Saunders Roe Storm Petrel HMS Eagle 1966

[NARSES2]

Well what a year 1966 turned out to be. England won the World Cup and the FAA's first mixed powered interceptor finally entered full FAA service.

When the RAF version was cancelled in 1957 as part of the infamous "Sandy's Review" the FAA managed to just about keep their own version of the SR 177 alive albeit at a slow pace. Eventually the aircraft by now named Storm Petrel (that's not what the pilots or ground crew called it  ) entered service in limited numbers for the interception duty aboard HM's Aircraft Carriers.

This is one of the first aircraft to equip 899 Squadron FAA aboard HMS Eagle just in time for her Mediterranean cruise in the summer of 1967. 899 Sqd were lucky in that all of their aircraft were of the so called phase 2 batch. This batch had a canopy with much reduced framing at the behest of the original squadrons pilots who had threatened to either mutiny or have a tripling of their rum ration if they were expected to land the initially heavily framed brute on a bucking carrier.

Whilst initially disliked by all involved the Storm Petrell's aircrew and ground crew soon became incredibly defensive of their charges and indeed after a couple of years to iron out the inevitable kinks and sort out the correct operational procedures the aircraft gave a good account of it'self in FAA service. Latter versions were even know to tote the odd bomb or recce pack although no one is 100% sure where they were toted to, given the relatively short range of the beast.

Anyway this is the Freightdog kit which I started a couple of years ago when it first came out. As I said in my blog for various reasons I screwed her up. I resurrected her the other week and thought I'd finish it at least. Well I enjoyed it. It is a really nice kit, the screw up was purely me - I got into a cocky phase in my modeling. Been well and truly knocked out of that now. I liked the kit and I like the finished product  I've another in the stash and I'll build this one with a little more care.

[lancer]

That is one seriously beautiful bird Chris.. Nicely done.

[Gondor]

That reminds me I must get around to finish the SR 177 that I have.

Gondor

[pyro-manic]

Nicely done. Though I think it's one of the ugliest aircraft ever designed!

[Hobbes]

Well done Chris, and I agree with the canopy mod, big improvement in visibility.

[kitbasher]

Top banana, Chris!

[PR19_Kit]

The clearer vision canopy makes a huge difference to the 177 Chris, great idea.  

How about taking out even MORE framing for the RAF one? Just the main windscreen frame and a 100% clear vision opening canopy would be the business to my mind.

[Captain Canada]

Wow....nice one ! Can I play with it ?

[Weaver]

Nice one - Well done.

[buzzbomb]

Almost anything in that colour scheme works.

Nice job all around

[rickshaw]

Very nice, Chris.  Mmm, I must get around to building the one I have...   

[sandiego89]

Looks great in that color, and realy nice work on the the canopy!  Would like a photo showing the belly, wheels and a tail shot showing the exaust if you get a chance. 

[kitnut617]

I like that Chris, I will have to get the one I have built ---

[Mossie]

I like that Chris, I will have to get the one I have built ---

+1, might get around to mine, one day!  Nice job Chris, good to see a Navy one, most I've seen done are the land based version.

[NARSES2]

The clearer vision canopy makes a huge difference to the 177 Chris, great idea.  

How about taking out even MORE framing for the RAF one? Just the main windscreen frame and a 100% clear vision opening canopy would be the business to my mind.

I was thinking in terms of something like that Kit. I've a load of spare vac form canopies in the stash so I'll have a look for something a little more modern