Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

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Republic Aircraft Company (Công ty Máy bay Công hòa) VP-80A - Vietnam Peoples Air Force, 1950

VPAF VP-80A.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAF VP-80A.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAF VP-80A.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAF VP-80A.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

When I was playing around with the Bearcat I found that there was no aerial opposition when using the Vietnam terrain so I thought I'd create an indigenous fighter for the Vietnam People's Air Force and chose the rakish looking IAR80. Apart from the red cowling I've not bothered with lines and rivets (it is a target after all) and it uses stock VPAF numbers.

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Supermarine Siskin F.1 - No.43 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1956

The early 1950's was a difficult time for RAF Fighter Command. The obsolescent Meteor F.8 formed the mainstay of Fighter Command but it could barely catch the RAF's Canberra jet bombers and would have been hopelessly outclassed by MiG-15's if the Cold War had turned hot. But just at the time that Fighter Command should have been looking forward to receiving the modern swept-wing Hawker Hunter and Supermarine Swift fighters both programmes hit severe technical problems. especially the doomed Swift. Even before the decision to cancel the Swift fighter programme (taken in February 1955) the Air Ministry were looking for an 'off the shelf' purchase of an interim 'stop-gap' type and although the North American F-86 Sabre was procured in substantial numbers the desperately poor balance of payments situation with the US prevented further purchases.

Dassault had previously offered the Mystère IIC to the UK Government and had been turned down. But in November 1952 an RAF evaluation team were sent to Istres to evaluate the Mystère IV and submitted an enthusiastic report to the Air Ministry who decided to place an order for 200 Mystère IV's to be licence-built by Supermarine Aviation with Rolls Royce Tay engines. Entering service in March 1955 as the Siskin F.1 this fine aircraft was used by RAF Fighter Command until the early 1960's with the subsequent Siskin FGA.2 fighter-bomber serving in RAF Far East Air Force until 1970.

RAF SISKIN F1.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SISKIN F1.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SISKIN F1.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SISKIN F1.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I'm preparing to re-upload this one to Combat Ace having previously done it in 2009 but this time it will be with skins for three classic RAF Fighter Command squadrons.

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Supermarine Siskin F.1 - No.56 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1957

RAF SISKIN F1.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SISKIN F1.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SISKIN F1.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SISKIN F1.14 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SISKIN F1.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

No. 56 was, of course, the squadron that flew the cursed Swift F.1 and F.2 before getting Hunters.

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Supermarine Siskin F.1 - No.63 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1960

RAF SISKIN F1.09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SISKIN F1.12 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SISKIN F1.13 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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De Havilland Venom FB.52 - JG71 'Richthofen', German Air Force, 1956

GAF VENOM.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

GAF VENOM.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

GAF VENOM.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

GAF VENOM.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

GAF VENOM.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

GAF VENOM.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Quite a simple one this with just some red added to the tip tanks and I knocked up some 'JA-XXX' serials as seen on JG71's Sabres. On this older 3D model you can control the specular, glossiness and reflection qualities but it does apply the 'shiny' settings necessary for the main NMF skin to the tip tanks. In SF2 the game developer added specular mapping to many of the stock 3D models to solve this problem and make things look a lot better.

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Supermarine Skylark F.1 - No.5 & No.11 Squadrons, RAF Fighter Command, 1961

The adoption of the earlier Dassault Mystère IV (licence-built by Supermarine Aviation as the Siskin F.1) encouraged Dassault to offer the forthcoming Super Mystère to the UK Government to meet the RAF's requirement for a Venom replacement for overseas use. However, by mid-1955 the requirement had changed to that for a supersonic interceptor-fighter for RAF Fighter Command to supplement the Hunter F.6 and provide a lead-in to the Mach 2 English Electric Lightning.

By this time the Super Mystère prototype had flown (initially powered by a Rolls Royce Avon RA.7R) and the successful early flight-testing gave the RAF the confidence to quickly draft an official Operational Requirement based around a Super Mystère powered by the proposed Avon RA.21R and armed with 2 x 30mm ADEN cannon. Supermarine were selected to licence-build the Super Mystère at South Marston as the Supermarine Skylark F.1 for RAF Fighter Command and with an initial order for 120 aircraft and soon supplemented with an order for 45 Skylark FR.2's for RAF Germany (carrying centreline Vinten camera pods).

Whilst Dassault quickly moved on to the Mirage family of delta-winged fighters the Skylark was further developed by Supermarine as the F.3 interceptor and FGA.4 fighter-bomber for the RAF and also export versions were sold to Finland, India and Saudi Arabia.

RAF SKYLARK F1.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SKYLARK F1.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SKYLARK F1.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SKYLARK F1.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SKYLARK F1.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SKYLARK F1.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SKYLARK F1.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I find the Super Mystère such a good-looking aircraft! I was looking at the spec's of the Avon (Lightning F.1 era) and Atar (Super Mystère) and it just shows how good the Avon was - same weight, slightly slimmer, much shorter and much more powerful.

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RAF SKYLARK F1.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

No.23 and No.29 Squadrons are also included!

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Supermarine Skylark F.3 - No.111 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1966

RAF SKYLARK F3.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SKYLARK F3.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SKYLARK F3.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SKYLARK F3.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is the peculiar Israeli Sa'ar version of the Super Mystère with an extended tailpipe and a dry J52 engine. Perhaps this version of the Skylark could use a non-afterburning version of the Sapphire? With a little adjustment the silver/NMF Super Mystère skin fits the Sa'ar and I thought I'd use 'Treble One' for this missile-toting version of the Skylark. I'm hanging my head in shame for not using Firestreaks but I have a very limited weapons palette at the moment but that will change when I get back to SF2.

