History of the Norm 81 camouflage:
 
Since the mid 70ies German fighter pilots from Jagdgeschwader 71 "Richthofen" and Jagdgeschwader 74 "Mölders" increasingly complained about the old one-fits-all aircraft camouflage of the Luftwaffe called Norm 72 (Standard 72, named after the year of introduction). Its large geometrically arranged areas in olive-green and gray worked well camouflaging an aircraft on the ground and even in low level flight over the equally geometrical fields of Germany. But the dark colours also drew massive attention in high altitude combat. Worse, the oversized Iron Crosses and serial numbers with their high contrast black and white lettering made the aircraft even easier to spot.
 
In the later 70ies, Luftwaffe command encouraged its fighter pilots to develop new paint schemes. “Richthofen” and “Mölders” in particular were eager in devising trial camouflages. Most of them massively reduced the greens and put stronger emphasis on grays, while shrinking the markings a lot. (I do not know if it was intentional or not, but some resembled WWII Luftwaffe interceptor camouflages.) These were to become the basis for the official Norm 81.
 
Norm 81 was to be used by fighters and fighter-bombers alike, and applied to Phantoms which were upgraded to Peace Rhine-standard. When they were upgraded to ICE-standard, Norm 81 was replaced by the more modern Norm90J – the first German paint scheme intended for fighters only.
 
 
 
Description of the Norm 81 camouflage:
 
The aircraft camouflage is dominated by two shades of light gray (Lichtgrau, Steingrau) on the lower surfaces and the sides. Only the upper surfaces of the wings and the topsides of the fuselage along the spine and the engines were painted with three dark shades of gray (Quarzgrau, Basaltgrau, Staubgrau) and one shade of green-gray (Grüngrau). The early schemes deliberately featured soft edges for the colours blending them better into each other. Later this was given up, as weathering did that job rather well, too.
 
The national markings were reduced in size and number; the Iron Cross was applied top to the left wing and bottom to the right wing, and on both sides of the fuselage. Early in the 80ies, the old Norm 72-warnings continued to be used, until replaced with toned down warnings.
 
For flight safety some aircraft sported high visibility markings, most notably when transferred to low level fight training in Goose Bay, Canada. These markings could be painted on the top fuselage, under the nose, on the wing tips and on the stabilizers varying in size and colour. Many crews seemed to favour red or yellow, but green or blue was seen often as well. Only few had white or dayglow markings.
Norm 81 was used in two variants, A for geometrical shapes on the wings, tail and the fuselage downside, and B for rounded shapes. B seems to have been the preferred choice by the units.
 
 
 
Advise on the use of the skins in SF2:
 
The combination of soft colour edges and Norm 72-markings makes these skins suitable for campaigns set in the early and mid 80ies. However in the late 80ies they would look rather out of place.
 
 
 
Skins included:
 
I included one Norm 81B skin for every German wing equipped with F-4F:
Jagdgeschwader 71 "Richthofen"
Jagdgeschwader 74 "Mölders" (flying 'denamed' as JG 74 today)
Jagdbombergeschwader 35 (flying reorganized as JG 73 “Steinhoff” today)
Jagdbombergeschwader 36 (disbanded today, flew as JG 72 in its last days)
 
 
 
Requirements:
 
You need the F-4F (80), but the skins should also fit on the F-4F (ICE). Also, F-4F and F-4E may work more or less.
 
 
 
Installation:
 
Just unzip and drop the folder in your SF2 mod directory, usually it is:
C:\Users\xxx\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2 yyy
 
 
 
 
Credits:
 
Ravenclaw_007 for his template (based on Sundowner's F-4E template), and his decals which I am using.

F-4F (ICE) Norm 12J Pixelated Air Superiority Camouflage
 
 
Story:
*** entirely fictional and very unlikely to happen, but fun ***
 
The time of the F-4F in Luftwaffe service is coming to an end. They are about to be phased out by 2013 and only one fighter wing, JG 71 “Richthofen”, still operates them. However in their last year JG 71-personell decided to give the venerable fighter a last new look and applied a pixilated camouflage based on the colours used in the standard Norm 90J camouflage. As it turned out, the Phantom not only looks phabulous but is also well concealed at high alt and in the clouds. It is soon to be adopted by the other Luftwaffe fighters as Norm 12J.
 
