The fastest Lansen around - the supersonic SAAB J32F

[Dizzyfugu]

Get well soon! 

[Pellson]

It's a sunny day, I'm at home and feeling reasonably ok, actually. And the only thing interfering with this Lansen is the dog wanting some walking. Well - maybe I could get the rest of the pylons made today? There's four of them, and they ought to be quite similar to the two from the kit. Shouldn't be too much of a challenge, if I can stay on focus.
To help with that - a mojo boosting picture.

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Look at this beast! A J32B from the F1 Wing at Västerås, west of Stockholm. They were the first allweather fighter unit in the RSwAF, premiering on surplus Mosquitos after WW2, subsequently moving on to Venom NF's in the early 1950's and then converting to these beauties towards the end of that decade. I would say this is a shot taken just before starting on a training mission. There's an active seeker but dud engine Rb24 Sidewinder round under the wing, indicating IR interception training to be performed. The crew is seated, ladder taken down, and they're now busy running through checklists before startup. The communication land line to fighter control is still attached, but they've come as far as setting tail trim to takeoff position.
In my eyes, this angle really emphasises the powerful yet clean lines of this fighter that from a system perspective was modern enough far into the 1970's, but let down by not being firmly supersonic, much like the Gloster Javelin. But, as we have seen, that could have been fixed.. 

[Rheged]

It's a sunny day, I'm at home and feeling reasonably ok, actually.

This is news were are all pleased to hear.

[PR19_Kit]

A lovely pic of a Lansen, and it shows the somewhat bizarre air-brakes open too.

How can you tell the 'winder's engine is dud though?

[Old Wombat]

A lovely pic of a Lansen, and it shows the somewhat bizarre air-brakes open too.

How can you tell the 'winder's engine is dud though?

Generally, training AIM-9s have a blue painted body of the missile (this one seems to be green but that could just be my screen), a live AIM-9 would have a white body.

"Captive" training round


Live round

[Dizzyfugu]

Swedish Air Force training/inert missiles (Sidewinders, Falcons, Sky Flash, IIRC also the RB05) were painted overall in a pale green color, similar to WWII RAF cockpit green.

[Pellson]

Swedish Air Force training/inert missiles (Sidewinders, Falcons, Sky Flash, IIRC also the RB05) were painted overall in a pale green color, similar to WWII RAF cockpit green.

..and marked "BLIND", which, incidentally, has the same meaning in English.. 

[PR19_Kit]

But what use is a 'training' 'winder with no engine?

As soon as you 'fire' it, it'd just fall off the rail.

[kerick]

Just practicing getting into a firing position I suppose.

[Pellson]

Just practicing getting into a firing position I suppose.

Exactly. When the seeker head "sees" the target, there is a tone in the pilots earphones, changing intensity when the target comes into the missiles kill basket. This way, the pilot knows when to pull the trigger. An all-green missile will have no working parts. Basically, it's for ground personell training. One with a white head will have functioning seeker head, but nothing more, and an all white (or grey) missile will be flying as well as homing.

The Lansen now has all its pylons on, and five out of six looks good. The last one - I might have to adjust a bit. Annoying.
The aircraft also has a steel needle pitot at the right wingtip as well as a scratchbuilt tail skid. The one in the kit is for the A32A/S32C, and the difference is too obvious to let go, so it had to be done.

Tomorrow is another travelling day, going back to the hospital for a quick checkup. The procedure is estimated to about 45 minutes, but I'll have to spend seven hours in the car. Well, well. It looks to be nice driving weather.. 

[Captain Canada]

Wow ! Is that ever looking sharp !

[Pellson]

The Lansen now has all its pylons on, and five out of six looks good. The last one - I might have to adjust a bit. Annoying.

Sorted. I made a new one. It was quick. I shouldn't, as I really should have gone to sleep by now, but when things get on your mind like that, you don't fall asleep anyway, so.. 

[Old Wombat]

But what use is a 'training' 'winder with no engine?

As soon as you 'fire' it, it'd just fall off the rail.

The principal use is dogfighting training., pilot-v-pilot, & the missile is more firmly attached to the pylon.

Rather than just learning to shoot down flares & relatively straight-flight drones with an expensive missile, the pilots learn to conduct aerial manoeuvres against each other, trying to get a solid lock-on with the seeker-head for a minimum length of time as a "hard-kill" ... without actually killing each other & destroying their planes.

Post training flight debriefs go through the "soft-kills" (where lock-on was incomplete or not of sufficient length) which have their probability score calculated, added to the "hard-kills" & the "victor" calculated. The prime objective, though, in the debrief is going over the tactics & counter-tactics used by the pilots & where each one could have been improved or a better option chosen.

Fans of the original Top Gun will remember some of those (bad) scenes.

[Rick Lowe]

Fans of the original Top Gun will remember some of those (bad) scenes.

I used to be, but I recovered.
Kelly McGillis is still very cute, though... 

Glad you are back again and getting better, Mr Pellson. 

[PR19_Kit]

OK, I get the premise of the 'no motor' now.

The RAF used dummy Firestreaks and Red Tops but without wings attached for the same purpose, and it was visually much more obvious than a motor-less 'winder.