Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

BAC Lightning F.7A - No.5 & No.11 Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1983

RAF LIGHTNING F7A.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF LIGHTNING F7A.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF LIGHTNING F7A.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF LIGHTNING F7A.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF LIGHTNING F7A.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF LIGHTNING F7A.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF LIGHTNING F7A.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Two lovely Lightning skins were released recently by 'MacGalin' over at Combat Ace as part of an upgraded Lightning package with improved radar for Sparrows and (not shown here) underwing Sidewinders. I was going to use them for Aggressor Lightnings but thought they'd look OK with 'Binbrook' markings.

[SPINNERS]

Avro Vulcan B.2A - No.44 Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1982









A revised Vulcan B.2 by 'Sundowner' was released recently with a few what if versions, like this 4 pylon version, also included - it's a real Vulcan anthology! Not much input on me on this one apart from taking the screenshots and I'll revisit this as soon as time allows.

[SPINNERS]

Avro Vulcan B.2 (MRR) - No.27 Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1991











This is the Vulcan B.2A converted back to the B.2 (MRR) version by removing the TFR thimble and mount from the nose and showcasing this lovely grey skin by 'sundowner' with No.27's elephant overpainted onto the fin. I've knocked up a short series of serial numbers from known MRR's (the famous XH558 plus XJ823, XJ825 and XL361). For some reason, I just couldn't get Harpoons on it so went for the AGM-62 Walleye, AGM-78 Standard, AGM-88 HARM and LGB mix you see on the two Vulcans shown. The AGM-78 was phased out in 1988 and the 3D model would make a lovely AAM on a big British interceptor from Tony Butler's 'British Secret Projects: Jet Fighters Since 1950' book!

[SPINNERS]

Supermarine Seafire Mk.IIIC - No.2 Squadron, Royal Dhimari Air Force, 1944

The successful Dhimari counter-attack at Maqazad in the Spring of 1943 proved to be short lived and the Parani bombing of the Dhimari city of Shaqaz during May 1943 led to the deployment of Dhimari P-66 Vanguards and Hurricane IIC's to northern areas of Dhimar leading to a further weakening of the Royal Dhimari Air Force in their desperate attempts to defend the Mazadran Oil Fields and the Valley of Kerman during the summer of 1943. Paran's senior Commander, Brigadier General Abolqasem Mossadegh, followed up by launching Operation Whirlwind in September 1943 and, with Paran gaining air superiority over the Valley of Kerman, it's land forces pushed onwards towards the industrial oil center at Al'Qatan in an audacious attack on the wider Mazadran oil fields. The UK government had long promised Spitfires to modernise the Royal Dhimari Air Force and whilst a handful of war weary Spitfire VB's from Malta were received during the Autumn of 1943 many more fighter aircraft were required.

Churchill ordered that 30 new Spitfires were to be transferred to the Royal Dhimari Air Force but, much to the annoyance of the Admiralty, the Ministry of Aircraft Supply ordered that they should all be from the initial batch of 30 interim Seafire IIIC's coming off the Westland production line and all built without wing-folding. Powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin 55 series engine rated at 1,470 h.p. (with power absorbed by a new four-bladed Rotol propeller) the Seafire IIIC's also featured the slim Aero-Vee air filter and the six-stack ejector type exhausts. Entering service with No.2 Squadron in December 1943 the Seafire IIIC's immediately replaced the P-66D Vanguards and proved to be the equal of the Parani Ki-61's and Bf 109G-6's enabling the Royal Dhimari Air Force to restore air superiority over the Valley of Kerman.















A sweet Seafire IIIC was released recently by the DAT boys and it makes a lovely fighter for Dhimar in their eternal fight against Paran. The Ki-100 is from the archives over at the DAT site and I must admit to not knowing much about it other than it was originally derived from the Ki-61 also shown above.

