Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

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Douglas A-1H Skyraider - No.2 Squadron, Royal Rhodesian Air Force, 1965



A change of colours for this Rhodesian Skyraider with dark green and dark earth uppers and sky unders which is nicer than the azure I used on the RAF Skyraiders above.

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Douglas A-1H Skyraider - No.2 Squadron, Rhodesian Air Force, 1971



I think I prefer this later scheme even though I'm itching to stick wing roundels on it!

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Douglas Skyraider FB.3 - No.112 Squadron, RAF Near East Air Force, 1967




Last Skyraider for now. With their desert heritage I felt a bit guilty about not doing a No.112 Squadron machine so I decided I had to do one and, of course, it had to have a sharkmouth!

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Vought F-8E Crusader - 808 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Australian Navy, 1970

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Sud-Ouest Farandole II - EC1/5 Vendée, Armée de l'Air, 1957

When the straight-wing Sud-Ouest Farandole I lost out to the Dassault Ouragan for a production order they quickly schemed an improved swept-wing version known as the Farandole II utilising the same Hispano-Suiza Nene 104B engine. Working at speed the Sud-Ouest team flew the first prototype in October 1950 and the scintillating performance soon attracted the Armee de l'Air who ordered 150 production aircraft almost immediately leading to the cancellation of the Dassault Mystere IIC. Entering service in November 1952 the Farandole II was considered to be an interim type but served until 1960 with the Armee de l'Air and until 1974 with the Israeli Air Force who were the only export customer.








For this revision I've switched to EC1/5 Vendée after seeing a profile of one of their Super Mystere's with the slanting white band on the port side (Joan of Arc) and slanting blue band on the starboard side (stork) and managed to place these directly on the skin. The game actually generates the serial numbers (they are meant for the Mystere) and whilst I did consider the distinctive red lightning stripe seen on Mystere's and Super Mystere's, the gaps required for the serials and insignia mean that it just doesn't work on what is quite a short (in length) aircraft. Not the most aesthetic aeroplane to ever fly but I quite enjoyed doing this one.

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BAC Thunderstrike Miscellany

In the House of Commons on April 6th 1965, when Chancellor James Callaghan stood to deliver his budget day speech most of the British aviation industry were prepared for the worst but nothing about the TSR.2 was mentioned and a collective sigh of relief was heard. On April 9th, Prime Minister Wilson made an unannounced visit to BAC Warton and, after raised voices were heard coming from the boardroom, Wilson was given a tour of the TSR.2 front office by an enthusiastic and passionate Roland Beaumont. Playing to the assembled crowd of BAC workers and the Press corps, Wilson announced that whilst some economies were needed this important aircraft was "an amazing example of British engineering and will form the backbone of a modern Royal Air Force" adding that a production order for 30 examples would be immediately placed plus another four pre-production aircraft. Astounded BAC officials looked at each in disbelief, swallowed hard and smiled for the cameras.

In the months that followed, everything seemed to fall into place. The undercarriage retraction problems disappeared, the new Olympus 321 engines ran faultlessly both at Filton (and soon after in the newly flown XR222) whilst various highly classified black boxes arrived at Warton, were fitted and worked like a charm. Testing continued into 1966 and on April 6th, 1966 Mary Wilson (the wife of Prime Minister, Harold Wilson) smashed a bottle of champagne across the nose of XR225 in a naming ceremony christening the aircraft 'Thunderstrike'. In August 1966, the Air Ministry announced that to ease the aircraft into squadron service a Thunderstrike Test and Evaluation Squadron (TTES) would be formed during 1967 at RAF Coningsby operating the last four prototypes (XR223 to XR226) and the four pre-production aircraft (XR556 to XR559).

During the Spring of 1967 the excellent results coming from the Thunderstrike Test and Evaluation Squadron allowed the RAF to begin to plan the introduction into service of the BAC Thunderstrike S.1 and it was hoped
to initially re-equip No.617 'Dambuster' squadron at RAF Scampton first and hopefully by April 1st, 1968 (the RAF's 50th birthbday). However, during August 1967 the RAF top brass became aware of the onset of fatigue
problems with the two Victor B.2 squadrons at RAF Wittering and, fearful of another Valiant style mass grounding, it was decided to move the Victor B.2's away from the arduous low-level role as a matter of urgency and re-equip them with the Thunderstrike.

