Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Douglas F-6C Skyray - 178th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, United States Air Force, 1966

USAFF-6CSKYRAY01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFF-6CSKYRAY02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFF-6CSKYRAY03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFF-6CSKYRAY04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I'll come back and do another ADC Skyray at another time.

[SPINNERS]

Northrop P-61A Black Widow - 586th Fighter Regiment of the Air Defense Force ('The Night Witches'), Soviet Air Force, 1944

SOVIETP-61ABLACKWINDOW01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIETP-61ABLACKWINDOW02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIETP-61ABLACKWINDOW03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A simple one this. 'What If' Lydia Litvyak was a night-fighter pilot?

[SPINNERS]

Republic RF-84F Thunderflash - Esk 729, Royal Danish Air Force, 1962

RDAFRF-84FTHUNDERFLASH01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RDAFRF-84FTHUNDERFLASH02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RDAFRF-84FTHUNDERFLASH03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RDAFRF-84FTHUNDERFLASH04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A nice, simple template for the RF-84F created by a group of modders known as the 'German Modder Group' has allowed me to quickly create a Danish Thunderflash. I'd forgotten just how good this 3D model is!

[SPINNERS]

Consolidated B-24D Liberator - GB II/20 Bretagne, Free French Air Force, Tunisia, 1943

FFAFB-24DLIBERATOR01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FFAFB-24DLIBERATOR02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FFAFB-24DLIBERATOR03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FFAFB-24DLIBERATOR04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FFAFB-24DLIBERATOR05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

There's been a lot of WW2 four-engined 'heavy' activity recently with all three classic RAF bombers having been released (I've yet to show the Halifax) and now the B-24D swells the ranks so I've decided to the give it to the Free French Air Force fighting in North Africa.

[SPINNERS]

Consolidated B-24D Liberator - Castille (Attack) Squadron, Spanish Republican Air Force 1942

SRAFB-24DLIBERATOR01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SRAFB-24DLIBERATOR02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SRAFB-24DLIBERATOR03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SRAFB-24DLIBERATOR04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Not much time tonight so I've done a Spanish Republican Liberator but I've had to use roundels instead of my preferred bands as the 3D model has some tears in it (causing the decals to leak out into areas where they shouldn't be). Again, simply because of time constraints, I've re-used the 'C' for Caza codes used on Spanish Republican Lightning (the current Page 81) but they really should have 'B' for Bombardero codes.

[SPINNERS]

Junkers Ju-887C - Condor Legion, Spanish Nationalist Air Force, 1971

SPNATA-10CWARTHOG01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SPNATA-10CWARTHOG02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SPNATA-10CWARTHOG03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SPNATA-10CWARTHOG04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SPNATA-10CWARTHOG05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SPNATA-10CWARTHOG06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SPNATA-10CWARTHOG07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

'Strike Fighters 2:Europe' has the A-10A as a stock flyable aircraft with excellent Euro One and Grey schemes but this is the superb A-10C by 'Wpnssgt' with leafy splinter camo by me (made so much easier by having a cracking template to work with) and some pretty basic Condor Legion markings. I'm busy with my other hobby at the moment so I've taken the quicker option of using a simple square finflash instead of doing the entire rudder which is a lot more time-consuming and I've also used some stock serial numbers on the engine nacelles instead of creating more authentic codes.

[SPINNERS]

Fairchild A-14A Thunderfire - 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, United States Air Force, 1991

USAFAMX01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFAMX02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFAMX03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFAMX04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFAMX05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFAMX06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've done the AMX before and don't know why I haven't come back to it sooner but this is my view of what a 'Hill-based' A-14 would look like. In my haste to make it a Hill-based aircraft I've overlooked the fact that the 555TFS have never been based at Hill AFB although since 1994 they have been based in Italy (joint home of the AMX). Apart from it being cute and Spey-powered I don't know much about the AMX but have just read that the Brazilian version has two 30mm DEFA's as the US denied an export licence for the M61 to Brazil. The 3D model seems to be a bit of a hybrid in that respect but I was able to remove the bolted-on refuelling probe.

[SPINNERS]

Short Sunderland Mk.I - Belgian Air Force, 1940

BAFSUNDERLAND01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

BAFSUNDERLAND02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

BAFSUNDERLAND03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

BAFSUNDERLAND04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

BAFSUNDERLAND05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Two versions of the majestic Sunderland (not a phrase you'll hear too often  ) were released recently, a Mark I and a Mark III and this is the former with some Belgian markings overpainted onto the RAF insignia but retaining the No.28 squadron codes. I'll leave it up to the viewer to decide whether 1940 is May 1940 or earlier...

