Finished Builds: Models

[Gondor]

                   Meteor F2 155 Sqn 1946
To ensure that no one engine manufacturer was relied on to supply engines to power the new Jet fighters for the RAF, the Ministry of Supply decided that as well as using Rover's Welland engine for the Meteor, the Metropolitan-Vickers Beryl, which was a development of the original Freda turbojet engine, would also be used to power versions of the Meteor. Thus the Meteor F2 was born based on the Meteor prototype DG204/G.
As part of the effort to drive the Japanese armed forces out of the China, Burma, India (CBI) theatre of operations, the deployment of a modern Jet fighter was considered very important, and with the similarities between the layout of the Meteor F2 and the Messerschmitt Me 262, the possibilities of the Meteor F2 being mistaken for an enemy aircraft made the deployment of this aircraft in the European theatre not particularly attractive so the F2 was deployed to the Far East theatre of operations.
Deployed in relatively small strength, the Meteor F2 was operated successfully by number 152 and 155 Squadrons as air defence of the advancing operations within the CBI area.
With the successful use of the Meteor F2 in the latter stages of combat in Burma, when peace came the Meteor was one of the aircraft types selected to be used by the occupation forces in Japan. Both 152 and 155 Squadrons operated from Japan from 1946 until 1949 when they both handed over their remaining aircraft to the fledgling Japanese Self Defence Air Force.








The build is here -> http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,31570.0.html

Gondor

[PACOPEPE]

Japanese project, tested for the USAF after the end of WWII; with great influence in the development of Curtiss XP-71.






The site: http://whatifmodelers.com/index/php./topic,32259.0.html

Cheers
Fran

[matrixone]

Here are some pics of my entry in this GB, the 1/72 scale Huma Ta 283.






Matrixone

[RotorheadTX]

Hawker Sea Tempest - most redundant name since the Sea Hurricane...

[kitbasher]

No.860 Squadron and the Firefly Mk III.
First formed 15 June 1943 at Donibristle, UK as 860 (Dutch) Sqn, Fleet Air Arm.  Equipped with Swordfish Is (later Mk IIs), the unit was tasked with providing 3 aircraft flights of Swordfish for the merchant aircraft carriers 'Acavus', 'Gadila' and 'Mascoma'.  Following the end of the war in Europe, 860 took over the Barracudas of 822 Sqn, successively being based at Ayr, embarked on the escort carrier HMS Nairana, then ashore to Fearn and then Saint Merryn.  In May 1946 the Squadron started converting to Firefly F.III, 30 of which having been gifted to the Royal Netherlands Naval Air Service in January 1946. 
The Mk III was the Sabre-engined variant of the F.I that saw limited service at in the late 40s.  Development of this variant followed Air Ministry practice of seeking the development of new types with alternative engines (eg, Tempest, Sea Fury, Meteor, Firebrand).  The bigger engine offered greater power and therefore performance, however such was the Sabre's weight and the number of structural changes required to accommodate it that development of the variant was slower than anticipated. In addition, the performance of the much refined Mark IV brought about the early termination of Mk III production after only 50 were built.  The remaining twenty were either used for trials in the UK or 'robbed' for spares for those in service.
The squadron subsequently deployed to HrMS Karel Doorman (ex-HMS Nairana) and was handed over to Dutch naval control.  In August the Karel Doorman sailed for the Dutch East Indies to participate in operations during the Indonesian war of independence.  The Fireflies were used for air to ground support, several being lost in action.  During  this period the aircraft carried both their original British and Dutch serial numbers.  These latter were in the 'F-' series but this was short-lived as  in 1948 the code letter F was changed to K.  The K-code was changed again in January 1950 to 'P-', shortly before disbandment in March 1950.  860 reformed on 5 July 1950 with Sea Furies and after several other incarnations continues to serve as the Lynx helicopter parent unit for the Dutch surface fleet of over 20 frigates and support ships.
As an aside, Firefly IIIs also saw service with 861 Squadron, formed in late 1946 at  Valkenburg and disbanded in April 1947, its aircraft going to GVO (Groep Vlieg Opleiding = Group Flight Training) and to OGV (Opleiding Gevechts Vlieger = Training Fighter Pilots).  Folowing the introduction of a new, larger 'Karel Doorman' it was decided to convert a number of F.IIIs to T.III standard (eventually a total of seven would be converted).  During 1954 the F.IIIs were replaced with Firefly Mk.4's, however the T.IIIs remained in service until March 1960 when they were withdrawn from service and scrapped.

