Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[The Wooksta!]

NOT AGAIN!

I really want to like the Firebrands but yet again, someone insists on putting rockets and bombs together as a warload.  It's something the RAF DID NOT DO.  The methods are different in delivery and would NEVER be carried on the same aircraft.

[SPINNERS]

NOT AGAIN!

I really want to like the Firebrands but yet again, someone insists on putting rockets and bombs together as a warload.  It's something the RAF DID NOT DO.  The methods are different in delivery and would NEVER be carried on the same aircraft.

Both Brigands and Hornets carried mixed loads of rockets and bombs during Firedog. 'British Combat Aircraft in Action since 1945' by David Oliver Page 24 and Page 26 shows this.

' A Pictorial History of the Royal Air Force Volume Three 1945-1969' by John W.R. Taylor and Philip J.R. Moyes also shows both types with mixed loads of rockets and bombs and for good measure states "Both types could carry mixed loads of rockets and bombs".

Two excerpts from The Brigand Boys;

The first Brigand B1 to carry out an airstrike in Malaya took place on December 19th 1949 crewed by No: 45 Sqdn flight commander Flt/Lt. Dalton Golding and Sig/Nav .Peter Weston, take off was 0840 hours . The weapon load consisted of 2 x 1000 lb bombs under the fuselage , 1 x 500lb bomb under each wing outboard of the engines, three rockets hung beneath the wings and 800 rounds of 20mm ammo to serve the four cannons. They were accompanied by four Beaufighters also of 45 Sqdn to carry out a strike in the jungle area west of Kluang in Malaya. The attack went as planned and the aircraft returned to base (RAF Tengah) safely.

Also;

On 3rd July, 1950 I went on my first air-strike, this trip with the C.O. in RH816, using a target map showing mainly contours, spot heights, villages etc. with the target marked.  Usually all you could see was dense jungle and getting to the target consisted of concentrated map reading.  Our Brigand carried 2 x 1000lb bombs under the fuselage. 1-500lb bomb under each wing and 6 - 60lb rockets.  After doing our bombing runs we fired the rockets in salvo of two's finishing up by strafing the area with  cannon fire.  The Flight lasted two hours and apart from seeing the bomb bursts  and the rocket trails nothing else could be seen and the jungle returned to its lush, dense self as we headed back to base.

And also;

https://www.jets-are-for-kids.ch/pdf/dehavilland_hornet_FlyPast_07-2019.pdf

A Hornet is rearmed with a typical load during Malayan operations – a single 500lb bomb and two rockets under each wing. Along with the four internal 20mm cannon, this gave the pilot versatility when engaging targets.

In addition to the internal cannon, the usual war load included a 500lb bomb and two 60lb rockets under each wing, which gave pilots options when a target presented itself.

[SPINNERS]

RAF FIREBRAND FB3.14 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

Bell Airabonita Mk.I - 804 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1941

RN AIRABONITA 1.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN AIRABONITA 1.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN AIRABONITA 1.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN AIRABONITA 1.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN AIRABONITA 1.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN AIRABONITA 1.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN AIRABONITA 1.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN AIRABONITA 1.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Since my big data loss in 2016 when I lost all my templates and a ton of 'what ifs' I've not done much skinning from scratch but I've always liked the P-39 Airacobra (thanks to Airfix!) and this Airabonita was posted by the DAT boys a few years ago as a 'beta' with a USN skin so, yesterday and today, I've skinned it from scratch using 'temperate sea scheme' colours from a Martlet profile (see below) showing a sky fuselage band and non-standard roundels (not for anyone to reply with CAPS) and a reference that it was defending Orkney. It's not quite finished but good enough to post. The stock Iceland terrain stands in for Orkney.

[SPINNERS]

Bell Airabonita Mk.I - 888 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1942

RN AIRABONITA 1.09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN AIRABONITA 1.10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN AIRABONITA 1.11 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN AIRABONITA 1.14 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN AIRABONITA 1.13 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN AIRABONITA 1.12 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've been doing a bit more work on this skin and even tried a bit of bump mapping (adds depth to panel lines) but I'm not totally sure I've grasped the technique no matter how many GIMP tutorials I watch on YouTube. Anyway, I'm not sure what carrier this was now (ye olde Eagle?) but 888 NAS is one of the squadrons used by Airfix in their Martlet kit.

[SPINNERS]

Lockheed P-38G Lightning - OK Flight, Aeronautica Militar, 1944

PoAF P-38G LIGHTNING.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PoAF P-38G LIGHTNING.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PoAF P-38G LIGHTNING.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PoAF P-38G LIGHTNING.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PoAF P-38G LIGHTNING.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A revamped P-38G and a P-38J was released by the DAT boys recently and I've used the former to give the Portuguese Aeronautica Militar the 'fork-tailed devil' but only the NMF P-38G's are what if's as the uppermost piccie shows the solitary P-38G that they did operate from November 1942 until it was scrapped in 1944. Neutral Portugal interned several allied aircraft but the first P-38 to land in Portugal soon escaped them when the quick-thinking USAAF pilot tricked his captors into refuelling his plane and offered to give the Portuguese ferry pilot tuition in how to fly the P-38. Whilst sat in the cockpit a second P-38G came in to land causing a distraction so the pilot opened up the throttles shaking the hapless ferry pilot off the wing, got airborne and landed on Gibraltar some 400 miles later!

