Hunting Percival Strikemaster FB.5

[TallEng]

By mid 1958, a replacement for the RAF's de Havilland Venom ground attack aircraft operating in the Middle East was considered to be urgent. HQ British forces in Aden had been able to persuade the Air Ministry to organize an evaluation project to find a new ground attack aircraft. The aircraft to be evaluated were three contrasting aircraft types, the Hawker Hunter, the Folland Gnat light weight fighter and the Hunting Jet Provost.
The Venom Replacement Evaluation Trial was established at Khormaksar and ran from the 14-17 August 1958
The Jet Provost selected for use in the trials was the third pre-production airframe, originally built as a T.2 but modified to become the prototype T.3. Issued with a temporary military serial, XN117 and further modified to carry machine guns, rockets and bomb carriers. Unfortunately it was considered a rank outsider from the beginning and despite its low operating costs and ability to operate from basic airfields, the Jet Provost did not perform any of the operational tasks to the required standard and was subsequently eliminated. (Incidentally the Hunter emerged as the clear winner)
How ever in the world of Whiff I have decided the the RAF were indeed looking for a low cost Counter insurgency type Aircraft, of which the J.P. Filled the bill admirably.
Now comes the interesting part, the JP is now not a trainer but a ground attack/COIN aircraft, so it needs a new name to reflect its more aggressive roll.
Strikemaster sounds good, but is it now the Hunting Strikemaster FB.1? or being as there are or will be JP T.3 and T.4 does it become the Strikemaster FB.5?
(I'm ignoring the JP.5 and the 'real Strikemaster' as they are in the (relatively) far future)
Other items to be considered are the weapons load out, I'm thinking SNEB pods plus?
Either drop tanks (Airfix Vampire T.11 underwing tanks?) or cluster bombs? I'm thinking two pylons a side. Camouflage or not, user Squadron Etc to be decided. Picture of the start when I've worked out flicker and my iPad 
I'll be using Airfix's new JP T.3 kit.

Regards
Keith

[Weaver]

Strikemasters had two pylons per wing and could use 18-round MATRA pods, Oerlikon SURA rockets, napalm tanks, gun pods and Mk.82 500lb bombs or equivalent. They also had two 7.62mm machine-guns under the intakes. I'd think it quite likely that these mods, and the other small systems mods (see the Wiki page) could be incorporated into a T.3 airframe without changing the nose to the T.5/Strikemaster shape.

[JayBee]

When in service with the SOAF (Sultan of Oman Air Force) the right hand ejector seat was removed to reduce weight

[AeroplaneDriver]

Would the time frame allow for the SUU-11A gun pod?  That would be a cool weapon on a JP/Strikemaster.  I think it entered service around '63-64...

Love this build idea.  I always thought it would be cool to see the RAF use the JP the way the USAF used the T-37 in Vietnam. 

[Weaver]

The problem with making the Strikemaster as potent as the A-37 Dragonfly is thrust:

T-37 Tweet: 2 x 1,025 lbf J-69s = 2,050 lbf
A-37 Dragonfly: 2 x 2,850 lbf J-85s = 5,700 lbf
Strikemaster: 1 x 3,140 lbf Viper = 3,140 lbf

If you want to do a T-37-to-A-37 job on the Strikemaster, you've got to find at least another 2,000 lbf of thrust from somewhere. The Strikemaster has a lot of space around it's Viper due to the wide fuselage, so I'm of the opinion that a 5000 lbf, 8 inch wider Orpheus 803 would fit, however, it's also 10 inches longer and 300 lb heavier, so you'd have to account for that. Some cockpit armour and/or more potent built-in guns would be one way. It would also need bigger intakes, but modelling-wise, there's a good solution to that: use Hawk ones. They're almost the exact same shape, but bigger, and sized for a 5000 lbf-ish engine.

There are a number of other possible solutions (twin Vipers, twin J-85, Viper-turbofan, some other real or invented turbofan), but they're all more complicated, involve greater airframe changes, and are therefore less likely.

Of course, another approach to getting more warload and performance out of a Strikemaster would be to give it a slim fuselage and replace the second crewman with a pair of 30mm cannons, but then all you've done is re-invent the MB.326K...

[Mossie]

It's a great idea.. Definitely a goer as Ceylon armed their JP.3's guns in the air intakes and pylons on the wings.

