BAC Lightning F.6N for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2:Europe
This mod is meant for those without the Strike Fighters 2 Expansion Pack 2 (for Strike Fighters 2 Europe) and is a simple mod of Russouk2004's superb BAC Lightning F.Mk6 from the SF1 archives to give a fictional F.6N (N for NATO) in service with four NATO air forces (Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and the UK) in a 1966 to 1988 timeline. 
Unfortunately, the 3D model has some issues with decal bleed on the vertical tail and also with shadow 'ropes' but I've elected to leave shadows ON. I've had a play with the FM by pasting in some Third Wire Lightning DNA including adding 'ghost' outer wings to allow for this 3D model having a one-piece wing whereas the Third Wire Lightning has a two-piece wing and I've also fiddled with the mass fractions to distribute the weight. It flies really nice and will perform a 'hands free' take-off (flaps down, throttle up, brakes off) with the usual ability to supercruise and climb supersonicly.  As this mod is meant for those without the Strike Fighters 2 Expansion Pack 2 I've used the pit from the stock F-4B Phantom.
 
INSTRUCTIONS
1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the LightningF6N folder into your Aircraft folder.
2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the LightningF6N folder into your Decals folder.
3. From the SOUNDS folder drag and drop both files into your Sounds folder.
Bingo Fuel!

CREDITS
As always, thanks to Third Wire for a great little game/sim.
Massive thanks to Russouk2004 for creating the Lightning F.Mk6 a real British thoroughbred.
Thanks also to Sundowner for the silver/NMF Lightning skin used for all eight skins with tail markings pasted on top by yours truly.
And, finally, thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community.
Regards 
Spinners
Version 2 - January 28th, 2024
 

Douglas Skyraider A-1M for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2
This is a simple mod of the stock 'AI' Thirdwire A-1H to give a flyable Dhimari Skyraider with markings for;
No.1 Squadron - 'The Panthers'
No.2 Squadron - 'The Hawks'
Whilst this mod is meant for Strike Fighters 2 is does require you to have Strike Fighter 2: Vietnam so that you have the necessary Third Wire A-1H LOD's which are, of course, not included here. 

INSTRUCTIONS
1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the A-1M folder into your Aircraft folder.
2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the A-1M folder into your Decals folder.
3. From the WEAPONS folder drag and drop the A-1M_Tank folder into your Weapons folder.
That's it!

CREDITS
As always, thanks to Third Wire for a great little game/sim.
Extra special thanks to CA_Stary for the cockpit.
And, finally, thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community.
Regards 
Spinners
Version 2 - January 25th, 2024
 

Westland Whirlwind FB.2 for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2
This is a very simple mod of the prolific Veltro2K's Whirlwind to give a fictional Whirldwind FB.2 in service with No.6 Squadron (the famous 'Flying Can-Openers') of the RAF's Desert Air Force. This mod is meant for SF2 and, ideally, you'll have Expansion Pack 1 for the stock 250lb bombs. More experienced WW2 modders will have access to more correct bombs but I just wanted this to be as simple as possible to install. This is an older 3D model that has a few problems that will not get fixed now so it's all released 'as is'. One possible problem that could be fixed by the community here is what sounds like the undercarriage collapsing when working up to rotation speed but this rarely affects your ability to complete the mission. I've played around with it and copied other aircraft's landing gear for ideas but I can't fix it.

INSTRUCTIONS
1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the WhirlwindFB2 folder into your Aircraft folder.
2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the WhirlwindFB2 folder into your Decals folder.
That's it! But you may need to add a suitable WW2 Pilot (not supplied).

CREDITS
As always, thanks to Third Wire for a great little game/sim.
Special thanks to Veltro2K for all of his delightfully esoteric aircraft, this is just one of many! Check them out!
Thanks also to Syrinx for the Whirlwind template which I lost back in 2016 when I suffered a complete data loss : (
And, finally, thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community.
Regards 
Spinners
Version 2 - January 24th, 2024.
 
 

F-105D for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2
This is a simple mod of the stock Third Wire F-105D Thunderchief to give a fictional F-105D 'Shalakh' (Osprey) of the Israeli Air Force with markings for;
107 Squadron - 'The Knights of the Orange Tail' 
119 Squadron - 'The Bat' 
253 Squadron - 'The Negev' 
This should work in any SF2 game featuring the stock Third Wire F-105D but has only been tested in a merged install of SF2/SF2V/SF2E/SF2I.

