Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Piaggio P.123 'Fenice' - Aviazione Navale, 1949

ANI P-55 ASCENDER.01_zpsjflrrvi9 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANI P-55 ASCENDER.02_zpsrlqrnvkn by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANI P-55 ASCENDER.03_zpsxakfcqba by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANI P-55 ASCENDER.04_zps7pn9e4hk by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANI P-55 ASCENDER.05_zpsya5ok2jx by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANI P-55 ASCENDER.06_zps9dpk9qsv by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANI P-55 ASCENDER.07_zps7mh6qbnw by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANI P-55 ASCENDER.08_zpssqdelv2r by Spinners1961, on Flickr
Bolter!

This is the P-55A Ascender masquerading as the Piaggio P.123 Fenice (Phoenix). I don't think the 3D model quite captures the shape of the P-55 but it does show the radical configuration of the 'a55-ender' and I remember reading about it with fascination in an old Air International many years ago. I couldn't find the exact Aviazione Navale national insignia as seen on their Helldivers but made one using the Aeronavale version recoloured with the other markings being pure artistic licence on my part. Thankfully an artistic licence costs nothing in 'what if' land and doesn't need renewal.

[SPINNERS]

Ambrosini SS.4 'Tornado' - Aviazione Navale, 1948

ANI SS.4 TORNADO.01_zpsb6jcjmhl by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANI SS.4 TORNADO.02_zpst8xedn4u by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANI SS.4 TORNADO.03_zpstgjy1w77 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANI SS.4 TORNADO.04_zpssdfc5leo by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANI SS.4 TORNADO.05_zpsdn9fsdqu by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANI SS.4 TORNADO.06_zpstbf1n8be by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANI SS.4 TORNADO.07_zpszezn8chm by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I made the templates for Veltro2K's lovely SS.4 so an Aviazone Navale version was a doddle for me to do and I spent more time getting it to work on a carrier as there are various nation/role/timeline compatibility problems to sort out. It doesn't have a hook of course but a 'fake hook' can be added to anything and positioned to work as it should. I used a darker blue than for the P-55 Ascender and I think it's better for it.

[SPINNERS]

North American Harvard II - No.679 Squadron, RAF South East Asia Command, 1945

RAF HARVARD.02_zpsmzawmgre by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF HARVARD.03_zpsuc31qytz by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF HARVARD.04_zps1joyevif by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF HARVARD.05_zpsjgsypxlg by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF HARVARD.06_zps9tsh7xbz by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF HARVARD.07_zpstsftqhcx by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A bit of a Harvard anthology was released recently with skins for most users but I've kept things simple with a silver skin with SEAC markings and squadron codes for No.679 Squadron, a real-life anti-aircraft co-operation squadron that disbanded in England in June 1946 whilst operating a mix of Hurricanes, Martinets, Barracudas and Vengeances.

[SPINNERS]

Douglas F2D-2 Dagger - VF-2 'Flying Chiefs', US Navy, 1941

USN F2D-2 ZERO.03_zpsior9gtvf by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F2D-2 ZERO.01_zps1mm845b4 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F2D-2 ZERO.02_zpsgkmusef1 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F2D-2 ZERO.04_zpsstp4jj4s by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F2D-2 ZERO.05_zpsgsylet1p by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F2D-2 ZERO.06_zps1gqzoypn by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F2D-2 ZERO.07_zpswkqwjri2 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F2D-2 ZERO.08_zpsg5bnljyl by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A new Harvard/Texan was released recently and one USN scheme reminded me just how cool the pre-war (well, pre-Pearl Harbour  ) USN schemes were, so I looked at what templates I had and the 'Zero' one seemed like a good place to start. A couple of points' the blue fuselage band doesn't wrap around properly and all aircraft are coded 2-F-7 because I've put that serial directly on the skin instead of making decals numbers. Apart from that I like this myself!

[SPINNERS]

Curtiss P-40E Warhawk - Vichy Frech Air Force, 1942

VICHY P-40E WARHAWK.01_zps4fvk82g7 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VICHY P-40E WARHAWK.02_zps7bgrvtaf by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VICHY P-40E WARHAWK.03_zpsrclzfjck by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VICHY P-40E WARHAWK.04_zpslcikvnyn by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VICHY P-40E WARHAWK.05_zpsge1qxowr by Spinners1961, on Flickr

There's been a lot of Warhawk activity recently with almost the full range released over at the DAT site to complement the existing P-40's done by 'Raven', a real P-40 fanatic, whose P-40E I'm using here as he's thoughtfully released templates making this easier than it looks. I've previously done the later and longer P-40N with Vichy French markings on a NMF skin but thought I'd use an earlier version and with desert camo.

[SPINNERS]

North American AT-6D Texan - No.9 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, 1967

RAAF AT-6D TEXAN.02_zpsebax8uzn by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAAF AT-6D TEXAN.05_zpskdycy1wn by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAAF AT-6D TEXAN.03_zpsgvq9kkxs by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAAF AT-6D TEXAN.04_zpslc3epz3d by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAAF AT-6D TEXAN.01_zpsbtuxthg4 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A nice 'what if' USAF SEA skin was released for the Texan recently so I thought I'd change the decals to RAAF and show it in the stock Vietnam terrain. No.9 squadron RAAF operated the ubiquitous UH-1 in 'Nam and had R A A F stencilled on the sides so I thought I'd add that to the Texan.