Deliveries to No.100 and No.139 squadrons commenced in February 1968 but by April 1st only seven aircraft had been received and these early production machines had varying standards of both engines and nav/attack
systems but the photo-shoot held on April 1st at least gave the impression that the aircraft had entered service but it was not until February 1969 that both squadrons were declared operational and available to NATO Sacuer.
By this time, No.617 squadron at Scampton had also began to re-equip with the Thunderstrike S.1 and had moved to Wittering at the end of March 1969. During April 1969 all three squadrons took part in Exercise Clansman, a NATO exercise based on mock-attacks on several Scottish hydro-electric facilities, with all three squadrons returning exceptionally high scores for serviceability, penetration and bombing accuracy.

Following this solid entry into service the Thunderstrike programme never looked back with orders placed for 60 Thunderstrike S.2's for RAF Germany plus 90 S.3's for RAF Strike Command as Vulcan replacements and a hugely successful export campaign saw the aircraft sold to Australia, Canada, India, Italy, Saudi Arabia and West Germany.










These are the earliest versions that were released way back and the only change I've made this time around is to put tactical or 'Type B' (obviously not the WW2 versions) roundels and finflashes on the S.2 version shown in No.213 Squadron markings.

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McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle - 18° Gruppo, 37° Stormo, Aeronautica Militare, 1991








Another revamp from 2010 but this one is completely different from the two Italian Eagles I did way back then. Now whilst this also uses the stock USAF skin I've tried to copy the look of the AMI's Typhoons and the real 18° Gruppo have these low-viz checkers on the rudder which I've done to the Eagle although it has much shorter rudders (plural!) than the Typhoon. I made all new decals and the code numbers take a lot longer to make than you'd imagine especially as I've needed to make 16 as I wanted to upload it to Combat Ace.

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Republic F-7S Thunderstorm - 154° Gruppo, 6° Stormo, Aeronautica Militare, 1993








For this revamp of my Italian MiG-23 I've called it the Republic F-7S Thunderstorm (therefore following on from my F-7C and F-7M) and given it new decals including new 154° Gruppo nose markings which I've had to make in 'handed' versions.

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Dassault Mirage 5IA - No.1 Squadron, Indian Air Force, 1971






With a guest appearance by a silver bird from No.24 Squadron!

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Northrop/McDonnell Douglas F-23J 'Tora' - 302nd Hikotai, Japanese Air Self-Defense Force, 2019






For this revision I've made yellow serial numbers in two versions (three-digit on nose and five digit on the tail) and also toned down the 'Zero' skin colour by using Dark Green from my trusty RAF WW2 colour palette (indeed, also using the yellow for the serials). Neither the F-22 or the YF-23 excite me that much but the 3D modeller has done an excellent job on this.

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Vought F-8EJ Crusader - 302nd Hikotai, Japanese Air Self-Defense Force, 1981





I've done a couple of JASDF Crusader's before but this one switches to the Aeronavale skin and I've done a new batch of serial numbers for the nose and fin.

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McDonnell Douglas F-4M Phantom - 48th Tactical Fighter Wing, United States Air Force Europe, 1975

During late 1966, with the USA getting more and more embroiled in the Vietnam war, it was decided to re-equip several USAFE units with the British licence-built F-4M so as to release older tactical aircraft such as the F-100D and F-105D for service in Vietnam where attrition was now a very serious issue.

McDonnell Douglas had already brought together a substantial UK sub-contracting team consisting of BAC, Hawker Siddeley, Rolls-Royce (for the Spey turbofan engines) and Shorts with final assembly and flight testing being carried out at St. Louis but, with one eye on the European market, McDonnell Douglas moved final assembly to Brough (North Humberside) with flight testing at Holme on Spalding Moor. This decision came a bit too late for the Royal Navy whose F-4K aircraft continued to be assembled and flight tested in the USA but all F-4M's were produced in the UK with all odd production numbers being allocated to the RAF and all even numbers to the USAFE with Lakenheath and Bitburg becoming the first USAFE wings to re-equip with the type.

Entering service with the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing based at RAF Lakenheath in England in 1970 the F-4M's received a modest upgrade during 1973-1974 to emerge with the Marconi ARI18228 RWR mounted on the fintip and also gained 'slimer' formation-keeping strip lights. The USAF F-4M's had a relatively long career with USAFE and were eventually replaced by F-15E's during 1990 and just missed out on participation in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.






Another one from 2010 and this is just the standard USAF camo for the F-4D applied to the F-4M 3D model with a bit of jiggery pokery to show Spey nozzles and I made a mini template to show the individual squadron colours of Blue, Yellow and Red on the fintop RWR.

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McDonnell Douglas F-4L Phantom - VMFA-333, United States Marine Corps, 1975

With all the considerable design effort being put into the marriage of the Phantom airframe and the Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engine McDonnell Douglas thought it might be a good idea to propose a version to the US Navy to allow the Phantom to operate from the smaller carriers that were limited to F-8E Crusaders. In June 1966 the designation F-4L was given to the proposed Spey-powered Phantom and in October 1966 an initial order for 130 F-4L's (USN/USMC) was made, followed by an unexpected export order of 30 F-4L's for the Royal Australian Navy.

