Shorts Brothers Basilisk

[chrisonord]

Designed as a private venture by Shorts brothers in the mid 1960' as an inexpensive easy to maintain close air support, C.O.I.N and border patrol aircraft and aimed at African nations and central /south American countries. The aircraft was initiall offered with easily servicable piston engines, sunk into large sound absorbing nacelles, and it had large armoured fuel tanks and an armoured cockpit and vital components to protect it from ground fire. One prototype was built and shown as a static display at several air and arms shows but got absolutely no interest. Ten years down the line the RAF wanted something to do this job and eventually be flown by indigenous pilots as part of Operation Saladin, the hush hush war against comunist backed insurgents, that were trying to capture Uranium mines.
The aircraft was looked at again and Shorts brothers agreed to build 15 redesigned versions of the Basilisk, one major change was to fit a pair of powerful turbo prop engines, hidden inside I.R and sound supressing pods, and large sand filters for ooerating from arrid and desert airfields. The gun armament could be changed for every mission, and could be a mixture of .50, 20 mm and 30 mm cannon. The outer most pylons are wired for sidewinders, but they were never carried, freefall bombs, rocket pods napalm, and even minigun pods were carried depending upon mission. The 2 man crew sat in a fighter style tandem cockpit, with ejector seats fitted. Due to the ruggedness of the aircraft, non were ever lost in combat, and only 2 due to pilot error.

[PR19_Kit]

Hmmm, I can see the Il-28 bits, but where did the engines & canopy come from?

[chrisonord]

Hmmm, I can see the Il-28 bits, but where did the engines & canopy come from?

The canopy is from the spares box, and the engines are the Il-28 ones modified. It is now 1/72nd scale instead of 1/100th scale too.

[Dizzyfugu]

That's very cool scale-or-rama. A Tamiya 1:100 Il-28, or the VEB Plasticart kit? Reminds me a lot of the A2J Super Savage?
And: does it have a two-tone camouflage? Not certain due my monitor's contrast and resulution?

[PR19_Kit]

Reminds me a lot of the A2J Super Savage?

It does too, it's the swept tail surfaces and the big twin prop engines that do it. 

[chrisonord]

That's very cool scale-or-rama. A Tamiya 1:100 Il-28, or the VEB Plasticart kit? Reminds me a lot of the A2J Super Savage?
And: does it have a two-tone camouflage? Not certain due my monitor's contrast and resulution?

It is 2 different shades of sand, and it is sort of sun bleached hence the faded roundels. It is a Tamiya kit, cost me less than five quid.

[Dizzyfugu]

Thank you for the info - and at a fiver it is/was cheap! Very good use of it as a whole. Wonder how something similar in all-over Gloss Dark Sea Blue and with USN markings would look like? There wera a number of turboprop navy fighters around the Korean War that would follow similar lines. Hmmm... 

[chrisonord]

Thank you for the info - and at a fiver it is/was cheap! Very good use of it as a whole. Wonder how something similar in all-over Gloss Dark Sea Blue and with USN markings would look like? There wera a number of turboprop navy fighters around the Korean War that would follow similar lines. Hmmm... 

Sounds like a good plan to me, the conversion was quite easy, and.I just used spares box bits to build it. I wonder if a fleet air arm version would work for the Korean war too, with either early turbo props or a pair of Gryffons.

[loupgarou]

Came out real pretty. nd a good use of the 1/100 Il-28.

[The Rat]

Very nice!   

,,,the engines are the Il-28 ones modified. It is now 1/72nd scale instead of 1/100th scale too.

Before another idea shoved its way in, I was planning on doing an Airfix Il-28 with turboprops, justifying it as a naval variant for carrier use. The back story political gymnastics of Russia putting carriers into service during the 1950s or '60s put that to rest. 

[Pellson]

Great!! 

[major]

That's cracking!   

Thank you for the info - and at a fiver it is/was cheap! Very good use of it as a whole. Wonder how something similar in all-over Gloss Dark Sea Blue and with USN markings would look like? There wera a number of turboprop navy fighters around the Korean War that would follow similar lines. Hmmm... 

And an idea that I shall be stealing at some stage! 

Nice to see you back around Chris! 

Cheers... Ray

[Rick Lowe]

Nice. 

[Wardukw]

Oh I freaking love this ..it's a twin so it's a instant love right there and this is a extremely cool looking bird ..top marks Chris     

[kerick]

That's a great scale o rama project! And I think I have one in the junk drawer!