The second P-38G to land was interned and was operated by the Aeronautica Militar but it suffered from a shortage of spares and chronic fuel leaks from the wings eventually traced to a higher benzene content in the fuel used by the Aeronautica Militar causing deterioration of rubber and sealants used in the fuel system (bladder tanks, fuel pump seals, carburettor membranes, etc.).

[SPINNERS]

OGMA Dragão - OK Flight, Aeronautica Militar, 1942

At the outbreak of World War Two in September 1939 the Portuguese 'Estado Novo' Government, led by Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar, immediately announced that whilst the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance of 1373 remained intact Salazar considered that Portugal was free to remain neutral in the war as the UK Government had not sought Portuguese assistance. On September 5th, the British Government confirmed their understanding of Salazar's announcement but regretfully explained that they were no longer able to supply the Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft previously ordered by Portugal. With most of their Gloster Gladiators having been transferred to the Azores the Aeronáutica Militar had literally a handful of obsolete fighter aircraft with which to defend the Portuguese mainland.

In a speech to the Portuguese parliament on September 11th 1939, Salazar announced that Portugal would design, manufacture and deploy it's own indigenous fighter aircraft further announcing that Oficinas Gerais de Material Aeronáutico (OGMA) already had a design on the drawing board at their factory at Alverca do Ribatejo that would be urgently expanded to accommodate the production of the new fighter - soon to named as the OGMA Dragão.

OGMA's design was a fairly conventional low-wing monoplane featuring all-metal construction but with fabric-covered control surfaces typical of the era. The planned powerplant was the Bristol Taurus III radial engine but as OGMA were nervous about getting these engines from the UK they made an early decision to switch to the Pratt & Whitney R-1830-17 Twin Wasp 14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine. Whilst lacking cockpit armour and self-sealing fuel tanks the Dragão was well armed with four Browning .50 caliber machine guns all firing through the propeller arc. Development moved swiftly and by March 1940 the Dragão prototype was taking shape at the OGMA factory but the first flight was delayed due to persistent hydraulic problems with the undercarriage retraction. Finally, on August 15th 1940, Paulo Coluna (OGMA's chief test pilot) took off from Alverca do Ribatejo for a successful 40-minute maiden flight.

Entering service in February 1941 the Dragão remained in production until 1944 and it's low wing loading of 26.9 lb/ft2 gave it outstanding turning performance with relatively light controls even at close to maximum speed but the low power was a serious handicap at all altitudes with poor acceleration and a low top speed of 329mph.

PoAF DRAGAO.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PoAF DRAGAO.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PoAF DRAGAO.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PoAF DRAGAO.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PoAF DRAGAO.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PoAF DRAGAO.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PoAF DRAGAO.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The VL Myrsky by 'veltro2k' has been given a new skin and Portuguese markings to make the fictional OGMA Dragão (Dragon).

[SPINNERS]

Mitsubishi G4M1-11 'Betty' - 1st Bomber Regiment, Parani Army Air Force, 1943

Thought to be outside the range of Parani aircraft, the Dhimari city of Shaqaz was heavily bombed during May 1943 by Mitsubishi G4M1's of the Parani Army Air Force. This switch of tactics by the Parani Army Air Force, who had normally operated in support of the Parani Army over the immediate battlefield, led to the deployment of Dhimari P-66 Vanguards to northern areas of Dhimar - further weakening the Royal Dhimari Air Force in their desperate attempts to defend the Mazadran Oil Fields and the Valley of Kerman in the summer of 1943.

PARAN G4M1-11 BETTY.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PARAN G4M1-11 BETTY.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PARAN G4M1-11 BETTY.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PARAN G4M1-11 BETTY.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PARAN G4M1-11 BETTY.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PARAN G4M1-11 BETTY.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PARAN G4M1-11 BETTY.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PARAN G4M1-11 BETTY.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A new 'Betty' was released yesterday by the DAT group with a 3D model by 'veltro2k'. I've taken one of the IJN skins from it and overpainted the hinomaru with my WW2 Parani roundel and used game generated arabic numbers on the fin - a quick and easy way of creating another adversary aircraft.

[SPINNERS]

Douglas B-42A Mixmaster - 874th BS, 498th BG, 73rd BW, United States Army Air Force, 1946

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.11 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.12 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

First Mixmaster skin is done but I need to do another 10 nose arts to join the 8 already done. Next skin will be something darker and over Korea...

[SPINNERS]

Douglas B-42C Mixmaster - 37th BS, 17th BG, United States Air Force, 1950

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.15 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.16 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.20 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.23 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.17 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.21 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.18 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.19 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

For my USAAF Mixmaster I used a B-29 unit but for my USAF 'night' Mixmaster I've used a B-26 unit (the other B-26) from Korea and having made the template from scratch the black skin was a doddle but the decals are a nightmare as I need 74 for a full squadron of 18 aircraft... and they're not all done yet. In particular, the nose art is slowing me down as on a black background you need them perfect as bit's of white or any light colour on the perimeter look horrible. Anyway, I might take a break from the Mixmaster before coming back to do some more 'what if' B-42's.

