Royal Marines Cobra AH.2, Operation Corporate, May 1982-Finished Pics and Backstory

[Pellson]

As the gentlemen already have said - what an obvious and great idea! And what an oversight from the UK MOD.

Looking great, by the way! 

[AeroplaneDriver]

I can't remember when sidewinders were cleared for use from Helicopters, however saying that, a lot of stuff was cleared for use in a hurry duering the trip south.

Gondor

I thought about Sidewinders, but I think I'm going with a Stinger on one wing.  Stingers weren't used on helos until much, much later, but the Stinger's first combat use was in the Falklands.  a handful were given to UK Special Forces.  In my backstory I'm thinking some enterprising you REME chap wondered if they could be adapted for air-air use, resulting in one being bolted on with external cabling to the control box mounted in the cockpit. 

[Gondor]

Leaning towards a fun little asymmetric weapons load for Wessex escort missions. 

Because of this statement I was thinking of only One Sidewinder which would have been plausable with all the Sea Harriers around as a source and obviously for self defence. Fit's better than adding Stingers into the mix.

Gondor

[NARSES2]

That's looking good. 

It is indeed   

[Rick Lowe]

Nice job.
The Special Hobby kit looks good in the box, and even better built up as here - I will get onto mine any decade, now...

Interesting little snippet I heard from Hugh Mills one time... he mentioned the use of the original Vulcan in Vietnam, which had to be de-rated as 6,000 rpm would 'flip a Huey upside-down', then mentioned the newer 3-barrel which he characterized as 'a sissy little gun...'
Well, anyhow, it tickled my funnybone and I thought I'd share. 

[kerick]

Leaning towards a fun little asymmetric weapons load for Wessex escort missions. 

Because of this statement I was thinking of only One Sidewinder which would have been plausable with all the Sea Harriers around as a source and obviously for self defence. Fit's better than adding Stingers into the mix.

Gondor

This is looking great. Just throwing into the mix how the Marines used modified Sidewinders as anti radar missiles from Cobras for a while. AIM-9C I believe.

[AeroplaneDriver]

Leaning towards a fun little asymmetric weapons load for Wessex escort missions. 

Because of this statement I was thinking of only One Sidewinder which would have been plausable with all the Sea Harriers around as a source and obviously for self defence. Fit's better than adding Stingers into the mix.

Gondor

This is looking great. Just throwing into the mix how the Marines used modified Sidewinders as anti radar missiles from Cobras for a while. AIM-9C I believe.

I considered a SideARM fit, but in the RW it came into service a good bit later, and the RAF never operated the AIM-9C, so it seemed a bit more of a stretch.  In the end I stuck with the Stinger idea on the grounds that it would be the easiest and fastest modification that could be done aboard ship enroute to the South Atlantic.  Model is complete, but probably going to be a week before I get around to taking decent pics of it due to a busy week of late nights at work. 

[AeroplaneDriver]

As mentioned above, more/better pics at the weekend, along with full backstory,  but I did manage to get the final fiddly bits on so here is a preview. 

[Old Wombat]

 

[Dizzyfugu]

Murky, but I like the paint scheme. I had thought about a British Cobra in the NATO Green/Lichen Green livery a while ago, too, and the Bundeswehr was offered the Cobra, too, during the PAH-2 design and evaluation phase (the AH-14BW, a two-engine AH-1W with a 4-blade-propeller - nomen est omen!), but it was rejected. Would make a nice whiffy model, though.

[McColm]

Well done,  the MODUK did look into helicopter gunships as early as the 1980s by modifying a Sea King which bore a close resemblance to the Mil-24 Hind. They also offered the French a similar layout for the Lynx.

[Wardukw]

That looks great in that paint ..with the added Stingers it's going to look more brutal..I like that 

[Rick Lowe]

 

[kerick]

Looks great! I like the paint colors.

[Nick]

That looks just the job 

A pair of those would make the raid on Pebble Island a whole lot easier. We could even capture it.

Taking San Carlos Bay would be over much quicker. We wouldn't lose the two Gazelles and crew that we did.

Stick a few with Stingers out at the west end of San Carlos Water to put the frighteners on incoming A-4s and Mirages. Let the Harriers cover the high level air defence.