 
Requirements:
 
This is a skin for the F-4F ICE, thus you need the excellent pack of Ravenclaw_007
http://combatace.com...-europe-vers20/
 
 
Installation:
 
It uses the decals of the ICE-pack, so there is no need to install extra decals. You just drop unzip and drop the folder into the F-4F ICE folder in your mod directory, usually it is:
C:\Users\xxx\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2 Europe\Objects\Aircraft\F-4F_ICE
 
 
Credits:
 
Ravenclaw_007 for his reworked F-4F template, his decals, and the F-4F ICE
Sundowner for his original F-4E template.
If I have forgotten any contribution, please tell me!

Mirage 5F Weathered skin for SF2 full-5 merged(or SF2:E only).
 
An extremely simple mod just to give the default mirage 5F an overall dirtier and a weathered skin.
 
Read the provided text file for installation,legal and other BS.
 
Regards;
 
Murtaza Akbar

Soviet/Afghan AirForce Mig-23(MLD)'Afghan Warrior' skin for SF2(Any and all).
 
Skin to represent an example of the Mig-23(ML?) flown by the Soviet Air Force in Afghanistan during the invasion.The skin is based on a very old picture I found in an aircraft reference book.Since the photo is in Black and White and with a very high contrast,the aircrafts camo colours and serial numbers are based on speculation and every attempt has been made to make them look as close to the real world example,as possible.Historically,it has been speculated that a lot of Soviet Floggers and ground attack machines were painted with the shark mouth.A similar aircraft was rumored to have been shot down by a Pakistani F-16A Block 15.But,the wreckage as usual,fell inside Afghan territory and was never recovered hence,not giving much credibility to the claim.
 
This skin can only be used with the Mig-23 model made by TMF and only the sharp nosed one.For the model,I would suggest looking in the SFP1 section at many of Lindr2's mods(from which the base textures came).For starters,I would suggest this:http://combatace.com/files/file/11544-mig-23p-late/ (Though the cockpit may be a little advanced for the 80s).
 
NOTE:All the textures are in the BMP format and are of the 2048x2048 size.Users with slower machines may want to resize to half for optimal or even acceptable performance.
 
Installation:
After unzipping Af_Vet,place the Folder inside the skins folder into the aircraft folder of your Mig-23.Note:If you do not know anything about the mod folder,the immediately stop the installation,go to the COmbatACE Forums,Go to the Strike Fighters 2 Knowledge Base and take a look at the thread explaining the Strike Fighters 2 mod folder mechanism.
 
IMPORTANT:
I HEREBY CLAIM NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY OF THE CHANGES THIS MOD MAY RENDER TO YOUR GAME(Even though it doesn't).IF THIS MOD IS INSTALLED,THEN IT IS DONE ONLY BY THE WILL OF THE USER AND I CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS.INSTALL AT YOUR OWN RISK.(The mod is perfectly safe,but I still claim no responsibility just to be safe!)
 
You have permission to modify these textures for your own mod(s) as long as I(lazarus1177) am acknowledged as the original author.THIS MOD IS RELEASED AS FREEWARE AND MUST BE USED,DISTRIBUTED AND TREATED AS SUCH.
 
I you have any questions or queries about any of my Mod(s),then I can be contacted at the Combatace forum.
 
Credits:
Model:TMF
Base Skin:Came from one of Lindr2's Mig-23 packs.
New Skin and Shark mouth graphic:Me
Default decals:TW(Third Wire)
 
Regards;
 
Murtaza Akbar

PAF Mirage 5 PA2 Skin Pack for SF2 Full-5 merged(or at minimum SF2 and/or SF2:E,I)
 
This mod contains 3 accurate skins to represent the Mirage 5 PA2 aircraft currently in service with the Pakistan Air Force.These skins are NOT edited versions of the stock Mirage 5F camo skin but,are completely rebuilt by me with accurate camo patterns.The following variants are represented:
 
-CCS Early camo
-CCS DACT Markings
-No.25 OCU
 
This mod is meant to be used only with the Mirage 5 PA mod by Spinners which can be found here:http://combatace.com/files/file/10700-dassault-mirage-5pa-pakistan-air-force/
Note:This mod is REQUIRED for the correct serial numbers to show up on your jet.
 
Installation:
After unzipping M5PA2_Pak,place the objects folder inside your basic SF2 mods folder.You must at least know about the SF2 mods folder.
Note:If you do not know anything about the mod folder,the immediately stop the installation,go to the COmbatACE Forums,Go to the Strike Fighters 2 Knowledge Base and take a look at the thread explaining the Strike Fighters 2 mod folder mechanism.
 
