Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Hi Everyone,

This thread consists of 'what if' screenshots from the excellent 'Strike Fighters' series of flight simulation games created by Third Wire Productions for the PC. These games are ever so cheap and, straight out of the box, enable you to put 'what if' markings on selected post-war aircraft. Even better, there is a thriving 'modding' community where talented peeps create add-on aircraft, aircraft skins, markings, weapons, ships, terrains and a whole lot more thus making the 'what if' potential virtually limitless and increasing the fun coefficient to grin factor 10 - the full banana .

Initially released back in 2002 the series took on a new dimension with the release of the 'Strike Fighters 2' (SF2) series of games in December 2008 and the SF2 series now consists of;

Strike Fighters 2
Strike Fighters 2:Vietnam
Strike Fighters 2:Europe
Strike Fighters 2:Israel
Strike Fighters 2:North Atlantic
Strike Fighters 2:Expansion Pack 1
Strike Fighters 2:Expansion Pack 2

Whilst development of the series stopped in 2013 there is still a large 'Strike Fighters' community at work producing new aircraft, skins, weapons and terrains so the series will be around for many years to come.

Test Area

[SPINNERS]

Republic Aviation F-105I 'Shalakh' (Osprey) - No.253 'The Negev Squadron', Heyl Ha'Avir.

During the early 1960's Defence Secretary Robert S. McNamara and his team of whiz-kids were on a mission to streamline the US defence budget with commonality being their main weapon. With the F-4 Phantom now being procured by the USAF as well as by the USN and USMC and with the TFX (F-111) project promising further cost savings it appeared that the two aircraft had the home tactical fighter market covered and by October 1963 Republic Aviation were formally ordered to stop further development of the F-105 Thunderchief and stop production after the current batch of F-105D's and F-105F's.

In early 1964 the Israeli Air Force (IAF) were looking for a replacement for the Vautour tactical bomber and openly expressed a preference for the Blackburn Buccaneer. With the end of the Thunderchief production line looming and no follow-on project in the immediate pipeline Republic Aviation proposed a minimum change version of the Thunderchief F-105D-31RE to the IAF at an attractive price and this was accepted. Republic also proposed an advanced two-seater strike fighter based on the F-105F but with a dedicated WSO rear cockpit instead of the duplicated front cockpit of the USAF two-seaters.

With the last USAF F-105D's and F-105F's going through the door production continued with a batch of 40 F-105D's (Block-31RE's) and 20 F-105F's with initial deliveries starting in 1965. Production then switched to the F-105D-40RE, essentially a F-105D-31RE with some IAF specified equipment and the corresponding F-105F-40RE two-seater with another 60 single-seaters and another 40 two-seaters. These initial aircraft were all powered by the Pratt & Whitney J75-P19W engine rated at 26,500lbs of thrust.

Further improvements led to the F-105D-50RE with a more sophisticated avionics package and ECM fit and with an uprated J75-P25W engine rated at 28,000lbs of thrust. The IAF ordered 100 of this version with production commencing in 1966 and delivery in early 1967. There was no corresponding two-seater but due to feedback from the Vietnam war the IAF became interested in a dedicated electronic warfare and defence suppression version similar to the F-105G's being converted for the USAF. Once again the IAF kept the production line open with an order for 40 new build F-105G's powered by the J75-P25W and these aircraft entered service in 1968 - too late for the six-day war of 1967 but they played an important part in the Yom Kippur war of 1973. As a happy consequence, the USAF ordered more F-105D's and F-105F's as attrition replacements for Vietnam and kept the production line open until December 1968.