BACKSTORY
During the early 1960's Defence Secretary Robert S. McNamara and his team of whiz-kids were on a mission to streamline the US defence budget with 'commonality' being their main area of focus. With the F-4 Phantom now being procured for the USAF as well as for the USN and USMC and with the TFX (F-111) project promising further cost savings it appeared that the two aircraft had the home tactical fighter market covered. So it was no surprise when in October 1963 Republic Aviation were formally ordered to cease further development of the F-105 Thunderchief and to stop production after the current batch of F-105D's and F-105F's.
In early 1964 the Heyl Ha'Avir (Israeli Air Force) were looking for a replacement for the Vautour tactical bomber and openly expressed a preference for the UK's Blackburn Buccaneer. With the end of the Thunderchief production line looming, and with no follow-on project in the immediate pipeline, Republic Aviation proposed a modified version of the Thunderchief F-105D to the Heyl Ha'Avir at a very attractive price and this was eagerly accepted. 
With the last USAF F-105D's and F-105F's going through the door production continued with the main production batch of 100 F-105D-35RE aircraft (essentially similar to the F-105D-31-RE but with some Heyl Ha'Avir specified equipment) and powered by the Pratt & Whitney J75-P20W engine rated at 26,500lbs of thrust with reheat. Deliveries of the first F-105D-35-RE aircraft to Israel began in early 1967 and the type soon gained the local name of 'Shalakh' (Osprey). As a happy consequence, the USAF ordered more F-105D's and F-105F's as attrition replacements for Vietnam and this kept the Thunderchief production line open until December 1968. 

INSTRUCTIONS
1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the F-105Didf folder into your Aircraft folder.
2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the F-105Didf folder into your Decals folder.
That's it!

CREDITS
As always, thanks to Third Wire for a great little game/sim.
And, finally, thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community.
Regards 
Spinners
Version 2 - January 23rd, 2024.
 
 

Hawker Hunter FGA.9 'Kiwi' for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2
This is a simple mod of the stock Third Wire Hunter FGA.9 to give a fictional 'Kiwi' Hunter with markings for No.14 and No.75 Squadrons of the Royal New Zealand Air Force as they might have appeared during the 1960's.
 
INSTRUCTIONS
1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the HunterFGA9nz folder into your Aircraft folder.
2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the HunterFGA9nz folder into your Decals folder.
That's it!

CREDITS
As always, thanks to Third Wire for a great little game/sim.
And, finally, thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community.
Regards 
Spinners
Version 2 - January 9th, 2024

F-23E for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2
This is a simple mod of Dels' excellent F-23A 'Black Widow' to give a fictional F-23E 'Karish' (Shark) of the Israeli Air Force with markings for;
No.110 squadron - The Knights Of The North Squadron.
No.119 Squadron - The Bat Squadron (with toned-down markings).

BACKSTORY
With the success of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom and F-15 Eagle in Heyl HaAvir service the Israeli's were hoping that the Northrop/McDonnell Douglas F-23A 'Black Widow' would win the USAF's ATF competition to continue their successful relationship with the McDonnell Douglas team at St. Louis but unfortunately Lockheed Martin's victory in the ATF competition looked like bringing an end to a long and enduring partnership.
However in a brave move, in May 1991 the Northrop/McDonnell Douglas team secured permission from Congress to actively market the F-23 to (State Department) 'approved' nations and offered a single-seat multi-role version called the F-23E (Export) to Germany, Japan, Israel and the UK. With Germany looking for any excuse to get out of the Eurofighter consortium and facing high reunification costs they persuaded the UK to team up in a combined purchase of 200 F-23E's. In return, this led to the German and UK Governments persuading Northrop/McDonnell Douglas to make BAe and MBB prime sub-contractors for any further export sales. 
However, with only 200 F-23E's on order Northrop/McDonnell Douglas were not convinced that it was enough to start a viable programme but the breakthrough came in January 1994 when the USAF agreed to purchase 100 F-23A's for PACAF (the air component of United States Pacific Command) and this move finally saw Japan and Israel also join the programme with 100 F-23E's each.

INSTRUCTIONS
1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the F-23E folder into your Aircraft folder.
2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the F-23E folder into your Decals folder.
That's it! 

