A New Hero Is Born - Turbo-boomerang

[Rafael]

ANOTHER WORLD, ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE.....

North-Western Australia. The year, 2029


The Pacific Ocean war had dragged for a few months now, and the Allies were fighting the Furisians almost everywhere in the theater. Furisia, the Island-Kingdom, had emerged as a regional power after its sudden enrichment due to the discovery of great oil deposits on its continental shelf. Great amounts of money, and a bitter history of political backstabbing and civilian war, had brought Mehmet II to the position of King. After taking over, Mehmet embarked in a campaign to subjugate by infiltration, blackmailing and just plain military power, the smaller islands of the region, and ultimately, invaded the republic of Tegawan, which unleashed the Pacific Ocean war.

To complicate maters, the hands of Beijing were behind the scenes, providing intelligence, logistics and even "secret" personnel support to Furisia, in order to dominate the South Pacicfic and configure its own version of the "Sphere of Influence and Co-prosperity". So, in the end, Furisia amassed a good sized Navy, and a huge Army, second to none in the region.

By now, the Allied fleet had been lured into a shadow chase farther north, and Sino-Furisian forces were approaching Australia, in a daring move to seize a beach head there, with several small amphibious task forces and Surface Action Groups.

The initial attack started just after the Aussie Wedgetail AWACS planes detected the invaders. But the Allied fleet was nowhere near, and the homeland forces were spread too thin.

A recipe for a disaster.

Squadron Leader Major John "Maverick" Lacey, of the ASOFPAC (Allied Special Operations Forces, Pacific), sat in his Turbo-Boomerang awaiting orders for take-off, He ordered his men (and women) of the 141 SOF Sqn to keep radio silence. Craning his head back, he saw all 72 Turbo-Boomerangs of the 14th SOF wing sitting at idle, waiting for the go-ahead. Armorers and crews checked and re-checked the birds meanwhile, with great solicitousness. In the rear of his cockpit, his GIB (Guy In Back), Mick "Jagger" Buonanno, monitored systems and nervously hummed while waiting.

-"Jagger, please, cut the singing, I'm trying to study the charts here, man!" said Maverick.
-"Sorry, Sir, I'm re-checking the NAV and WEP stations"
-"Do it silently, lad"
-"Yes, Sir"

Then, the radio crackled to life, and the dreaded moment arrived, turning everyone's guts into lumps of ice. -"All fligths, this is Homeplate, Irene, Irene, Irene!" Homeplate, the C3 HQ was giving them the go ahead with "Irene", the keyword for launching, and started to give instructions to every squadron in the wing.

-"I hope that "Irene" stuff woks better this time," thought Maverick, remembering another operation, long, long ago, that went very badly for the attacking forces.

-"Handlebars, your zone of responsibility are Killboxes numbers two and three, coordinate with the other squadrons" said Homeplate.
-"Handlebar six, roge-o" He would have to talk with Captain Mack "The Knife" O'Toole, his executive officer about that squadron name selection. The boys kept giggling and hush-hushing jokes about his non-regulation moustache.

-"Ah, Mav, you ready with the navigational data?" asked Jagger.
-"Mav. Not 'Sir' anymore, this boy back there is already in pro-mode," thought Mav.
-"Yep, son. I'm only trying to introduce our coordinates in this goddam keyboard, but I seem to have ten thumbs now. Boy, this keyboard gives me the Shites!"
"I'll punch 'em in for you, Mav. Taxi this bucket and let me turn the knobs while you fly us in and out"

A few minutes later, Maverick and his Handlebars were climbing to cruise altitude, and preparing for the impending attack.

-"Ok, Handlebars, I want everyone in on this. No ammo goes back to the field, I want every lad and lass flying aggressively and glued to your wingmen. Watch out for AAA and SAMs." A series of clicks and grunts from 24 very busy crews in 24 planes confirmed the receipt of his message.

In the distance, the sea loomed in the horizon and small, black columns already littered what Mav recognized as his squadron's killbox, a two-kilometer stretch of beach nearby a fishing town.

