Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Lockheed Starfighter F.2 - No.56 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1966








I've been revamping the RAF Starfighters I did many years ago (2009 and 2010) and spent a bit of time doing this 'Firebirds' Starfighter where the difficulty was the fact that the fin and rudder were on seperate parts of the skin 'map' but a bit of trial and error got the checkers lined up. However, I don't like the partial red squares on the leading edge of the fin and it just shows how neat the No.56 Squadron chaps did with the checker tails on their Lightning F.3's although it helps to have a constant 45-degree angle on the leading edge. The arrow in front of the roundel is based on that seen on the No.56 Squadron Lightning but without being an exact copy.

[SPINNERS]

Lockheed Starfighter F.2 - No.111 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1968







The 'Treble One' Lightnings had lovely black and yellow tails on both the witches' hat F.1A and square top F.3 and this scheme is a nod in the direction of the latter but as the Starfighter fin is broader I've swapped things around and made a yellow bordered finflash decal that aligns with the trailing edge. I quite like this!

[SPINNERS]

Guess the odd man out?

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR.3 - No.6 Squadron, RAF Middle East Command, 1970







Don't stress about the FGR.3 designation! Over the past 16 years I've done so many RAF Phantom what if's (some with Speys, some with J79's and some with the Rolls-Royce/SNECMA Sequanna) I don't know my arse from my elbow!

[SPINNERS]

Northrop F-5D Freedom Fighter - No.75 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force, 1968

The New Zealand Government's decision to send troops to Vietnam in 1964 was highly controversial but was simply an escalation of the previous position of New Zealand assistance via various support structures such as the Civilian Surgical Team and the supply of a small non-combatant military force of engineers. The Royal New Zealand Air Force had provided transport assistance since 1962 and this had begun to increase when a sufficiently large airstrip to accommodate the Bristol Freighters of No.40 Squadron was built at Nui Dat. American pressure on both Australia and New Zealand to increase their support to US Forces in Vietnam continued and on March 31st, 1966 Sir Keith Holyoake, the New Zealand Prime Minister, announced that the Royal New Zealand Air Force would contribute to a joint RAAF/RNZAF combat wing consisting of three squadrons (two RAAF and one RNZAF) operating a version of the F-5A 'Freedom Fighter' which had just finished a succcessful five-month combat evaluation during 'Operation Skoshi Tiger'.

On April 30th, 1966 No.75 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force at Ohakea was disbanded and a new No.75 Squadron was formed on the following day at Bien Hoa Air Base in South-Central southern Vietnam operating a handful of F-5A's and F-5B's loaned from USAF stocks. Experiences gained from 'Skoshi Tiger' were incorporated into a new version of the basic F-5A designated as the F-5D and initial deliveries were made to No.75 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force during August 1966 and the squadron were declared operational at the end of September 1966. The joint RAAF/RNZAF combat wing at Bien Hoa operated in ground-attack operations over South Vietnam and gained an enviable reputation for bombing accuracy and aircraft availability. When the joint RAAF/RNZAF combat wing finally ceased operations at the end of 1971 only eleven F-5D's had been lost over Vietnam - nine to enemy ground fire and two due to an unfortunate collision at take-off. All remaining aircraft were handed over to the Republic of Vietnam Air Force in 1972 in a move financed by the Nixon administration as part of the wider policy of 'Vietnamization'.







This particular F-5A is widely regarded as being one of the best 3D models ever made for 'Strike Fighters' and I've just pasted on my Kiwi roundels onto a Greek F-5A skin and recoloured the finflash. I made the serial numbers for my recent RNZAF Phantom and have re-used them to save time but I did make a set of 18 three-digit nose numbers that repeat the last three of the serial number. I was surprised to learn that the F-5D designation was never used so I've nabbed it!

[SPINNERS]

Bless me father, for I have sinned. My last submission was 9 months ago...

Weddel-Williams P-34A Cardinal - 48th Pursuit Squadron, 15th Pursuit Group, United States Army Air Force, December 1941

When the USAAC announced a competition for a new single-seat fighter in 1935 the three main contenders appeared to be the Curtis P-36, the Seversky P-35 and the Vought V-141. Whilst all three featured all-metal construction, retractable landing gear and an enclosed cockpit there was concern that none of these radial engined fighter aircraft would meet the projected performance of the sleek inline monoplane fighters then under development in Europe.

There had already been some USAAC interest in the successful Weddel-Williams series of private racing aircraft earlier in the 1930's leading to the XP-34 but this did not proceed further than the drawing board. However, in early 1936 the USAAC asked Wedell-Williams to design a new fighter aircraft utilising the Allison V-1710 V-12 liquid-cooled engine. Chief Designer Jimmy Wedell quickly schemed a new streamlined low-wing monoplane design around the V-1710-19 inline engine and, favouring manoeuvrability over speed, his radical new design had a smaller wing area than the contemporary Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire with an unusually short fuselage. Whilst the design was known as the Wedell-Williams Model 46 for obscure budgetary reasons the USAAC continued to use the XP-34 designation.

