TSR2...........The Alternative Story
 
6 April 1965 was set to be a sad day for the British aircraft industry, the cancellation of the TSR2 was imminent, the costs were spiralling and the project was slipping further backwards, the project had its supportures but its biggest enenmies were those in power.
 
But, on the morning of the 5th April something nobody saw coming happened, something that if it turned out to be true could save the entire project and thousands of jobs in the UK avation industry, indeed ministers in parliment were astonished to say the least, if the project was killed off now the British public would be furious , questions would be asked and answeres would be demanded, the government had some serious decisions to make, and quickly for the offer was for 24 hours only !
 
So what had happened ? Well at 9:45 GMT the British Aircraft Corporation were thrown a lifeline, an American company had stepped in with an offer to see the project through, they were willing to finance all that had been spent on the project so far, this would mean that all the British tax payers money was safe, they were willing to pay back to the British government what they had spent on development costs so far.
 
In return they wanted the British to basically start again with the project financially, they would work with BAC to carry out further development and testing on a 50/50 cost basis , supplying their own expertise as an aid to the programme.
 
So, essentially the TSR2 project could be saved, from now on the cost would only be half of the projected costs , somebody wanted in on this venture badly, but who and why ?
 
April 6th was the day the axe was supposed to fall on the TSR2, government ministers shuffled in their seats as the announcement was due to be made, silence fell , the announcement was short. "The TSR2 Project WILL Continue", there were gasps of amazement amid cheers of joy.
 
Over the next few hours many questions were asked, some answered, some not, but the main one was WHO ??
 
 
 
Enter onto the scene one of the worlds if not the worlds most famous aircraft manufactures,
 
Boeing
Yes, Boeing, the company famous for its outstanding range of airliners and bomber aircraft.
Boeing saw the potential of the TSR2 programme and whilst traditionally being a manufacturer of large designs it wanted a smaller tactical bomber/attack aircraft than its previous offerings.
The war in Veitnam was looming and rather than starting from scratch the wise men at the company saw that the combined companies that make up the British Aircraft Corporation had the expertise to pull the project through , they just needed access to more money, money Boeing were willing to commit.
Boeing would not only help financially, they wanted to help solve the current issues and take development further, indeed they wanted to market the project world wide !
 
The flight testing carried on at quite a pace, problems were found and solved, with there not being as much red tape and politics to go through as previously progress was finally being made.
 
To get things moving and keep politicions quiet the first batch of the BAC/Boeing Thunderstrike GR1A as it was to be known entered service with the RAF on December 1st 1966 and the RCAF taking its aircraft the following year. Only 100 of this version were produced 60 for the RAF and 40 for the RCAF.
 
The GR1A was hurried into service so that the BAC/Boeing designers could address some of the types more seroius problems.
From day one the TSR2 had been dogged by the extremely tight fit of its engines, airframes were matched to engines and a single engine removal to take 60+ hours, obviously this could not continue, there was no way the airframe could be widened externally, the only sensible answer was to get rid of the bombay and move the engines slightly closer together, the airframe was strengthened for under fuselage pylons and a fixed 700 gallon tank in its place also doubling up as a heatsink for gearboxes and the like, this was a trade of in all directions but as the original design required a removeable 680 gallon tank in the bombay and an optional 1000 gallon panier tank it was considered the best way forward.
 
The next issue was with the main gear, right through the testing phase it had proved troublesome and prone to slapping when the first wheel made contact with the runway, numerous fixes had been tried but even now the in service GR1A's were still having issues.
Again Boeing's design team came up with the solution, it was stunningly simple ! They got rid of the tandem swivelling upon retraction complicated system for a more conventual single leg with a pair of wheels attached to it, the same alloys as used on the B52 main gears were used as it was considerably stronger the the British equivalent.
 
