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SUPERSCOOTER!

Started by K5054NZ, January 12, 2006, 01:18:25 PM

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K5054NZ

Okay, first things first, my backstory  :wub: . Mmmm....backstory.....ANYWAY, Enjoy!

LOCKHEED-MARTIN/PACIFIC AEROSPACE F-19 "MOSQUITO"
"There is no such aircraft as the F-19" was an oft-spoken USAF statement of the 1980s, the words often coming from the stony face of General Lawrence Skantze, then  head of Air Force Systems Command. In fact, until November 1988, the very existence of the 'stealth' fighter had been completely denied, and certainly the position of its secret hideaway and its correct nomenclature. Despite the stone-walling, everybody knew the aircraft was at Tonopah, but few knew what it was called and what it looked like. November 1988 was an exciting time for aviation enthusiasts, for just a week after the announcement of details and release of a photograph of the F-117, the Northrop B-2 'stealth' bomber was rolled out and photographed extensively, further heightening public awareness of 'stealth' concepts.*
However, the "F-19" subject wore on. What was the designation for? The Aurora Mach 5+ SR-71 replacement? A near-space interceptor? A true "Stealth Fighter"? Or something beyond any observer's imagination? The answer was something of an anti-climax. In fact, the F-19 was not 'stealth' per se. Instead it was a largely conventional fighter, designed as a low-cost alternative to the Lockheed-Martin F-16.

DOWNUNDER DESIGNS
The story of the F-19 began in New Zealand, a country not famed for its aviation manufacture industry, in 1982. Designers at the Pacific Aerospace Corporation (PAC) embarked on a replacement design for the able but ageing McDonnell-Douglas A-4K Skyhawk, which had entered Royal New Zealand Air Force service more than a decade earlier. The team purchased a derelict Skyhawk fuselage from the RNZAF in mid 1984 and took to the parts, reengeneering the structure. A new wing of delta planform was designed, and the A-4s horizontal stabilizers were moved to the nose, becoming canard foreplanes. Mockup wings were produced in New Zealand pine and the structure assembled at the company's Hamilton base in early 1985. By March of that year the mockup was painted in a variation of RNZAF camouflage, fitted with various "dummy" weapons. The new wing incorporated wingtip and overwing AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile pylons as well as nine underwing hardpoints. The project was carried out in secret, in a special hangar on the far side of Hamilton's Rukuhia Airport away from the main PAC buildings.
Halfway through 1985 (while the F-19 debate was swirling) a team from McDonnell Douglas arrived in New Zealand, ostensibly to advise the RNZAF who, at the time, were planning the "Kahu" upgrade to the A-4s. Once initial planning for Project Kahu was complete the MD team travelled to Hamilton, as whispers of another Skyhawk development in New Zealand had filtered down through the MD hierarchy. The PAC design team responsible for the aircraft, at that time without a designation, were offered a deal which would see MD become the major subcontractor for the project. The PAC team would travel to MD's "Phantom Works" in the USA to develop and build a prototype for flight-testing. However, despite the considerable benefits to PAC for cooperating with MD, the team turned down the offer.

SKUNK WORKS
As 1986 dawned, a team from Lockheed-Martin's famed "Skunk Works" visited PAC, and inspected the project. The Skunk Works had been working to produce a new advanced light fighter, but to no avail as the "Stealth Fighter" project was taking up valuable working hours and costs. Lockheed made a similar offer to MD's (this would seem strange, but in a rare agreement MD had allowed Lockheed to investigate the Skyhawk replacement project and, if need be, carry it out) which was accepted by PAC.
It was May 1986 when the PAC team and their mockup arrived in the US. All had been cleared by Lockheed's security, and the New Zealand group were transported to Skunk Works' Palmdale facility. The aim was to have the prototype built by August 1987 - difficult but not impossible, considering the PAC team had done all structural designwork years before, with Lockheed only needing to implement the advanced "fly-by-wire" control systems and computers. A version of the Pratt & Whitney F119 turbofan being developed for the YF-22 was to be fitted. Lockheed technicians beat the deadline, finishing the components of "Article 42" (as the prototype was called in company documents) on April 23 1987. The PAC team were transported via road to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and from there flown by helicopter to Lockheed's Groom Lake facility - the infamous "Area 51", known as Dreamland to employees. (Article 42 was transported by air direct from Palmdale)