Deliveries to the US Navy commenced in February 1969 with VF-24 becoming the first operational squadron followed by VMFA-333. By this time the wisdom of operating such a relatively large aircraft on the older, smaller carriers was being questioned and most F-4L's served aboard the larger carriers or with land-based units.

When the decision was made not to re-equip the USMC 'fighter-attack' Phantom squadrons with the hugely expensive Grumman F-14A Tomcat, McDonnell Douglas pushed hard for low-rate production of the F-4L to continue specifically for USMC use and they were eventually successful meaning that production continued until 1976 with an eventual  total of 306 F-4L's being built. Apart from Australia, F-4L's also served with the Royal Air Force where 15 ex-USN F-4L's were sold to the UK Government to allow the formation of an additional home-based Phantom squadron to release a squadron for the defence of the Falkand Isles.






New screenshots but a hoary old backstory from 2010!

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McDonnell Douglas F-4M 'Kārearea' - No.2 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force, 1992

During the build up to Operation Corporate (the UK's military operation to retake the Falkland Islands) the UK Government were overwhelmed at the support given by the countries of the Commonwealth and, in particular, the response of the Australian and New Zealand Governments who provided ships to maintain the UK's NATO commitments and thus allow the Royal Navy to maximise the number of ships it could send to the South Atlantic.

In the following years there were many reciprocal deals made and favours given to the Commonwealth nations (and even Chile!) and one such 'favour' was the transfer of 18 ex-RAF Phantom FGR.2's in 1988. The 18 FGR.2's, only recently withdrawn from RAF service, were ferried out to New Zealand (most still in their dirty grey camo scheme) during Operation Saddleback before arriving at Ohakea for refurbishment by a joint McDonnell Douglas/RNZAF team that saw the aircraft eventually emerge in a new 'Forest' style camo scheme and with digital INAS, upgraded RWR and new outer wing panels. Entering service with No.2 squadron in early 1989 (supposedly as the Karearea but they were always simply called Phantoms) the aircraft gave good service to the Royal New Zealand Air Force during the 1990's until finally being retired in December 2001 when, indeed, all 'Air Combat Force' aircraft were sadly withdrawn from service.







It only seems like yesterday that I first did this Kiwi Phantom but it was actually 14 years ago... and just like 14 years ago I've forgotten to edit out the boom receptacle on the Rhino's spine! For this revision, I had to knock up some green coloured tanks and also made a new green skin for the SUU-23 gun pod. Final Phantom for now but I will come back to do some RAF Phantoms in a few weeks or so.

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Bristol F2B 'Brisfit' - Everytown Air Force, 1970

From the Wikipedia page for the 1936 film 'Things to Come'.

In 1940, businessman John Cabal, living in the city of Everytown in southern England, cannot enjoy Christmas Day as the news speaks of possible war. His guest, Harding, shares his worries, while another friend, the over-optimistic Pippa Passworthy, believes that it will not come to pass, and if it does, it will accelerate technological progress. An aerial bombing raid on the city that night results in general mobilisation and then global war with the unnamed enemy. Cabal becomes a Royal Air Force pilot and serves bravely, even attempting to rescue an enemy pilot he has shot down.

The war continues into the 1960s, long enough for the people of the world to have forgotten why they are fighting. Humanity enters a new dark age. Every city in the world is in ruins, the economy has been devastated by hyperinflation, and there is little technology left other than greatly depleted air forces. A pestilence known as "wandering sickness" is inflicted by aerial bombing and causes its victims to walk around aimlessly in a zombie-like state before dying. The plague kills half of humanity and extinguishes the last vestiges of government.

By 1970, the warlord Rudolf, known as the "Boss", has become the chieftain of what is left of Everytown and eradicated the pestilence by shooting the infected. He has started yet another war, this time against the "hill people" of the Floss Valley to obtain coal and shale to render into oil for his ragtag collection of prewar biplanes...








A nice change of pace! I watched 'Things to Come' this morning (it was on Talking Pictures last week but it's also on YouTube) and I glimpsed the odd-looking fictional emblem of the Everytown Avro 504 so I thought I'd do something similar but I've had to use the 'Brisfit' as there is not an Avro 504 available. I did nothing to the skin except overpaint the RAF three-colour rudder and added slightly distressed roundels (which are way too neat compared to the hand-painted roundels shown in the film) and a made up serial number. Some of the fictional aircraft in the film are pretty amazing and, for 1936, the special effects are really good.