IMPORTANT:
I HEREBY CLAIM NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY OF THE CHANGES THIS MOD MAY RENDER TO YOUR GAME(Even though it doesn't).IF THIS MOD IS INSTALLED,THEN IT IS DONE ONLY BY THE WILL OF THE USER AND I CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS.INSTALL AT YOUR OWN RISK.(The mod is perfectly safe,but I still claim no responsibility just to be safe!)
 
You have permission to modify these textures for your own mod(s) as long as I(lazarus1177) am acknowledged as the original author.
 
If you have any questions or queries about any of my Mod(s),then I can be contacted at the Combatace forum.
 
Credits:
Original Textures:TW
New Textures:Me
Required base mod:Spinners
 
Regards;
 
Murtaza Akbar

C-130J-30 Hercules Indian Air Force Skin
 
Indian Air Force No. 77 Sqdn skin for Dels C-130J-30 (http://combatace.com/files/file/10250-c-130j-30-version-20-for-sf2/)
 
Repaint of Grey RAAF skin that came with the C-130J-30 mod.
 
 
Installation
You need to have Dels C-130J-30 model.
Just drop the contents of the file(Objects folder) to C:\Users\<XXX>\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2 and let it overwrite existing files.
 
 
Credits
Dels : for the C-130J-30 model and skin
Indo-Pak mod team: for the excellent Indo-Pak mod.
 
 
Sandesh "ghostrider883" Kanchan
July 12, 2012

This has been the effort of a couple of months, trying to get as accurate as possible all the MiG-23MF´s. It comprehends all Warsaw Pact planes as well as the Cuban and the Semi ficticious Kyrgyzstan AF, most of them may now match completely since the paint differed from plane to plane, and all the info i got is from internet.
 
part Three includes planes from Romania.
 
Also i used the cockpit made by Ordway and tweaked by Lindr2 before he dissapeared, a big thanks to both, actually this was a Lindr2`s initiative and i´m just completing it.
 
i´ve also created different folder per Nation to make it more interesting.
 
Some decals have been borrowed from previous packs, please if you feel them familiar let me know and i will give you credit.
 
INSTALLATION:
 
I´ve created a Main Folder and all you got to do is drop it´s contents in the Objects\Aircraft sub-folders, once done you can paste all the contents to the Objects folder of the SF2 game you wish and that´s it, you now will have several Warsaw Pact MiG-23MF planed ready to fly!
 
Feel free to use them only with no payware intentions, or there will be a bunch of guys hunting you for sure:)
 
A big thanks to Daniel Cocas Lieabert for all the patience to answer my questions and some of the decals made by him, to Eric Johnson who reminded of the weathering, Gepard and Soulfreak, who helped me with German numbers and all the friends i have in FB who liked the pics to complete this job.
 
Enoc Marquez AKA FLOGGER23

MiG-23MF´s Skins and Tweaks pack Part 3
 
This has been the effort of a couple of months, trying to get as accurate as possible all the MiG-23MF´s. It comprehends all Warsaw Pact planes as well as the Cuban and the Semi ficticious Kyrgyzstan AF, most of them may now match completely since the paint differed from plane to plane, and all the info i got is from internet.
 
part Three includes planes from Hungary.
 
Also i used the cockpit made by Ordway and tweaked by Lindr2 before he dissapeared, a big thanks to both, actually this was a Lindr2`s initiative and i´m just completing it.
 
i´ve also created different folder per Nation to make it more interesting.
 
Some decals have been borrowed from previous packs, please if you feel them familiar let me know and i will give you credit.
 
INSTALLATION:
 
I´ve created a Main Folder and all you got to do is drop it´s contents in the Objects\Aircraft sub-folders, once done you can paste all the contents to the Objects folder of the SF2 game you wish and that´s it, you now will have several Warsaw Pact MiG-23MF planed ready to fly!
 
Feel free to use them only with no payware intentions, or there will be a bunch of guys hunting you for sure:)
 
A big thanks to Daniel Cocas Lieabert for all the patience to answer my questions and some of the decals made by him, to Eric Johnson who reminded of the weathering, Gepard and Soulfreak, who helped me with German numbers and all the friends i have in FB who liked the pics to complete this job.
 
Enoc Marquez AKA FLOGGER23