Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

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McDonnell F-4B(UK) Phantom FG.1 - 700P Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1966

By 1961 it was inescapable that McDonnell's F4H-1 Phantom was fast becoming the standard against which all other fighters would be judged a fact quickly realised by the Royal Navy who were seeking a replacement for the De Havilland Sea Vixen in the fleet defence role. Lord Mountbatten pushed hard for a minimum change version of the F-4B and stone-walled any attempts to force the P.1154 upon the senior service. In March 1962 the UK Government cancelled the P.1154 and announced that 100 McDonnell F-4B's would be purchased for the Royal Navy for delivery during 1965 and 1966 and also announcing extensive refit plans for both HMS Ark Royal and HMS Eagle to keep them in service until 1975.

Despite the desire for a minimum change version some changes were necessary. The short 54 foot decklift length of the Royal Navy's carriers meant that the radar and radome had to be designed to swing round 180^o and an extra-extensible nose wheel leg had to be incorporated to increase the nose-up angle to compensate for the less powerful catapults on the British carriers. However, Mountbatten and the Admiralty resisted all calls to adopt the promising Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engine and this undoubtedly helped in McDonnell getting the first F-4B(UK) into the air on June 26th, 1964 with deliveries to the specially formed 700P Naval Air Squadron commencing early in 1965 and eventually equipping four front-line squadrons as the Phantom FG.1. During 1972 and 1973 all surviving Phantom FG.1's were retro-fitted with the Westinghouse AWG-10 pulse-doppler radar and the type remained in service until 1984 seeing service in the 1982 Falklands conflict.

RNF-4BPHANTOM01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNF-4BPHANTOM02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNF-4BPHANTOM03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNF-4BPHANTOM04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNF-4BPHANTOM05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

About 30 years or so ago this is one I actually built, albeit with 892NAS markings (left over from my Matchbox F-4M) on an Esci F-4B. Happy days!

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McDonnell F-4B(UK) - 893 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1966

RNF-4BPHANTOM06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNF-4BPHANTOM07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNF-4BPHANTOM08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNF-4BPHANTOM09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I'm sticking with a stock Third Wire USN Carrier here but a third party HMS Ark Royal is available for FAA aficionados. Nice to see what 893's Sea Vixen replacement would have looked like!

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McDonnell Douglas Phantom FG.1B - 899 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1985

RNF-4BPHANTOM10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNF-4BPHANTOM11 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNF-4BPHANTOM12 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNF-4BPHANTOM13 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I'll skip over the 'Operation Corporate' scheme for now but will revisit the J79 powered British Phantoms at another time. In case my backstory leads gives the impression that I'm anti-Spey then, rest assured, I'm not but it is sobering to think that the RAF's F-4M's were coming in at 2.5 times the cost of the USAF's contemporary F-4D but obviously not all of that extra cost was engine related. Being a teenager in the 70's I loved the British Phantoms and saw a No.43 Phantom at RAF Alconbury that was probably the best solo display I've seen. When I think about it, I can still feel the ground rumbling...

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Boeing-Saab JAS 40A (F-32A) - F21, Flygvapnet, 2011

FLYGVAPNETF-32A01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETF-32A02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETF-32A03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETF-32A04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETF-32A05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETF-32A06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Another paper project brought to life by talented 3D modeler 'Cocas' over at Combat Ace. This is his take on an early Boeing 'Joint Strike Fighter' submission and is apparently based on a bagera3005 drawing and it comes with a basic grey USMC skin but I fancied dressing it up in Flygvapnet splinter camo.

[SPINNERS]

BAe Sea Kestrel FRS.1 - 899 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 2002

The cancellation of the proposed CVA-01 in 1966 left the Royal Navy with no replacements in sight for both HMS Eagle and HMS Ark Royal and thus began a slow and painful run down in the Fleet Air Arm's fixed-wing capability. But in April 1973 the Admiralty were given a glimmer of hope by being allowed to procure three 'anti-submarine warfare' carriers of the Invincible class. Whilst primarily designed to take large numbers of medium sized ASW helicopters the Admiralty allowed for the deployment of the V/STOL Harrier and quickly followed up the order for the carriers with an initial order for 24 Sea Harriers (later increased to 34).

Entering service in 1978 (but not declared operational until 1981) the small Sea Harrier force performed remarkably well in the 1982 Falklands Conflict and with confidence high the Admiralty immediately planned for the attrition replacement of the six Sea Harriers lost, the speedy introduction of an improved version and also the design and development of a supersonic V/STOL successor. The first two elements of this plan were immediately approved but, in January 1983, the Admiralty were informed that the Sea Harrier replacement would have to be part of the RAF's Air Staff Target 403 (AST403) essentially for a planned successor for the Jaguar and Harrier in RAF service.

