Some ideas for a maritime patrol B-57 Canberra

chrisonord · April 02, 2009, 04:07:54 PM

Hi Kids

I have just acquired an airfix RB-57, and I want to make it into a maritime patrol bird for my Honduras air force. Seen as they only have a jet powered Pucara, I thought that they should have something a bit bigger and with a longer range. I have a choice of anti ship missiles I can use on it, Exocet, kormoran, sea eagle, and Harpoon. I don't want to be limited to the use of US made ordnance on this aircraft, but I am wondering what other weapons to stick on it to compliment a pair of anti ship missiles. The kit doesn't have a open bombay option, and I can not be ar....bothered to cut it out and rebuild it.
Maritime planes are not a strong point as I have not had much to do with them, any ideas would be most welcome.
Cheers,
Chris.

The Rat · April 02, 2009, 05:49:05 PM

Sounds interesting. The weapons bay is so close to the ground that unless you're doing an in-flight model not much would be visible anyway. Always love seeing those beauties in any guise!

Daryl J. · April 02, 2009, 07:40:30 PM

How about hanging 4 Sea Eagles underneath the outer wings. Or, to perhaps needle the Brits a bit, 4 Exocets.

Shasper · April 02, 2009, 07:46:20 PM

Droptanks & air-launched Torpedos would complement the ASMs . . . An alt. thought here, but instead of ASMs you could arm it with rocket pods, pig iron & gun pods for anti-pirate/COIN operations along the coastline and riverways.

Shas

Daryl J. · April 02, 2009, 08:45:04 PM

QuoteDroptanks & air-launched Torpedos would complement the ASMs . . . An alt. thought here, but instead of ASMs you could arm it with rocket pods, pig iron & gun pods for anti-pirate/COIN operations along the coastline and riverways.

...and enlarge the horizontal tailplane to further improve maneuverability? Canberra-unique gun pods instead of SUU-11 or 23's of a type yet to be invented?

GTX · April 03, 2009, 12:06:56 AM

Chris,

Have you had a look here - there are some ideas that might help.

Regards,

Greg

JayBee · April 03, 2009, 12:11:06 AM

How about a belly gun pod like the Canberra B(I)-8, butn put it in the forward part of the bomb bay instead of the rear, and give it two gatling type guns.

upnorth · April 03, 2009, 02:42:33 AM

You could drill out some holes in the weapons bay area for an air droppable sonobuoy array.

You might also want to dress up the weapons bay area to look like the aircraft is equiped with a Side Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR) array for use in customs patrols and other such coastal related work that maritime patrol aircraft often find themselves doing.

At that, a camera port or two somewhere on the aircraft wouldn't go amiss for photographically documenting suspicious ships that enter local waters.

I don't know if it's possible, but could you not convert your Sea Eagle missles to Martels? Unless I've been totally misinformed, the Sea Eagle was developed from the Martel.

I'm not sure if there's an aftermarket one made, but a SKAD (Survival Kit Air Droppable) would also look pretty decent hung under an MP Canberra's wing. Here's a pic of a CAF Tracker carrying one:

PR19_Kit · April 03, 2009, 03:21:40 AM

Quote from: Daryl J. on April 02, 2009, 07:40:30 PM
How about hanging 4 Sea Eagles underneath the outer wings. Or, to perhaps needle the Brits a bit, 4 Exocets.

I'm pretty sure that the original licence agreement between English Electric and Martin specifically excluded the carriage of weapons manufactured by 'hostile' countries..............

Sea Eagles work quite well under Canberra wings, large though they are, and far outrange a Martel of any sort as they are jet powered instead of rocket boosted. From memory the B-57 has more wing hardpoints than a Canberra, so you have more flexibility to carry visble weapons. Canberras could only support four pylons, two under each wing, and very few of them had all four fitted. This from a scource via the IPMS Forum who worked with them while assigned to the Akrotiri Strike Wing.

Remembering that the bomb bay door on a B-57 rotates and carries the weapons on the inside, you could say it was carrying ANYthing you liked in there, no-one could prove otherwise.

