A new Falklands conflict? An ongoing project.

[Ed S]

It looks pretty good.  Good camo pattern.

Ed

[John Howling Mouse]

It looks pretty good.  Good camo pattern.

Ed

Ditto that!   

[Big Bird]

Part 4 of the story

Retaliation

Carlos Deluna had joined the navy in 1985 and after learning to fly had been posted to the naval exploration squadron where he converted to and started learning the ropes of the P3 Orions. Now he was the deputy squadron commander and the most experienced pilot. Because of this he had been 'selected' for the job of restoring "the honour of the nation" as he superiors had put it.
Carlos never joined the Navy to fight, his plan was to learn to fly, convert to multi engine and then after a few years in his logbook to leave and sign up with an airline. However he found he enjoyed his life in the navy and the fishery surveillance, ice monitoring and other scientific missions he got to fly on. So he stayed and carved himself a nice cushy job. Now here he was flying into a war zone, his aircraft hastily converted to carry and fire Harpoon anti shipping missiles. The conversion hadn't taken long as the aircraft had been supplied with harpoon fitment, but over the years it had not been used and scientific equipment installed.
Carlos spoke to his navigator Jaun "As soon at were 180 miles from the target let the tactical guys know".
"Okay boss" came the reply.
"Tactical, as soon as the navigator lets you know were at maximin range of the weapons launch four blind, let the on board radar do the work, we don't want to be in range of their fighter cover for any longer than we need to".
"Roger sir".

At the same time Jane Simpson was flying her Huey A1H out to the Sunset 1 production platform. A routine run for her, spare parts and the mail out and return mail back. The Sunset 1 platform was at the northern most end of the oil fields and close enough to the mainland for Jane to get to in the Huey. The Huey was a relic from the past that had been retired from service on the islands in the 80's Jane and her husband, Ian had come to the island to buy and strip the Huey down and take it back to England where they planned to see if they could restore it and put it on the airshow circuit. After a few weeks on the islands and having successfully purchased the Huey Ian and Jane decided they like the place and the pace of life and decided to make the Falklands their home.
Over the years they had slowly restored the Huey and planned to start a service on the islands. But then the oil boom started and they found themselves flying people and parts out the resupply ships and rigs. They was making money and living in a place they both loved.
With the coming of the conflict Jane and Ian had been given the rank of Flight Lieutenants in the fledgling ADF This meant that if push come to shove they would be entitled to fly support missions in the Huey. The Huey also now supported the new ADF roundels on its hastily painted fuselage and had the tactical callsign of Hopper 3.
As Jane approached the Sunset 1 platform having been cleared into the helipad she caught sight of a fast moving object out to the west, before she had time to even blink the object had crossed her nose and slammed into the rigs superstructure with a brilliant explosion and fireball. The shock wave hit the Huey and it 'bucked' wildly before Jane regained control. After checking all her instruments to make sure that all was okay with the Huey she looked back to the rig, it was on fire and a big plume of smoke was issuing from the area to the left of the helipad. "Jesus" Jane said to herself not quite believing what she was looking at.
"Sunset 1 platform, this is Hopper 3" Jane shouted over the radio, she got no reply and tried again, nothing. Jane switched to the AWACs frequency on the second VHF radio "Mayday Mayday Mayday, this is Hopper 3"
"Hopper 3 this is Spiker 1"
"Spiker 1 I'm half a mile short of the Sunset 1 platform and there's been an explosion, I think the rigs been hit by a missile, I can't raise them on VHF"
"Roger that Hopper 3 have you got enough fuel to stay in the area, we are inbound to you and will be there in 20 minutes"
"Yes Spiker 1I have enough fuel for 30 minutes on station, longer if I divert to Sunset 2"
" Roger Hopper 3, keep us informed we'll be with you soon".

[sotoolslinger]

I think you did an excellent job  Considering what a putty sucker this kit was it turned out really cool.  Love that Paintjob