[Bungle]

SAAB J-21R - Royal Norwegian Airforce - A What if story......

Norway 1946

Due to the poor weather conditions during the Autumn of 1944 and early 1945  the invasion of France had stalled to such an extent that a stand-off, much like that in WWI, now ensured. However the Allied offensive in the Mediteraen was begining to put a strain on the Axis forces in Europe. Gains in Greece and the near capitulation of Italy had caused the German high command to move divisions southward to defend the southern flanks. This meant the 27 divisions stationed in Norway and Denmark were reduced to 18 by April 1946.

A believer in Admiral Wegener's declaration that WWI was lost due to allowing the British to control the North Sea, Hitler was wary of the Strategic importance of the Norwegian/Swedish peninsular and its gateway to the Baltic. The loss of the Scharnhorst and Tirpitz underlined his desparation to defend these terrotories but pressure on his Eastern front and the Allies threatening the Balkans and southern Europe were stretching his swindling resources.

With his Navy scattered in the Atlantic ports Norway did not look such a glittering prize and with the export of Iron Ore drying up from an increasing belligient Sweden more troops and aircraft were removed to fight on the Eastern Front.

Sweden

Sweden wished to ensure its continued neutrality through a policy of armed strength during World War II but were effectively denied access to foreign weapons. An enterprising nation, Sweden impounded aircraft landed on their soil, both Allied and Axis. These aircraft were often strippeddown by Swedish engineers and engines, technical and design ideas were re-engineered into home grown aircraft.

During the invasion of the Scandanvian countries around it Sweden remained neutral but as the war progressed became uneasy with its relationship with Germany.It had allowed German troops to travel on its railways from the Norwegian to Finnish borders and even allowed heavy guns to be moved to Finland for their war against the Russians. From the very start of the war Sweden had been the main supplier of iron ore to German factories and now the British government was trying to sweet talk Sweden into changing their loyalties.

FORTITUDE-NORTH

The goal of FORTITUDE-NORTH was to convince the German chiefs of staff that the initial Allied offensive in the west would be to invade and free Norway from German occupation. Once this intermediate objective was obtained, the Allies would then secure ports and airfields in southern Sweden by convincing Sweden to join the war effort on the side of the Allies. Having gained the basing and staging rights the Allies required in Sweden, they would then launch their next assault into Denmark. Following the liberation of Denmark, the Allies would then begin the drive for Berlin.

Operation FORTITUDE-NORTH got underway in early 1944 and set about fooling Hitler into believing that a large invasion force was being marshalled under General Sir Andrew Thorne on the outskirts of Edinburgh. False message intercepts and sufficient Q-Light deceptions fed the Germans information that Norway was the focus of the Allied command. The attack, of course, never took place, France being the optimal target.

Now in 1946 General Thorne's understudy Colonel R. M. MacLeod was instructed to re start Operation Fortitude-North for real.

Invasion of Norway

The invasion of Norway began on 10th May 1946. The Allied plan called for utilizing two invasion sites within Norway. The southern landing at Stavanger would be a British/US effort to seize airfields for land-based fighters to utilize while combat forces were built up to six divisions within 3 months. A combined British/US and Norwegian assault would also occur at Narvik to secure rail and roadway lines of communication within northern Sweden.