The Model 46 prototype first flew on August 15th 1937 and development and testing moved swiftly. When tested against P-35 and P-36 pre-production aircraft (in the USAAC trials held in March 1938) service pilots concluded that the Model 46 had several advantages over both - including being more manoeuvrable in level flight thus enabling it to quickly get behind its opponents by making tight horizontal turns. These trials led to an order for 240 P-34A's which first entered service with the 20th Pursuit Group at Barksdale Field in Louisiana in April 1940.

In February 1941 forty-two P-34A's were delivered to Hawaii after being loaded on to the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and flown off the carrier's deck by USAAC pilots when the Enterprise approached the coast of Hawaii. During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 8th, 1941 only a handful of the 39 remaining P-34A's at Pearl Harbor were able to take off during the attack. One of the few pilots who managed to engage enemy aircraft was 2nd Lt. Philip M. Rasmussen of the 46th Pursuit Squadron. He was woken up when the attack began and, whilst still wearing his pajamas, Rasmussen raced towards the flight line where most of the P-34A's were either damaged or destroyed. Rasmussen jumped in to aircraft number '86' (belonging to the 48th Pursuit Squadron aircraft) and took off with another three pilots heading for Kaneohe Bay where they engaged eleven Japanese fighters in battle. After shooting down one Japanese aircraft, Rasmussen was attacked by two Japanese Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighters. Bullets and cannon shells shattered the canopy, destroyed the radio and severed his aircrafts hydraulic lines and rudder cable forcing Rasmussen to seek refuge in nearby cloud cover before flying back toward Wheeler Field. Landing without brakes, rudder or tailwheel his P-34A was riddled more than 500 bullet holes.








In my long break away from Strike Fighters this lovely little Rogožarski IK-3 (a late 1930's Yugoslav monoplane fighter) was released by the DAT boys and I've used the speculative maps to create a silver/NMF skin and, once again, placed the result into service as a Pearl Harbor defender!

[SPINNERS]

Bristol Blenheim Mk.I - 2-VLG-III, Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force, 1940






Another DAT release was this Blenheim Mk.I (and also a Blenheim Mk.IF) with RAF, Greek and Yugoslav skins and I've used the latter here to create a NEI Blenheim although these colours might have been better used on a 'European' Dutch machine.

[SPINNERS]

Hawker Fury II - F8, Flygvapnet, 1938





A Hawker Fury Mk.II with Yugoslav camo & markings was released by the DAT boys just before Christmas and I thought it would look good in silver and with Swedish markings similar to their silver Gloster Gladiators.

[SPINNERS]

FMA IAe 33 Pulqui II - Egyptian Air Force, 1960











Whilst reading the Wiki page for the IAe 33 Pulqui II there was mention of potential export sales to Egypt and the Netherlands so I thought I'd make a silver Egyptian one first and hopefully I'll do a Dutch one - probably in their camo with PRU Blue undersides. This homemade skin is a bit rough and uses one of my time-saving 'cheats' by having almost no panel lines and absolutely no rivets but does give an impression of what the Pulqui II would look like in Egyptian service.

[SPINNERS]

FMA IAe 33 'Pijl' (Arrow) - 322 Squadron, Royal Netherlands Air Force, 1962










As mentioned above, the Wiki page for the Pulqui II shows that Egypt and the Netherlands showed interest in Kurt Tank's design so here it is in Dutch camo with stock decals from the Third Wire F-84F. The 3D model of the Pulqui II does not easily lend itself to a camo scheme as it has an unusual breakdown of parts spread over the five 'bitmaps' that make up the skin and a couple of parts can only be painted on one side only as only one face has been mapped. So, allied to the fact that I'm not the greatest skinner, I've done the best I can... in the time I'm prepared to spend on it! The flight model for this elderly 3D model is outdated and makes it mincemeat when fighting MiG's!

[SPINNERS]

Bristol Blenheim Mk.IF - HavLLv 11, Ilmavoimat, 1940






I've always found the Blenheim Mk.I to be a good-looking aircraft and recently I made myself a simple black skin for an RAF Blenheim Mk.IF of No.54 OTU (see below) which is obviously not a 'what if' but I wanted to use that skin for something else. So I looked at the export customers and Finland took my fancy. I kept the yellow fuselage band and outer wing panels as identification markers and knocked up a 'field modification' toning down of the roundels.

