Thunderbolt GA.1

[Devilfish]

Thunderbolt GA.1
20 (AC) Sqn RAF Germany 1986

When the British Army started flying it's own armed fixed wing aircraft in the close support role, there was, naturally, outrage in the halls of the Ministry, as the RAF complained that it was their role to support ground forces. Almost immediately the Air Staff began looking at a suitable, but better (read "more complicated") aircraft, that the Army wouldn't be able to maintain on their own. The obvious choice was the new Fairchild A-10, coming into service with the USAF.
After much wrangling between the RAF and Army, eventually it was declared that if this was to go ahead, it would have to be a joint unit.  The Army therefore insisted on having one of their officers on whatever plane was chosen.  This scuppered the A-10 idea, until Fairchild came out with the N/AW A-10, two seater.
Orders were immediately placed, with the idea of the rear seat being purely an Army observer.  Eventually, as crew training progressed, it became evident the rear-seater would become a valuable member of the crew, operating the various systems, and target tracking etc
The aircraft was modified for British use, with the addition of an IFR probe.
Weaponry typically consisted of anti armour and ground suppression rounds, with a Sidewinder for self defence, and an American AGM-88 HARM for anti-radar use.

20190522_175645 by Paul Carter, on Flickr
20190522_175551 by Paul Carter, on Flickr
20190522_175631 by Paul Carter, on Flickr
20190522_175535 by Paul Carter, on Flickr
20190522_175520 by Paul Carter, on Flickr
20190522_175504 by Paul Carter, on Flickr
20190522_175406 by Paul Carter, on Flickr

[AndrewF]

Good job. I'm convinced.

[NARSES2]

Oh that is nice 

[Old Wombat]

Oh that is nice 

Extremely!

[PR19_Kit]

Very good, and plausible too. 

[Steel Penguin]

looks darn  good from here
and that's a good broadside of SNEBs, which I very much approve of 

[TallEng]

Very nice
RAFG in 1986 probably makes its base RAF Laarbruch
And just for info: 20ies codes where black with a pale blue outline, G for 20 and A etc as the individual Aircraft code
(I know I was there  )
Regards
Keith
Not (Still all bitter and twisted*) now
* 20Sqn Groundcrew Motto

[TomZ]

Looks very good in this scheme.

TomZ

[ChernayaAkula]

Seriously nice work! 

[Devilfish]

Very nice
RAFG in 1986 probably makes its base RAF Laarbruch
And just for info: 20ies codes where black with a pale blue outline, G for 20 and A etc as the individual Aircraft code
(I know I was there  )
Regards
Keith
Not (Still all bitter and twisted*) now
* 20Sqn Groundcrew Motto

Cheers for that. I wasn't aware of that.