-"This is it, boys! Mack, get on my wing, and let's get the suckers out of our beach"

What followed made the books, newspapers and movies as the most savage and heroic air attack in years. A very unexpected attack from aircraft types deemed too slow, cumbersome and untested, against an overconfident enemy, trying to surprise a valiant, fighting people in their own midst.

The Turbo-Boomerangs swooped from high altitude, mimicking the ancient dive-bombers of WWII fame, and dared and braved streams of AAA and missile launches. The toughness of their mounts' construction, and just plain good airmanship kept the Handlebars alive during the attack. Strafing the beach, dropping bombs, rockets and missiles, the Turbo-Boomerangs decimated the first wave of the invasion, making the rest of the enemy force to falter, and buying precious time for the distant Allied fleet to mount an effective counter-attack.

-"That's no place to be bunched up on the sand, Jagger, I want all our Brimstones down there, in the middle of that vehicle pool!" A stream of tracers raised to meet Maverick, but by hard-maneuvering and handsome airplane handling, none came too close.
-"Put the multispectral Jammer full-on, Jagger, and, WOW!" A trio of Brimstone missiles impacted vehicles on the beach, and a mushroom of fire and oily smoke roiled over the enemy formation.

Then, following the dead vehicles' tracks, Maverick found a treasure trove. There, right in front of him, at dead 12 o'clock a couple of LST ships landed on the shore disgorged trucks and APCs.
-"Mack, I want you to drop on them! Cluster-bomb the motherf*****s!" At the same time, Mav pickled his canisters and climbed to avoid the tremendous inferno that his bombs and Mack's were to unleash on the ships.

Climbing and turning with Mack stuck to his wing, Maverick spotted two more LSTs making their way to the sandy beach. This time, with only dumb bombs and a rocket pod remaining under his wings, he ordered his element to align on the approaching elements.
-"They're already lowering their ramps, Mack! I'll take the left one!"

With this, Maverick faced head-on another barrage of tracer fire. With no time to think, no altitude, and at his highest speed setting, he dropped all his iron bombs far out of reach from the objective. Jinking like mad, he avoided the incoming fire, feeling the Turbo-Boomerang like it was willing to disassemble in midair, but grabbed firmly his stick and throttle, and pointed his aircraft to join Mack's, now exiting his bomb-run.

But that last scare was not a waste. Two of his bombs skipped lazily off the quiet water and slammed into the sides of the LST, engulfing it in flames from its truckload of POL (Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants) supplies, short of their landing zone.

Still with one rocket pod to empty, and a useless Sidewinder missile hung on his starboard outer station he started to turn his element back to shore when Jagger screamed from the backseat: -"Bogeys, high, two o'clock!"

Maverick almost froze. A lonely plane, a Chinese copy of the YAK-141 VTOL fighter-bomber loosed two large objects on the fishing town. A dark cloud of smaller objects spewed from the bombs and the YAK turned around. Following with his gaze the ingress-route of the offending airplane, Mav spotted three more dark specks descending towards the town. He yelled: -" Mack, follow me, and help me nail the bastards!"

Climbing back to intercept at all the power he could squeeze from his turbo-prop, and with the attackers seemingly not taking notice of his proximity from his low perch, Maverick activated his Sidewinder, and hearing the lock tone, loosed the missile towards the first bogey. The missile didn't have time to arm, and going ballistic, it simply buried itself into the YAK's amidships, tearing apart the lift-engines' compartment and starting a catastrophic fire.

Caught off-guard, the other two YAKs kept flying straight towards their target, and Mav, now nearly in the vertical, in a bottom to top direct intercept course had his windshield and HUD full of YAK. Depressing his trigger, he fired a stream of 20 millimeter rounds and walked his bullets from stem to stern on the –141. Almost out of speed, he saw the remaining one approaching, and applying a pedal turn, with scant energy left and nearing a stall he kept on firing until his barrage met with Mack's dead on target.

Over the radio net, he called all hands to come help with this new threat. –"Handlebars, those of you with only 'winders on board, come to the town's vicinity, there's bogeys trying to bomb the hell out of the villagers and troopies!"