[SPINNERS]

Curtiss P-37B Spitfire - 46th Pursuit Squadron, United States Army Air Corps, 1941

















There's been a lot of Spitfire and Seafire activity over at the DAT site recently and this 'Pearl Harbour' Spitfire has been in my mind for quite some time now. It uses the white specular mapping skin from their VB (dampened down with 50% black) with gun ports and shell ejection ports added back in although keen eyed viewers will note that all four inner Brownings have no soot trails! I'd normally paint the rudder markings onto the skin bitmap but the tail, rudder and trim tab are all separated so I've reverted to my usual decaling technique but I then ran into the same problems with the anti-glare panel with nose and fuselage sections at right angles to each other but with a bit of trial and error it's OK. Phil Rasmussen's P-36A had '15P 48' on the upper port wing and 'U.S. ARMY' on the lower wings but I just didn't fancy doing that.

[SPINNERS]

Supermarine Spitfire LF.IXc -  Mansheya Fighter Wing, Royal Dhimari Air Force, 1944











Top: Supermarine Spitfire LF.IXc of No.2 Squadron

Middle: Supermarine Spitfire LF.IXc of No.3 Squadron

Bottom: Supermarine Spitfire LF.IXc of No.4 Squadron

I've been having a lot of fun with Spitfires recently and also with the whole Dhimar v. Paran thing!

[SPINNERS]

Bell Airacobra Mk.IIA - No.224 Wing, RAF Middle East Command, 1943












I finally managed to drag myself away from the superb DAT Spitfires and create a Dhimari Airabonita (not shown here) which became the basis for this Desert Air Force Bell Airabonita Mk.2B flown by Wing Commander Ian Richard Gleed over Tunisa in early 1943. I love that little cat 'Figaro'!!

[SPINNERS]

Bell Airacobra Mk.1B - No.601 Squadron, RAF Middle East Air Force, 1942

RAF AIRACOBRA 1B.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF AIRACOBRA 1B.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF AIRACOBRA 1B.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF AIRACOBRA 1B.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF AIRACOBRA 1B.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF AIRACOBRA 1B.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

An excellent 'lines and rivets' template exists for this P-39D but I needed to expand the templates from 4 layers to 32 layers to produce this Desert Air Force Airacobra (good call Narses2!) only to find that the 3D model has a tear in it that allows decals to bleed across the port nose. Bugger! Nevermind, I've just snapped it from the other side and it looks OK. The Airfix kit was a real favourite of mine in the mid-70's!

[SPINNERS]

Bell P-400 Airacobra - No.8 Squadron (The Scorpions), Royal Dhimari Air Force, 1942










This uses a different 3D model with a USAAC skin so I've overpainted the US insignia and added the Dhimari rudder stripes along with RAF style squadron codes.

[SPINNERS]

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IA - No.87 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1940

When No.87 Squadron returned from France in May 1940 they were seriously depleted and after a brief period at Debden they were sent north to Church Fenton to recuperate and re-equip before moving south to No.10 Group on the South West coast. In early August 1940 the squadron began to receive new black painted Spitfire Mk.IA's and immediately started day and night patrols before commencing night intruder operations over enemy airfields in northern France in October 1940.

RAF SPITFIRE 1A.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SPITFIRE 1A.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SPITFIRE 1A.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SPITFIRE 1A.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SPITFIRE 1A.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SPITFIRE 1A.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SPITFIRE 1A.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is the DAT Spitfire IA with a skin I cobbled together using my inverted technique and a few new decals. One of the excellent 'Spitfire at War' books covers night fighter Spitfires (which IIRC had no wing insignia) but I wanted a Spitfire night intruder exactly like the real No.87 Squadron's Hurricanes and with grey codes.

[SPINNERS]

North American Mustang Mk.IV - Wing/Cdr, No.224 Wing, RAF Middle East Command, 1945













This is a lovely P-51D desert camo skin made by 'amariani' and made as a request for a Dhimari Mustang I've got brewing but used here with the IRG decals I made for the Airacobra a few posts back.

[SPINNERS]

P-51D Mustangs of the Andalus Fighter Wing...



Top: North American P-51D Mustang of No.8 Squadron

Middle: North American P-51D Mustang of No.9 Squadron

Bottom: North American Mustang Mk.IV of No.601 Squadron (RAF) attached to the Andalus Fighter Wing in the Spring of 1945

[SPINNERS]

North American Mustang Mk.IV - No.601 Squadron, RAF Middle East Command, 1945









I was looking for an RAF squadron that did not operate the Mustang but did have some sort of connection with the Middle East or eastern Mediterranean where the fictional Dhimar and Paran states exist in 'Strike Fighters'. No.601 fit the bill quite nicely with their deployments to Malta (flying off the USS Wasp), Egypt, back to Malta, Sicilly and Italy before disbanding on VE day.

