]

Lovely! What model of the B-47 ? what scale ?

It is the 72 Hasegawa model. I actualy found the kit in a rubbish bin ( ex bin man ) and being the natural scrounger that I am it ended up in the cab and then home with me.  Unfortunatly the kit had been started and the amount of sanding and filling needed to put it in "proper " colours would have worn away the fusilage so thats how it happened to be in Austrailian colours.

I entered it at my local show ( RNAS Yeovilton, on this Saturday BTW) in the fantacy class and got into a stand up argument with one of the judges who said it should go in the aircraft class. I explained it was a fantacy a/c and that the RAAF had never flown them (opperationaly) but he put it in the A/c class anyway.

It only came second

As for tailguns.

IT'S A "WHAT IF" FFS. Get a life!

[AeroplaneDriver]

Welcome aboard Rory!

I'll echo everyone else and say "great model"!

Cant wait to see more of your ideas and work.    

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Rory,

You have managed to get all of the right criteria all wrapped up in a very nice little package:

    *Form
    *Fit
    *Function
    *Fiction  

Some times it is simple alterations and modifications such as what you have managed to do with that B-47 that make the best impressions.  

I must say that for your first presentation and self-introduction here on WHIF, you have done quite well with a very convincing model.  I hope that we will see many more in the future.  

[NARSES2]

Wellcome Rory - nice build and a backstory you can actually see happening

[Mossie]

Hello Rory, damn fine model, the B-47 looks very good in those colours,

Good work mate!