During this time the British Aerospace (BAe) design team at Kingston (formerly the Hawker design team) had been sketching advanced V/STOL designs to meet AST 403 and could see that the involvement of the Royal Navy would lead to a larger UK programme and also open up a larger export market for an aircraft designed for land-based and carrier-based use. By March 1983 the Kingston design team had dusted off their P.1214 project and offered several versions to the UK Ministry of Defence. The build-up to the 1983 British General Election saw the Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher, make capital of the UK's victory in the previous year's Falklands War and on the promise of 'strong defence' announced the decision to procure a successor to the Sea Harrier on June 2nd, 1983 with an order for 50 P.1214's for the Fleet Air Arm and a further 150 P.1214's for the RAF with initial deliveries going to the Royal Navy. Development moved smoothly and, as a nod towards the P.1214's lineage, the BAe design team renamed the aircraft Kestrel II.

Entering service in May 1988 with the newly reformed 892 Naval Air Squadron the Sea Kestrel FRS.1 served with four frontline Fleet Air Arm squadrons seeing service in both Gulf Wars and also the Second Falklands War of 2002.

RNSEAKESTRELFRS101 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNSEAKESTRELFRS102 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNSEAKESTRELFRS103 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNSEAKESTRELFRS104 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNSEAKESTRELFRS105 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The P.1214 is yet another creation by 3D modeller 'Cocas' (from Portugal) and I've been lucky enough to have been given the 'Kestrel' to play with (including a basic template) so I've plumped for a simple FAA EDSG scheme with 899NAS markings, I guess because the fist shape matches the fin and is so reminiscent of their Sea Vixens.

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RNSEAKESTRELFRS106 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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BAe Sea Kestrel FRS.1 - 893 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1988

RNSEAKESTRELFRS108 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNSEAKESTRELFRS109 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNSEAKESTRELFRS110 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Blackburn Buccaneer S.2 - No.139 Squadron, English Air Force, 1967

ENGLANDBUCCANEERS201 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ENGLANDBUCCANEERS202 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I did mean to do something for St. Georges Day but real life is getting firmly in the way of things at the moment so I've just created a quick English Air Force Buccaneer with pale V-Bomber roundels. The backstory would start something like this...

England's world cup win of 1966 and the subsequent rubbing of Scottish noses into the proverbial encouraged Scotland to claim independence from the rest of the United Kingdom...

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BAe Sea Kestrel FRS.1 - 766 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1992

RNSEAKESTRELFRS111 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've been having a lot of fun with the Kestrel and especially getting it to VTOL as the transition is very tricky. The game is very accurate in terms of thrust against weight but STOL take-offs are not too bad and VL's are doable but not always exactly where you want to land!

RNSEAKESTRELFRS112 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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McDonnell Douglas F/A-19C - VMFA-333 'Shamrocks', United States Marine Corps, 1991

USMCKESTREL01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USMCKESTREL02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USMCKESTREL03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Everyone knows that the real F-19 was made by Italeri  but what if McDonnell Douglas picked up where BAe left off?

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Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer Mk.52 (A36 'Banan') - F21, Flygvapnet, 1970

FLYGVAPNETBUCCANEER01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETBUCCANEER02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETBUCCANEER03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETBUCCANEER04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETBUCCANEER05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETBUCCANEER06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer Mk.51 - HävLLv 21, Ilmavoimat, 1973

ILMAVOIMATBUCCANEER01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATBUCCANEER02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATBUCCANEER03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATBUCCANEER04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATBUCCANEER05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

With no Tornado GR.4 replacement in sight (I don't do UCAV) isn't it about time the RAF asked for the Buccaneer to be put back into production? 

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Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer Mk.52 - HävLLv 31, Ilmavoimat, 1972

ILMAVOIMATBUCCANEER06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATBUCCANEER07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATBUCCANEER08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATBUCCANEER09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATBUCCANEER10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr


Only possible due to the superb templates that are available for this iconic British aircraft.

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Hawker Siddeley A-11A Buccaneer - VMA-231, United States Marine Corps, 1971

USMCA-11ABUCCANEER01d by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USMCA-11ABUCCANEER02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USMCA-11ABUCCANEER04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USMCA-11ABUCCANEER05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USMCA-11ABUCCANEER06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Basically, the early RAF scheme with USMC markings and a black radome added. Simples!

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BAC Boreas Mk.51 - 302nd Hikotai, Japan Air Self Defense Force, 1972

JASDFP4501 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

JASDFP4502 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A bit of a work in progress this one. 'Cocas' (of Kestrel fame) must be reading Tony Buttler's 'British Secret Projects' book at the moment as he's followed up his P.1214 Kestrel with the earlier BAC P.45 and this is my take on an export version for Japan. With a superb TSR.2 already available and a fantastic-looking Hawker P.1121 imminent then it's a great time for British 'what if' fans at the moment!