Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

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Mikoyan MiG-23UB - Skadron Udara 7 "Pegasus", Indonesian Air Force, 1979















This is the early service version of the MiG-23UB with Indonesian markings added. The 'grey' Soviet skin does have that early F-15A 'air superiority blue' look about it don't you think?

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Nakajima J9N1-S 'Kikka' - 724th Kokutai, Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, 1945







A very nice two-seat night fighter version of the Nakajima 'Kikka' (Orange Blossom) was released recently and includes this superb skin so there's no input from me except for taking the screenshots. I'll have to edit the aircraft data file to give the engines a bit more poke as the Ishikawajima Ne-20 engines only provide 2,500lbs of thrust in total which meant I couldn't quite catch a B-24J squadron cruising at about 200mph at an altitude of about 27,000ft.

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Bell P-63C Kingcobra - Grupo 4 de Caza, Fuerza Aérea Argentina, 1949













P-63A and P-63C Kingcobra's were released recently and I've used the latter's French NMF skin as a basis to create an early post-WW2 fighter-bomber for the Argentinian Air Force.

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Dassault Mirage F1H - No.24 Squadron, Indian Air Force, 1977













A nice suggestion from 'ghostrider883' (a proud supporter of the Indian Air Force) this is the Mirage F1C-200 with a 'cut and shut' camo skin merging two schemes into one and with overpainted roundels instead of my usual method of using decals - although I have been able to use decals for the serial numbers and nose markings. The nose markings use a bit of artistic licence as the central part is correct but is flanked by bars that are fictitious and out of me own head  .

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Supermarine Spitfire IXe - MFG 2, Marineflieger, 1950













A comprehensive Spitfire Mk9 anthology was released recently and my attention was drawn to this two-tone Turkish skin that makes a nice 'what if' Marineflieger Spitfire. Of course it only really works if Germany was allowed to join the Western European Union Defence Organisation and then NATO much earlier than in reality. I like this one a lot!

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Dewoitine D.510 'Delphin' - No.3 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1937











A superb Dewoitine D.510 was released recently by the DAT group of modders with a variety of French and export skins and, thoughtfully, a blank silver skin was released making a pre-war RAF machine much easier and this No.3 Squadron D.510 is based on the markings shown on their Gladiators. I was tempted to make it a fictional British aircraft and Bristol have a few spare Type No's that would fit.

http://www.rafweb.org/Squadrons/Sqn%20Markings/SqnMark003C.htm

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My most tenuous 'what if' the reason being that the Soviet Union did receive the D.510... but only one.

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BAC Lightning F.Mk.54 - JG71 'Richthofen', German Air Force, 1972

The first rumours of an alleged bribery scandal surrounding the purchase of the Lockheed F-104G Starfighter by the West German Government coincided with the ferociously high attrition rate of the Starfighter in Luftwaffe and Marineflieger service. With the end of Lightning production on the near horizon BAC submitted a brochure to the Bonn Government and a joint committee of Luftwaffe and Marineflieger officials for a proposed multi-role Lightning based on the F.53 and this proposal was eagerly accepted leading to a production order for 200 Lightning F.54's which entered service in late 1968 with JG71.













Not a brilliant skin by me but I think the process is worth mentioning as it's started out as the stock 1980's grey skin (which I don't think Third Wire got right btw) that has been desaturated into a two-tone grey and then combined with a green 'Norm 72' layer and then a low opacity silver skin added on top to restore some lost detail. For once, this just uses stock decals from the F-4F.

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Arsenal VG-33 'Paloma' - Fuerza Aérea Argentina, 1953









This is the superb Arsenal VG-33 recently released by the DAT team of modders (I'm adding a piccie of the real world French version below) with some basic Argentinian markings added by me. I was sorely tempted to have this as an indigenous Argentine fighter but I've stuck to the original manufacturer so perhaps the Arsenal VG-33 ran well ahead of schedule and a handful were exported. Or perhaps the French dusted off the design as a quick way of re-starting their aircraft industry (not that they needed it) and get some export orders for foreign currency (or beef or cotton).

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British Aerospace Brigand FG.2 - No.1 Squadron, Royal Air Force, 1991

The Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act of 1977 called for the nationalisation and merger of the British Aircraft Corporation, Hawker Siddeley Aviation, Hawker Siddeley Dynamics and Scottish Aviation to form British Aerospace and in a rare moment of support for the British aviation industry the UK Labour Government announced the decision to purchase a multi-role tactical fighter for the RAF and Royal Navy as a boost to the newly-created company.

Originating from the Hawker HS.1202 design studies, the British Aerospace P.162 was a CTOL design in a configuration broadly similar to the F-16 albeit without blended body technology but with the newly fashionable LERX (leading edge root extensions). The P.162 was designed to be powered by the Rolls-Royce Pelenna afterburning turbofan, essentially a scaled Spey, rated at 18,000lbs dry thrust and 27,000lbs with reheat but the first two prototypes used the Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-100 engine as a stop-gap until the Pelenna was ready. Officially named 'Brigand' the P.162 entered service as the Brigand FRS.1 with 899 Naval Air Squadron in 1983 and as the Brigand FG.2 with No.1 Squadron of the Royal Air Force in January 1984.











This is the Vought V-1100 LWF submission by 'Cocas' who is not quite so active now in the 3D modelling but had a fantastic burst of 'what if' and paper projects a few years ago. Anyway, I've shown this before dressed up in Royal Navy markings (Page 73) but never got around to showing it in RAF markings.

