Armstrong Whitworth Aw169

[Archibald]

No that was Mirage G, Dassault's own aircraft.



AFVG (Anglo French Variable Geometry) was a different design, although very similar in looks & capability to Mirage G.  The French & the British realised in the sixties that they both needed a multi role aircraft to replace aging types, Britain especially, after the cancellation of TSR.2 then the F-111K.  They started collaborating on a design, although strangely, Dassault started design of it's very similar Mirage G at a similar time & were actively hostile to AFVG.  It wasn't a surprise when France pulled out (& eventually cancelled their own Mirage G) & Britain went ahead with it's own dedicated variant, UKVG.  Several other nations were very interested in the aircraft including Germany, Italy, The Netherlands & Canada.  The Netherlands & Canada pulled out at an early stage, leaving the partner nations of Panavia & Tornado was born.

To sum up, AFVG was the first major design in the line that eventually became Tornado.  You can see it in AFVG's lines, it looks very like a short Tornado ADV.

Geoff, yeah, that Airfix GR.4 is a bit of dog isn't it, I've got the same kit (luckily got it for free on joining the old Aifix Classic Club!).  Like you say, the GR.4 sprue is good thought & provides for a lot of modern RAF weapons, almost worth buying the kit for on it's own.  My approach would have been to keep the Tornado forward fuselage & use an ADV nose.  Hadn't thought about trimming the fuse down though, does make a big difference.

And the photo you posted is the G8, twin-Atar variant of the Mirage G    

The G8 and Tornado are both child of the AFVG, difference beeing that France could not afford the G8 alone, as GB discovered BEFORE building the UKVG...

Nice AW-169, looks good  

[Mossie]

Geoff, thanks for the info!

Archie, seems thing were back to front, the British had their heads screwed on & the French made a mess of the project politically & financially.  Usually the other way around!

[Thorvic]

Hi Thorvic,

I am very interested on Panavia 100 and 300. Where can I find more information?
Do not hesitate to PM me, if you prefer.

Thanks,
Carlos.

Carlos

The Panavia 100 was the lighter single seat Tornado (originally to be named Panther). The single seater was what the Germans and the Italians preferred but the RAF insisted on a larger two seater to meet its longer ranged strike requirement. I did find some artwork on a German site for the Single seat version
which should be found in one of my older threads.

The Panavia 300 was a passing reference i noted in an old Air Pictorial from the period where it appeared they were considering doing a slighter larger version to meet the RAF's requirements for the Canberra/Vulcan replacement. Its possible the 300 had a bigger fuselage to carry a greater load of fuel and bombs (might have included an enclosed bomb bay) coupled with larger wings for the greater range and weapon capacity the RAF desired since loosing TSR2.

However the lack of comonality with the smaller version quickly killed off the 300 concept and the others agreed to do with the 200 to save on costs.

Panavia at the time was also propossing a possible smaller trainer derived from the Tornado projects (possibly BAC P45/AA107 inspired) but i think the gov't were more interested in getting the Tornado built first before expanding the line up !!!.

G

[B777LR]

The G8 and Tornado are both child of the AFVG, difference beeing that France could not afford the G8 alone, as GB discovered BEFORE building the UKVG...

Strange hearing that today, considering the price of a JSF or F-22...

[kitnut617]

The G8 and Tornado are both child of the AFVG, difference beeing that France could not afford the G8 alone, as GB discovered BEFORE building the UKVG...

Strange hearing that today, considering the price of a JSF or F-22...

Everything is relavent Thomas,  the value of the dollar or pound was more back then and you got more for them,  so today's dollar or pound versus the price for anything is about the same value.  You earn more today but it still only buys the same because the price of things has gone up.

[Thorvic]

AW169 Thunder heavy all weather interceptor 96 Squadron RAF Leeming 1966.

Runner up in the F155T competition and selected to build to prototype alongside the Fairey FD3 for evaluation. Found during flight testing that the FD3 was somewhat over weight and draggy . In order to allow time for these issues to be rectified a batch of 100 AW169 were ordered as a stopgap to replace the Javelin and complement the Lightning in the intercerpt role whilst the FD development continued.

[Thorvic]

other side  

[Archibald]

MAgnifique! The name"Thunder" sounds very appropriate!    

[Glenn Gilbertson]

What a great looking beast! Great modelling.
 :salute:  

[Zen]

Simply stunning!

Approve the name, Thunder is definately a good description.

Thirsty engine the Gyron Junior though.

Hmmmmm......

Would make a good recce platform.

I did once experiment in drawings with navalisation for this one.

[gooberliberation]

And you did the airbrakes? I would've never been able to muster up the skill or patience to do that :dum:  

[Archibald]

Thirsty engine the Gyron Junior though.

Sure! But imagine that this aircraft follow the same path as the Bucc'... get ride of those crap Gyron Jr, and replace them by Speys... four Speys similar to the F-4K, (was it the -301 variant ?   ) 9300 kgp each, 37 tons thrust!    

[cthulhu77]

Most impressive...a squadron of those would surely put the fear of Empire into your heart!

[Brian da Basher]

Woah is that hot! I'm not usually much for modern stuff, so it takes something really unique to make me notice, but Geoff this one's struly a stunner! Excellent work on the paint scheme. She looks every it the business. Those wingtip missiles and squadron markings are a perfect capper to a fantatstic piece of work. Bravo Zulu!

Brian da Basher

[The Rat]

What is there to say except      

I am truly awestruck.