SUCCESS IN SECRET
The aircraft was assembled at Groom Lake, and word from Lockheed confirmed that the designation YF-19 was to be applied to the aircraft. YF-19 was painted in a light grey scheme reminiscent of the Have Blue XST (forerunner of the F-117), wearing no national markings, and began taxi trials in June 1987, and the first flight was carried out on August 8 of that year. Pilot for the sortie was Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Anderson, Lockheed test pilot and veteran of the Skunk Works. The aircraft performed better than planned, with a top speed exceeding that of the F-16 and excellent low-speed handling characteristics despite the inherently unstable airframe design. The canard foreplanes resulted in manoevrability better than contemporary fighters, and more impressive than the A-4.
The aircraft turned out to be about three-quarters the price per unit of the F-16, a fact Lockheed advertising and marketing executives capitalised on. However, before the aircraft could be marketed to potential customers, it had to be named. Lockheed wanted a name reflecting the company's history (along the lines of the YF-22 "Lightning II") but the PAC team, without whom the aircraft would not exist, demanded a New Zealand name. For the American technicians and pilots working on the project it was the "Superscooter", but that could not be adopted as an official name. "Sidewinder" was seriously considered, but because of the missile of the same name it was dropped, as was "Sparrow". The name which finally found favour with both Lockheed and PAC was "Mosquito", reflecting the versatile fighter/attack role (the original Mosquito was a successful British WW2 fighter-bomber flown by New Zealanders) and the aircraft's small size.

FIGHTER OF THE FUTURE
Intensive marketing (later compared to Northrop's F-5G/F-20 Tigershark programme) began in 1988, coinciding with the first flight of the B-2 bomber and the unveiling of the F-117. The fact that the public had been lied to about the existence of an F-19 was swept aside by the scorching performance of the aircraft. Paris '89 was its international debut, with an incredible display by the first production F-19 which led to orders from NATO nations (Belgium, Denmark and Switzerland) and India (to be licence-built by HAL Industries).A two-seat trainer, the F-19B, was also developed, in addition to the F-19A single-seater. By 1994 the F-19 Mosquito was in heavy production, and more than 200 aircraft had been built.

NEW ZEALAND A CUSTOMER
In 1998 the government of New Zealand, under Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, began to investigate a Skyhawk replacement. The two aircraft which made the shortlist were the Lockheed-Martin F-16 and the F-19. Early 1999 saw the government announce the winner of the contract - the F-19 Mosquito was to be New Zealand's new fighter. The Skyhawks of No. 75 Sqn were to be phased out of service beginning December 12 2001, to be replaced by twelve F-19As and four F-19Bs. The Mosquitos were to be shipped to New Zealand as components and assembled at PAC's Hamilton facility. Four pilots would undergo conversion training on the F-19B at Lockheed-Martin's Burbank, California facility. The first aircraft, F-19A NZ8101 first flew on March 8 2002 at Hamilton, performing a half-hour test flight. A month later '01, in formation with '03 and '11, flew to Ohakea Air Force Base. The new fighters were escorted by a pair of A-4Ks and made a spectacular low-level arrival over the base under a brilliant blue sky.
In August 2002 the final aircraft, F-19B NZ8108, was delivered to Ohakea and the final A-4K was retired to storage at RNZAF Base Woodbourne. Since then the fleet has given stellar service, being popular at airshows at home and amongst friendly countries during international exercises.

TO THE FUTURE
In early 2006 the government of Canada announced that Lockheed-Martin had won the contract to replace the long-serving CF-18 Hornets with a development of the Mosquito, the CF-19. The aircraft is to be implemented over a three year period, with a total of 140 aircraft to be purchased (similar to the original CF-18 fleet). Limited orders have also been placed by Greece, the Netherlands and Poland. It is expected that, within a decade, all NATO member countries currently operating the F-16 will convert to the F-19. A navalised version was being considered for the Royal Navy (the F-19C), but the F-35 JSF was then selected. Currently this is under review due to debate amongst the United States government.

LOOKING BACK
The F-19 Mosquito remains the only military aircraft to be designed in New Zealand, and the most advanced fighter to originate from the Southern Hemisphere. It has more customers than any of Lockheed-Martin's other fighter aircraft (except the F-16) and, for its capabilities, relatively affordable for any government.
The original unnamed mockup of the F-19 design was taken back to New Zealand after trial fits of the electronics package and weapons at Palmdale. Stripped of the expensive equipment, the mockup was placed in storage at Hamilton. An Auckland comapny, responsible for two fibreglass Spitfire replicas, created a similar image of the F-19 from the mockup and this was placed on a stand outside PAC's head office. Another example, depicting a fictional service aircraft ("NZ8118") replaced a de Havilland Vampire on gate guard duty at RNZAF Ohakea.
Article 42, the YF-19, was used to test various paint schemes for customers, and was grounded in September 1994 after a landing gear collapse at RAF Boscombe Down (commonly referred to as the "ASTRA Incident", as some observers mistook the aircraft for the rumoured "Aurora" SR-71 replacement, the ASTRA AV-6). It was flown back to the US in a C-5 Galaxy and put in storage at Burbank. Today it is not known whether the aircraft remains in existence. Some reports from Lockheed-Martin suggest the aircraft is one of two (the other an F-19B) held at Groom Lake for weapons and electronics testing.
The first production F-19, the company demonstrator, still flies for potential customers. It is currently painted in a fictitous Royal Australian Air Force colour scheme.

