Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

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Fairey Gannet AS.51 - 310 Indian Naval Air Squadron, Indian Navy, 1971













Happy New Year! 

I know the exported Gannets didn't use 'Mk.51 and on' type designations but I've elected to use it for this Indian Navy Gannet. In the real world, 310 Indian Naval Air Squadron used the Bréguet Br.1050 Alizé which, quite naturally, I've previously put into Fleet Air Service.

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Fairey Gannet AS.52 - Flotille 6F, Aeronavale, 1985













Whilst I haven't got a template for the Gannet I am able to tint a 'blank' skin passed onto me and for this Aéronavale Gannet I've lowered the demarcation line down and knocked up some suitable decals. The last two piccies show the final colours as I wasn't too happy with the first four piccies as they lack that bit of blueyness seen in Dizzyfugu's photo of a real Alizé. The 'MARINE' decal really needs the correct typeface, specifically for the 'M'.

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Douglas Skyraider FB.2 - No.45 Squadron, RAF Far East Air Force, 1950











Sadly, this one didn't go quite right as I failed to correctly save a partial template I had made and just didn't want to go over the same work again so it's missing weathering, engine smoke/dirt and an essential anti-glare panel. The FB.2 designation jars a bit doesn't it?

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Lockheed F-104M Starfighter - Imperial Iranian Air Force, 1973

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I've shown this 3D model by 'Cocas' before as the F-113 Starflash but in Israeli markings and thought I'd use the same skin (by 'Nyghtfall' over at Combat Ace) but with pre-revolution Iranian markings. The F-104M designation was used by Cocas so I've just followed suit. Perhaps Lockheed could have gained orders from the Shar of Iran for standard Starfighters and it's almost guaranteed that they tried!

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Lockheed F-104A Starfighter - 302nd Fighter Squadron, Imperial Iranian Air Force, 1966

The F-104A was the initial production single-seat interceptor version of the Lockheed Starfighter and entered service with the USAF in 1958 but was soon relegated to Air National Guard units in the early 1960's although a small number were retained by the USAF Air Defense Command.

From 1963 many surviving F-104A's were released for export to Iran, Jordan, Pakistan, and Taiwan. The Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) received its first 16 F-104A's and 4 F-104B's in early 1965 to form the 302nd Fighter Squadron which was declared operational in July 1965. The IIAF were satisfied enough with their F-104A's to order 120 F-104G's and 24 TF-104G's all of which came from the Canadair production line. As the F-104G's entered IIAF service the F-104A's were initially relegated to training purposes but from 1970 they were used exclusively by the IIAF's aerobatic display team, the Golden Crown.

After the Iranian revolution in 1979, the new Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) was moderately successful at keeping Western fighters in service but the F-104A's were quick to deteriorate through a lack of spares and did not remain in service to participate in the Iran-Iraq war that started in September 1980.













Quite a simple one this as it uses the stock F-104A with a stock silver skin. I've made a stencilled version of 'IIAF' and knocked up some 3-4xx serial numbers as seen on their F-5A's but stopped short of using arabic numbers. The owl badge/patch seen on the fin is also as seen on several IIAF F-5A's but I'm not totally sure which squadron so the 302nd is a guess.

Bonus shots from another sortie

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Lockheed F-104H Starfighter - Fliegerstaffel 17, Swiss Air Force, 1971

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Another simple one this. The roundels and 'handed' Staffel 17 decals were made ages ago but I did need to make a good set of J-xxxx codes - electing to place them on the fuselage instead of close to the jet pipe à la Swiss Mirage.

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McDonnell EF-101D Voodoo - 111th Tactical Fighter Squadron, USAF 1983









An off the peg 'what if' this as this is the EF-101D released by 'yakarov79' over at Combat Ace converting the awesome RF-101B 3D model by 'erikgen'. No input from me except for taking the screenshots.

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Lockheed EF-104E Starfighter - 615th TFS, 37th TFW, USAF, 1970









Inspired by the EF-101D here is an 'Electric Starfighter'!

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Lockheed F-104G Starfighter - No.350 Smaldeel, Belgian Air Force, 1978



Spinners1961





The 'killer' component of Geoff's Hunter/Killer Starfighter combo.