There must be something about 'maritime-ising' Canberras, this is the fourth such project that's surfaced in recent months.

chrisonord · April 03, 2009, 06:29:03 AM

Thanks for all the great ideas fellas

I like what Shas is thinking, as my Honduras aircraft will be patrolling Nicaraguan border coastline, and searching out Cartel supply vessels and drug running boats. I could also give it a triple tail like I did to my jet tracker. I have a gun pod from a Canberra also, I could integrate that some where, and as far as the bombay is concerned, well thats classified

I have some anti sub torpedo's off a seaking and SH-60's plenty of rocket pods, and I also have 2 Swedish anti ship missiles, these are quite substantial pieces.
The kit comes with 4 pylons so it looks like I will have to put some more on now

Sea eagles sound a good deal I will use 2 of them, put a FLIR in the nose and some side mounted sensors/cameras also, and maybe a dorsal hump for electronics. It comes with some wing tip tanks, but I think I will swap these for some bigger newer looking items.
This should be fun, just need to get the AH-70 out of the way now.
Cheers for the inspiration I am suffering from a lack of it at the moment.
Chris.

Daryl J. · April 03, 2009, 09:38:34 AM

Perhaps the Phoenix had an antishipping twin designed for lighter weight boats. Snuffing Cigarettes would take on an entirely new meaning.

Daryl J.

jcf · April 03, 2009, 10:20:44 AM

Quote from: Daryl J. on April 03, 2009, 09:38:34 AM
Perhaps the Phoenix had an antishipping twin designed for lighter weight boats. Snuffing Cigarettes would take on an entirely new meaning.

Daryl J.

A Phoenix-like missile would be expensive overkill and a maneuvering 60+ knot small plastic boat would be a difficult,
and to be blunt, low-value target for an anti-shipping missile. Guns or some sort of cluster munition would likely be a
better choice.

Jon

Daryl J. · April 03, 2009, 11:09:22 AM

LoL....yes, that's a little more extreme than building and driving a Top Fuel dragster for the 1/4 mile quiet Sunday walk to Grandma's house.

What was more in mind was more along the line of the YouTube video of the Aussie F-111 against a drug runner using a smaller freighter.

I like this but would use a single canopy:
3-view drawing of English Electric Camberra B (1) 8 (edited carrier-based).JPG
From the Canberra thread, reply #64, Page 5

Mossie · April 03, 2009, 12:31:04 PM

An anti radiation & anti ship missile mix is a good idea, the 'double whammy' approach. Kick sand in your enemys eyes then hit him when he can't see you. Antiship missile wise, Penguin looks funky, has been used by the US but is Norwegian by manufacture & you should be able to find some in 1/48. Anti radiation wise, ALARM is another that is kind of unique & the Airfix 1/48 Tornadoes have them.

Another option is a short range missile like the Sea Skua. It's usually mounted on helicopters but I see no reason that you couldn't mount it on a jet as low cost alternative, except possibly the speed of the launch aircraft. You could also carry more. I would guess that Honduras would most likely be up against threats like patrol boats & fast missile boats, Sea Skua is well suited to these. Dunno about getting any in 1/48 though? Someone might be able to suggest an alternative.

chrisonord · April 03, 2009, 01:55:52 PM

Quote from: Mossie on April 03, 2009, 12:31:04 PM
An anti radiation & anti ship missile mix is a good idea, the 'double whammy' approach. Kick sand in your enemys eyes then hit him when he can't see you. Antiship missile wise, Penguin looks funky, has been used by the US but is Norwegian by manufacture & you should be able to find some in 1/48. Anti radiation wise, ALARM is another that is kind of unique & the Airfix 1/48 Tornadoes have them.

Another option is a short range missile like the Sea Skua. It's usually mounted on helicopters but I see no reason that you couldn't mount it on a jet as low cost alternative, except possibly the speed of the launch aircraft. You could also carry more. I would guess that Honduras would most likely be up against threats like patrol boats & fast missile boats, Sea Skua is well suited to these. Dunno about getting any in 1/48 though? Someone might be able to suggest an alternative.

Hya Mosie,
The Canberra is the 1/72nd scale one, so I am ok for anti shipping missiles, I have Exocet, sea skua, Kormoran, Harpoon, Penguin and a pair of RBS-15's. Decisions decisions for what else to put on it. Do you think it will look daft with 20 pylons on it??

I suppose I should just build it mission specific, 2 ASM's, gun pod ALARM/HARM missiles and rocket pods. Hmmm, watch this space.
Chris.