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Dassault Super Mystère B2 - No.15 Squadron, Tunisian Air Force, 1967

TUNISIA SUPER MYSTERE.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TUNISIA SUPER MYSTERE.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TUNISIA SUPER MYSTERE.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TUNISIA SUPER MYSTERE.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This 'what if' uses a late French skin by 'Gepard' with some new Tunisian decals by me including a fictitious nosebar marking and flag used as a finflash whereas in reality the Tunisian Air Force do not use a finflash. This is my first Tunisian 'what if' and stock Kfir serial numbers round off the look although the Tunisian Air Force seem to use two-letter codes but I can't quite work out the pattern. 

This one nearly never saw the light of day as my steam-powered XP computer is showing signs of collapse with a 'boot disk failure' that I've somehow repaired. I've done an emergency back-up of my decals and uploaded them to the 'cloud' but at one stage today I thought I'd lost everything I've done since coming back. 

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North American Super Sabre FGA.4 - No.28 Squadron, RAF Far East Air Force, 1962

RAF SUPER SABRE FGA4.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SUPER SABRE FGA4.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SUPER SABRE FGA4.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SUPER SABRE FGA4.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I can't see the RAF going for the 'Super Sabre' name myself and I've previously called it 'Shark' which works even better if it was licence-built as the Supermarine Shark

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Saab J-29F Tunnen - Irish Air Corps, 1966

In response to an appeal by the United Nations for military support to the UN peacekeeping mission in the Republic of Congo, the Swedish Air Force sent a mixed force of J29B's and S29C's to the region. Mainly used to attack ground targets with internal cannon and unguided rockets the aircraft served well and no aircraft were lost in action despite considerable small arms ground fire. When the UN peacekeeping mission was terminated in May 1964 the Swedish Air Force were considering destroying the aircraft in situ as they were simply no longer needed at home and the cost of retrieving them was high.

However, the Irish Government expressed interest in purchasing the aircraft to supplement their Vampire jets and, via the Swedish Government, approached Saab for costs on repatriation and conversion to J29F standard. In June 1964 the Swedish Government granted the Air Board permission to sell eight J29B Tunnans to Saab for refurbishment to J29F standard and resale to the Irish Air Corps. All eight Tunnan's were delivered to the Irish Air Corps during the Autumn of 1964 and remained in service until 1977 when they were replaced with ex-RAF Germany Lightning F.2A's.

IAC J-29F TUNNEN.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IAC J-29F TUNNEN.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IAC J-29F TUNNEN.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IAC J-29F TUNNEN.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IAC J-29F TUNNEN.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I love all of Saab's post-war military aircraft even this tubby little one which could outfly the F-86 Sabre!

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North American P-51D Mustang - United States Army Air Force, PTO, 1946

USAAF P-51D MUSTANG.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF P-51D MUSTANG.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF P-51D MUSTANG.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF P-51D MUSTANG.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF P-51D MUSTANG.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF P-51D MUSTANG.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I was playing around with a normal US 'starbar' and recoloured it in SEAC blues and used it on the stock IDF silver skin from the excellent 'Wings Over Israel'.

Anyway, it's quiz time in an 'Only Connect' style but a fair bit easier. What is the common link shared by these SEAC Mustang piccies?

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Aero L.23 'Furball' - Luftstreitkräfte der Nationalen Volksarmee, 1960

LSK AERO L23 FURBALL.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LSK AERO L23 FURBALL.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LSK AERO L23 FURBALL.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LSK AERO L23 FURBALL.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LSK AERO L23 FURBALL.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is a real world French skin done by 'Gepard' over at Combat Ace but with my Luftstreitkräfte decals including a fictional squadron marking. The current Page 13 shows my original Aero L.23 in Czech markings.

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Xian FBC-1 Flying Leopard - Mongolian Air Force, 2008

Under Soviet pressure at the end of World War Two, the Republic of China was obliged to formally accept Mongolian independence. However, following the Communists victory in the Chinese Civil War, the People's Republic of China warmly recognised Mongolia's independent status and established diplomatic relations with Mongolia during 1949. Although Mongolia aligned itself with the Soviet Union during the Cold War both nations patiently came to agreement on border disputes and by 1986 they had begun to establish trade agreements that paved the way for the 1988 treaty on border control and the 1994 treaty of friendship.

By 2002, China had become Mongolia's biggest trade partner and their largest source of foreign investment with China allowing the use of its Tianjin port to give Mongolia access to trade within the Asia Pacific region and, in return, giving China access to Mongolia's natural resources. In a move designed to bolster regional security China exported 20 Xian FBC-1 Flying Leopard fighter-bombers (the export version of the JH-7A) which entered service with the Mongolian Air Force in 2008.

MONGOLIA JH-7A FLYING LEOPARD.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MONGOLIA JH-7A FLYING LEOPARD.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MONGOLIA JH-7A FLYING LEOPARD.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MONGOLIA JH-7A FLYING LEOPARD.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MONGOLIA JH-7A FLYING LEOPARD.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MONGOLIA JH-7A FLYING LEOPARD.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

There's some nice features on this 3D model like the built-in slimers, afterburner glow (not shown) and automatic brake chute. It's not easy to decal up though so I've had to paste the wing markings onto the skin bitmap but at least the numbered nose decals work.

FBC-1M_Loading by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Shenyang J-8 'Finback-A' - Vietnam People's Air Force, 1984

VPAF J-8 FINBACK.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAF J-8 FINBACK.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAF J-8 FINBACK.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAF J-8 FINBACK.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAF J-8 FINBACK.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This doesn't quite work but I didn't want to spend too much time skinning quite an elderly 3D model that has a few issues. I quite like the 1950's era configuration of the early 'Finback'.