Iraqi and Sudan JP.3's had pylons for training only (I don't think they had the guns).

https://m.klassiker-der-luftfahrt.de/geschichte/flugzeuge/hunting-jet-provost-lehrmeister-der-raf/614686

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235005846-what-are-the-external-differences-between-a-strikemaster-and-a-jet-provost/&page=2&tab=comments#comment-2426292

http://iraqimilitary.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=61

[Dizzyfugu]

I also have a single-seat Strikemaster derivative idea on my project list (involving major body modifications, though). Won't materialize for the Cold War GB, though, but I also have Sri Lanka/Ceylon on the list as a potential operator.

[AS.12]

I also have a single-seat Strikemaster derivative idea on my project list (involving major body modifications, though).

Which made me think of an interim configuration with Canberra B.I.8-style offset canopy, using the existing pupil's position.  With a plate covering what had been the starboard seat and the space used for copious 7.62x51

[Rheged]

I started a naval (carrier capable) one of these about 5 years ago.

http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,35177.0.html

The BAe Tern has been partially built but stuck  in a box since I moved house nearly 4 years ago. I really must get going with it again!  Please feel free to annex any of the ideas on that thread for your own use.

The small print:  I'm perfectly  happy to have other members of this forum take my initial idea and use, amend, modify or annex any details of the Tern  in the course of their own work.  Of course it would be kinda nice to have a mention if they do so:  experience has shown that the inhabitants of Whiffworld are a considerate bunch  so I'm sure that you will all behave like ladies and gentlemen

[zenrat]

I also have a single-seat Strikemaster derivative idea on my project list (involving major body modifications, though).

Which made me think of an interim configuration with Canberra B.I.8-style offset canopy, using the existing pupil's position.  With a plate covering what had been the starboard seat and the space used for copious 7.62x51

I've been having similar thoughts about a Vampire trainer.

[Dizzyfugu]

I also have a single-seat Strikemaster derivative idea on my project list (involving major body modifications, though).

Which made me think of an interim configuration with Canberra B.I.8-style offset canopy, using the existing pupil's position.  With a plate covering what had been the starboard seat and the space used for copious 7.62x51

That's a creative (and probably butt-ugly?) idea! 
Mine will become a true single-seater, though, with a beefed-up engine and a slimmed-down forward fuselage.

[TallEng]

Hmm..... Lots of interesting ideas there, which have set me thinking
If one left out the R/H Ejection seat for weight reasons, would there be enough room on the R/H side for a twin pack of 30mm Adens? Using the former space for the ejection seat as the magazine? The Aden's being arranged to the side of the nose wheel a bit like half a Hunter installation. Might be a bit late for my build as most of the JP is together, but I might have a look.
Just been checking Viper power;
after all toting guns and bombs in hot and or high conditions more power can't be a bad thing can it? So far I've got up to 3750lbf (Viper 601-22) with the suggestion that there was also a Viper with about 4000lbf thrust. JP T.3 was I think around 2000lbf?

Regards
Keith

[AS.12]

There was a temperature bump and compressor tweak in the Mk 601 to get it to 4,000lb, plus more cooling for sustained hot running.  That was the back-up engine for the Hawk.

But by then you're into the early 1970s and also need to rearrange the internals of your JP to get it to fit; such changes were made in the real-World Strikemaster to accommodate the Mk 535, with accessory gearbox relocated aft.  But all the plain JPs had the original Viper mounting which had bad vibration problems, not conducive to raising thrust.

[TallEng]

finally me and Flickr seem to have a sort of understanding
so now pictures
This should of course been at the start:

JP/Strikemaster by Keith Woods, on Flickr

The rest show the state of play as of this evening:

More JP's by Keith Woods, on Flickr

We seem to have clearance Clarence

More JP's by Keith Woods, on Flickr

Other side showing mixed weapon load. Not sure if this would be OK because after the bomb was dropped the load would become assymetric.

More JP's by Keith Woods, on Flickr

And finally the underside showing possible locations for two Aden Cannon,

More JP's by Keith Woods, on Flickr

(Magazine in place of R/H Ejection seat.) as suggested by me in an earlier posting. (Gun ports and shell ejector shute's
marked with Black felt tip) Might need Sabrina's/Sams/Katie's or Jordan's 
comments etc appreciated.

Regards
Keith

And I see the start of this topic was my 1000th
It was also supposed to be a straight from the box Mojo builder but it seems to be growing....

[Old Wombat]

It was also supposed to be a straight from the box Mojo builder but it seems to be growing....

Don't they all?