CREDITS
As always, thanks to Third Wire for a great little game/sim.
Massive thanks to Dels for this superb add-on aircraft, it's one of the very best.
And, finally, thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community.
Regards 
Spinners
Version 2 - January 6th, 2024

North American F-100D 'Shavit' for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2
This is a simple mod of the stock Third Wire F-100D to give a fictional F-100D 'Shavit' (Comet) of the Israeli Air Force with markings for;
117 squadron - 'The First Jet Squadron' in a natural metal scheme.
253 squadron - 'The Negev Squadron' in a USAF SEA scheme (as transferred from USAF stocks in October 1973).
This should work in any SF2 game featuring the stock Third Wire F-100D but has only been tested in a merged install of SF2/SF2V/SF2E/SF2I.

BACKSTORY
Despite a very smooth test and development phase North American Aviation's superb F-107 unexpectedly lost out to Republic Aviation's F-105 Thunderchief in the competition for a new supersonic fighter-bomber for TAC. By early 1959 the end of the F-100D production line was now in sight and with the F-108 and B-70 programmes now on the far horizon North American Aviation needed to stretch the F-100 Super Sabre programme out to plug the gap and urgently proposed a variety of F-100 variants to several friendly nations, including Israel, Japan and the United Kingdom.
In April 1959 the Israeli government signed for 50 F-100D's and the first of these entered Heyl Ha'Avir service in February 1960 replacing the obsolete Gloster Meteors of 117 Squadron. The 'Shavit' was a popular machine in Heyl Ha'Avir service and served with distinction during the 1967 'Six-Day' war but losses were heavy during the early days of the 1973 'Yom Kippur' war and two small batches of ex-USAF F-100D's were accquired as attrition replacements allowing No.253 squadron to re-equip with the F-100D before finally retiring the type in November 1977.

INSTRUCTIONS
1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the F-100Didf folder into your Aircraft folder.
2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the F-100Didf folder into your Decals folder.
That's it!

CREDITS
As always, thanks to Third Wire for a great little game/sim.
Special thanks to guyran for suggesting the 'Shavit' name.
And, finally, thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community.
Regards 
Spinners
Version 3 - January 19th, 2024.
 
 

Saab Draken F.2A for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2
This is a 'what if' Saab Draken F.2A with markings for No.23 and No.25 squadrons of the Royal Air Force as they might of appeared in the 1980's towards the end of their career.
I've used the excellent Draken J35D 'David' from the Draken pack uploaded at CombatACE by lindr2 to create this 'what if' RAF Draken but heartily recommend the Draken pack which has no less than 8 Drakens and is a superb effort by all concerned. For this revised upload I've made a simple grey skin and decals to create these RAF Drakens as they might have looked towards the end of their lives. I've used 1978 to 1991 as the 'in service' years, basically to utilise the British Skyflash missile and I've also tweaked the data.ini and also the loadout.ini to give RAF loadouts. 
The Draken itself was an amazing achievement and has a similar WOW factor to the contempory 'Century Series' of fighters - you just cannot believe it first flew in 1955... it just looks so cool! As much as I love the English 
Electric Lightning you must remember that the Draken had half the power but effectively did the same job plus another half-a-dozen! In addition, it cost dramatically less and it certainly required a fraction of the maintenance man hours!
Suggested further reading - Saab Draken (chapter) 'Early Supersonic Fighters of the West' (Bill Gunston)

INSTRUCTIONS
1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the Draken_F2A folder into your Aircraft folder.
2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the Draken_F2A folder into your main Decals folder.
3. From the WEAPONS folder drag and drop the TANK_DRAKEN_F2A folder into your Weapons folder.

CREDITS
I've lifted these credits from the Draken pack but if I've unwittingly left anyone out then please accept my apology and do not hesitate to contact me to allow me to amend this package.
Lud von Pipper -- Lead 3D Modeller
BPAO -- Additional 3D Modeling
Sony Tuckson -- Textures and Decals
Crab_02 -- Weapon and Drop Tank Models
column5 -- Flight Model and INI files
Matthew Ouellette -- Bare Metal Skin
As always, thanks to Third Wire for a great little game/sim.
And, finally, thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community.
Regards 
Spinners
Version 3 - January 17th, 2024.