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Sukhoi Su-54 - Soviet Air Force, 2000









No input here from me except for taking the screenshots. This is the Sukhoi Su-54 advanced jet trainer by 'Cocas' and with a superb skin by 'Flogger23' who have done a cracking job replicating a Sukhoi project stemming from a 1990 requirement eventually won by the Yak-130 although that aircraft didn't actually enter service until 2010.

This was released in late Dec 2013 but I seemed to have missed it - probably too focused on Christmas!

Edit: I can see there's a missing pylon on the head-on shot!

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Curtiss P-6E Hawk - No.43 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1931

The 1926 Air Ministry requirement for a fast light day-bomber would eventually be met by the superb Hawker Hart first flown in 1928 and entering service in early 1930. The Hart had a level speed of 176mph making it slightly faster than the Bristol Bulldog (the RAF's front-line interceptor fighter) although this raised few eyebrows with the British public at the time until the Opposition leader Stanley Baldwin recruited the British press and soon caused a public outcry. Despite the tough economic times the Air Ministry proposed an emergency purchase of 40 Curtiss P-6E Hawk aircraft from the United States as an interim stop gap until the proposed Hawker Fury (a single-seat development of the Hart bomber) could be produced and introduced into squadron service.

Fairey Aviation were selected to assemble and test the P-6E Hawk aircraft and to then support the aircraft in RAF service alongside a handful of Curtiss engineers based at the Great West Aerodrome near Heathrow. The first batch of 20 crated P-6E's were received during January 1931 and by March 1931 service pilots were assisting Fairey test pilots in introducing the aircraft into RAF service with No.43 Squadron being the first to re-equip with the type in April 1931 quickly followed by No.1 Squadron both based at Tangmere. The P-6E's remained in service until 1938 when they were replaced by Curtiss P-36K Mohawks.















There's been a flurry of pre-war French aircraft lately and it's given me an interest in the between the wars period that is quite well covered by the DAT site. One of their older 'beta' models is the Curtiss P-6E and I've knocked up a new skin for it during my very limited time this week and the result was always going to go into pre-war RAF service! I'm quite pleased with the fabric effect on the wings and have placed the decals under the fabric effect which goes against my normal way of working but does work better on fabric.

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Curtiss P-6E Hawk - No.43 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1938









I've always liked the colours of the RAF's fighters at the time of the Munich crisis but my repaint stops short of doing the white and black undersides and just uses black. There is a Munich Crisis Kittyhawk on the current Page 75.

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Bristol Basileus Mk.I - No.74 'Tiger' Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1937

The challenging Air Ministry Specification F.7/30 issued in 1931 called for a new interceptor-fighter for the Royal Air Force and demanded a top speed of at least 250 mph and an armament of four machine-guns. Going against the grain, two competitors boldly decided to ignore Air Ministry advice to use the new Rolls-Royce Goshawk evaporatively cooled in-line engine and proposed aircraft powered by alternative engines.

Gloster elected to develop the SS.37, essentially an advanced version of the Gauntlet with a fully enclosed cockpit, single-bay wings, a cantilever main undercarriage and powered by an advanced version of the Bristol Mercury radial engine. First flown in September 1934 the SS.37 would become the Gloster Gladiator gaining an initial order for 23 aircraft to Specification F.14/35 in December 1934 followed by a more substantial order for 180 in September 1935.

Meanwhile, Bristol chose to eschew their own Bristol Mercury radial engine (and also their Goshawk powered Type 123 design) and develop their advanced Type 125 design featuring the proposed Fairey Prince V-12 liquid-cooled inline engine in a clean, streamlined biplane design featuring an open-cockpit with single-bay wings and with all four machine-guns mounted in underwing gondolas. However, the adoption of the Prince engine would initially prove to be a nightmare for Bristol leading to them always running several months behind their rivals at Gloster. Nevertheless, the Prince engine was installed and test flown in a Fairey Fox II biplane in 1934 and then transplanted into the prototype Type 125 just in time for a maiden test flight from Filton on December 31st, 1934. During 1935 the Type 125, now named Basileus, slowly started clawing back some of the time lost to their nearby rivals up the A38 in Gloucester and Bristol were rewarded with an initial order for 60 production aircraft to Specification F.14/35 in March 1935 and with a further order for 140 aircraft in September 1935.

Entering service with No.74 Squadron in March 1937 the Basileus was the last open-cockpit biplane fighter to enter service with the Royal Air Force and was quickly replaced in the home service by the faster. more heavily armed Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire fighters but two Basileus squadrons were used in the unsuccessful Norwegian campaign of 1940. The Basileus was also used with great success against Italian opposition during the North African campaign during 1940 and early 1941 before being withdrawn from service in April 1941.













A spiffing Bleriot-Spad S.510 was released recently by the DAT group of modders and included a blank white/grey/silver skin which has allowed me to give the pre-war RAF the Bristol Basileus Mk.I and the chance to go nuts on a backstory! I'm not completely happy with the upperwing markings but will do another pre-war squadron at some time in the future and get them angled a bit better. Serial number K7286 was not issued for some reason (quite rare in those times) whilst the rest are from a batch of Hawker Fury II's.

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Bristol Basileus Mk.1 - No.604 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1937











I'm loving this handsome looking pre-war French fighter!