Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Supermarine Attacker FB.4 - No.79 Squadron, 2nd Tactical Air Force, RAF Germany 1951

RAFATTACKERFB401 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFATTACKERFB402 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFATTACKERFB403 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFATTACKERFB404 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFATTACKERFB405 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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North American Shark FGA.1 - No.79 Squadron, RAF Germany, 1961

RAFSUPERSABREFGA107 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFSUPERSABREFGA108 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFSUPERSABREFGA109 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Just a revision to the No.79 squadron markings giving them a red border (as seen on the Swift FR.5 on the cover of the book "Swift Justice" by Nigel Walpole).

[SPINNERS]

Nakajima-Dornier Ki-101 'Heavenly Lion' - Imperial Japanese Army Air Force, 1945

In February 1943 the unfortunate Pilot Office P. Lonker of No.64 squadron descended through the fog to land his brand-new Spitfire IX at the Luftwaffe airfield near Brest in the mistaken belief that it was his home base of Hornchurch. Whilst the Spitfire was no secret to the Germans this pristine example was gratefully received and sent to the Dornier factory in Altenrhein (Switzerland) where it was studied in detail with production drawings made and tooling fabricated for the proposed production of the Spitfire for the Swiss Air Force.

However, during the early Spring of 1944 the decision was made to ship the drawings and tooling to the Nakajima Aircraft Company in Japan for production of the Spitfire for defence against American bombers including the B-29 then just coming into service in forward bases in China and India. Designated Ki-101 production started quickly enough but disaster struck when the Ota factory was bombed (ironically by B-29's) in December 1944 with only a handful of aircraft completed and all without engines as Aichi Atsuta had failed to deliver a single example of the licence-built Daimler-Benz DB605 engine. Miraculously, production restarted in February 1945 with the first Aichi built engines arriving in March allowing the first squadron to re-equip in May 1945. Production records indicate that only 45 Ki-101's were manufactured and there were no recorded incidents of air combat between the 'Heavenly Lion' and allied aircraft

IJAAFSPITFIRE9C12 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJAAFSPITFIRE9C11 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJAAFSPITFIRE9C10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJAAFSPITFIRE9C09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJAAFSPITFIRE9C05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The stock Spitfire IXc includes a Soviet green scheme and I've added new Hinomaru, a custom-made 101st Sentai tail marking and some spurious red and white tail bands to give it a WW2 Japanese look.

[SPINNERS]

Mikoyan MiG-29A 'Fulcrum-A' - Fuerza Aérea Argentina, 1998

FAAMiG-2901 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FAAMiG-2902 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FAAMiG-2903 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FAAMiG-2904 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FAAMiG-2905 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Suggested by Fulcrum! The MiG-29 add-on by "The Mirage Factory" is one of the very best aircraft available for Strike Fighters and it has a wide variety of skins available for it. I've used the Luftwaffe scheme and carefully overpainted the markings and added Fuerza Aérea Argentina markings but you'll have to cut me some slack with the serial numbers!

[SPINNERS]

Yokosuka Ki-299 'Hunter' - Imperial Japanese Army Air Force, 1954

IJAAFHUNTER01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJAAFHUNTER03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJAAFHUNTER04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Waste not, want not.

[SPINNERS]

Heinkel 380 - JG53 'Pik As' (Ace of Spades) Luftwaffe, July 1945

LUFTWAFFEMETEORF801 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFEMETEORF802 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFEMETEORF803 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFEMETEORF804 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Go easy on me guys! I am a complete novice at WW2 Luftwaffe markings but hope it captures the look of what a German Meteor might have looked like!

[SPINNERS]

Heinkel He.380 - 2./JG 27 Luftwaffe, North Africa, February 1946

LUFTWAFFEMETEORF805 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFEMETEORF806 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFEMETEORF807 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFEMETEORF808 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

More or less a swap out with my new WW2 Luftwaffe decals added to the excellent 'Desert Camo' skin that comes with the stock Third Wire F.8 but with the JG.27 badge and a white tailband. Some 'Desert' Me-109's had white wingtips and if the Meteor was an F.1/F.3 I think I would have added those.

