THE EMPIRES TWILIGHT

[thedarkmaster]

समुद्र कोबरा    Mig 27 Sea Cobra

On the third and last day of the fighting of the 91 disaster, the last Fully operational US carrier battle group was steaming towards the British held island of Diego Garcia with the intention of launching an airstrike, confident that the Commonwealth members in the area ( Ceylon, Burma and India ) did not have the resources to catch them.

Records of this event are sketchy but it seems that India had recently deployed it's new Sea Cobra strike aircraft to the Lakshadweep islands which brought them into range. It is apparant that a co-ordinated strike was planned with a long range attack from a Maritime patrol aircraft based in Kenya, a torpedo and sea skimming missile attack by Indian and Royal Navy submarines with a strike by 12 Sea Cobra's to exploit the confusion.

The exact sequence of events is unclear but it is known that no Sea Cobras returned to base, and that the carrier group sustained a significant amount of damage which led it to become prey to the RN submarine two days latter. No airstrike was launched upon Diego Garcia

The model is based upon pictures taken via US Navy aircraft of the platforms used during the engagement.

[Taiidantomcat]

Nice!! That is a great looking 19!!  Like the Mig-27 as well the nosecone/radome/ sensor looks good in that gray! 

[Sauragnmon]

Love that 27 - she's a sleek little striker bird.  The blue over silver on that 19 looks pretty sexy too, very nice.

[ChernayaAkula]

El pequeño diablo es muy caliente! 

[Captain Canada]

I really like that Panther ! Looks super sharp in those colours !

[sideshowbob9]

  the Little Devil and the Sea Cobra is great! Was it ever recorded what carrier got deep sixed?

[thedarkmaster]

Records indicate that it was the USS Forestall, given a reprieve from being paid off during 1991   

[thedarkmaster]

Indonesian navy YAK36

Back story on this to follow with a Royal Navy aircraft.

I've put it on as it has my first attempt at my own decals.



























the decals came out better than i thought and i managed to get over 130 on a sheet !!

[JayBee]

"the decals came out better than i thought and i managed to get over 130 on a sheet !!"

Tim,
What are you planning to build???

[thedarkmaster]

Tim,
What are you planning to build???

Done a lot of the small commonwealth islands, also update, Malta, Singapore, Papua new guinea, and some i couldn't get my hands on like Ceylon and Tonga 

The new Commonwealth smaller members and friends mainly about 12 per aircraft so i can make mistakes.

[thedarkmaster]

The Curious tale of Belize and Guatamala

The night was drawing in, in the village of Sha'ar HaGolan and the patrol of the Royal Belize Rifles ( part of the new commonwealth force in israel ) wastaking up it's positions for the night.  Sha'ar was a regular stop on the patrol route and was popular with the 35 man unit, It was a feeling that was recipricated by the villages for the soldier were polite , freindly and above all a long way from home.

As the Belezian soldiers settled down to the night routine other eyes were watching from nearby, these eyes were not friendly and they belonged to over 300 Hamas militia with orders to attack Sha'ar HaGolan and slaughter it's inhabitants to show the world that the New Commonwealth could not protect it's friends.

Though the night that followed with it's heights of bravery and moments ot total despair is to well known for my littery talents to give it justice, i would suggest anyone whom wishes to know more should watch the film " HAMAS " which is agreed by all the survivors, to be the best representation of the story ever told.

As the sun rose the next morning the last few soldiers and militia were concentrated around the school to protect the women and children. The villge was ablaze and help was on it's way, the radio operater had , whilst he lived, broadcast calls for help to all whom could hear and now a nurse was continuing this duty as she had promised him in his last moments.

Help was on it's way and help from a source that neither defender or attacker thought possible. Through the morning mist and smoke tanks and apc's appeared, not in Israeli sand but Jordainian cammo! The commander of the Jordainian forces just across the border had listened all night he knew the state the defenders were in and he decided that the honour of his King would not stand to have children killed and so he had come to put his men at the disposal of the defenders.

The battle was effectivly over, Hamas was routed and the Relieving Israeli forces found 6 soldiers from belize alive and the Royal Jordainian army protecting it's citizens. This moment marks the begining of the peace process for the two countries , but thats another story.

Though Israel was in shock it was also a country which wished to honour it's heroes and it consideered every one of those soldiers alive or dead a hero. When the bodies of the soldiers were put aboard a Royal Navy ship at the port of Haifa the entire city came to a halt with an estimated 50,000 people in the streets to wish them well on their final journey.

Belize now became a topic of aid for Israel, with collections made in the name of the dead soldiers for new schools, hospitals and roads. A small training wing for the Belize defence force was set up to train NCO's and officer cadets, and the small country became overnight the new tourist destination of choice for the Israeli chattering class, stimulating the economy.

