Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

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Gloster Javelin FAW.9R - No.60 Squadron, RAF Far East Air Force, 1967









Only a 'what if' in so much that the Javelin never carried the Red Top missile.

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McDonnell Douglas Phantom FG.1 - No.60 Squadron, RAF Far East Air Force, 1970

The cancellation of the planned refit of HMS Eagle to allow her to operate the Phantom saw 20 F-4K's that had originally been ordered for the Fleet Air Arm diverted to the Royal Air Force who decided to use the type to re-equip No.60 Squadron at RAF Tengah.









Someone (I'll hide his identity by calling him TSRJoe) pondered what would have happened if No.60 Squadron had received new equipment when their Javelins were retired in 1968.

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McDonnell F-4C Phantom - 110 Squadron 'The Knights of the North', Israeli Air Force, 1965















One I've meant to do for quite a while now and whilst I had my crayons out for the IDF Swift I thought I'd have a go. It is a most odd camo scheme! This is the F-4C with the nose RWR removed (just as easy to use the 'D' but I wanted the Israeli's to get the Phantom as early as possible) and using some serial numbers from the Vautour. BTW the stock Israeli terrain has patches of pinky desert which jars a bit but might be accurate.

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Republic Aviation P-74M Thunderswift - 61st Fighter Sqd, 56th Fighter Group, United States Army Air Corps, 1947













I remember drooling over the colour plates contained within "The Mighty Eight" borrowed from the local library about 42 years ago and looking at the brightly coloured P-47M's of the 56th Fighter Group. The ubiquitous 'spare' designation of P-74 is used again to good effect when combined with an M!

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Supermarine Rapier FGA.1 - 899 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1958











The latest by 'Cocas' is his take on the Me-1110 in FAA service as the Supermarine Rapier FGA.1. It's a very sweet handling aircraft and being a bit short of time tonight I've just added a bare minimum of markings including 899's fist and stock Hunter F.1 serials.

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Dassault Mirage FG.5 - No.45 Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1975











Echoes of the Matchbox Hunter F6/T7 kit!


Available for download at Combat Ace!

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Dassault Mirage FG.5 - No.58 Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1975









In the absence of a homegrown product (or, more correctly, being allowed to produce a homegrown product) I've always felt that the Mirage would have been an ideal Hunter replacement for the RAF. This is the Egyptian Mirage  5SDE with the skin of the Lebanese Mirage IIIEL given a few tweaks like having 'NE PAS MARCHER' overpainted and having Rolls-Royce Avon RB.146 stencilled onto the rear fuselage 

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Dassault Mirage 5J - No.113 'Bat' Squadron, Israeli Air Force, 1969









I have posted this before but this is the French Mirage 5F dressed up as the undelivered Mirage 5J. Strike Fighters 2:Israel does include the otherwise similar Nesher but this is my take on how the 5J could have looked upon delivery.

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Dassault Mirage 5J - No.113 'Hornet' Squadron, Israeli Air Force, 1972











Again, this is the Mirage 5F and not the Nesher but the differences are really small!

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Dassault-Boeing F-13G Mirage - 421st TFS, United States Air Force, 1982

















I prefer the slightly longer shape of the Mirage IIIE/V but I've quite enjoyed doing this (unlikely!) Mirage IIIC in service with the USAF having let too many years pass since I previously a USAF Mirage as an ADC Interceptor.

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Dassault-Boeing A-11C Mirage - 416th TFS, United States Air Force, 1966

Initially designed to a 1953 specification for a lightweight, all-weather interceptor capable of climbing to 18,000 meters within six minutes Dassault's response to the specification was the diminutive MD.550 Mystère-Delta and the first prototype flew on 25 June 1955 powered by two Rolls-Royce Viper turbojet engines initially without afterburners. Quickly redesigned with a new, smaller vertical stabilizer and with improved afterburning engines plus a rocket motor fitted the prototype Mirage I attained Mach 1.3 in level flight without the rocket motor and an impressive Mach 1.6 with the rocket in use. However, the small size of the Mirage I limited it's use in an operational role so Dassault briefly considered an enlarged version known as the Mirage II to be powered by two Turbomeca Gabizo turbojets but quickly abandoned the idea in favour of the Mirage III, a much larger single-engined design to be powered by the new SNECMA Atar afterburning axial flow turbojet and incorporating the new area ruling concept. 