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Hispano Aviación HA-1108 Martillo - Escuadron 113, Ala 7, Ejército del Aire, May 1945

Whilst both Portugal and Spain remained neutral at the start of World War 2 the UK government was deeply concerned that the pro-Nazi Spanish dictatorship of Francisco Franco would inevitably lead to Spain joining the axis powers in their war against the British Empire. In particular, the UK worried that an emboldened Spain would make a move to take back Gibraltar which played a vital role in controlling naval traffic in and out of the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean.

These fears appeared to becoming true when Franco and Hitler met at Hendaye railway station near the Spanish–French border on October 23rd, 1940. The UK knew that the object of the meeting was to resolve disagreements over the conditions for Spain to join the Axis Powers in their war against the British Empire. Among other things, Franco asked for the handing over of Gibraltar once the British were defeated plus the return of French Morocco, part of French Algeria and further demanded that French Cameroon should be attached to the Spanish colony of Guinea. Hitler knew that Spain was enduring a critical economic and military situation following the Spanish Civil War and realised that Spain could contribute little to acheiving Franco's extortionate wish list. Hitler regarded Franco with contempt and preferring not to disturb his relations with the Vichy French regime he abruptly ended the meeting and the two would never meet again.

Following this infamous meeting Franco realised that Spain might struggle to receive arms from Nazi Germany and announced a series of military programmes including an indigenous fighter aircraft for the Spanish Air Force. Hispano Aviación were given a contract to design and produce a modern monoplane fighter utilising the promising 'in house' Hispano-Suiza R14 fourteen-cylinder two-row supercharged radial engine rated at 1,400hp driving a 3-bladed constant-speed propeller. Designated as the HA-1108 'Martillo' (Hammer) the HA-1108 was a low-wing cantilever monoplane with a retractable undercarriage and an enclosed cockpit. The relatively clean duralumin-skinned fuselage had a tubular steel frame whilst the predominantly fabric-covered wing (with duralumin leading edges) was supported by two steel spars giving considerable strength and stiffness and the flight control surfaces were also fabric covered. The upper forward fuselage was the location for the four ALFA 44 machine guns of 7.92mm calibre with Nelson E-8 synchronization gear allowing them to fire them through the spinning propeller.

The first HA-1108 prototype flew on December 20th, 1941 and Hispano Aviación test pilots found it reasonably docile with decent flight and ground handling properties and good cockpit ergonomics. However, it was slower than contemporary fighters like the Me-109F and Spitfire V and the armament of four rifle calibre machine guns was considered to be woefully inadequate. Despite these shortcomings the HA-1108 started series production in August 1942 with Escuadron 113 becoming the first operational squadron on October 12th, 1942 (the national Day of Spain). On May 9th, 1945 the HA-1108's of Escuadron 113 saw combat over Olivenza near the Portuguese border with Spain shooting down a Portuguese Furacão and damaging a Spitfire on the following day.

Production continued during the war and finally ended in 1948. Whilst outdated the HA-1108 was adequate for it's intended purpose of home defence and also controlling Spanish colonial territories in Africa.















'Veltro2K' created the VL Myrsky II for me a few years ago and I made the templates for it so it's my 'go to' airframe whenever I want to create an indigenous fighter for anyone! There are a couple of Iberian Peninsula terrains (one set up for the SCW and one for post-war) and it's got me thinking of a conflict between Portugal and Spain set after the SCW but before 1950-ish. As always, my backstory weaves a bit of truth in there and the bad-tempered meeting between Hitler and Franco really did happen and was covered in a repeat showing of 'Blood and Gold: The making of Spain' by the BBC where apparently Hitler went into foaming at the mouth mode!

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Avia S-99 - 121 Escuadron, Ala 6, Ejército del Aire, 1948











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Spain did, of course, operate the Bf 109 but this is the Avia S-99 (essentially a G-6) in 'what if' markings for 121 Escuadron fighting against Portuguese Spitfires in some fictional border dispute. I don't think Portugal operated the Spitfire IX but they did operate IA's and quite a few VB's (some of which had six-stack exhausts). The fin marking shown is a nod to the 'Poker' themed squadron patch used in more recent years.

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Supermarine Spitfire F.Mk.24 - BA3 (Tancos Air Base), Portuguese Air Force, 1951

















I knocked up the Spanish Avia S-199 (the infamous 'mule') and the white outlined numbers were by far the most time consuming part as it uses the stock Third Wire skin as does the Spitfire Mk.24 only this time I've used the silver RAF skin. There are lots of Portuguese F-47D piccies available so I used the four-digit numbers but elected not to put a number on the upper starboard wing (and lower port wing) as I much prefer to have roundels on both wings. I've placed the short two-digit number on the fin instead of on the Jug's engine cowling.