[SPINNERS]

Vickers Valiant B.2 - No.214 Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1974

RAFVALIANTB201 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVALIANTB202 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVALIANTB203 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVALIANTB204 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Not the real B.2 (the all black WJ954 with Tupolev style undercarriage pods) of course, the Valiant is another DAT product and I've added some 'B' type tactical markings and a speculative tricolour Speedbird.

[SPINNERS]

Junkers EF145 'Super Gans' - Kampfgeschwader 76, Luftwaffe, 1948

Adolf Hitler's early decision to allow the Me262 programme to continue as a 'fighter only' project (and at top priority) soon reaped dividends as the world's first swept-wing jet fighter hacked down American bombers by day and, in it's Me 262 A-1a/U2 form, British bombers at night. The unsuccessful allied invasion of June 1944 (at Calais) allowed German forces to bolster the Eastern front and by September 1944 the frontline had become static in all theatres with Arado Ar234's and Me262's ruling the roost.

In October 1944 Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring instructed Junkers and Messerschmitt to design and produce very long-range bomber aircraft capable of delivering a 4,000kg bombload over a distance of 8,000km in a design competition that quickly gained the title of 'Projekt America'. Lead by Dr-Ing Heinrich Hertel the Junkers team dusted down a previously shelved project for a swing-wing tactical bomber known to the Junkers team as the 'Gans' (Goose) due to it's length and wingspan with the wing fully forward. Hertel scaled up the earlier Gans design as much as he dared based on using two of the projected Jumo 90 axial flow jet engines (each of 90kN thrust) to produce the EF145 design or 'Super Gans' but knew that the range requirement was going to be beyond the abilities of his otherwise outstanding submission unless he could cheat by assuming one-way missions or use in-flight refuelling. Impressed by the design, Göring encouraged Hertel to continue with the design and development of the EF145 for the European theatre.

Meanwhile, in February 1945 German Kommandos were delivered to the US mainland by U-Boat and on March 2nd undertook a co-ordinated attack on the three primary research and production sites of the Manhatten Project (the plutonium-production facility at the Hanford Site in eastern Washington state, the uranium enrichment facilities at Oak Ridge in Tennessee and the weapons research and design laboratory at Los Alamos in New Mexico) leading to mass evacuations at all three sites as radioactive material was scattered around the surrounding areas. With intelligence reports suggesting that the Manhatten Project had been set back at least three years Hitler asked Göring to accelerate 'Projekt America' but when informed that the best design (the EF145) was only going to have about one-half of the required range an enraged Hitler demanded that one-way missions would be acceptable and instructed Hannah Reitsch to set up a recruitment and indoctrination unit.

Junkers worked miracles to produce the EF145 prototype and, on the low installed thrust of it's Jumo 90 engines, it clawed itself into the air for the first time on March 1st, 1948 although an engine fire saw it quickly land back at Dessau. However, by this time the war situation had deteriorated for Germany. Truman's controversial decision to renege on the previously agreed 'Germany first' policy saw Japan finally defeated (conventionally) in December 1946 and the allies had made solid progress during 1947 leading to the second Calais landings of August 1947 and the simultaneous Soviet breakout through Poland and East Prussia. It is understood that just four production EF145's were delivered to KG76 during April 1948 with one successful strike mission being made against Lublin aerodrome in Poland before World War 2 finally ended on May 1st, 1948.

In a mystery that will probably remain unsolved the prototype 'Super Gans' was never found but on April 30th, 1948 a Portugese trawler crew 50km west of the Azores reported that an unidentified "goose like aircraft with it's tail on fire" was seen to crash into the sea with only the body of a woman in civilian clothing ever recovered.

LUFTWAFFEBACKFIRE02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFEBACKFIRE03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFEBACKFIRE04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFEBACKFIRE05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFEBACKFIRE06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFEBACKFIRE07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFEBACKFIRE08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR.2A - No.17 Squadron, RAF South-East Asia Command, 1972

RAFPHANTOMFGR2A01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFPHANTOMFGR2A02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFPHANTOMFGR2A03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A nice USAF AFRES (Air Force Reserve) skin for the F-4D was released recently so I've altered one of the bitmaps to show Spey nozzles and added my No.17 Squadron markings in a SEAC style!