[SPINNERS]

Douglas A-1J Skyraider - 3 Escuadrilla de Caza y Ataque, Comando de Aviación Naval, 1970

COAN A-1J SKYRAIDER.02_zpshqlsqutb by Spinners1961, on Flickr

COAN A-1J SKYRAIDER.01_zps8v866cca by Spinners1961, on Flickr

COAN A-1J SKYRAIDER.03_zpsyiheowdy by Spinners1961, on Flickr

COAN A-1J SKYRAIDER.04_zpsqjynvzi8 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

COAN A-1J SKYRAIDER.05_zpswdrduwci by Spinners1961, on Flickr

COAN A-1J SKYRAIDER.06_zpsous979mr by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've shown the Skyraider in COAN markings before but in the USN style grey & white scheme (seen in piccie 4) but thought I'd try it in the USN blue scheme contained within a recent 'what if' 1946 Pacific War BT2D Skyraider with serials changed from black to white and using 3 Caza as the squadron. Huge fun attacking the USS Essex unsinkable Molly Brown.

[SPINNERS]

Douglas A-1J Skyraider - No.9 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, 1967

RAAF A-1M SKYRAIDER.02_zpsfoy7znpc by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAAF A-1M SKYRAIDER.04_zpsvyfpkqiv by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAAF A-1M SKYRAIDER.03_zpsxlasxa2x by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAAF A-1M SKYRAIDER.05_zps1bvokif2 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAAF A-1M SKYRAIDER.01_zpsnrephp17 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

As this skin is a stock Thirdwire skin for the A-1H I can't believe I haven't teamed it up with RAAF markings before! The last piccie is from an earlier 'test' but I really like the shot with a bit of artistic blur.

[SPINNERS]

Douglas A-1L Skyraider - 806 Squadron, Royal Australian Navy, 1966

RAN A-1L SKYRAIDER.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAN A-1L SKYRAIDER.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAN A-1L SKYRAIDER.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAN A-1L SKYRAIDER.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAN A-1L SKYRAIDER.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAN A-1L SKYRAIDER.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAN A-1L SKYRAIDER.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAN A-1L SKYRAIDER.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAN A-1L SKYRAIDER.09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

When doing 'what if' RAN's I normally use 805 Squadron but created a fictional 806 Squadron for this RAN Skyraider that uses the superb stock USN skin with some checkers applied to the tail bitmap and some decal Roos. Apologies for the excessive numbers of piccies but I know you like carrier shots! I must download HMAS Melbourne tomorrow.

[SPINNERS]

Douglas A-44C Skyraider - 497th Fighter Bomber Squadron, United States Air Force, Korea, 1952

USAAF A-44C SKYRAIDER.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF A-44C SKYRAIDER.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF A-44C SKYRAIDER.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF A-44C SKYRAIDER.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A simple black skin I created from a very good set of templates and some dark blue tinting to give a night effect. In game you can advance the clock to achieve the dark of night but it doesn't work at all well for screenshots.

[SPINNERS]

Curtiss A-25A Shrike - 111 Filo, Türk Hava Kuvvetleri, 1948

TAF A-25A SHRIKE.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAF A-25A SHRIKE.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAF A-25A SHRIKE.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAF A-25A SHRIKE.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAF A-25A SHRIKE.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

There's been some Helldiver activity recently with revamped USN Helldivers and USAAF Shrikes issued and I've overpainted the insignia on the latter and added some Turkish markings. Only when I read up on the Helldiver did I realise that it was operated by Greece.

[SPINNERS]

Douglas Skyhawk FGA.1 - No.33 Squadron, RAF South East Asia Command, 1963

RAF SKYHAWK FGA1.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SKYHAWK FGA1.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SKYHAWK FGA1.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SKYHAWK FGA1.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SKYHAWK FGA1.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SKYHAWK FGA1.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A really good Argentinian Air Force Skyhawk was released recently using the stock Third Wire three pylon A-4B 3D model and it comes with no less than six different skins. This skin makes a good SEAC Skyhawk and I must get the underwing serial numbers sorted and look at other Skyhawks too.

[SPINNERS]

Douglas A-4E Skyhawks - VF 870, Royal Canadian Navy, 1966

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Don't know why it's taken me so long to do this but I'm so glad I did! This is the Third Wire A-4G which I've had to use because it's got outboard AIM-9 pylons but I'm calling it an 'E' model as the 'G' didn't enter service until 1967 and I wanted this to replace the Banshees in 63-ish. I might try and do VF 871 tomorrow and see if I can get the 'Bonnie' in game. BTW the last shot is a SAM fired at someone upstairs but I got mine a few seconds later! The anti-ship missions in SF2:North Atlantic are superb and a wee bit noisy with speakers.

[SPINNERS]

Douglas A-4E Skyhawk - VF 871, Royal Canadian Navy, 1965

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.11 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.12 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.13 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.14 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Added HMCS Bonaventure and a second (ex-Banshee) Skyhawk squadron. I'm no expert on carriers but find it fascinating to read up on all those British carriers that seem to go on forever in foreign service.

[SPINNERS]

Douglas A-4E Skyhawk - 154 Gruppo, 6 Stormo, Aeronautica Militare, 1964

AMI A-4E SKYHAWK.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AMI A-4E SKYHAWK.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AMI A-4E SKYHAWK.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AMI A-4E SKYHAWK.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AMI A-4E SKYHAWK.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Perhaps a few NATO members decided to split their fighter purchase and used the F-104G for interception and the excellent Skyhawk for attack.