The Gloster Lance FAW3

[PR19_Kit]

At the moment I could cheerfully stamp on it! 

[Tophe]

It's a '2 foot model', meaning don't get any closer than that

From here, at more than one thousand miles distance, it is great!

[Rheged]

YES! Most definitely a success.

[NARSES2]

Very good  it has a strangely addictive look to it ---

It has, hasn't it ? It looks right.

[PR19_Kit]

It's NEARLY finished. 

All I have to do is reprint the underwing serial letter that came off, under THREE coats of varnish, and then glue the Red Top missile and its pylon over the top of the serial and that'll be it.......

[PR19_Kit]

It's done, and not before time either. The blasted thing fought me all the way to the very end. Problem after problem! 

One day I'll build something that doesn't need complicated modifications, is all the same colour and with a simple set of decals!

Anyway, here's the Gloster Lance FAW3 of 23 Sqdn. sometime in the mid-60s just after they'd been modified to fire Red Tops.



The Lance was ordered to back up the Javelin, which was seen a rather unconventional with its delta wing, and Gloster used the main parts of the Javelin's fuselage but with a straight, equi-tapered wing and a smaller tailplane and fin.




Lagging behind the Javelin, the Lance was able to profit from the developments carried out on the delta winged version and missed out on many of the troublesome sub-variants of the Javelin.




All Lance variants bar the very last FAW4 version used non-afterburning Sapphire engines and accordingly had the 'pen knib' exhaust fairings at the rear. The much thinner wing and tail of the Lance gave it a higher top speed than the Javelins, but the smaller wing area limited their maximum altitude capability.




Early mark Lances, the FAW1 & 2, carried Firestreak missiles, as did the FAW3 originally, but in 1965 the FAW3s were upgraded to the more potent Red Top missiles, with new pylons and fire control systems,




Because the thinner wings could not encompass the Javelin's cannon, Lances had only two cannon, and these were installed under the intakes firing alongside the cockpit. As with the Hunter this gave some problems with gun firing residue being inhaled by the engines, but the Sapphires were much less troubled with this than the Hunter's Avons.




Lacking the large internal wing tankage of the Javelins, the Lances had jettisonable tip tanks and always carried the large underbelly tanks used by the Javelins, as well as the fuselage tankage. Finished in Dark Sea Grey and Dark Green camouflage upper surfaces and High Speed Silver undersides, the Lance equipped squadrons competed strongly with the Javelin units in numerous RAF exercises, but overall there wasn't much to chose between them, each type having its strong proponents, although Javelins outnumbered Lances by almost 2:1 in RAF Service.

[JayBee]

Wonderfull, what else can one say! 

[Knightflyer]

Another good one Kit 

One thing that I keep seeing in mind's eye .... If the wings were (only a little?) further forward, you could have a tail-wheeled big brother to the Supermarine Attacker, an alternative to what would lead to the Scimitar? ..... A Lancet perhaps! 

[PR19_Kit]

One thing that I keep seeing in mind's eye .... If the wings were (only a little?) further forward, you could have a tail-wheeled big brother to the Supermarine Attacker, an alternative to what would lead to the Scimitar? ..... A Lancet perhaps! 

Thanks so much, both of you. I've only JUST posted it too! 

I like the idea of the tail wheel Lance, and we're just about to start the Prototypes GB too..................... 

[DogfighterZen]

I think it was worth the fight, Kit, that's a good looking bird.

[kitbasher]

 

[kitnut617]

One of those 'it should have been' ---- brilliant stuff Kit. 

[zenrat]

Very good.  Was there maybe a Lance  PR-19?

[Old Wombat]

 

[NARSES2]

That really does work Kit