To this extent the new Fourth Army consisted of the British 7th Army at Dundee, the British 2nd Light Corps at Sterling and the US 43rd Corps in Northern Ireland. The US 43rd Corps consisted of the 22nd, 15th and 18th Infantry divisions and was training for its role as a follow-on force for the Normandy invasion but its role was changedfor its particion in the Stavanger attack. The British 2nd Light Corps was to lead the Stavanger assault and consisted of the  Highland 45th Division, 113th Infantry Brigade and the 38th Commando Division that would make the initial assault. The British 7th Army would make the attack on Narvik and consisted of the US 45th Division with 4 US Ranger battalions from Iceland and the British 32nd Lowland Division with the rememnants of the Norwegian Brigade that would lead the Narvik assault.

The early morning attack on Narvik took the Occupying army by surprise and believing this to be the only invasion force German reinforcements were hurriedly sent from the South. That evening the Special Boat Service and Norwegian resistance set about disabling the defences on the Jaeren beaches. The landings were completed that night and again the german resistance was minimal, with German troops falling back towards Oslo and north wards to where the Americans making their push South. In three days the under strength German army were on the verge of capitulating caught between to armies and being squeezed across the border into Sweden.

Swedish mission.

On the day the Invasion began Victor Mallet, the British Ambassador in Stockholm made a presentation to the Swedish Government. In his presentation he requested the Swedish government consider the five following requests
1. The right of Allied aircraft to land at Swedish airfields and refuel and re-arm after combat operations.
2. The right of the Allies to conduct survey and reconnaissance flights over Sweden.
3. Permission to send British experts to consult Swedish counterparts about the transportation of supplies between Norway and Sweden, should the Germans vacate Norway.
4. The right for Allied naval vessels to use the ports of Malmo, Goteburg and Karlskrona to aid the blockade of the Baltic Sea
5. Sweden to break all diplomatic and commercial ties with Germany.

It took the the Swedish Prime Minister, Per Albin Hansson, less than a few hours to refuse the request, though he had already put to the Riksdag the proposal to cut the commercial and transportation links with the Reich. Hansson wished to preserve the neutrality of Sweden but unfortunately the damage was done. German spies and sympathisers communicated the Allied proposal back to an enraged Hitler. When Swedish troops disarmed fleeing German troops who had crossed their border and refused them passage to Germany Hitler concluded that Sweden had in fact sided with the Allies and his rage reached new heights.

Blitzkreig.

On May 17th, one week after the invasion of Norway two squadrons of Arado Ar234B bombers of Kampfgeschwader14 took off from Northern Germany. Another two Squadrons of Arados left Denmark two hours later with escorts of Messerchmitt ME262 fighter/bombers. In a perfect Pearl Harbour type scenario the Arado's were able to attack the Swedish Navy at Karlskrona unopposed and caused considerable damage to the docks and sinking one frigate in the main channel out of the port.

The other squadrons had less success Gotenburg remained untouched as a flight of RAF Meteors recently based at Bergen had assumed the attack was to be on Norwegian targets and had intercepted the German aircraft over the Skagerrak. Malmo did not go unscaved. The attack mainly hit the fishing fleet and the surrounding docks and fish processing factories. The smaller Naval dockyard was left untouched.

In the meantime the flights of me262's attacked the airfields at Hagshult, Halmstad and Karlsborg causing great damage to the runways and destroying several obsolete aircraft on the ground. At the end of the attack all but three of the Greman aircraft returned home, Sweden lost one naval vessel with five damaged, seven obsolete Saab 17 and 18 aircraft and the RAF lost one Meteor over south west Sweden, damaged it managed to land on a motorway just south of Vanersborg. The plane was interned and the pilot returned to the UK.

Given a bloody nose Sweden refused to react. It rejected the Allied demands and declared in forceful terms its neutrality to both the Allied and Axis powers. It did stop the trade with Germany but continued to intern all foreign military equipment from both sides but returned, unarmed, any combatants found on their soverign soil.

Norway liberated

22nd July 1946 German officer in charge Colonel Karl Schenk surrender his forces in Norway to the Norwegian forces. His senior officers had fled to Denmark with the remaining 10% of his forces, a further 18% surrendered with him. The rest were either dead, wounded, already captured or returned home by the Swedes. The Norwegian government in exile returned from London to set up government in Oslo.

