Indian Air Force B-57 Canberra

[SPINNERS]

After taking delivery of various marks of the English Electric (later BAC) Canberra in the late 1950's and 1960's the Indian Air Force had good experience of the types handling and performance. However, after several skirmishes with China in the Himalayas during the short border dispute of 1962 and then suffering attacks from Pakistani guerrilla forces in Kashmir in 1965 the Indian government was on a war footing and military procurement became a priority.

The Indian Air Force wanted more Canberras but with the type out of production and the RAF needing to hold onto their B(I)8's, B15's and B16's for a few more years to come the Indian government made a tentative enquiry to the US government in early 1966 for surplus B-57's and the US government released 30 from stocks almost immediately.

In an ironic twist, the contract for getting the ex-USAF aircraft back into service with their new owners was given to Hawker Siddeley Aviation at Brough who had previously offered Buccaneers to the Indian government. HSA made a proposal to fit the Buccaneer's 'Blue Parrott' into the B-57's and also a revised tip-tank installation and this was accepted and the aircraft entered service with the Indian Air Force in 1968 with No.5 squadron.

Designated B-57B(I) the aircraft acquitted themselves well in the 1971 conflict with Pakistan although one was unfortunately shot down by Indian Air Force Hunters over Amritsar when the Hunter pilots mistook it for a Pakistani Air Force B-57B. In the late 1970's surviving machines were upgraded and equipped with Maverick air-to-ground missiles and external ECM and served until 1991 when replaced by Jaguars.

[PanzerWulff]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH     Now thats NICE!!!!

[John Howling Mouse]

Oh yeah!  Is that nosecone modified (sharper point) or did the model actually come like that (i.e. some Canberras actually had such a nose)?

Nice!!  Very nice.

[BlackOps]

Looks great! That nose was the first thing my attention went too. Nicely done

[cthulhu77]

Way cool !  Nice job on the finish.

[B777LR]

Way cool! The nose cone caught my eye first though...

[SPINNERS]

Underside view of '276' a Maverick equipped B57B(I) operating in the overland strike role with No. 5 sqn Indian Air Force.



'276' attacking a bottle of Humbrol Mattcote over the Teaktable plateau.

[SPINNERS]

Thanks for your comments folks and my apolgies for not having submitted anything since my Super Lightning from last summer  



I've not been doing much modelling lately but suddenly I've started to pick up my Swann Morton and go for it. I've being starting to collect 1/48 scale jets whilst also selling off some of my 1/72 scale stuff. This Airfix B-57 seemed a good kit to start with and get my modelling fingers loosened up on but a whiff of glue must have given me the urge for a whif of another kind and I decided to give my B-57 some mnor surgery.

The nose is from a sadly departed Foxbat but needed to be cut back quite a bit. The result reminded me of the Buccaneer so much that my B-57 just had to have a 'Blue Parrot' radar! The tip-tanks are just something that suits my preferences but does mirror what English Electric proposed for the P28 Ultimate Canberra which looked like a PR9 with normal wings except for the centralised tip-tanks (bigger than those on mine).

My head was telling me to do this an an Aussie machine over Vietnam but when I did the wrap-around grey/green camo I had a rethink and found some 1/48 scale Indian Air Force roundels and fin flashes from a Su-7 and added a few odds and sods including the Mavericks and QRC-160-1 ECM pods.

I really enjoyed this 'practice' build and also re-reading some of my Canberra books. Bill Gunston reckons that it could have been the best tactical attack machine in the world if someone had developed it further. Perhaps someone will do an 'A-10' Canberra with a 30mm gun and at least six pylons per wing...

but keep those tip-tanks please!

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Love the B-57.... The Delta Lightning is something else - In a good way !

Ian

[Archibald]

Love both models!!!    
Interesting backstory, too...
Bought myown B-57 two weeks ago. San amerigo aircraft    

[Jeffry Fontaine]

The Pakistan Air Force operated the B-57 equipped with a radar.  Not sure which type but it was in a small rounded radome and was about the same size as the radome from the A-7 Corsair II.  Your version is a bit more interesting in that you have added a much larger radar/radome to the existing airframe and pimped it out a bit more.  

[Brian da Basher]

Nice one, Spinners! I think that B-57 looks the business with the new nose, tip-tanks and cool camo scheme. What a great way to return to the workbench! I thoroughly enjoyed your backstory too.

Brian da Basher

[Archangel]

That is one very nice B-57. The tip tanks look especailly well on the wings.

[Excalibur]

Very nice build & good to see some different ordance on a Canberra.  

[Howard of Effingham]

SPINNERS!

this is good modelling and highly plausible. nice to see yer back.

trevor