[SPINNERS]

Republic RF-84K Thunderflash FR.2 - No.2 Squadron, RAF Germany, 1972

RAFTHUNDERFLASHFR201 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFTHUNDERFLASHFR202 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFTHUNDERFLASHFR203 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFTHUNDERFLASHFR204 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFTHUNDERFLASHFR205 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFTHUNDERFLASHFR206 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The third-party RF-84F available for Strike Fighters is an absolute corker and this is, I'm almost sure, the Belgian skin whose PRU blue undersides has sent me in the direction of an RAF recce squadron and I've plumped for No.2 Squadron - one of my favourites. Hunter aficionados will recognise the serial numbers as being from FGA.9's.

[SPINNERS]

Wedell-Williams P-34C Petrel - 47th Pursuit Squadron, United States Army Air Corps, Hawaii, Dec 1941

USAAFP-34CPETREL01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAFP-34CPETREL02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAFP-34CPETREL03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAFP-34CPETREL04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAFP-34CPETREL05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is the gorgeous Avia B-35 masquerading as a pre-war (US definition) USAAF pursuit fighter defending Hawaii on December 7th, 1941. It's a lovely 3D model and I'll make a point of revisiting this one perhaps as a lend-lease Soviet P-34 or something in silver (the other skin available).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedell-Williams_XP-34

[SPINNERS]

Wedell-Williams P-34A Petrel - 46th Pursuit Squadron, United States Army Air Corps, December 1941

USAAFP-34CPETREL06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAFP-34CPETREL07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAFP-34CPETREL08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I really like this one!!

[SPINNERS]

Northrop A-9A Scorpion - Fuerza Aérea Argentina, 1982

FAAS-91SCORPION01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FAAS-91SCORPION02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FAAS-91SCORPION03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FAAS-91SCORPION04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've been very lucky to have been given the Northrop A-9A to play with by 'drakkodj' a generous Argentine modder so I thought I'd show it in Argentinian Air Force markings although at the moment I don't have the Falklands terrain installed. I first discovered the A-9A about 40 years ago as it's referred to in Bill Gunston's "Attack Aircraft of the West" (a Bible to me) and flying it in game has given me a better appreciation of it's size and rather pedestrian looks. If British it would probably have been a Blackburn product! Anyway, hope you like it and one I'll probably come back to.

[SPINNERS]

North American P-51D Mustang - 15th Pursuit Squadron, 46th Pursuit Group, United States Army Air Corps, 1944











No backstory. Just inspired by Phil Rasmussen's P-36A Mohawk.

[SPINNERS]

Bell A-28B Mamba - 432nd Attack Squadron, United States Army Air Corps, 1946

Following the failure of the Allied invasion at Calais in April 1944 and the success of the German counter-offensive in the East there was a change of focus with the US throwing more effort into the Pacific theatre whilst continuing to support the UK in 'holding' the European theatre. Following lessons learned from the failed Calais invasion the USAAC drafted a specification for a new heavily-armed attack aircraft described by General Spaatz as a "requirement for an airborne artillery piece" capable of carrying a 75mm automatic cannon. During the Summer of 1944 the introduction of the jet powered Gloster Meteor and the first appearance of the Luftwaffe's jet (and rocket) powered aircraft led to the USAAC to crank in a demand for the new attack aircraft to be jet powered.

Bell's experience with the P-59 Airacomet gave them an early advantage and with General Electric forecasting a thrust of 4,500lbs from their new I-45 centrifugal jet engine they proposed a design using an airframe loosely based on the P-59 Airacomet but much larger and incorporating two of the new I-45 engines. Even using the new engines Bell knew that the installed thrust would be marginal so, early in 1945, Bell asked USAAC officials for permission to switch to the lighter British Molins 57mm automatic cannon which had just been evaluated by the US and which had a much higher rate of fire than the 75mm (which was, in any case, proving difficult to convert from manual loading to automatic). Once USAAC officials gave permission for this sensible substitution the Bell team forged ahead and got the pre-production prototype YA-28 into the air on February 2nd, 1946 and were rewarded with a production contract for 400 A-28B's barely one week later. Initial deliveries of the A-28B, now christened Mamba, commenced during July 1946 with the 432nd Attack Squadron being the first unit to re-equip.











It's a real stretch of anyone's imagination to put a 1970's aircraft into service during WW2 because of the big difference in engine thrust so an 'extended war' scenario helps a bit but, even then, my Bell A-28B has about half the thrust of the Northrop A-9A so the payload shown is correspondingly modest (just under 2000kg).

[SPINNERS]

Mikoyan-DASA MiG-21bisD2 - German Air Force, 1995









This is the canard equipped MiG-21bis by 'Gepard' over at Combat Ace - no input by me, just the screenshots. Gepard is a real MiG-21 fan who has previously done a few conversions including adding a ventral intake (visible on the current Page 56) to the Fishbed.