*This paragraph is from the article "Stealth Aircraft", Airplane magazine issue 1, Orbis Publications 1989

And now the beginings of the build. I had wanted to model the demonstrator, but instead this will be a service example. Of which airforce? Someone send me decals for one of the above and I'll do that!

Wings courtesy Howard of Effingham, the base kit is Airfix's venerable A4D. The canards (CANAAAAARDS!!!! :wub:  :wub: ) will be mounted on the intakes a la Kfir, and the rear fuselage will probably have a constant diameter so that a) the massive afterburner can will fit, and 2) the massive gaps between fuse and wings is non-existent.

I'll keep you posted when I can muster up enough courage to start.

Bryan H.

Great work & great story!  :wub:  Keep us posted!

:cheers: Bryan

Miscellany (that effects modeling):
My son & daughter.
School - finishing my degree

Models (upcoming):
RCN A-4F+ ArcticHawk

Shasper

Great idea there lad! Keep 'er going!


BTW: its Lockeed (No H in there.)


Shas B)  
Take Care, Stay Cool & Remember to "Check-6"
- Bud S.

K5054NZ

:huh: Since when? Or is that a typo I have in there somewhere?
Lockheed Martin homepage

Shasper

%#^@ commies! it wasnt that way when Johnson was alive & running things ( both of 'em!)!



Shas B)  
Take Care, Stay Cool & Remember to "Check-6"
- Bud S.

elmayerle

Quote%#^@ commies! it wasnt that way when Johnson was alive & running things ( both of 'em!)!



Shas B)
Actually it was, heck it was even that way "way back when" when their chief aerodynamicist (at least that'd be his title today) was Jack Northrop.
"Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it."
--Jane Wagner and Lily Tomlin

Tophe

It seems the picture of your nice big model has been shot on a bed. Surprising diorama/airfield! but... this is a wonderful invention: to prevent strike attack of airfields - when the enemy comes, you simply put the cover on and the planes simply DISAPPEAR! As you said, the reference was "Stealth aircraft" and you invented an extra chapter, you genius: Stealth airfield! :P  :lol:  :D  
[the word "realistic" hurts my heart...]

Brian da Basher

That's a really great start Zac and one fantastic backstory! I'm looking forward to seeing more of this cool bird!  B)

Brian da Basher

Shasper

Quote
Quote%#^@ commies! it wasnt that way when Johnson was alive & running things ( both of 'em!)!



Shas B)
Actually it was, heck it was even that way "way back when" when their chief aerodynamicist (at least that'd be his title today) was Jack Northrop.
Excuse me fellas.   *Walks downstairs to the DeNeuraliser*


Shas B)  
Take Care, Stay Cool & Remember to "Check-6"
- Bud S.

K5054NZ

Christophe, you are a comic genius!  :lol:  But yes, we do think of these things in New Zealand.

And thanks a bunch Bri! That backstory is one of my favourites ever. That I've done.  ^_^  I love writing backstories.

Now, I need some IDs for the below weapons.





Much obliged.

elmayerle

The first picture has two GBU-8's. a GPU=5/A "Gepod" (30mm Gatling, same ammo as A-10), and five MK.20 bombs.

The second picture has four launch rails, most likely for AMRAAM, four AIM-9Ls and four AIM-120s (AMRAAM).

The third picture has four more AIM-9Ls, one Mk.20, and both LANTIRN pods.

The fourth picture has two AGM-99 HARMs, and four SUU-30s.

Hope this helps.  For identifying US missiles, Designation Systmes - US Rockets and Missiles is a good site.
"Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it."
--Jane Wagner and Lily Tomlin

K5054NZ

Thanks a bunch Evan!

elmayerle

QuoteThanks a bunch Evan!
My pleasure.  'Tween online resources and having the Hasegawa weapons sets readily at hand, 'twas simple enough to do.
"Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it."
--Jane Wagner and Lily Tomlin

Shasper

That GBU-8 can be converted to a AGM-130 Striker by adding a rocket booster on the underside:




Probably bettter to do that as the GBU-8 isnt really in service w/anyone (except Iran  :wacko: )



Shas B)  
Take Care, Stay Cool & Remember to "Check-6"
- Bud S.

Shasper

Evan, Thos AMRAAMs are actualy AIM-7 Sparrows (The 'Raam has the big fins on the back, not out front), and the HARMs are AGM-88. ;)


Shas B)  
Take Care, Stay Cool & Remember to "Check-6"
- Bud S.