THE EMPIRES TWILIGHT

[thedarkmaster]

Armstrong Whitworth Agni MK9 , Bombardment of Port Said 1956

Following the British aquasition of many of Germany's top scienist by group Captain Dashwood and his team at the end of the war development of various projects continued, one of which was the Agni ( Hindu god of fire ) series of missiles based upon the quite simple V1 guided missile.

Progressing through various marques and increasing with complexity with each redesign until by the time of the Suez conflict the missile was the mk9, with radio and gyroscopic control it was at the time accurate to within 185 yds had a range of over 350 miles and a usable payload of over 1 tonne in either high explosive or gas/chemical warheads.

Used operationally against the facilities and possible defences of Port Said as well as airfields at Ishmalia, Abu Sueir and Fayid to name a few. Credited with numerous aircraft kills on the ground it also acheived the dubious distinction of killing the most civillians with one missile coming down due to AA damage on a district of Port Said killing over 128 and wounding more than 300.

Not used again after the initial bombardment the missiles stayed in service for many years until finally being expended as live targets for RAuxAF squadrons during summer camps in the middle 1970's.


























last photo for scale.


managed to get this one by Mrs Darkmaster this weekend     


a/c 124

[Cliffy B]

Sweet little V-1 bombardment missile man!  Details on that Skyraider please!!!!

[thedarkmaster]

Details on that Skyraider please!!!!

She's back on page 33 mate

[thedarkmaster]

Anti flash white........it's back,............. new aircraft soon       

[thedarkmaster]

Shenyang H7a1 ( lisence produced Mirage IV ) Peoples liberation Army Air Force , north of Beijing 1991

Part of the Great French weapons deal with the Red Chinease of 1979 included the licence to produce  an austere version of the mirage IV bomber, produced by the Shenyang factory and given the H ( bomber ) 7 designation it also took the name of winter falcon amongest the Chinease military.

Carrying home produced nuclear free fall weapons the H7 operated along the Northern border with the Soviet union until 1989 when the H7a1 version appered in Chinease service with improved terrain following radar, uprated engines and the new JQ9 stand off nuclear Missile, with a 175 km range. Vastly improving the attack envelope of the H7 and increasing the headache of Soviet generals over the border.

Reports from both sides of the border are hard to comr by, and the full war service of the H7 has never been confirmed but it can be asumed that most of the strikes on Soviet cities in the Far East came from H7's as no other aircraft had the range or capability to carry out these missions and many of the tactical strikes that effectivly stopped the soviet thrusts into northern china must have come from this aircraft as it was one of the few able to operate in such a hostile air defence enviroment.

post war a few H7's were in service with the warlord ststes that emerged from the ashes od China but within 5 years none were airworthy due to the lack of trained aircrew and maintainance facilities and at this time not a single airframe is known to have survived to the present day.














































A/C 125

[MiB]

I love chinese Mirage IV!!!!!
Good for cold war. I imagine a WW3 in the '70s

[beowulf]

that just looks right somehow 


who makes the kit?

[thedarkmaster]

who makes the kit?

It's an old 1/72 heller kit mate

[sideshowbob9]

The H7 is fantastic! 

[Taiidantomcat]

How does he do it folks!? its a beauty 

[Sauragnmon]

Sheer impressive awesome, man.  Love the look of this H7 - the Mirage IV lends itself well to the clean PLAAF white scheme.

[NARSES2]

That H7 reminds me of an Aylsbury Duck 

I like them as well 

[Captain Canada]

Love the little buzzbomb....she looks great in those colours ! And the Mirage ?

[sotoolslinger]

Pretty ,pretty

[Weaver]

The H7 and the Agni are both excellent - nice one!