[SPINNERS]

Douglas B-42A Mixmaster - 525th BS, 379th BG, United States Army Air Force, 1946

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.24 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.25 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF B-42 MIXMASTER.26 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Just a couple of shots of an ETO Mixmaster - not quite finished yet. As the fuselage behind the wing was getting a bit cramped I've had to put the letter code on the lower fin so had to make another 18 in black. I didn't want to waste the white letters I'd already made so have put one on the nose as well.

[SPINNERS]

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23SMT "Fishstick-H" - Soviet Air Force, 1976

MiG-23-Ye-8 FISHSTICK-H.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MiG-23-Ye-8 FISHSTICK-H.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MiG-23-Ye-8 FISHSTICK-H.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MiG-23-Ye-8 FISHSTICK-H.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MiG-23-Ye-8 FISHSTICK-H.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MiG-23-Ye-8 FISHSTICK-H.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The Ye-8 "Fishstick" was released a while back and I did promise to come back to it but my memory was well and truly jogged today by the release of a five aircraft anthology by 'logan4' (and team) over at Combat Ace covering the C, D, F, G and H models. I've gone straight to the most advanced - the "Fishstick-H" with the Concorde wing shape! As it was originally planned to supplement and replace the MiG-21 I'm using the MiG-23 designation and there's not really any scope to do otherwise is there? No input from me except taking the screen shots.

[SPINNERS]

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23MF "Fishstick-C" - Mongolian Air Force, 1971

MONGOLIA MiG-23-Ye-8 FISHSTICK-C.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MONGOLIA MiG-23-Ye-8 FISHSTICK-C.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MONGOLIA MiG-23-Ye-8 FISHSTICK-C.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MONGOLIA MiG-23-Ye-8 FISHSTICK-C.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MONGOLIA MiG-23-Ye-8 FISHSTICK-C.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MONGOLIA MiG-23-Ye-8 FISHSTICK-C.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MONGOLIA MiG-23-Ye-8 FISHSTICK-C.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Back in 2011 I released a real world Mongolian MiG-21PFM over at Combat Ace and thought I'd try to create a quick Mongolian Fishstick by using those decals on the "C" version. The B-52D's were selected as my target but I was hoping they'd be at high altitude as they look a bit of place (like when they 'attacked' the Port Talbot steelworks in 1977 alongside Vulcans). BTW the larger missile is a fictional 'Awol' missile that comes in infra-red heat seeking and semi-active guided versions. Sweet!

[SPINNERS]

Douglas Doncaster B.1 - No.42 Squadron, RAF South East Asia Command, 1946

RAF B-42A MIXMASTER.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF B-42A MIXMASTER.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF B-42A MIXMASTER.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF B-42A MIXMASTER.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF B-42A MIXMASTER.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF B-42A MIXMASTER.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF B-42A MIXMASTER.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Well, it was either Doncaster or Darlington 

No.42 squadron operated Blenheims in Burma for a while in 1943 before  switching to Hurricanes at the end of the year but I've kept them as a bomber unit. I'll try a 'Tiger Force' Mixmaster in the near future but I need to knuckle down tomorrow and finish off the USAAF/USAF skins and decals and get it released over at Combat Ace.

[SPINNERS]

SEPECAT Jaguar FGR.3's - No.45 and No.58 Squadrons, RAF Strike Command, 1988

In 1974 a cancelled export order for 35 Jaguar Internationals left the SEPECAT consortium with a headache as many 'long lead' items had already been ordered and assembly was already underway on the first 12 airframes. At this time the RAF were keen to order more Jaguars to form a second wing of No.38 Group, RAF Strike Command and, with the delays in the Tornado production programme meaning a shortage of work at Warton, BAC pushed the Labour government into accepting a deal for all 35 aircraft. Consideration was given to standardising the aircraft to match the RAF's GR.1 force but the uprated Adour engines and different avionics saw the aircraft designated Jaguar FGR.3.

Entering service in late 1976 the Jaguar FGR.3's served with just two squadrons, No.45 and No.58 who had previously operated the Hunter F.6 and FGA.9 to provide a pool of ground-attack pilots for the Jaguar force. The FGR.3's uprated Adour engines and early introduction of overwing missile rails made them something of an elite element in the RAF's Jaguar force and they were deployed to many hot-spots around the world until their somewhat premature retirement in 2001.

RAF JAGUAR FGR3.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF JAGUAR FGR3.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF JAGUAR FGR3.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF JAGUAR FGR3.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF JAGUAR FGR3.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF JAGUAR FGR3.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF JAGUAR FGR3.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A bit of a repeat this one but now including a much better skin by 'sundowner' and I've added a sharkmouth! I've been asked to do a No.112 Squadron desert Jaguar so needed to do a sharkmouth decal so thought I'd test it out on this first.