The prototype Mirage III took to the air on November 17th 1956 and after reaching speeds of Mach 1.5 the the prototype was then converted to have manually-operated 'souris' intake half-cone shock diffusers which translated forwards as speed increased to reduce inlet turbulence and allowing increased speeds. The stunning success of the Mirage III prototype soon resulted in an order for 10 pre-production Mirage IIIA fighters which were larger all-round and fitted with the more powerful Atar 09B turbojet and the Thomson-CSF Cyrano Ibis air intercept radar. The first Mirage IIIA flew on May 12th 1958 becoming the first European aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in level flight and leading to the Mirage IIIC initial production version.

Even though Dassault had quickly gained substantial orders for the Mirage IIIC from the Armée de l'air (and an early export order from Israel for the Mirage IIICJ) Marcel Dassault looked to broaden the appeal of his beloved delta and proposed the Mirage IIIU ('Universel') a cheaper, non-afterburning version for the light attack role with Israel immediately expressing an interest in 50 aircraft for their clear weather attack role. With one eye on a wider third-world market, Dassault launched the aircraft as a private venture but, apart from Israel, gained no immediate export orders until an unexpected request for a service evaluation of the type by the United States Air Force in February 1964. This sudden request by the USAF was the result of heavier than expected attrition in Vietnam and because the Mirage IIIU promised to be available with a relatively short lead time. The USAF evaluation took place at Istres in Southern France during the Spring and early Summer of 1964 and it's success led to an order for 80 Mirage IIIU's to be produced by Dassault and 120 Mirage IIIU's to be produced by Boeing who had already been in discussions with Dassault regarding export versions of the Mirage IIIC.

Designated as the A-11C the aircraft were modified with 60 pounds of additional armour plate on their undersides and cockpit instruments and flight controls were also modified with the aircraft being camouflaged in the standard SE Asia scheme of tan and two-tone green with light grey undersides. Entering service with the 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron who were deployed to South East Asia in November 1965 initially to Tan Son Nhut AB, South Vietnam before moving to Bien Hoa AB in June 1966. The A-11C was cleared to carry most of the smaller weapons used in Vietnam but, without an afterburner, the take-off roll of a heavily-laden A-11C was long in the hot and humid climate and the aircraft's range was considered to be barely adequate. But although the load-carrying capability of the A-11C was not as great as other types the aircraft was quite fast and agile at low level and it proved to be the least vulnerable jet aircraft in the USAF in SE Asia until the A-7D arrived in force.













This is the Mirage IIIC with the 'souris' half-cones removed as well as the afterburner nozzles and given a dry engine (I've gone for a dry Spey but not in my backstory). The skin is that of the Belgian Mirage 5BA adapted to (nearly) fit the shorter Mirage IIIC and I've re-used the decals from my USAF A-4D Skyhawk which explains why the FY of '61' doesn't match the backstory.

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McDonnell F-109A Morrigan - 186th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Montana ANG, 1968















This is Cocas' Épervier dressed up in a simple ADC Grey scheme but with the glorious 'Big Sky Country' markings reminiscent of the 186th FIS's F-106A's. I'm not too sure but I think it's Cocas putting a delta wing on Dassault's Étendard II swept-wing lightweight fighter. Regardless of it's origins it's a cute little creation! BTW it was just too easy to go for Convair so I've used the very innovative McDonnell Aircraft Company (before Douglas) and given it a mythical Irish name although James McDonnell might well have been of Scottish origin.