[SPINNERS]

Supermarine Spitfire FR.14E - Grupo 1 de Caza del Comando Aereo de Defensa, Fuerza Aerea Argentina, 1947















Despite being 'semi-retired' things are very busy at work at the moment with long hours and extra shifts. TBH I'm bloomin' knackered but have a weeks holiday ahead of me although 'er indoors has me decorating. Anyway, this is a lovely skin by 'paulopanz' (meant for a Burmese Spitfire) and I've re-painted the rudder and added suitable decals. I've put roundels in all six positions as it appears that this was normal for the time and as seen on Argentinian Fiat G.55's.

[SPINNERS]

FMA I.Ae.26 Vencejo - Grupo 1 de Caza del Comando Aereo de Defensa, Fuerza Aerea Argentina, 1949

An early step towards establishing the Fuerza Aérea Argentina as a separate branch of the Argentinian Armed Forces was taken during February 1944 when the newly created position of Commander-in-Chief of Aviation was made by the Department of War. This led directly to the creation of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina by decree on January 4th, 1945 with Brigadier Edmundo Sustaita becoming the first Commander of the Air Force shortly afterwards. Sustaita wasted no time in beginning a programme of modernization and in June 1946 he was aided by the incoming President Juan Perón who declared his strong desire for economic independence for Argentina with an ambitious five-year plan to increase wages, achieve full employment, stimulate industrial growth whilst also improving transportation, communication, energy and social infrastructure. Specifically to boost the Argentinian aviation industry President Juan Perón brought three teams of engineers to FMA (Fábrica Militar de Aviones) to drive forward  the technological development of Argentinian aviation. One team was led by Émile Dewoitine, one by Kurt Tank and one by the Argentinian-born Daniel Olguin who had worked under the leadership of Edgar Schmued at North American Aviation since 1938.

Whilst Dewoitine and Tank were tasked with designing interim and advanced jet fighters (the Pulqui I and the Pulqui II respectively) Olguin's task was to urgently design and manufacture a propeller-driven fighter aircraft under the designation I.Ae.26. It was completely logical for Olguin to start with a design that resembled the North American P-51D but his I.Ae.26 design was subtly different to the American aircraft being longer and having a different airfoil profile (NACA 66) to its laminar flow wings. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Griffon Mk 61 (rated at 2,035 hp) a key feature of the I.Ae.26 design was ease of manufacture and maintenance with a slightly box-like fuselage with detachable panels for ease of access replacing the conic sections of the P-51D. To aid production the airframe was divided into five main sections consisting of the forward fuselage, centre fuselage, tail, left wing and right wing all of which were fitted with wiring and piping before being assembled.

Development progressed swiftly with the prototype I.Ae.26 flying for the first time on April 30th, 1947 flown by senior FMA test pilot Miguel Kempes who achieved a calibrated level flight speed of 444 mph at 30,000 ft (8,046 m). Such performance was considered outstanding and the cockpit layout was praised by all FMA test pilots. Kempes gave a spectacular display of the prototype I.Ae.26 at the 'Veinticinco de Mayo' airshow held in Buenos Aires on May 25th, 1947 and, afterwards, President Juan Perón announced a production order for 100 aircraft and also bestowing the name of 'Vencejo' (Swift) on the I.Ae.26. Entering service with Grupo 1 de Caza in August 1948 the Vencejo was popular with Fuerza Aerea Argentina pilots and whilst still in service in 1955 it did not participate in the Revolución Libertadora and was eventually phased out of service towards the end of 1960 when it was replaced by the F-86F Sabre.















I've always liked the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation CA-15 Kangaroo and thought it would look good in Argentinian markings. The sharkmouth is already on the lovely NMF skin and I've pasted Argentinian roundels over the blue and white Aussie roundels and added the rudder markings with a couple of suitable codes to complete it. Ironically, the CA-15 3D model doesn't fly too well in SF2 (to be fair, it was meant for SF1) and I used the Third Wire P-51D flight model to improve it.