Swift negotiation were made with Sweden and an entant cordial was entered into between the two countries. While keeping her neutrallity the Swedish government offer to help equip the Norwegians so that she could defend herself against any further aggression as the Allies moved on to invade Denmark. In doing so Sweden released the majority of the interned heavy equipment that it had no use for and also offered to 'sell' several of their new Saab J-21 fighters on a 'lend-lease' aggreement.


Saab J-21

The original design studies began in 1939, based around the use of a "borrowed" Bristol Taurus engine. The project remained dormant until 1941. Swedens neutrallity forbade it from purchasing foreign built aircraft so it again turned to its own industrial complexes to design and build a radical new air defence aircraft.  The low-wing monoplane Saab 21 fighter was ultimately designed round a copied version of the Daimler-Benz DB 605B engine and featured innovations such as tricycle landing gear, heavy forward-firing armament, ejector seat, and a twin-boom pusher layout.

The advantages of a pusher design, are that the view forward is unobstructed and armament can be concentrated in the nose, while a major drawback is difficulty in escaping from the aircraft in an emergency, as the pilot could get drawn into the propeller blades. SAAB deliberated between systems that would eject the pilot, or jettison the propeller or the engine, (via a system of explosive bolts). and eventually installed an early non-patented ejector seat developed by Bofors for the purpose and tested in 1943.

The first of three J-21 prototypes successfully flew on 30 July 1943. A total of 54 J-21A-1 fighters constructed at the main plant in Trollhättan were delivered from December 1945, followed by 124 and 119 examples respectively of the J-21A-2 with revised armament and the J-21A-3 fighter-bomber. Most of the J-21 were stationed in Northern Sweden fearing a threat from Finland or Russia more likely than from Germany in the south. In 1946 the internment of an RAF Gloster Meteor allowed the Saab engineers access to their first jet technology and by August an extensively redesigned J-21 with over 50% airframe, tailplane and wing changes and fitted with a  copied de Havilland Goblin turbojet came into service with the Swedish airforce.

In early September as Copehagen was liberated by the Allies the Royal Norwegian Air Force took delivery of the first of ten Saab J-21R turbojet fighters.












Sorry no build thread

[Brian da Basher]

A joint project between DeHavilland and Messerschmitt using the Airfix Heron II fuselage and wings from an Me-210 Hornissee called the Heresy. Decals are original (if re-arranged a bit) from the vintage Airfix kit save for the London-New Zealand air race banner which is from a Viscount.

Build thread and backstory are here:  http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,32473.0.html








Brian da Basher

[Tuck]

The final variant of the Heinkel 162.  the 162 S-2 was designed as an ultra high altitude enemy escort interceptor.  The lightly armed S-2's would keep the fighters busy while the 262's and Ho229's dealt with the bombers.  The wings and tail were of wooden construction for lightness and ease of assembly with large fuel tanks to assist the thirsty engines. These things were an F-80 C pilots worst nightmare.  Nicknamed the "Scissor Tail" by allied pilots, the S-2 was greatly feared.

Huma 1/72 scale Junkers 287 wings with PM model Ta 152 Tail.  Engines from spares. Base kit: Tamiya.  Scale: 1/48







Build thread:

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,31809.0.html

[Tuck]

Arado 234 C with V-1.  Promodeler Ar 234 with Tamiya V-1.  Scratchbuilt launch trapeeze.

No build thread.

[Tuck]

Just a generic AmTech Ta 183 Huckebein.  Box Stock.

No build Thread.

[Brian da Basher]

Here's a 1/144 scale civilianized B-17 which I call the Boeing 309 in TWA livery:







The main thread and backstory are here: http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,32709.0.html


Brian da Basher

[tigercat]

De Havilland Krait

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,32242.0.html

Designed as a private venture for a fighter destined for the Pacific Theatre in the war against Japan. From an early stage it was also envisaged that the Krait could be adapted for naval use, operating from aircraft carriers. As a result priority was given to ease of control, especially at low speeds, and good pilot visibility. Construction was of mixed balsa/plywood similar to the Mosquito.

