Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread - Panavia Condor IDF

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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 has taken 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.

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You might remember that back in the Summer I had problems with Photobucket on service, price increases and I also discovered that they were double-charging me by taking direct debits twice a year! Well, sadly I have to report that Photobucket have simply not bothered to get back to me (but sent loads of e-mails when they were chasing up their expected premiums). I feel well and truly shafted by Photobucket and almost 16,000 of my hosted images now have an ugly watermark running through them which affects the vast majority of this long-running thread. Sorry guys!

As one of you guys advised me at the time, never pay a blackmailer as they'll just keep coming back for more...

[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.













Picture No.1 shows the 'old' patch with the F-100 silhouette but I've revised it to show a 'Thud' silhouette on the later pictures.

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Douglas Invader in Heyl HaAvir service

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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.

[SPINNERS]

USAF Groom Lake Frescoes

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







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.




During the early 1970's more MiG-17F's were acquired and some flew in this 'Middle East' scheme.




The end result of such DACM training should be this - an Aggressor MiG-17F caught in the gunsights of a Phantom.

Whiteknight has done some superb 'Red' schemes and I've used his Egyptian Camo to do another USAF Aggresor.

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RAF Sabre F(AW).7's


Two Firestreak equipped SabreF(AW).7's from No.92 squadron on detachment to Cyprus.











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

[SPINNERS]

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.





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.

Question - What am I going to do about a designation for this any other 'cold war' era Aggressors. Apart from F-74/P-74 all the F's are taken (I rather get the impression that the numbering system was deliberately fixed to give the F-100 number to the Super Sabre as many numbers were used for variants of existing designs but then not used and some late '90' numbers were used for missiles!) so perhaps I need to use a suitable alternative letter or a combination of letters. Help!!!

[SPINNERS]

A four-ship heads off into the Desert for some ACM training


"So the pupil becomes the master"


During the early-mid 1950's the 44th wore both North Korean and Soviet tail patches.

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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.

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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.

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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.


A No.31 squadron Voodoo RF-101C blasts off from Grootfontein (Namibia) - destination unknown.


May 1978 - Voodoos of No.31 squadron SAAF head out for the Angolan border on an early morning sortie.


A SAAF Voodoo is bounced by an Angolan Fitter-C.

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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.









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. Good call on the Harrier Darren, I'll make it my last Rhodesian bird for the moment using the classic 1970's insignia.

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Hawker Harriers of No.6 squadron Rhodesian Air Force.






Harrier and Hunter - just how it should be!

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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 transferred to the Israeli Air Force as attrition replacements following the Yom Kippur war.








Later on the Super Mystere's received Sidewinder acquisition rounds, despite the Aim-9B being a Navy programme.


In the mid-1970's some of the 44th AFS Super Mysteres adopted this camo scheme.

[SPINNERS]

A-10A Thunderbolts of the 10th Tactical Squadron of the Polish Air Force (Siły Powietrzne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej)






Some 10th Tactical squadron A-10A's adopted ferocious looking shark-mouths - quite appropriate for a predator like the A-10A!

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.

And to finish off this mini Polish interlude a couple of Grey A-10A's;





Again, this is a stock skin from within the game/sim (the A-10A is only in 'Wings Over Europe').