Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

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Westland Warrior FB.Mk50 - Ilmavoimat, 1952

FinnishWarrior01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FinnishWarrior02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Grumman Panther - Marinha do Brasil, 1960

The second export customer for the Grumman Panther was Brasil who, like Argentina, ordered 24 ex-USN in 1958.

MarinhaPanther01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MarinhaPanther02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MarinhaPanther03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Supermarine Attacker F.1 - No.263 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1951

In 1944 Supermarine were asked to design a new jet fighter to specification E.1/44 using the proposed Rolls-Royce RB.40 engine rated at 4,000lbs thrust. However, Supermarine stated their preference for a smaller engine to power a 'jet Spiteful' with Spiteful type laminar flow wings and Rolls-Royce proposed the RB.41 centrifugal compressor turbojet rated at about 3,000lbs thrust. Supermarine quickly schemed the Type 392 and were soon encouraged by the news from Rolls-Royce that the RB.41 might well attain 4,500lbs and even higher despite being scaled-down from the RB.40 (eventually the RB.41 became the outstanding Nene turbojet).

After studying the outline specification submitted by Supermarine the Ministry of Aircraft Production asked for both land-based and carrier-based versions of the Type 392 with priority being given to the carrier-based version for the Royal Navy. However, the Supermarine Spiteful programme (intended to help with development of the Type 392) had hit trouble with severe low-speed handing and aileron problems at higher speeds. By February 1946 the Admiralty had decided to order the De Havilland Sea Vampire Mk.20 as an interim type and the pace of the carrier-based side of the Type 392 programme slowed right down to the extent that the first production Attacker for the Royal Navy didn't fly until May 1950 and didn't enter service until August 1951, a shocking state of affairs.

Meanwhile, notwithstanding the same problems with the new wing, the land-based Attacker had progressed a bit quicker with the production Attacker F.1 taking to the air in February 1949 and entering service in September 1949 when No.56 and No.263 squadrons re-equipped with the type at RAF Bentwaters. 140 Attacker F.1's were manufactured with production later switching to the Attacker FB.3 but only 20 were built. The Attacker had a relatively short life with the RAF and was soon passed down to the Royal Auxillary Air Force units based in South-East England before being phased out by 1955.

RAFAttackerF101 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFAttackerF102 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFAttackerF105 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I knocked up a silver skin for the Attacker F.1 and it hasn't turned out too bad. I know the Royal Navy operated the F.1, FB.1 and FB.2 but in my alternate timeline the RAF claimed the F.1 designation first. N.B. The stock napalm tank is used as a stand-in for a drop tank.

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BAC Canberra B(I).6 - No.213 Squadron, RAF Far East Air Force, 1970

RAFCanberraPR501 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFCanberraPR502 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFCanberraPR503 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

What If^TM No.213 squadron hadn't disbanded at RAF Bruggen in 1969 but were sent to Vietnam? [No politics please]

It only seems like yesterday that I was drooling over the original 1/72 scale Airfix Canberra in our local model shop and that image of a No.213 squadron B(I).6 flying above the coastline. I was going to do a real world grey/green camo but lost a bit of interest and decided to knock-up a Green scheme and pose it over Vietnam.

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North American Maverick FB.2 - No.19 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1949

RAFMaverickFB201 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFMaverickFB202 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFMaverickFB203 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFMaverickFB204 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The F-82 Twin Mustang was re-released today over at Combat Ace and comes with this superb natural metal skin. All I've done is recolour the blue bits to match the No.19 Squadron checkerboards and add some early post-war markings, including the 'Dooleybird' decal - to give echoes of the RAF's most famous Mustang! OK, I know that squadron codes were still in use at that time but I fancied using the Type C roundel with colourful bars... and, hey, this is a 'what if' site!

[SPINNERS]

Vigilante GR.1 - No.213 Squadron, RAF Germany, 1971.

The cancellation of the TSR.2 in April 1965 and the F-111K in January 1968 left the RAF with no effective Canberra replacement on the horizon but by February 1968 North American, who were looking to extend production of the Vigilante, had quickly proposed a strike optimised version of the RA-5C to the UK Government and by April 1968 a deal was reached for the supply of 64 Vigilante S.1's (later changed to GR.1) to replace the Canberra B(I).6's and B(I).8's serving with RAF Germany. Details of the deal allegedly struck directly between Prime Minister Wilson and President Johnson became the cause of constant speculation and were controversially placed outside of the 30-year rule.