The Mark IV was a  Bomber destroyer/ ground attack aircraft variant. Armed with 4 20mm cannon  in the nose and a modified Mollins 57mm cannon. The Mark IV also had twin rear facing 40mm cannon and 2 20mm cannon barbettes in the rear fuselage.  


The Krait saw limited service with the RAF and FAA. It's powerful armament made it an ideal strike aircraft  for anti shipping strikes and disrupting attack waves of torpedo and dive bombers while its more conventional bretheren mixed with the fighters  

but where it came into its own was in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. 3 Squadrons served with the Airforce of the Dominion of Pakistan where they roamed the skies over Kashmir disrupting the Indians efforts to airlift in men and supplies   into the disputed Territory

[tigercat]

Junkers 260 Drache

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,32188.0.html


In the middle of 1944, the Junkers aircraft company worked on a project for a low-level ground attack aircraft to replace the Henschel Hs 129 ground attack aircraft.  The fuselage was stout and tapered, and was armored throughout.  Fuel was contained entirely in the armored fuselage. The wings were straight and exhibited taper on both the leading and trailing edges. A twin fin and rudder configuration was chosen with the tailplanes being horizontal. This specification was later altered to combine bombing capacity with the ground attack role. It suffered from a number of technical problems during the later stages of its development and early operational roles, but became one of the most versatile combat aircraft of the war. Becoming the Spiritual successor of the Junkers 88  

[tigercat]

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,32316.0.html


Dornier Do 30


Following  the German capitulation of 1945 fanatical Nazi forces based in Norway continued to fight on nfor a further 18 months bolstered by units of the Waffen SS who had fled to Noway . Gradually pushed back to a pocket based round the town of Kirkenes. The final nail in their coffin was an internal rebellion led by the Führer der U-Boote Norwegen. Teddy Suhren. Leading Nazi are believed to have fled to Japan aboard 2 Dornier 30 flying boats Zyklon and Wirbelwind . The Wirbelwind was shot down by Russian fighters but the fate of the Zyklon is unknown.


The  Do 30, was of all-metal construction. The hull had a central keel and a defined step, and the wings were of gull wing configuration, being equipped with fully retractable narrow stabilising wing-floats as well as  Dornier's famous "water-wing" sponsons extending from the lower hull for lateral stabilization.

Its six engines, Junkers Jumo 205C diesel engines, were mounted in tractor/pusher pairs in three nacelles located . The rear (pusher) engines could be swung upwards through 10° during take-off and landing, to prevent contact between the three-blade airscrew and water spray created by the forward propellers. Only 6 were constructed for use by Lufthansa on the transatlantic mail run

[tigercat]

DHC Wolverine

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,31673.0.html

The DHC Moose was a twin-engine, twin-boom cargo aircraft designed and built by De Havilland Canada. DHC were greatly helped in this by French aircraft engineers who had fled to Canada after the invasion of their own country.
Developed by Dehavilland, the Moose  was designed as a heavy-lift cargo aircraft to succeed pre-war designs like the Curtiss C-46 Commando and Douglas C-47 Dakota which were hampered by their  side opening door.  The twin boom design and loading ramp  gave the Moose much more flexibility.  The aircraft was designed for a number of roles, including cargo carrier, troop transport, ambulance airplane and glider tow. It's STOL capacity made it ideal for keeping Canada's isolated communities. The single prototype first flew on 14th May 1944 and the first aircraft came off the production line in June 1945.

The DHC Wolverine was a version of the Moose in the Gunship role it's side firing armament  made it a potent weapon in the island hopping campaigns against the Japanese.

The DHC Wolverine V was a Maritime patrol variant selected for its already long range and the flexibility given by its cargo space.  Some cargo space was sacrificed by fitting extra fuel tanks which gave it a range of 3200 miles. The Gunship armament was modified to give it the firepower it needed to beat off marauding Junkers 88

Following the pioneering work with  a Vickers Wellington bomber (serial R1629) that was fitted with a rotating antenna array 4 Wolverines were converted into AWACS aircraft for use against aerial targets and then for possible use against German E boats