The improvements implemented over time were immense , just about every single part of the aircraft and its systems were changed in someway , only the basic shape of the original TSR2 remained the same.
Even while the original GR1A's were being delivered the next model was starting to enter the production phase, this time the aircraft had gained two 30mm Aden cannon under the nose, the original proposal for a side ways looking radar had been abandoned soon after Boeing got involved [this was now installed into the reconnaisance pod] so the cannons used up the space that had been gained by its removal.
 
The next design change was probably the most ambitious , Boeing wanted something that was never on the cards for the TSR2 project, they wanted a navalised version , something to compete against the RA-5C Vigilante, the British design team were astounded by this, but Boeing who had several aircraft for evaluation and flight testing had now got their own production line running, with all this extra capacity anything could now be possible !
The modifications to the bombay area and fitting of under fuselage pylons had inherantly strengthened the whole underside of the aircraft, a "full strength" arrestor hook had been installed from day one instead of the original proposal for an "one time" emergency type, the fin was essentially cut in half to make it fold for carrier stowage.
Production of all the navalised versions was to take place at Boeings own plant, initally the US Navy were very reluctant to even trial the idea of a British jet on their carriers, but Boeing's persistance paid off and the Navy placed orders for two versions ; an all out attack variant and a dedicated reconnasiance platform.
For the Marines it was a no brainer, the aircraft was perfect for their "in country" mud moving roll.
It should be noted that all these US aircraft and indeed the Export version that followed all used US built Pratt and Whitney engines, US sourced ECM and countermeasure systems and carried either two Browning 20mm cannon or the 20mm Vulcan "gatling gun"
 
Export customers for these US built versions included Isreal and Austrailia among others.
 
Meanwhile back in the UK the RAF versions continued to flourish, changes were generally small and more inline with keeping up with current upgrades to software and such, the biggest problem was with there being so many versions in service at the same time, engines grew ever more powerful even though the design had never been short of power, a dog fighter it was not but down low at high speed nothing came close.
The terrain following radar was a world beater, the ride was stable down low and the wide angle HUD made sure "head down" time was virtually not needed.
 
South Africa, India, Saudi Arabia and Canada were among the UK spec exports.
Once the Royal Navy accurired its Malta Class carriers it too became users, these carriers and these aircraft being the biggest the Royal Navy had ever operated.
The one thing that did come about from the navalised versions was the fitting of cannards to the nose section , roughly in line with the pilots position. These were fitted to cure a nose down tendancy in certain circumstances when taking off from a carrier, infact several US Navy aircraft were lost and all remaining aircraft were only to be flown by senior pilots with 2000 hours or more.
Two small pitot tubes were positioned in front of each intake to limit the angle of the canard if the airflow became close to intake surge limits.
Pilots reported a general feeling of more stability under weapon launch conditions and the RAF's
GR7 version came with them as standard fitment........if only they had been discovered earlier.
 
The GR7 was basically the RAF's ultimate Thunderstrike, the original internal ECM fit was very limited in effectiveness and difficult to upgrade so after many years of trying different configurations of US built pods the design team at BAC eventually came up with two purpose built pods which could be installed onto the wingtips replacing the two IRM stations, the pods could be removed in less than one hour making upgrading easier and as a bonus they were more aerodynamic and didnt use up a valuable wing pylon.
 
The complete number of versions and operators as well as actual combat accounts would be the topic of several volumes, far too much for this brief account of an aircraft which was destined never to be if it was not for a last minute gamble from Boeing.
 
After a total production run from the two factories of 4500 aircraft I think it is safe to say the gamble paid off.
 
 
                               TSR2_2017

As you've probably already realised the TSR2 is a bit of a favourite of mine,
So.....what's new this time you ask ? More versions, more stuff remapped, more model tweaks, new cockpits and still more to do. Half the fun is seeing if you can find what's changed from the previous releases [if you had them]
This is one aircraft I will probably never stop tweaking so I thought I'd better get what I have so far realeased.
For those of you that already have the older version I can't stress enough that you should move them somewhere safe in case you dont like these.
Just letting them overwrite is NOT a good idea as you will screw up both sets.
Installation is just a case of copying everything FROM the TO_MOD_FOLDER TO your modded game install.
Just remember this is a What If, I'm not really concerned about what would have been feasable and what would'nt, we will never know so I've just gone on what I would like to see.
Enjoy
Sundowner
[Ant]
17/09/2017
.......NOT TO BE USED IN ANY PAYWARE OR RE-RELEASED WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.... 
 