North American quickly got into their stride and, despite taking extra orders from the US Navy for RA-5C's as Vietnam attrition replacements, managed to get the production A-5K airborne in February 1969 with deliveries to No.228 squadron OCU by October 1969. In service, the Vigilante GR.1 equipped No.3, No.14, No.16 and No.213 squadrons plus the aforementioned No.228 OCU. With the cancellation of the last 10 RA-5C's for the US Navy, North American offered the UK Government an additional 10 aircraft and these were purchased to allow the re-equipment of No.15 squadron in 1972.

RAFVigilanteGR101 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVigilanteGR102 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVigilanteGR103 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVigilanteGR104 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Always one of my favourite aircraft and one I've often put RAF markings on the Airfix model! Fortunately the A-5A and RA-5C are available as add-on aircraft and they are top notch. Even better, the creator ('Julhelm') has released the layered templates so I thought I'd do an early RAF machine in service with No.213 squadron. The camo has a few 'match up' issues but does give a good overall impression of how the Vigilante might have looked in the overland strike role.

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Vigilante GR.1 - No.14 Squadron, RAF Germany, 1971

RAFVigilanteGR105 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVigilanteGR106 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVigilanteGR107 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Rockwell RA-5C Vigilante - No.6 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, 1970

When No.6 squadron of the Royal Australian Air force re-equipped with the Vigilante in 1968 they were soon sent to Vietnam in a successful deployment lasting until 1971.

RAAFRA-5C01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAAFRA-5C02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAAFRA-5C03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAAFRA-5C04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Curtis-Wright Ascender FB.3 - No.56 Squadron, RAF Mediterranean Air Command, 1944

In the dark days of 1940 the UK Government were frantically placing orders with British and American companies for almost everything and anything. One such order was that placed with the Curtis-Wright company for 500 P-55 fighters despite it being very much a paper project at that time. By mid-1941 the folly of such an order was becoming increasingly apparent so the UK Government tried to convert the order into more Kittyhawk aircraft for the RAF in North Africa but Curtis-Wright insisted that the order would remain for the 500 P-55's as contracted despite only lukewarm interest from the USAAC who were yet to place an order due to chronic development problems with the Pratt & Whitney X-1800 engine.

After direct intervention from Churchill, British officials instructed Rolls-Royce to send a team of engineers to Buffalo, New York to see if the ubiquitous Rolls-Royce Merlin could be shoehorned into the P-55 and their initial findings were promising. With the forecast delay in the airframe, and feedback that the aircraft might only be fit for fighter-bomber duties, Rolls-Royce gambled on placing the Merlin 50M engine (a low-altitude version of the Merlin with a supercharger impeller cropped to 240 mm in diameter and with a "negative g" carburettor). Curtis-Wright had closely followed the Rolls-Royce team during the engineering investigations and boldly decided to forge ahead with the programme despite the lack of a order from the USAAC and, using the British order to kick-start the programme, the revamped P-55 was born. In a way, the gamble paid off and the P-55 Ascender programme emerged to give a useful fighter-bomber for the USAAC (mainly used in the PTO) and the RAF (mainly used in the MTO) with many seeing service in the immediate post-war years and several eventually finding their way to the newly-formed Israeli Air Force in 1948.

RAFAscenderFB301 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

GuessThePlane01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFAscenderFB302 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFAscenderFB303 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFAscenderFB304 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Wow! The Curtis-Wright P-55 Ascender looks such a hot-ship I assumed it was a late war design and hadn't realised that the design stems from a 1939 requirement.

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Ascender FB.3 - No.54 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1946

RAFAscenderFB305 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFAscenderFB306 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFAscenderFB307 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've made my own simple template for the Ascender and apart from the silver No.56 squadron bird I've also done this RAF camo scheme. Unfortunately there is a slight tear (rip) in the 3D model just in front of the windshield and I can't work out where the exhaust stubs are on the original skin bitmap. (Edit: Nowadays we have tools to help!)

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Could you make one with markings and emblem of 303 Sqdn?

Echoes of the Airfix Spitfire VB...

RAF303AscenderFB301 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF303AscenderFB302 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF303AscenderFB303 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Boulton-Paul Firenza Prototype

The appearance of high-flying Ju-86 reconnaissance bombers over Southern England during 1941 re-awakened earlier Air Ministry interest in a high-altitude interceptor-fighter and specification F.4/40 was quickly revised into specification F.7/41 setting out challenging values for altitude, radius and armament. Three companies tendered to F.7/41; Westland with their Welkin design, Vickers with their Type 432 and Boulton-Paul with their innovative Type 98.

The Boulton-Paul Type 98 (lated named Firenza) was an unusual 'canard' design with a slightly swept wing set well back and outside of an extremely broad but flattened fuselage designed to accommodate two 'conjoined' Merlin 61 engines driving (jettisonable) contra-rotating propellers in a pusher configuration. As if that wasn't novel enough, a tricycle undercarriage and a huge ventral fin completed the most dramatic looking of all of Britain's WW2 aircraft. Armament was planned to be a closely grouped battery of four Hispano V 20mm cannon located in the long nose and each with 300 rounds per gun.