As things started to look up for Belize there was just one problem, and that problem was like a 400lb Gorilla, it was Guatamala. Guatamala had never recognised the existance or the country and claimed every inch of it as it's own.

Well, Guatamala had a plan, one that it had studied and changed as the years went by one it was going to trynow. It started with articles in the press critisising Belize and calling for it's return. Militarily Guta mala was strong compared to belize but it realised that any help from it's commonwealth friends was going to come by air and it was on aquisitions of aircraft that guatamala concentrated.

The exact nature of the deal with Cuba which brought the SU25's to Guatamala is unknown, but Cuban volunteers flew 12 aircraft into the San Cristobella airbase and began to work up the squadron to operational readiness.

In Israel Mossad had been busy and they had learnet the full plan of Guatamala, they knew the dates they knew the times and they knew the locations of the proposed " invasion " of Belize. One of the senior agents on the case had a brother from Sha'ar HaGolan and he told him the news in "confidence", knowing he would pass it on.

Sha'ar HaGolan, swung it's might behind the plan, phone calls were made. One man had a cousin and he arranged a meeting with the defence minister and prenier. In this meeting a friend of the village talked about honour and debt and repayments, he banged his hand on the table and played his trump card.......in walked two grey haired old ladies whom told their grandsons that they would support Belize or they would not be welcome in the family anymore.
































The plan was swung into action, a ship was leased from New York ( another cousin of a resident) and it called at Haifa at night and loaded 15 hevily shrouded containers. The shedule was tight to beat the Guatamalan deadline. By morning the ship was gone.

The ship next appeared 10 miles from Belize city next two a floating crane and two barges covered over with steel plate. That night all the residents of belize could see, if they chose to look ,was the crane unloading these containers onto the barges and a stream of oil company helicopters lifting them from there and away into the dark.

It was the day before the invasion of Guatamala and base commander Hose del a Cruz was on the flightline, he was a happy man. Never in his life did he think that guatamala would have an aircraft like this and never did he think it would be used. Then his happy thought were shattered by the wail of the air raid siren, in shock he turned to see roaring in from the east two dark green delta shapes. He roared to his aide for binoculars and turned to study the aircraft above him, now the're were 4 of them. They were Mirages ( he's wrong there Nesher's ) and they carried that abortion of a roundel that Belize claimed for itself.

As he entered his command centre an aggitated major gave him a message straight from the president telling him to stand down, it seams that the govenments of the New commonwealth and Israel had got wind of the plan and were threatening war, a war Guatamala couldn't win. In shock he realised the invasion was off.


































At the time Guatamala didn't know it but it was all a bluff, no Commonwealth forces could reah them in less than 72 hours and the Neshers supplied by Israel had no weapons no avionics and not enough fuel for more thah a few flights.........but what you don't know doesn't hurt you.


The Neshers served with the Belize defence force until the 91 disaster but the Sukhois went home to the USSR via Cuba.

[thedarkmaster]

It's going to be a year since i started this thread in 5 days and i have 78 aircraft finished....I'm going to try for 80 in the year, so two kits in five days   

[Brian da Basher]

78 models completed in a year is an impressive tally indeed.

Here's hoping you make it 80!

Brian da Basher

[Kerrillc]

Go for it! 80 in a year!

Wonderful whiffs and the back stories are great!

Heartiest congratulations!

Kerrill

[thedarkmaster]

Dolpin 1 of the Royal Anguillan Auxillary Air Force

Anguilla (pronounced /æŋˈɡwɪlə/ ang-GWIL-ə) is a British overseas territory in the Caribbean, one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles. It consists of the main island of Anguilla itself, approximately 26 km (16 mi) long by 5 km (3.1 mi) wide at its widest point

The island was administered by England, and later the United Kingdom, until the early nineteenth century when – against the wishes of the inhabitants – it was incorporated into a single British dependency along with Saint Kitts and Nevis. After two rebellions in 1967 and 1969 and a brief period as a self-declared independent republic, British rule was fully restored in July, 1971. Anguilla became a separate British dependency in 1980.

Dolphin 1 is the local police and armed forces aircraft, donated and maintained by a local milionaire. It was procured in kit form by the milionaire at a sale on an ex Russian airbase as a project for his son, but as the young man now resides in a Prison in the US on drugs charges it has been donated to other more useful persuits.



























Anguilla does exist as stated but has no armed forces, the roundel is made up, but is based upon the Anguillan flag.
The aircraft is an A-model kit the name of which escapes me right now but it was the only flyingboat / amphibean i had.
thats 79 so still on track, kit 80 is made just needs painting......fingers crossed.