IDFF-105I01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDFF-105I02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDFF-105I03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDFF-105I04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDFF-105I05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDFF-105I06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Douglas Invader - Israeli Air Force, 1948

IDFInvaderB101 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDFInvaderB102 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDFInvaderB103 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Chengdu Kestrel FG.1 - No.58 Squadron, RAF, 2013

Ever since the late 1950's 'political procurement' has constantly plagued the UK Armed Forces and the purchase of the Chengdu J-10 from China was no exception. With the UK government turning themselves inside out to grab a slice of the ever-expanding Chinese market and faced with ever-expanding defence commitments the purchase of 72 J-10's was seen to be a way of getting into bed with the Chinese as well as giving the RAF something cheap but effective to fly in the ATO (Afghanistan Theatre of Operations). Predictably, by the time the 'Vigorous Dragon' was sufficiently anglicised to be acceptable to the RAF, including being given the name of Kestrel FG.1, the unit price had climbed to about two-thirds of that of the Eurofighter Typhoon - although the J-10 was considerably cheaper to operate and gave good service from 2011 to 2018 before the remaining 64 aircraft were sold to India in a deal that set back relations with China back to square one.

RAFKestrelFG103 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFKestrelFG101 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFKestrelFG102 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IAFKestrelFG101 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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USAF Groom Lake Frescoes

Now declassified, the Have Drill and Have Ferry projects saw the USAF evaluate the MiG-17F 'Fresco' at Groom Lake.

USAFMiG-17F01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFMiG-17F02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFMiG-17F03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFMiG-17F06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFMiG-17F04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFMiG-17F05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFMiG-17F07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr
The end result of such DACM training should be this - an Aggressor MiG-17F caught in the gunsights of a Phantom.

Not a 'what-if' as such as the USAF really did evaluate the MiG-17F but a new North Vietnamese camo skin for the MiG-17F was released today and I thought it would make a nice 'Aggressor' skin. Also, Whiteknight has done some superb 'Red' schemes and I've used his Egyptian Camo to do another USAF Aggresor.

[SPINNERS]

North American Sabre FAW.7 - Royal Air Force, 1959

RAFSabreFAW701 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFSabreFAW702 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFSabreFAW703 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFSabreFAW704 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFSabreFAW705 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFSabreFAW706 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFSabreFAW707 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Apart from money, I can't think why the RAF didn't have these!

[SPINNERS]

Dassault MD.450 Ouragan - 44th Aggressor Fighter Squadron, United States Air Force, 1953

The success of 'Project Gunsight' at Ash Fork AFB in North Arizona led to more funding for this far-sighted USAF training programme and off-the-shelf purchases of several Western European fighter types were urgently made. The Dassault MD.450 Ouragan was ordered in late 1951 and entered service with the 44th AFS (Aggressor Fighter Squadron) in February 1952.

USAFOuragan01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFOuragan02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFOuragan03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFOuragan04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFOuragan05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I enjoyed doing the F-74A Vampire Aggressor a few pages back so I thought I'd do a Dassault Ouragan in the same style. Realistically, the USAF could have got these in early 1952 - a full 18 months before they got a real MiG-15 so it would have made a useful dissimilar aircraft to practice against.

[SPINNERS]

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 - 44th Aggressor Fighter Squadron, United States Air Force, 1954

After the defection of Lt. No Kum-Sok with his MiG-15 in September 1953 Project Gunsight muscled in and by November 1953 had this MiG-15 transferred to the 44th AFS (Aggressor Fighter Squadron) at Ash Fork AFB where it flew alongside the Ouragans and Vampires.

USAFMiG-15bis01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFMiG-15bis02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFMiG-15bis03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Dassault Mystere IV - 44th Aggressor Fighter Squadron, United States Air Force, 1956

With the US Government financing the Dassault Mystere IV via the Offshore Procurement Programme it was quite natural for a few examples to find their way to the 44th Aggressor Fighter Squadron where they made an excellent MiG-15 simulator.

