Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas F-4L Phantom - VF-1 'Wolfpack', United States Navy, 1973









Rudder changed to grey and also radome changed to cream on piccies 2, 3 and 4.

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas F-4C Phantom - Grupo 8 de Caza, Fuerza Aérea Argentina, 1982

During the early 1960's the Fuerza Aérea Argentina (FAA) began an ambitious plan to replace the F-86F Sabre then in service as their main interceptor-fighter. The British English Electric Lightning was briefly considered but was quickly dismissed on account of it's very short range. The Swedish Saab Draken was successfully evaluated and FAA pilots submitted a very favourable report as was the French Dassault Mirage III and it seemed likely that a decision would be made between these two competing aircraft. However, the end of the Frondizi government in 1962 and the subsequent turmoil over the next few years saw the FAA's plans put on hold but the Israeli's successful use of the Mirage III in the 1967 Six-Day War saw the FAA finally decide on the French aircraft. However negotiations with the French Government came to an abrupt end in May 1968 when Juan Carlos Onganía, fearful of a coup d'état, dismissed the leaders of the Armed Forces and cancelled the Mirage order.

The 1973 elections (the first general elections for ten years) saw Dr. Hector Cámpora elected as President with a campaign based on a platform of national reconstruction. For the FAA this meant that it's F-86 replacement plans could finally continue but with an aircraft from an unexpected source. Despite the turmoil of Argentina's recent history, the US State Department saw Argentina as a bulwark of anti-Communism in South America and US President Richard Nixon sanctioned the export of 28 ex-USAF F-4C's with deliveries to Grupo 4 de Caza starting in August 1973 and deliveries to Grupo 8 de Caza starting in January 1974. The 1976 US Presidential elections saw incoming President Jimmy Carter highlight issues of human rights and eventually secure a congressional cutoff of all US arms transfers to Argentina and the FAA found it increasingly hard to support Phantom operations except by clandestine support. The FAA used the Phantom during the 1982 Guerra de las Malvinas as a long-range strike aircraft but the FAA's lack of aerial refueling capability and the long distance from their bases dramatically reduced their ability. After 1982 the FAA's Phantom force was increasingly supported by Israel Aircraft Industries and although no additional aircraft could be sourced the remaining 17 aircraft remain in service.











This is the stock F-4C with a heavily tweaked JASDF skin and some Grupo 8 de Caza markings including a customised Phantom tail marking (with the Phantom replacing the Mirage). Most Grupo 8 de Caza Mirage piccies show I-0XX serials so I've a small batch of decals but loaded for strike missions perhaps they should be C-0XX serials.

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas Phantom F-4C - Grupo 4 de Caza, Fuerza Aérea Argentina, 1979









F-4C's of Grupo 4 in the 'as delivered' ex-USAF scheme.

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas Phantom F-4M - 121st Tactical Fighter Squadron, District of Columbia Air National Guard, 1984









This 'Euro 1' skin is from one of the DLC skin packs and is slightly tweaked to add the Spey nozzles and also the Marconi ARI.18228 Radar Warning Receiver. I've also oversprayed the slimers and added my own as decals which correctly places it over the tail codes. Yes, OK, I know I'm bingeing on Phantoms at the moment but just bare with me!

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas Phantom F-4M - 127th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Kansas Air National Guard, 1988













I've never been a fan of Grey schemes and the 'Hill' scheme has never appealed to me but I quite like this scheme on the F-4M. There really wasn't much for me to do here as the decals are all game generated except for my slimers.

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas Phantom F-4M - 497th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Ubon, Thailand, 1980

During late 1966 with the USA getting more and more embroiled in the Vietnam war it was decided to re-equip several USAFE units with the licence-built British Rolls-Royce Spey powered F-4M so as to release older tactical aircraft such as the F-100D and F-105D for Vietnam where attrition was now a very serious issue.

McDonnell Douglas had already brought together a UK sub-contracting team consisting of BAC, Hawker Siddeley, Rolls-Royce (engines) and Shorts with final assembly and flight testing being carried out at St. Louis but, with one eye on the European market, McDonnell Douglas moved final assembly to Brough (North Humberside) with flight testing at Holme on Spalding Moor. This decision came a bit late for the Royal Navy whose F-4K aircraft continued to be assembled and flight tested in the USA but all F-4M's were produced in the UK with all odd production numbers being allocated to the RAF and all even numbers to the USAFE with Lakenheath and Bitburg becoming the first USAFE wings to re-equip with the type.

Entering service with the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing based at RAF Lakenheath in England in 1970 the F-4M's received a modest upgrade during 1973-1974 to emerge with the Marconi ARI18228 RWR mounted on the fintip and also gained 'slimer' formation-keeping strip lights. The USAF F-4M's had a relatively long career with USAFE and were eventually replaced by F-15E's during 1990 and just missed out on participation in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.













I guess if a late 70's F-4D and an F-4M were merged they'd look a little bit like this. To the F-4M I've added the LORAN towel rail and also re-skinned (black) versions of the AN/AVQ-23 'Pave Spike' and SUU-23 Gun pod whilst the F-4D skin is out of the Phantom skin pack and tweaked to allow for the Spey nozzles and Marconi ARI.18228 Radar Warning Receiver.











