Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Guess the odd man out?

[PR19_Kit]

Oh yes, I LOVE the two green ones. 

[Devilfish]

56 Sqn

[chrisonord]

Now I know what to do with my old Hasegawa starfighter. Don't know why I bought it to be honest, as I am not a fan of them, but seeing your pictures could well have saved it, as yet again Spinner, you have inspired me, and fuelled my mojo.

[Weaver]

Nice Starfighters there!

I suspect that 1960s RAF Starfighters might have had white upper wing surfaces. Lockheed adopted this after they experienced problems with prototypes' wing hydraulics boiling in the California sun when left parked for a few hours (there isn't enough wing volume to act as a heat-sink). It then got written into the manual and faithfully copied by many operators, including Canada (who couldn't have needed it less... ). It was only in the 1970s, when the requirement to paint them in cammo came up, that somebody dug into the origin of the requirement and realised that a combination of better hydraulic fluid and lack of the relevent weather in Europe meant that it was unnecessary.

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR.3 - No.6 Squadron, RAF Middle East Command, 1970







Don't stress about the FGR.3 designation! Over the past 16 years I've done so many RAF Phantom what if's (some with Speys, some with J79's and some with the Rolls-Royce/SNECMA Sequanna) I don't know my arse from my elbow!

[chrisonord]

Very nice indeed.

[SPINNERS]

Northrop F-5D Freedom Fighter - No.75 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force, 1968

The New Zealand Government's decision to send troops to Vietnam in 1964 was highly controversial but was simply an escalation of the previous position of New Zealand assistance via various support structures such as the Civilian Surgical Team and the supply of a small non-combatant military force of engineers. The Royal New Zealand Air Force had provided transport assistance since 1962 and this had begun to increase when a sufficiently large airstrip to accommodate the Bristol Freighters of No.40 Squadron was built at Nui Dat. American pressure on both Australia and New Zealand to increase their support to US Forces in Vietnam continued and on March 31st, 1966 Sir Keith Holyoake, the New Zealand Prime Minister, announced that the Royal New Zealand Air Force would contribute to a joint RAAF/RNZAF combat wing consisting of three squadrons (two RAAF and one RNZAF) operating a version of the F-5A 'Freedom Fighter' which had just finished a succcessful five-month combat evaluation during 'Operation Skoshi Tiger'.

On April 30th, 1966 No.75 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force at Ohakea was disbanded and a new No.75 Squadron was formed on the following day at Bien Hoa Air Base in South-Central southern Vietnam operating a handful of F-5A's and F-5B's loaned from USAF stocks. Experiences gained from 'Skoshi Tiger' were incorporated into a new version of the basic F-5A designated as the F-5D and initial deliveries were made to No.75 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force during August 1966 and the squadron were declared operational at the end of September 1966. The joint RAAF/RNZAF combat wing at Bien Hoa operated in ground-attack operations over South Vietnam and gained an enviable reputation for bombing accuracy and aircraft availability. When the joint RAAF/RNZAF combat wing finally ceased operations at the end of 1971 only eleven F-5D's had been lost over Vietnam - nine to enemy ground fire and two due to an unfortunate collision at take-off. All remaining aircraft were handed over to the Republic of Vietnam Air Force in 1972 in a move financed by the Nixon administration as part of the wider policy of 'Vietnamization'.







This particular F-5A is widely regarded as being one of the best 3D models ever made for 'Strike Fighters' and I've just pasted on my Kiwi roundels onto a Greek F-5A skin and recoloured the finflash. I made the serial numbers for my recent RNZAF Phantom and have re-used them to save time but I did make a set of 18 three-digit nose numbers that repeat the last three of the serial number. I was surprised to learn that the F-5D designation was never used so I've nabbed it!

[Rick Lowe]

So, sort of a reconstitution of the ANZAC Wing of WW2? 

[Dizzyfugu]

That RNZAF F-5 looks nice and very plausible! I earmark that for a future build, I have one or two ESCI F-5's in The Stash™ with no plan yet... 

[PR19_Kit]

Would have a lot of sense in the RW too..................

[Dizzyfugu]

That RNZAF F-5 looks nice and very plausible! I earmark that for a future build, I have one or two ESCI F-5's in The Stash™ with no plan yet... 

Made me wonder about a Finnish F-5 in green/black cammo with "clouds" on the flanks and small low-viz roundels? 

[Spino]

McDonnell Douglas F-4L Phantom - VMFA-333, United States Marine Corps, 1975

With all the considerable design effort being put into the marriage of the Phantom airframe and the Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engine McDonnell Douglas thought it might be a good idea to propose a version to the US Navy to allow the Phantom to operate from the smaller carriers that were limited to F-8E Crusaders. In June 1966 the designation F-4L was given to the proposed Spey-powered Phantom and in October 1966 an initial order for 130 F-4L's (USN/USMC) was made, followed by an unexpected export order of 30 F-4L's for the Royal Australian Navy.

Deliveries to the US Navy commenced in February 1969 with VF-24 becoming the first operational squadron followed by VMFA-333. By this time the wisdom of operating such a relatively large aircraft on the older, smaller carriers was being questioned and most F-4L's served aboard the larger carriers or with land-based units.

When the decision was made not to re-equip the USMC 'fighter-attack' Phantom squadrons with the hugely expensive Grumman F-14A Tomcat, McDonnell Douglas pushed hard for low-rate production of the F-4L to continue specifically for USMC use and they were eventually successful meaning that production continued until 1976 with an eventual  total of 306 F-4L's being built. Apart from Australia, F-4L's also served with the Royal Air Force where 15 ex-USN F-4L's were sold to the UK Government to allow the formation of an additional home-based Phantom squadron to release a squadron for the defence of the Falkand Isles.

New screenshots but a hoary old backstory from 2010!

Imagine an F-4S with a bubble canopy and Speys, and the HMS from the AIM-95 tests.

[chrisonord]

Are you ok Spinner? Not seen you for a while.

[SPINNERS]

Spinners is fine. Just taking a break.