USAFMystere01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFMystere02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFMystere03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFMystere04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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McDonnell RF-101C Voodoo - No.11 Squadron, South African Air Force, 1978

Without being publicised, an undisclosed number of RF-101C Voodoos were passed onto South Africa in 1974 to equip a newly reformed No.11 squadron based alongside the Canberras of No.12 squadron at Waterkloof AFB. Little is known about the types usage by the SAAF other than several deployments to Grootfontein (now in the Republic of Namibia) during the mid-1970's Border Wars and the shooting down of two RF-101C's over Angola in early May 1978 - losses never officially confirmed by the South African government.

SAAFVoodooRF-101C01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SAAFVoodooRF-101C02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FAPAFitter-C01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SAAFVoodooRF-101C03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Macchi MB-326 - No.2 Squadron, Rhodesian Air Force, 1968

No.2 squadron of the Rhodesian Air Force operated the popular Macchi MB-326 for many years including some operations alongside their fierce rivals, No.1 squadron equipped with Hunters.

RRAFMB-326H01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RRAFMB-326H02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RRAFMB-326H03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RRAFMB-326H04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've done a custom slanting fin flash for the MB-326H that matches the lines of the fin and rudder better than a plain old square. The Hunter looks good!

[SPINNERS]

Hawker Harrier Mk.51 - No.6 Squadron, Rhodesian Air Force, 1970

RRAFHarrierGR101 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RRAFHarrierGR102 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RRAFHarrierGR103 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Last Piccie - Harrier and Hunter... just how it should be!

[SPINNERS]

Dassault Super Mystere - 44th Aggressor Fighter Squadron, United States Air Force, 1959

Even before the mass flypast of 48 MiG-19's at the 1955 Soviet Aviation Day at Tushino the introduction into service of this superb Soviet fighter aircraft had caused headaches for the USAF whose F-100 Super Sabre was going through massive teething problems. Colonel Irwin J. Reinhard and his team at Project Gunsight, based at Ash Fork AFB in North Arizona, were ahead of the game and had already secured funding for the purchase of 24 Dassault Super Mysteres from France to allow the 44th AFS (Aggressor Fighter Squadron) to more effectively simulate the MiG-19. Unfortunately the programme ran a bit behind schedule at the French end and the first Super Mysteres didn't arrive as Ash Fork until very late in 1958. Despite that they gave good service and remained in service until October 1973 with the last surviving 15 aircraft being urgently transferred to the Israeli Air Force as attrition replacements following the Yom Kippur war.

USAFSuperMystere01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFSuperMystere02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFSuperMystere03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFSuperMystere04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFSuperMystere05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Fairchild A-10A Thunderbolt - 10th Tactical Squadron, Polish Air Force (Siły Powietrzne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), 1994

PolishA-10A01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PolishA-10A02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PolishA-10A03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PolishA-10A04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PolishA-10A05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

As previously mentioned, the Euro One camo is a stock skin in the game/sim and thoughtfully includes the shark-mouth variation. I've just oversprayed the nose 'flying-boom' receptacle markings and the slime lights on the tail fin (only because the tail fin markings were clashing with them). I knocked up post-1993 Polish Insignia decal and also made a circular 10th Tactical Squadron decal as well. The game/sim randomly generates the red Soviet style two-digit numbers for all 'red' aircraft so a simple edit gets those decals to show up. I'm not sure what numbering system the modern Polish Air Force actually use but having these is better than nothing. The grey scheme is also a stock skin from within the game/sim.

[SPINNERS]

McDonnellSalesPitch by Spinners1961, on Flickr
Unsuccessful 1962 McDonnell Aircraft Corp. sales pitch made to Canada.

Thankfully, in 'what-if' land we can make things right!

Advert004 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAFPhantomF-4C01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAFPhantomF-4C02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAFPhantomF-4C03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAFPhantomF-4C04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Last week the Wales v. South Africa rugby union international inspired me to look at some South African what if's. Last night Wales played Canada (and very plucky they were too) so that is going to be my inspiration for the weekend. Some nice leafy roundels from the 1950's and 1960's! Canada haven't half changed their insignia and markings over the years so please forgive me if I drop the occasional clanger!