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CASA 4100 'Espada' - Escuadron 23, Ejército del Aire, 1946

Despite being one of the fastest fighter aircraft in the world at the time of its development the promising Heinkel He 100 was not ordered into series production due to the German Ministry of Aviation's policy that allocated fighter development to Messerschmitt and bomber development to Heinkel with the additional reason that the production problems with the Daimler-Benz DB 601 12-cylinder liquid-cooled piston engine were so acute that all other designs based on the DB 601 engine were cancelled or suspended. Whilst Heinkel did consider switching to the Junkers Jumo 211 that engine was also in short supply and the He 100 could not easily be adapted to accept the Jumo 211 except via an extensive redesign but still with inferior performance.

This was frustrating for Heinkel as they knew that the He 100 was a fine fighter aircraft that had already attracted interest from other countries. Indeed, Japanese and Soviet delegations had visited the Marienehe factory in October 1939 followed by a Spanish delegation in December 1939. All three were impressed by the design but whilst Heinkel was allowed to look for foreign licensees for the He 100 the engine supply problem still persisted. Even though Spain had a considerable air force the aircraft operated by the Ejército del Aire were mainly survivors from the Spanish Civil War with most aircraft being either worn out or obsolete. Despite this, Spain's declared neutrality and desperate economic situation meant that they could wait a while longer and properly organise obtaining licences and establish a production line for both the He 100 airframe and the DB 601 engine.

CASA were a natural choice to manufacture the He 100 as they had already obtained aircraft licenses from Germany for the Bücker Bü 133 Jungmeister, Gotha Go 145, Ju-52 and He-111. Franco authorised an extension of the CASA factory in Tablada in Seville specifically for the construction of the He 100 which was soon given the in-house designation of CASA 4100 and officially named 'Espada' (Sword). Acquiring the DB 601 engine proved to be slightly more difficult but eventually Franco negotiated with Mussolini to source it's DB 601 engine from Italy as Alfa Romeo had already gained a production licence from Daimler-Benz for the DB 601 engine (as the R.A.1000 R.C.41-I Monsone) and were already tooling up for production with engines destined for the Macchi C.202 Folgore and Reggiane Re.2001 Falco II fighters.

Construction of the Tablada factory extension and the CASA 4100 production line took up the majority of 1940 and 1941 but CASA eventually delivered it's first CASA 4100 aircraft to the Ejército del Aire in March 1942 with the aircraft entering service with Escuadron 23 in the early summer. Production was a long drawn out affair with the last of 227 aircraft coming off the production line in May 1951 and the CASA 4100 remained in service until late 1964.













This is the He 100D-1 by 'Veltro2K' with a skin that's been slightly tweaked on the colour balance and then had the St. Andrews Cross added to the rudder, given a yellow spinner and some suitable decals. The He 100 is an interesting aircraft to read about and it does seem ahead of the Bf 109E and F on the same DB 601 engine. Regarding my backstory the Ha 1112 "Buchón" was produced until 1958 and was retired right at the end of 1965!

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A BF-109 taking off from an aircraft carrier would be great to see. 

Messerschmitt Bf-109KT 'Seeadler' - Kriegsmarine, 1944











An 'off the peg' Bf-109T this by 'Wrench' over at Combat Ace. As the Bf-109T was based on an 'Emil' and this is clearly a much later Bf109 with the three-panel 'Erla Haube' canopy I've called it a Bf-109KT (T for Träger - carrier). No input from me apart from the screenshots.

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Junkers Ju-87T 'Fischadler' - Kriegsmarine, 1943









Another off the peg Kriegsmarine aircraft this time the Ju-87T Fischadler (Osprey) and aboard the Admiral Gustav Bachmann which was apparently very similar to the USN's Essex-class carriers - lol. If I had templates for the Ju-87 I'd knock-up a more suitable naval scheme but the upper surfaces actually work quite well I think. Neither the Bf-109KT or the Ju-87T 3D models actually have arrestor hooks but you can easily add a virtual hook and deploy it to make carrier landings. I've been trying to get my two Kriegsmarine carriers populated with other aircraft to show them in the background but they stubbornly show just two aircraft on every sortie.