Author Topic: Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread - Tu-98A 'Backfin' (Read 978132 times)

SPINNERS · « **on:** February 07, 2008, 02:38:33 pm »

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 Vista/W7/W8/W10 compatible '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.

SPINNERS · « **Reply #1 on:** March 22, 2008, 03:50:43 pm »

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.

SPINNERS · « **Reply #2 on:** September 06, 2008, 11:23:14 am »

Luftwaffe Mirage 2000D's

What If^TM when faced with heavy reunification costs the German government of the early 1990's had purchased the Mirage 2000 'off the shelf' instead of pumping money into the Eurofighter project? Here's how the 'D' might have looked;

SPINNERS · « **Reply #3 on:** September 20, 2008, 06:28:47 am »

Douglas Invader in Heyl HaAvir service

SPINNERS · « **Reply #4 on:** October 05, 2008, 12:06:09 am »

The F-4 Phantom II enters RAF service

In January 1962, just five years after the infamous Duncan Sandys Defence White Paper of 1957 which led to the cancellation of almost all of the UK's military aircraft projects, the reality of the poor state of the UK's air defences forced the RAF to issue a requirement for a long-range interceptor fighter to bolster the UK Air Defence Force by supplementing the short range English Electric Lightning.

From the outset the RAF wanted the McDonnell Phantom II which had entered squadron service with the USN in October 1961 and this view was seemingly reinforced when the USAF ordered a minimum change version of the F-4B as the F-4C. Surprisingly, during Prime Minister Harold MacMillan's visit to Washington in July 1962 it was announced that the UK were to receive 50 Phantom F-4B's from McDonnell for delivery in 1963. Whilst the USAF 'minimum change' version did, in fact, incorporate many changes the RAF F-4B was really a bit of a F-4B/F-4C hybrid as it incorporated the bulged inner wing panels to accommodate the wider tyres but retained the USN retractable refuelling probe.

The Phantom F.1 entered service with No.226 Operational Conversion Unit (No.65 squadron) at RAF Wattisham in August 1963 and later equipped No.43 squadron and No.111 squadron based at RAF Leuchars in Scotland.

Phantom F.1 of No.65 squadron lifts off from RAF Wattisham.

Standard load for the Phantom F.1 was three tanks, four Sparrows and four Sidewinders although Firestreaks could also be carried.

No.43 squadron introduced the Firestreak to the RAF's Phantom force which had to be carried on beefed up pylon adaptors.

From early 1967 the Phantom F.1 force began to wear the standard RAF camo scheme.

Whilst not as sprightly as the Lightning the Phantom F.1 was no slouch as demonstrated by this Treble-One squadron machine.

The sun sets on two Phantom F.1's from the Leuchars wing as they return back to base.

SPINNERS · « **Reply #5 on:** October 06, 2008, 01:09:19 pm »

Top Gunski!

Several Libyan Mirage V's found their way back to the Soviet Union who formed two 'Aggressor' squadrons based at Kara-Kum, Turkmenistan.

A Soviet Mirage V of No.2 Aggressor squadron buzzes two visiting Egyptian Cub aircraft.

SPINNERS · « **Reply #6 on:** October 13, 2008, 12:17:40 pm »

Early Royal Navy Skyhawks

The first Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron to re-equip with the Skyhawk was No.806, the famous 'Ace Of Diamonds' squadron in August 1957.

Ludo's superb Aeronavale skin with some RN decals by me. Thanks Ludo!

SPINNERS · « **Reply #7 on:** October 18, 2008, 10:54:16 pm »

RAAF Voodoos

F-101C Voodoo of No.2 Operational Conversion Unit.

A No.76 squadron machine overflys a B-57 Canberra during their short-lived 1966 deployment to Vietnam.

Voodoos of No.2 Operational Conversion Unit return to Butterworth.

SPINNERS · « **Reply #8 on:** October 29, 2008, 12:40:12 pm »

RAF Kestrel FG.1's

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.

The first two ex-RAF Kestrel FG.1's were flown in by pilots of No.45 squadron of the Indian Air Force.

SPINNERS · « **Reply #9 on:** November 01, 2008, 02:42:44 am »

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.

SPINNERS · « **Reply #10 on:** November 01, 2008, 10:17:13 am »

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 · « **Reply #11 on:** November 02, 2008, 12:56:03 pm »

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 · « **Reply #12 on:** November 02, 2008, 02:22:21 pm »

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.

SPINNERS · « **Reply #13 on:** November 03, 2008, 01:25:05 pm »

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.

SPINNERS · « **Reply #14 on:** November 04, 2008, 11:29:24 am »

More 1950's Aggressor shenanigans...