Mack spoke this time, and in somber terms said: "Six more approaching, Mav. I have only a rocket pod, and no twenty-mike ammo."

An idea formed in Mav's head and he replied: -"Cool, Mack, just make yourself noticed and start firing rockets to them. Singly."

And it worked. At the sight of smoke trails from dead ahead, the bomb-laden YAKs, unaware of being fired on with unguided rockets, immediately ditched their loads while still overwater, and reversed course, while Mav and Mack happily fired harmless unguided munitions.

-"You see, Mack?" An exhilarated Maverick hollered, "We even achieved mission kills!"

Then, over the comm net, a welcome voice said: "14th SOF wing, this is Task Force Jerry. Be advised, we're engaging the bogeys headed for you, and we have a strike group also en-route to you area. Also, Aussie Air Farce has twelve 'Varks rapidly approaching from inland."
Mav said: -"Thanks, TF Jerry! We'll be waiting your boys at the beach; we've already started the barbecues. If you need FAC support over the area, we'll be glad to spot for ya!"

That day half the Sino-Furisian Navy, and a sizable chunk of their Army and Marines aboard, got clobbered by ungainly-looking aircraft. And got finished by TF Jerry and the rest of the returning Allied fleet.

DEDICATED TO JOHN "MAVERICK" LACEY,
WHIFFING HERO, PROFILER EXTRAORDINAIRE, INSPIRATIONAL FELLOW, AND BETTER FRIEND. MY RESPECTS AND GRATITUDE FOR YOU, MAV. FOR BEING A HELPFUL HAND IN TIMES OF TROUBLE.

"Esto es lo que hay – This is what there is"

I hope you like it.
And enjoy it as much as I enjoyed building it.

My Gratitude to AirCav, who sent me this and a bunch of other models. Thank you very much, Steve! I really appreciate your gesture. Be well, wherever you are.

Rafa

[Rafael]

More...

[Shasper]

HELLLL- O!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I like



Shas B)

[Brian da Basher]

Ohhh man is that cool, Rafa! I love your tinted canopy, awesome camo scheme and waaay intimidating load-out! Your backstory is a real treat too! No doubt Mav will be thrilled!

Absolutely fantastic!!!

Brian da Basher

[HOG]

HeyRafa,
What can I say..........really interesting storyline, a great shape and finish to a model carrying a little bit of everything like any good airscout-be prepared. very well done!.
Oh by the way, really cool outdoor xylophone you photographed the model in  

regards |Gary  

[lancer]

Amazing Rafa, brilliant build and an awsome backstory.      :salute:  

[Maverick]

Guys, what can I say, the scratchbuilding whiffing God of Venezuela does it again and with me to boot!!! OMG, too cool for school mi amigo!!

         :salute:

Very Humbled Mav

[PanzerWulff]

"WHIFGASIM!!!!"           Rafa FTW
"Panzer"

[Rafael]

Thanks, Guys, this really was a fun build. Here are some progress shots:

Your regular Airfix Boomerang, mated to a new cardboard (Cardboard, Yum!!!) forward fuselage. The lower part is half an F-16 wing tank


The Canopy is from an old F-16B. The turboprop exhaust is a drinking straw cut to shape


Here with overwing gun pod and propellers. The cun pod was made from a piece of wood sanded to shape, and the business end is a smaller diameter drinking straw




Here, the weapons pylons, fashioned with plastic card. And centerline tank


Saludos.
Rafa

[BlackOps]

I'm still amazed this started as a P-40, coolness Rafa    

[B777LR]

Cool! I thought it all started with a P-39!

[ysi_maniac]

The turboprop exhaust is a drinking straw cut to shape

Were you able to cut a drinking straw?      

Rafa, this is a wonderful job!
         

[Sisko]

wow that one tuff lookin beast!!!! B)  

[Rafael]

No, no,no,no.

That's a CAC-13 Boomerang!!

But anyway, your comments are more than welcome, guys!!!

Thanks

Rafa