With Rolls-Royce heavily committed to more orthodox Merlin installations the complicated gearbox and contra-rotating propellers saw Boulton-Paul struggle to make progress and the Firenza soon lagged behind the other two competing designs with the prototype not flying until February 1943. Test flying from Boulton-Paul's home airfield of Mousehold Heath in East Anglia continued into the Summer of 1943 but with the threat of the Luftwaffe fielding large fleets of high-altitude bombers becoming increasingly remote a 'stop works' order was issued to Boulton-Paul on September 19th, 1943 just before the third prototype was about to fly and the remaining two prototypes were soon grounded by lack of gearbox spares once the project was cancelled.

RAFFirenzaPrototype01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFFirenzaPrototype03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFFirenzaPrototype02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is, of course, the Henschel Hs P.75 masquerading as the Boulton-Paul Firenza! Sadly, a bit of a disappointment this - and all after a fair few hours work making my own templates off the original bitmaps. To explain, I like to use my decals added to the aircraft 'in game' as opposed to being applied directly to the bitmaps as the resolution is so much better. But unfortunately the Henschel Hs P.75 3D model has a couple of tears in it so I've had to put the decals on the bitmaps and they look a wee bit rough. In addition, the Henschel is such a curvaceous beast there's also some distortion (as on the top of the prototype 'P'). Nevermind, but no requests on this one thank you!

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Northrop P-56 'Zeev' - 101 Squadron, Israeli Air Force, 1948

After David Ben Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948 the new nation had a desperate battle on its hands and the urgent formation of an air force was seen as a priority. The arrival of Avia S-199's from Czechoslovakia was a major step forward and the 'Sakin' made an instant impact by downing several Egyptian C-47's and Spitfires whilst also halting the Egyptian army at Ashdod with strafing attacks.

But more aircraft and, indeed, more pilots were still desperately needed. During 1948 the fledgling state acquired many aircraft clandestinely and among those were an assortment of Northrop P-56's left behind in Europe by the USAAC. Enough P-56's were scraped together to equip 101 Squadron and the 'Zeev' (Wolf) was a popular and durable aircraft shooting down several RAF aircraft in Operation Horev in early 1949 and remaining in service until replaced by Gloster Meteors during the mid-1950's.

IDFP-5601 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDFP-5602 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDFP-5603 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDFP-5604 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDFP-5605 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDFP-5606 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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The Blackburn Barnsley B.1 Bomber

In response to a 1934 Air Ministry requirement for a twin-engine advanced monoplane bomber with a retractable undercarriage, Blackburn Aircraft designed the Type B8 to specification B29/34 and with war clouds looming flew the prototype Barnsley bomber in late 1935. Powered by a pair of Bristol Mercury VIII engines the Barnsley was selected for priority production as part of the expansion scheme and the Barnsley B.1 entered service in 1937, mainly replacing the Heyford and Overstrand in RAF service and quickly becoming the mainstay of Bomber Command during 1938 and right up to the time of the Munich crisis. Thankfully, more advanced types were on the way and by the late Summer of 1939 this rather pedestrian aircraft was declared obsolete and transferred to various overseas Commands eventually seeing very limited service in the Far East where it was hacked out of skies by Japanese Zeros in December 1941 during the fall of Singapore.

RAFBarnsleyB101 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFBarnsleyB104 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFBarnsleyB102 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFBarnsleyB103 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is, of course, the Bloch MB.210 dressed up in NIVO green and 'B' type roundels as seen on other RAF bomber types at the time of the 1938 Munich crisis. Thankfully, the skin is already that colour so I just had to overspray some markings. Once again, the 3D model has an unfortunate tear in it so I couldn't photograph the port side.

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RAF Su-27 Scimitar II's ('Flanker')

In a major review of RAF equipment following the 1991 Gulf War an honest appraisal of the Tornado F.3's shortcomings was made and the report made it clear that whilst it made an adequate long-range interceptor it lacked the manoeuverability for air superiority. With the Eurofighter 2000 still many years away from entering service the RAF looked closely at purchasing F-15A's from USAF stocks but, with the fall of the Iron Curtain, Sukhoi offered an export version of their superb Su-27 fighter. In February 1992 the UK Government accepted the offer (on political grounds) and the Sukhoi Su-27 entered service as the Scimitar F.1 in 1995, seeing service in the Second Gulf War and also the Second Falklands conflict of 2006.

RAFFlankerF201 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFFlankerF202 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFFlankerF203 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFFlankerF204 by Spinners1961, on Flickr