The last production Corsair was the "F4U-7", which was built specifically for the French naval air arm, the Aéronavale.
The XF4U-7 prototype did its test flight on 2 July 1952 with a total of 94 F4U-7s built for the French Navy's Aéronavale
(79 in 1952, 15 in 1953), with the last of the batch, the final Corsair built, rolled out on 31 January 1953.
The F4U-7s were actually purchased by the U.S. Navy and passed on to the Aéronavale through the U.S. Military Assistance Program (MAP).
The French Navy used its F4U-7s during the second half of the First Indochina War in the 1950s (12.F, 14.F, 15.F Flotillas)
 
 
WHAT's IN:
- the original plane;
- 13 new, upgraded jpg skins;
- Historical decalset
- pilot, weapons, sound;
- wingfold fixed;
 
 
OPERATIONS:
- Key 0 canopy
- Key 9 wingfold
All autoclosing on take off
 

CREDITS:
- all credits to TMF The Mirage Factory;
- Wrench or upgrades and temps;
- paulopanz skin, reskin, decals, repack
 
INSTALL:
- all in your mod folder and overwrite.
 
That's all
Yours
@paulopanz
 

 
PS: I started this upgrade for myself as I always loved this plane model. When finished I decided to share.
 

AU-1: U.S. Marines attack variant with extra armor to protect the pilot and fuel tank,
and the oil coolers relocated inboard to reduce vulnerability to ground fire.
The supercharger was simplified as the design was intended for low-altitude operation.
Extra racks were also fitted.
Fully loaded for combat the AU-1 weighed 20% more than a fully loaded F4U-4,
and was capable of carrying 8,200 lb of bombs.
The AU-1 had a maximum speed of 238 miles per hour at 9,500 ft,
when loaded with 4,600 lb of bombs and a 150-gallon drop-tank.
When loaded with eight rockets and two 150-gallon drop-tanks,
maximum speed was 298 mph at 19,700 ft. When not carrying external loads,
maximum speed was 389 mph at 14,000 ft. First produced in 1952 and used in Korea, and retired in 1957.
Re-designated from F4U-6
 
 
WHAT's IN:
- the original plane tweaked for Aéronavale;
- 5 new, upgraded jpg skins;
- Historical decalset
- pilot, weapons, sound;
 
 
OPERATIONS:
- Key 0 canopy
- Key 9 wingfold
All autoclosing on take off
 
CREDITS:
- all credits to TMF The Mirage Factory;
- Wrench for upgrades and temps;
- paulopanz skin, reskin, decals, repack
 
INSTALL:
- all in your mod folder and overwrite.
 
 
That's all
Yours
@paulopanz
 

The Gloster Javelin was a twin-engined all-weather interceptor aircraft that served with Britain's Royal Air Force in the late 1950s and most of the 1960s. It was a T-tailed delta-wing aircraft designed for night and all-weather operations and was the last aircraft design to bear the Gloster name. Introduced in 1956 after a lengthy development period, the aircraft received several upgrades during production to its engines, radar and weapons, including support for the De Havilland Firestreak air-to-air missile.
The Javelin was succeeded in the interceptor role by the English Electric Lightning, a supersonic aircraft capable of flying more than double the Javelin's top speed, which was introduced into the RAF only a few years later. The Javelin served for much of its life alongside the Lightning; the last Javelins were withdrawn from operational service in 1968 following the induction of successively more-capable versions of the Lightning.
 
FAW 8 Upgraded Sa.7R engines with reheat, raising thrust to 12,300 lbf (54.7 kN) thrust above 20,000 ft (6,100 m); at lower altitudes, the limitation of the fuel pump caused a loss of cold thrust. New "drooped" wing leading edge and auto-stabilizer for better handling. Short nose.
 