[SPINNERS]

North American Mustang IB - No.1 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1943






The last picture gives away the fact that this RAF Mustang is actually an A-36A Apache dressed up to mimic the Hurricane IIC night intruders of No.1 Squadron (I loved that ever so simple Matchbox kit). Apart from one A-36A being evaluated by the RAF I was surprised to learn that the RAF briefy operated six A-36A's loaned from the USAAF and used by the 1437th Strategic Reconnaissance Flight, in Foggia, Italy.

[SPINNERS]

Parani Aviation Company YG/1 'Goshawk' - 1st Training Air Regiment, Parani Army Air Force, 1939

In 1919 British geologists discovered oil reserves located in the Mazadran area straddling the River Kerman which for many centuries had been recognised as defining the border between the neighbouring Arab nations of Dhimar and Paran. The British government quickly negotiated permissions to drill on the Dhimari side of the Kerman Valley setting up the Anglo-Dhimari Oil Company and in 1921 drilling operations followed.

However, in January 1928 Shah Mushani of Paran sent his army across the border in an attempt to capture the Mazadran oil fields but this was repelled by Dhimari forces bolstered by UK forces drawn in from Persia. In particular, the RAF inflicted severe losses on Parani forces and were subsequently largely responsible for preventing any resurgence with 'air policing' tactics that saw the constant harassment of Parani forces and Parani settlers in the Kerman Valley. Over the next two years Dhimar becomes a wealthy and economically powerful country whilst Paran has become poor.

By the middle of 1930 Shah Mushani of Paran had stopped his attempts to capture the Mazadran oil fields and focused on re-building his domestic power base by the ruthless eradication of his political opponents after which he had absolute control of his political party and government. In early 1931 Mushani announced a five year plan to strengthen his armed forces by expansion allied to an ambitious domestic arms production programme including the creation of an indigenous aviation industry. In June 1931, Shah Mushani announced the creation of the Parani Aviation Company who were tasked with three aircraft projects of increasing complexity; a light-attack aircraft that could also serve as a trainer, a tactical bomber and a single-seat fighter aircraft. To kick start these projects, Mushani appoints Nikolai Yergin as the chief designer of the Parani Aviation Company giving Yergin licence to recruit several other Russian engineers including Vladimir Gudkov from the OKB-301 design bureau.

For the light attack aircraft Yergin and Gudkov schemed the YG/1 a two-seat, single-engined biplane with a tubular steel framework covered with fabric. This was a conservative design but probably the right choice for an embryonic aircraft company in 1932. The prototype YG/1 was completed by late 1933 but it's first flight was delayed due to problems with the Italian supplied Alfa Romeo D2 nine-cylinder radial engine. The first flight of the YG/1 took place on February 1st, 1934 with its designer Nikolai Yergin at the controls and after a series of successful trials production began later in 1934 and 36 aircraft were built over a period of nearly three years.

Entering service with the 1st Training Air Regiment of the Parani Army Air Force in September 1935 this versatile but pedestrian aircraft served as a trainer, close air support aircraft and army liaison aircraft with the last examples finally being removed from the Parani Army Air Force inventory in December 1949.




Whilst the original 'Strike Fighters' game is based on a fictional 'jet age' conflict between the middle-east states of Dhimar and Paran I just love using it for an earlier conflict covering WW2 and the very early post-war years. I give the Parani's a mix of mainly axis aircraft whilst the Dhimari's operate a wide variety of UK/US aircraft. However, for this fictional YG/1 aircraft I have used... well, you tell me!

[SPINNERS]

Parani Aircraft Company YG/2 - 1st Bomber Regiment, Parani Army Air Force, 1939







For the second indigenous Parani aircraft design (mentioned in my backstory for the YG/1) I've chosen the Italian Caproni Ca.135 twin-engine bomber to masquerade as the YG/2 because it's pedestrian enough and really not well known. The wiki page is quite a good read and who knew that Belgium obtained a production license?

Oh, yes. The YG/1. It's the VL Tuisku! Very obscure.

[SPINNERS]

Parani Aviation Company YG/3 'Storm' - 2nd Fighter Regiment, Parani Army Air Force, 1941








My final aircraft in the Parani indigenous aircraft trilogy is the YG/3 fighter and this uses my 'go to' prop fighter - the Finnish VL Myrsky II. Back in 2014 a 3D modeller called 'Veltro2K' made the VL Myrsky for me and I made the Ilmavoimat skin from scratch and from my templates I've previously made fictional Spanish, Chinese and Polish fighter aircraft (and possibly an RAF fighter too, I can't remember). I chose a sand colour and added a 50% opacity black camo pattern to give a sand and chocolate uppersurface camo with Parani insignia and red/white/black bands on the rudder.