The BAe Tern

[Rheged]

So, what was I going to do with the Airfix Strikemaster kit I picked up remarkably cheaply some months ago?

  The box was squashed, but the contents pristine and intact.   Building it according to the instruction sheet was obviously a non -starter.     Then the article below came to mind. If anyone can use the  backstory for their own whiffery, or add further details to the narrative, please do!  I offer it totally and completely copyright free to  any persons of this  esteemed group to do with as they see fit.


It all started when BAe started taking Strikemasters in part exchange for Hunters, Tornadoes and  (later) even Typhoons. Wharton was  awash with them! Fortunately, this coincided with requests from several  Pacific island nations for a basic , easily maintained, attack / fighter/trainer / reconnaisance aircraft........  And so was born the BAe  Tern.   

The Tern  was, and remains to this day, a navalised  Strikemaster. Given that so many of the potential customers had  airports beside the sea, navalisation seemed appropriate.  An arrestor hook was fitted as a security measure given the short length of many runways.  With the RR Viper uprated to 4,500 lb thrust, and drop tanks fitted, the Tern had the  range to  police  territorial waters, and call in support if necessary.  In recent years the Seychelles Air  Regiment  has utilised Terns most efficiently against pirate craft in the Indian Ocean .

IDEA ONE A Tuvalu Defence Force,  Tonga Air Police or Vanuatu Militia Tern.  This is one for the painters!!

The Tern was the unlikely choice of the Finnish Air Force, who needed a suitable mount for their  volunteer reserves.  Known (inevitably) as Arctic Terns, 50 were supplied. The naval arrestor hook was retained as a safety measure for operations in  marginal conditions.

BAe realised at this point that they were onto something big!  A production line was quickly re established and new build aircraft produced for several Pacific and Caribbean island countries.  A single seater variant was supplied in many instances. The two .303 machine guns were often replaced with a single 30mm Aden cannon pod and the 4 wing hardpoints  fitted with universal  brackets to accommodate all manner of stores. Some of these were logical, such as the St Kitts and Nevis Police aircraft with a radar pod to port and a night-sun searchlight to starboard:  ideal equipment for identifying and "discouraging" drug runners.  Their "go-fast" speedboats could outrun Police craft but not a Tern. Other stores were less appropriate, the sight of a Honduran Tern struggling into the air with just about everything but the kitchen sink hanging off it caused a visiting Rolls Royce technician to comment "That's cruelty to a poor innocent  Viper!"

IDEA TWO   A ST Kitts Coastguard Tern with radar and searchlight pods.........or an overloaded Honduran Tern.

The Indian Navy had bought a small batch of Terns for their bases on the Andaman and Laccadive islands.  After the emergency landing of an Indian Tern on INS Vikrant, when the arrestor hook worked perfectly,  they requested a fully navalised, catapultable version from BAe.  THe first 10 were produced in Britain, but H A L assumed  responsibility for further construction and development. A total of 85 were built, christened the Indira, after Mrs Gandhi the Prime Minister...... As Vice-Admiral Jayawardna remarked  "She isn't very big but she can make her presence felt!...and so it is also with this aeroplane"  All manner of weaponry was attached to the Indian Terns, and they acquitted themselves with distinction in the unfortunate border disagreements with Pakistan.

IDEA THREE  An Indira with  full war-load

At this point, the Royal Navy became interested.  In the Napoleonic wars, an eminent admiral had described using scarce, vitally necessary frigates on minor pin-prick raids as "Breaking windows with guineas  thrown."   This was the view of Flag Officer Aircraft Carriers with regard to vastly expensive carrier attack aircraft being used in a simple policing role.   Using  discretionary funding, 10 Terns were purchased  and operated most successfully from British carriers. As a result, a further 75 were purchased and used in a deck landing trainer role but with the ability to carry a warload if required.  In later years, FRADU used the remaining aircraft for a wide variety of  support tasks.  The Fleet Air Arm became very fond of their "baby aircraft" and the Fleet Deck Landing Training Group adopted the tail   symbol of a toddler waving a  very large cudgel. Five Terns were painted up as "Admiral's Barges" and flown by senior FAA officers who wanted to fly more than a desk in Whitehall.

IDEA FOUR  A Tern in RN colours

After crossdecking with U S carriers during exercises in the Atlantic, the USN bought 45 Terns, found them incredibly manoeverable through a wide speed range, and promptly sent them to Miramar to confound the Fast Jet pilots. Five were retained at Patuxent River for "development purposes" which meant they were used as senior officers toys.  An FAA pilot working on exchange at Miramar even  managed to  "shoot down" a Tomcat during an exercise in which the faster, more sophisticated aircraft could not fly slowly enough, even with " everything dangling".  The gun camera film of the Tomcat in the Tern's sights is shown at the start of every course to remind students a) never underestimate the opposition's equipment  b) remember that the Brits wrote the book on this one   and  c) the other guy could be a Jedi Knight or even worse, an F A A  Qualified Weapons Instructor 

IDEA FIVE A Miramar based aggressor squadron Tern in the colours of Her Majesty's Loyal Colonial Airforce


This, of course, is not the full story.  I'm sure that colleagues contributing to this thread will be able to supply  much further information, anecdotes, plans, models and dioramas.   As they don't quite say on the TV quiz show Mastermind  "I've started so you can finish............"  Over to you, people!

[PR19_Kit]

The single seater is a wonderful idea, I don't think anyone here has tried that before. Will you narrow the fuselage or just perch a narrower canopy on the current width one?

[Rheged]

The single seater is a wonderful idea, I don't think anyone here has tried that before. Will you narrow the fuselage or just perch a narrower canopy on the current width one?