FAW 9 A total of 118 FAW 7s refitted with the revised wing and engines of the Mk 8. Wet pylons. Long nose.
 
FAW 9R (range) fuel probe added.
 
Special test modified plane.
 
 
What's in:
 
- 4 new planes;
- 18 new skins;
- Historical decalsets by plane;
- open canopy 10 key auto closing at take off;
- weapons
- pilots
- guns
- New screens;
- loadout.tga;
 
Credits:
 
- VELTRO2k - plane model 2.0;
- Baffmeister FM;
- Paulopanz - Skins, Decals, screens;
 
 
Install:
 
- all mod folder content in your mod install
- overwrite
 
* not to be used with anything that is payware statement
 
 
V. 1.05
 
Fixes this (you can do by youself if you have 1.0 Javs) in all 4 data.inis:
 
.....
 
[Engine2]
ReferenceName=Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire SA.7R
SystemType=JET_ENGINE
InputName=THROTTLE_CONTROL
EngineID=1 -----> 2 (change this 1 to 2)
HasAfterburner=TRUE
NumAfterburnerStages=1
SLThrustDry=48900.0
SLThrustWet=54713.0
 
.....
 
Thanks Eric.
 
 
 
 
 

 
That's all
 
Enjoy
 
@ paulopanz

The Gloster Javelin was a twin-engined all-weather interceptor aircraft that served with Britain's Royal Air Force in the late 1950s and most of the 1960s. It was a T-tailed delta-wing aircraft designed for night and all-weather operations and was the last aircraft design to bear the Gloster name. Introduced in 1956 after a lengthy development period, the aircraft received several upgrades during production to its engines, radar and weapons, including support for the De Havilland Firestreak air-to-air missile.
The Javelin was succeeded in the interceptor role by the English Electric Lightning, a supersonic aircraft capable of flying more than double the Javelin's top speed, which was introduced into the RAF only a few years later. The Javelin served for much of its life alongside the Lightning; the last Javelins were withdrawn from operational service in 1968 following the induction of successively more-capable versions of the Lightning.
FAW 7 Introduced new Sa.7 engines with 11,000 lbf (48.9 kN) thrust each, powered rudder, extended rear fuselage. Armed with two 30 mm ADEN plus four Firestreak air-to-air missiles.  142 produced.

What's in:
- 1 new plane;- 7 skins;
- Historical decalsets by plane;
- open canopy 10 key auto closing at take off;
- weapons
- pilots
- guns
- New screens;
- loadout.tga;
Credits:
- VELTRO2k - plane model;
- Coupi Baffmeister FM;
- Paulopanz - Skins, Decals, Screens;

Install:
- all mod folder content in your mod install
- overwrite

That's all
Enjoy
 

 
PS: all the previous series could be made if Veltro will tweak his model .....

The MiG-19SK by CAF team, 3d work by Cocas, skins by Nyghtfall, other work by Coupi, testing by Stratos, Coupi, Wrench, Nyghtfall.
Some Background:
After the success of the Soviet Union’s first carrier ship, the Moskva Class (Projekt 1123, also called „Кондор“/„Kondor“) cruisers in the mid 1960s, the country became more ambitious. This resulted in Project 1153 Orel (Russian: Орёл, Eagle), a planned 1970s-era Soviet program to give the Soviet Navy a true blue water aviation capability. Project Orel would have resulted in a program very similar to the aircraft carriers available to the U.S. Navy. The ship would have been about 75-80,000 tons displacement, with a nuclear power plant and carried about 70 aircraft launched via steam catapults – the first Soviet aircraft carrier that would be able to deploy fixed-wing aircraft.
Beyond this core capability, the Orel carrier was designed with a large offensive capability with the ship mounts including 24 vertical launch tubes for anti-ship cruise missiles. In the USSR it was actually classified as the "large cruiser with aircraft armament".
 