[SPINNERS]

Messerschmitt Me-262A1P - No.1 'Red Shark' Squadron, Parani Air Force, 1948

PARANIME-26201 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PARANIME-26202 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PARANIME-26203 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Just mentioning the Me-262 in my KG76 Backfire backstory made me want to revisit it and get it back into my install and I've decided to give it to the Parani's. The nose of the 'Stormbird' has always reminded me of the snout of the shark and so I've created a red shark decal for No.1 squadron and added a two-colour tail band as a homage to the Luftwaffe air defence units such as III./JG7 Nowotney. As I might have mentioned previously, in game, you can give aircraft as much thrust (or as little thrust) as you like and on two x 2,000lb thrust Jumo's it's not that spectacular and was hard pressed to catch Spitfires.

[SPINNERS]

Leasath Aircraft Company Fenrir Mark 2 - Royal Dhimari Air Force, 2022

DHIMARIFENRIR01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

DHIMARIFENRIR02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

DHIMARIFENRIR03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I know nothing about Ace Combat but this striking aircraft was released today so I thought I'd place it into service with the Dhimari's.

[SPINNERS]

Embraer F-XX 'Tridente' - Força Aérea Brasileira, 2020

FABFENRIR02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FABFENRIR03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FABFENRIR04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FABFENRIR05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FABFENRIR06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Grumman F-14C Tomcat - 171st Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Michigan ANG, 1980

USAFF-14CTOMCAT07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFF-14CTOMCAT08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFF-14CTOMCAT04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFF-14CTOMCAT05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFF-14CTOMCAT06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFF-14CTOMCAT09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

For aar0814!

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas F-15K Eagle FG.2 - 800 & 892 Naval Air Squadrons, Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, 1988

Whilst the F-4 Phantom and the Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engine were an unhappy marriage the top-brass of the British Royal Navy realised that this was solely due to British political interference and, having worked closely with them at St. Louis, were generally impressed with the attitude and service of McDonnell Douglas. It therefore came as no surprise that the 1972 announcement of two 'Victory' class aircraft carriers of approximate 75,000 tonnes displacement for the Royal Navy saw McDonnell Douglas push their two-seat F-15N (N for Navy) to both France and Britain whilst still hoping for the Grumman F-14A Tomcat to fail in USN service.

With the BAC Lightnings of RAF Germany rapidly approaching obsolescence the RAF were urgently seeking a modern agile interceptor-fighter for the Central Front and their interest in the F-15A quickly led to an audacious McDonnell Douglas offer of 100 F-15's to the United Kingdom with 40 single-seat Eagles configured for air defence and 60 two-seat Eagles configured for use aboard the proposed British aircraft carriers due to enter service in 1979. This bid was accepted and the Eagle F.1 (essentially an F-15A) entered service with No.19 and No.92 squadrons in 1976 and 1977 whilst the Eagle FG.2 for the Royal Navy entered service in 1980 with No.800, No.801 and No.892 Squadrons. Despite lacking wing-fold the two-seat Eagle FG.2's were very popular in Fleet Air Arm service and achieved legendary status in the 1982 Falklands war by downing 22 Argentinian aircraft with no losses. The aircraft also saw service in the 1991 Gulf War but were prematurely retired in 2001 when corrosion problems grounded the entire UK Eagle fleet.

ROYALNAVYOSPREYFG102 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ROYALNAVYOSPREYFG103 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ROYALNAVYOSPREYFG101 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ROYALNAVYEAGLEFG201 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ROYALNAVYEAGLEFG202 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Edited: Name changed from Osprey FG.1 to Eagle FG.2 to match the backstory added later. 892 squadron added!

Eagle on the Ark Royal!

ROYALNAVYEAGLEFG204 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ROYALNAVYEAGLEFG205 by Spinners1961, on Flickr