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Hawker Harrier Mk.58 - Fliegerstaffel 17, Swiss Air Force, 1975

Faced with severe criticism over the massive cost increases incurred on the Mirage IIIS programme the Swiss Air Force were looking for a smoother ride in their search for a Venom replacement and after several evaluations at Dunsfold during 1972 they narrowly chose the Hawker Harrier over the LTV Corsair with an order for 60 Mk.58's and 5 Mk.60 two-seat trainers. Entering service with Fliegerstaffel 17 in late 1974 the Harriers served with four squadrons and were upgraded twice to continue in service until 2009.











A really simple one this using the stock RAF Harrier IA with some Swiss decals and a little cheat by using the stock Hunter serial numbers.

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Blackburn Boudicca Mk.IIC - No.26 Squadron, Royal Air Force, 1941

As soon as Hitler and his Nazi party had taken control of Germany in 1933 and turned it into a dictatorship with a hostile diplomatic strategy the UK Government began to realise that Germany was most likely to be a future enemy and a secret report by the Defence Requirements Committee recommended the rebuilding of the UK's armed forces. By 1934 an ambitious expansion programme began to be discussed by the UK Government leading to a review of the condition of the armed forces by the Committee of Imperial Defence who recommended an enlargement and modernisation of all three armed services. For the Royal Air Force, 'Expansion Scheme A' was approved by the Cabinet providing for the growth of the Royal Air Force to a strength of 111 front-line squadrons at home and overseas together with 16 Fleet Air Arm squadrons and all to be achieved by March 1939.

Whilst much of the expansion was to consist of defensive aircraft for the newly created Fighter Command there was an almost equal expansion for Bomber Command and Coastal Command including, for the latter, the clandestine creation of a dedicated 'anti-invasion' force of attack aircraft designed to repel invading forces. The Committee of Imperial Defence recommended that the creation of this anti-invasion force should be kept secret to avoid creating the impression that war and invasion was inevitable and to help avoid any defeatist attitude or panic amongst the general public. The design of a suitable attack aircraft was entrusted to Blackburn Aircraft Limited who designed a strong and robust single-engined, low-wing monoplane with a crew of two especially designed for ground attack missions. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin II rated at 1,030 hp the Boudicca was smaller all round than the contemporary Fairey Battle but substantially heavier due to the inclusion of armour plate and an armoured keel throughout the forward and centre fuselage.

Given the company designation of B-23 the design was given the official name of Boudicca but was not officially revealed to the public until November 1939 having previously been hidden under a flimsy cover story that Blackburn were producing a Merlin-engined Roc. Entering service in May 1940 only two squadrons were operational at the time of the Battle of Britain but this was only due to the emergency transferral of many Coastal Command pilots to Fighter Command and Blackburn had been stockpiling airframes since April 1940 as Merlin output was diverted to fighter production. From October 1940 the RAF had began to think of a new role for their new attack aircraft but with the threat of invasion diminishing Churchill demanded that the type was thrown into action in North Africa and all Coastal Command aircraft were transferred to Middle East Command in November 1940. However, with the pilot situation improving, the RAF were allowed to create two new home-based squadrons with No.26 and No.87 squadrons being re-equipped with the improved Boudicca Mk.II which they operated in the night intruder role with moderate success during 1941 and 1942.











A cracking new Il-2M 'Sturmovik' was released today and provides the basis for my Blackburn Boudicca! I loved the Matchbox Hurricane IIC when I was a kid (as you could make it with just a tin of Airfix matt black paint and a bit of yellow for the prop tips ) and thought that the night intruder role would suit the Sturmovik although I had to get a bit funky with the backstory to get there. More holes than a Swiss cheese but just run with it.

Edit: As I've mentioned before 'night' screenshots don't really work being way too dark so I tend to do a few shots in daylight for the start of the mission and then create faux night shots by taking them in daylight and adding a very dark blue tint at about 30-35% opacity on top. Not brilliant but a workaround.

[SPINNERS]

Blackburn Boudica Mk.IA - No.6 Squadron, RAF Middle East Command, 1941













I was hoping to get the Vickers 40mm gunpods onto the Sturmovik but they seem to be built in to the Hurricane IID 3D models but I think that even without them the Boudicca could still open a few tin cans