Slimers improved, spelling of 'Nite Owls' revised and a cute little stencilled owl added.

[SPINNERS]

Fairchild Republic A-10A - No.2 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force, 1982









This is the stock Euro 1 'sharkmouth' skin with some basic tactical RNZAF markings.

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas Phantom F-4P - Royal Saudi Air Force, 1973

During the late 1960's McDonnell Douglas looked at a variety of Phantom developments in an attempt to keep the production lines rolling and one such development was the F-4P - essentially a precision strike version of the F-4D airframe but with the more powerful J79-GE-17 engines of the new F-4E. The F-4P was optimised for the strike/attack role and was designed to carry a comprehensive nav/attack system including the ARN-92 LORAN navigation system which provided an all-weather blind navigation capability and the Ford Aerospace AN/AVQ-10 'Pave Knife' targeting pod to designate and guide laser-guided bombs. Despite interest from several nations (including Israel) the only export customer for the F-4P was Saudi Arabia who purchased 72 F-4P's for the Royal Saudi Air Force the first of which entered service in 1971. The F-4P's remained in service until 1996 when they were replaced by F-15E's.











This Saudi Phantom uses a simple grey scheme and is adorned with the AN/AVQ-10 'Pave Knife' on the centreline and GBU-12 Paveway II's. This and my previous 'Nite Owl' reminds me that the Phantom was a pretty decent bomber!

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell F-110B Phantom - Tactical Air Command, 1963

The resounding success of the F-4B in the competitive fly-off against the F-106 during 'Operation Highspeed' led to a more comprehensive evaluation of two loaned Navy F-4B's (designated as the F-110A) but McDonnell had already been planning a purpose-built tactical fighter version of the F-4 for the USAF with manual terrain-following radar and TF30 turbofan engines. Designated F-110B this aircraft promised to be an excellent partner to the F-111A (TFX) and quickly gained the support of Defense Secretary Robert McNamara who authorised production of the type in February 1962. The pre-production prototype first flew in November 1963 and the F-110B entered service during the following year.











The stock Third Wire F-4M masquerades as the F-110B (the F-4D as originally envisaged by McDonnell and the USAF with TF30 engines).

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell F-101S Voodoo - F13, Flygvapnet, 1963

















The Voodoo family is well covered with a superb range of 3D models by 'erikgen' and the F-101B is my particular favourite. A blank silver skin makes this a relatively simple decal job but I have added my reskinned Rb27 missiles.

[SPINNERS]

Boeing B-38A Stratobomber - 358th BS, 303rd BG, 8th Air Force, USAAF, 1949



















A splendid new 'LOD viewer' tool was released recently which allows you to remove previously unidentifiable parts via simple edits (another practical use is for decaling) and this is my first main use of this tool to strip away some parts from the 'Bear-D' to make something more akin to the 'Bear-A' or this fictional beast! In my what-if scenario the B-38 designation wasn't used by Boeing for an inline conversion of the B-17E but was set aside for a very long-range bomber project along the lines of the B-36 Peacemaker.

[SPINNERS]

Boeing B-38B Stratobomber - 85th Bomb Squadron, United States Air Force, 1952















For the B-38B I've made a quick night bomber scheme by inverting the colours of stock silver skin and adding a new 60% opacity black layer which dampens things down a bit whilst still allowing some panel line detail to remain and then adding back the previously separated parts layer. I've reintroduced the nose radome and given the B-38C a basic decal scheme with the tail marking coming from by previous B-53C (Il-28 Beagle) and the lovely Miss Goodnight! I think I've previously mentioned that night missions look OK in game but really don't reproduce well as a screenshot so the entire mission was flown in daylight and then a 30% opacity bluey-black layer is added to the airborne shots to give an impression of night.

[SPINNERS]

Dassault-Convair F-114C Mirage - 58th Tactical Fighter Squadron, USAF, 1970















The Mirage 5BA is one of my favourites and as I've previously done a USAF interceptor Mirage I thought I'd do one as a Vietnam ground-pounder.

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas F-110C Phantom - 92nd TFS, USAF, 1969











Not much time tonight so a simple 'what if' TF30 powered F-110C which is the F-4M 3D model with the later style of J79 nozzles on the skin. This skin is an absolute corker - it's a superb weathered and worn F-4C skin by 'Comrad' over at Combat Ace.

[SPINNERS]

Douglas A-1E Skyraider - No.23 Escuadrillas Valladolid, Fuerzas Aéreas de la República Española, 1956











Whilst the single-seat Skyraiders are stock items in Strike Fighters 2:Vietnam the four-seat A-1E's are a third-party add-on and I've added some Spanish Republican markings to a plain grey skin. The little (unguided) rocket is the RS-82 and I was fascinated to read this from wiki...

"The earliest known use by the Soviet Air Force of aircraft-launched unguided anti-aircraft rockets in combat against heavier-than-air aircraft took place in August 1939, during the Battle of Khalkhin Gol. A group of Polikarpov I-16 fighters under command of Captain N. Zvonarev were using RS-82 rockets against Japanese aircraft, shooting down 16 fighters and 3 bombers in total. Six Tupolev SB bombers also used RS-132 for ground attack during the Winter War. RS-82 and RS-132 officially entered service in 1940."