Anyway, the carrier needed appropriate aircraft, and in order to develop a the aircraft major design bureaus were asked to submit ideas and proposals in 1959. OKB Yakovlev and MiG responded. While Yakovlev concentrated on the Yak-36 VTOL design that could also be deployed aboard of smaller ships without catapult and arrester equipment, Mikoyan-Gurevich looked at navalized variants of existing or projected aircraft.
 
While land-based fighters went through a remarkable performance improvement during the 60ies, OKB MiG considered a robust aircraft with proven systems and – foremost – two engines to be the best start for the Soviet Union’s first naval fighter. “Learning by doing”, the gathered experience would then be used in a dedicated new design that would be ready in the mid 70ies when Project 1153 was ready for service, too.
 
Internally designated “I-SK” or “SK-01” (Samolyot Korabelniy = carrier-borne aircraft), the naval fighter was based on the MiG-19 (NATO: Farmer), which had been in production in the USSR since 1954.
Faster and more modern types like the MiG-21 were rejected for a naval conversion because of their poor take-off performance, uncertain aerodynamics in the naval environment and lack of ruggedness. The MiG-19 also offered the benefit of relatively compact dimensions, as well as a structure that would carry the desired two engines.
 
Several innovations had to be addresses:
- A new wing for improved low speed handling
- Improvement of the landing gear and internal structures for carrier operations
- Development of a wing folding mechanism
- Integration of arrester hook and catapult launch devices into the structure
- Protection of structure, engine and equipment from the aggressive naval environment
- Improvement of the pilot’s field of view for carrier landings
- Improved avionics, esp. for navigation
 
Work on the SK-01 started in 1960, and by 1962 a heavily redesigned MiG-19 was ready as a mock-up for inspection and further approval. The “new” aircraft shared the outlines with the land-based MiG-19, but the nose section was completely new and shared a certain similarity to the experimental “Aircraft SN”, a MiG-17 derivative with side air intakes and a solid nose that carried a. Unlike the latter, the cockpit had been moved forward, which offered, together with an enlarged canopy and a short nose, an excellent field of view for the pilot.
On the SK-01 the air intakes with short splitter plates were re-located to the fuselage flanks underneath the cockpit. In order to avoid gun smoke ingestion problems (and the lack of space in the nose for any equipment except for a small SRD-3 Grad gun ranging radar, coupled with an ASP-5N computing gun-sight), the SK-01’s internal armament, a pair of NR-30 cannon, was placed in the wing roots.
 
The wing itself was another major modification, it featured a reduced sweep of only 33° at ¼ chord angle (compared to the MiG-19’s original 55°). Four wing hardpoints, outside of the landing gear wells, could carry a modest ordnance payload, including rocket and gun pods, unguided missiles, iron bombs and up to four Vympel K-13 AAMs.
Outside of these pylons, the wings featured a folding mechanism that allowed the wing span to be reduced from 10 m to 6.5 m for stowage. The fin remained unchanged, but the stabilizers had a reduced sweep, too.
 
The single ventral fin of the MiG-19 gave way to a fairing for a massive, semi-retractable arrester hook, flanked by a pair of smaller fins. The landing gear was beefed up, too, with a stronger suspension. Catapult launch from deck was to be realized through expandable cables that were attached onto massive hooks under the fuselage.
 
The SK-01 received a “thumbs up” in March 1962 and three prototypes, powered by special Sorokin R3M-28 engines, derivatives of the MiG-19's RB-9 that were adapted to the naval environment, were created and tested until 1964, when the type – now designated MiG-SK – went through State Acceptance Trials, including simulated landing tests on an “unsinkalble carrier” dummy, a modified part of the runway at Air Base at the Western coast of the Caspian Sea. Not only flight tests were conducted at Kaspiysk, but also different layouts for landing cables were tested and optimized as well. Furthermore, on a special platform at the coast, an experimental steam catapult went through trials, even though no aircraft starts were made from it – but weights hauled out into the sea.
 