Probably a narrower canopy, but do I offset it like a Canberra or have it central?   Opinions, please, both on which will be easier to model and which was more likely in whiffworld 12 inches to the foot scale................but I have no plans to lengthen the wingspan.

[PR19_Kit]

Offset like a Canberra B(I)8 or a PR9 would be easier in the RW.

They wouldn't have had to move the instruments or control linkeages, just like they didn't in the Canberra. And it would look suitably wierd too.   

[Rheged]

Offset like a Canberra B(I)8 or a PR9 . They wouldn't have had to move the instruments or control linkages, just like they didn't in the Canberra. And it would look suitably wierd too.  

O K, that's what will happen!  You have exercised your considerable powers of persuasion to good effect, and the thought of "looking suitably wierd"  really clinches it.

.......and for your next assignment (should you choose to accept it)  can you add to "the story so far"  please? Or should we both wait and see who comes up another exciting episode of inspired whiffery?

[PR19_Kit]

How could one add to what is already a work of genius?

In your version of Whiffworld there are probably more Terns than there are MiG 21s! Every airforce who is anyone just HAS to have at least a squadron of them, so much so that the original tooling at Warton has worn out and has had to be replaced! How about some Indiras with RATO boosters so the Indian Navy can launch them from their smaller units? They could always land on a nearby carrier or head for dry land perhaps?

[Hobbes]

Offset like a Canberra B(I)8 or a PR9 would be easier in the RW.

They wouldn't have had to move the instruments or control linkeages, just like they didn't in the Canberra. And it would look suitably wierd too.   

Or have the offset canopy with a coal hole next to it. Would be well cramped for the navigator, but that's what they get for being not-a-pilot. 

[Rheged]

How could one add to what is already a work of genius?

In your version of Whiffworld there are probably more Terns than there are MiG 21s! Every airforce who is anyone just HAS to have at least a squadron of them, so much so that the original tooling at Warton has worn out and has had to be replaced! How about some Indiras with RATO boosters so the Indian Navy can launch them from their smaller units? They could always land on a nearby carrier or head for dry land perhaps?

Updated CAM-ships.  I like it!   

[Old Wombat]

How about the Kiribati Air Force?

Or the Nauruan Air Force?

Be interesting to see the roundels!

[rickshaw]

Offset like a Canberra B(I)8 or a PR9 would be easier in the RW.

They wouldn't have had to move the instruments or control linkeages, just like they didn't in the Canberra. And it would look suitably wierd too.   

Or have the offset canopy with a coal hole next to it. Would be well cramped for the navigator, but that's what they get for being not-a-pilot. 

Why not give them a reclining seat?  It would allow them to sit in the coalhole and keep their heads below the fuselage line.   Alternatively, just use it for extra fuel if you want extended range.  Removing the second occupant though, would remove a significant amount of weight which would improve the Tern's performance considerably.

[Mr.Creak]

Ha! This "conversion" has been on my mind recently too, for a wargames campaign that's in progress.
One thing I decided is that they'll end up with a late model Skyhawk style "hump", to accommodate more modern electronics and make up for loss of space when the internal 7.62 mgs are replaced with a pair of ADENs.

Would it "revert" to the original Jet Provost-style far-too-long-for-a-jet undercarriage? That would give a longer stroke and softer landing for carrier work.
(As a kid the early JP undercart always made me think "Maybe the designer allowed a good prop clearance and then someone got clever and stuck a jet engine in the thing instead").


Of course, your naval version would always fly in pairs because (drum roll)...



one good Tern deserves another.
(Don't hit me, I'm leaving anyway).

[PR19_Kit]

(As a kid the early JP undercart always made me think "Maybe the designer allowed a good prop clearance and then someone got clever and stuck a jet engine in the thing instead").

That's EXACTLY what they did! 

[NARSES2]

The Fleet Air Arm became very fond of their "baby aircraft" and the Fleet Deck Landing Training Group adopted the tail   symbol of a toddler waving a  very large cudgel. Five Terns were painted up as "Admiral's Barges" and flown by senior FAA officers who wanted to fly more than a desk in Whitehall.

Would look wonderfull on a model  Fantastic article overall and full of so many ideas  Was thinking that a floatplane version might be useful for some of those S Pacific Islands  Just about my favourite part of the world and with their vast expanse of water the name Tern is very appropriate as if my memory serves don't Arctic erns have the longest migration route of any bird ?

[Rheged]

The Fleet Air Arm became very fond of their "baby aircraft" and the Fleet Deck Landing Training Group adopted the tail   symbol of a toddler waving a  very large cudgel. Five Terns were painted up as "Admiral's Barges" and flown by senior FAA officers who wanted to fly more than a desk in Whitehall.

Would look wonderfull on a model  Fantastic article overall and full of so many ideas  Was thinking that a floatplane version might be useful for some of those S Pacific Islands  Just about my favourite part of the world and with their vast expanse of water the name Tern is very appropriate as if my memory serves don't Arctic erns have the longest migration route of any bird ?

Ah!  I didn't think of floats----what a good idea, assuming that we can get round the possible seawater ingestion problems.

At this rate, I'm in for a flock of Terns on my workbench.

  For any passing ornithologically biassed whiffers, my guide to the birds of  Europe gives us the possibilities of the Royal Tern (Queen's Flight perhaps??) and even a rather rare Caspian Tern, which is either the Turkish, the  Iranians, or  something exteremely cloak and dagger.

As I said when I started this.......it's all copyright free, so the more the merrier either in further  words or plastic.  At the risk of  people throwing things.....It's your Tern now.

[Mr.Creak]

As I said when I started this.......it's all copyright free, so the more the merrier either in further  words or plastic.  At the risk of  people throwing things.....It's your Tern now.

So you're looking for alTernative ideas?