Anyway, the flight tests and the landing performance on the simulated carrier deck were successful, and while the MiG-SK (the machine differed from the MiG-19 so much that it was not recognized as an official MiG-19 variant) was not an outstanding combat aircraft, rather a technology carrier with field use capabilities.
The MiG-SK’s performance was good enough to earn OKB MiG an initial production run of 20 aircraft, primarily intended for training and development units, since the whole infrastructure and procedures for naval aviation from a carrier had to be developed from scratch. These machines were built at slow pace until 1965 and trials were carried out in the vicinity of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
 
FROM NOW ON IS MY WORK. STRATOS.
 
With the reception of the first new carrier in late 1965, the new aircraft began sea trials during the spring of 1966 and for summer the first planes were permanently deployed on board. The ship and it's planes began a cruise around the world doing good will port visits showing the flag and the new capabilities of the Soviet Navy. The carrier was permanently escorted by USN info gathering ships monitoring the capabilities of the new vessel and its air component.
The first real deployment with combat ocured in the Pacific Ocean in 1969, in a dare move, the carrier slipped into the Yellow Sea during the night and launched it's aircraft at first light, the planes strike several military facilities in China mainland, specially around Shangai, and the first A-A combat took place when a pair of SK's engaged intercepting J-6 of the PLAAF while escorting strike armed SK's. All the soviets returned to the carrier that was already steaming to get out of the South China sea trough Tsushima straits.
By early 1972, new models are being introduced into the fleet and the SK's started to show their age in the fast pace of aviation during Cold War, so as soon as the new models completed the air component the SK's were passed to train new naval pilots on the fleet training installations in Crimea, were it served with distinction until the last cells were too worn out to be safely operated beyond 1980.
So the SK's story came to an end with the honor of being the first real combat aircraft onboard soviet carriers, and the plane that first tasted the blood for carrier based pilots.

SF2 WW2 PTO PV-1 Ventura (Early) by Veltro2K        8/30/2014
 -- Something for the WW2 PTO players --
= For SF2 ONLY, Full-5 Merged (Reccomended/Preferred) =
**Note: This mod will -NOT- work in 1stGen game installs at any patch level.A Full-5 merged is reccomended.**
This is a the release of Veltro2K's =NEW= Lockheed/Vega PV-1 Ventura USN Patrol Bomber. This represents the early "glass nosed" version as used in the PTO.  
There are 4 skin/decals set(s) in the package:
USN (42-43, NS Blue over NS Grey, star-and-ball)
USN43 (star-&-bar, 3 tone)
and
RNZAF (overall blue/grey mid-war light blue roundels, as used from Henderson Field)
RNZAF43 (overall blue/grey, roundel-and-bar)
The skins use the SF2 "date switch", and will change in approx September, 1943
Although the US Navy skins are tagged for VPB-138, they are representative of pretty much ALL USN PTO Ventura units from Australia to the Aleutians.
The RNZAF skins, while tagged for No.3 Squadron, are also fairly representative of NZ units in the SoWesPac regions of the PTO.
All markings are decals, and Decal Randomization is TRUE. Serial number/BuNums are accurate for the model depicted, but should be considered 'generic' in nature, as they reprsent no specific unit. Lighting is as accurate as possible, given the lack of pictures of the bottom.
Engine sounds, pilot figures, and skin-specific Hangar Screens are included. Weapons, guns, bombs, etc, are NOT; you should have them already.  Operational service dates are rounded to 'whole months', and ARE relatively correct for ALL in-theatre usages.
When in game, you'll see
PV-1 Ventura (Early) (v2k)
on the Aircraft Selection Drop down menu. As different versions are planned, this will help keep them diferentiated, so to speak.
As always, fairly easy to follow, yet detailed install instructions are included. PLEASE read them!!!  
Happy Landings!! 
Wrench
Kevin Stein
Updated 9/1/2017:
All hit boxes reset or newly created for those components without
Small adjustment to some FM parameters.
Destroyed model referenced to a stock 3W aircraft, available in all versions