[Fictional] British Aerospace Sea Kestrel FRS.1 Version 1

BAe Sea Kestrel FRS.1 for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2

This is a fictional operational version of the British Aerospace P.1214 project in service with the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm.

The 3D model is by Cocas and I've been honoured to have been allowed to play with it and package it up for release as best as I can with limited time but I hope you enjoy it as much as I have because it's huge fun! Three Royal Navy skins are included in two different shades of grey and I've also included a USMC 'Shamrocks' skin as a bonus.

BACKSTORY

The cancellation of the proposed CVA-01 aircraft carrier in 1966 left the Royal Navy with no replacements in sight for both HMS Eagle and HMS Ark Royal and thus began a slow and painful run down in the Fleet Air Arm's fixed-wing capability. But in April 1973 the Admiralty were given a glimmer of hope by being allowed to procure three 'anti-submarine warfare' carriers of the Invincible class. Whilst primarily designed to accommodate large numbers of medium sized ASW helicopters the Admiralty sensibly allowed for the deployment of the V/STOL Harrier and quickly followed up the order for the carriers with an initial order for 24 Sea Harriers (later increased to 34).

Entering service in 1978 (but not declared operational until 1981) the small Sea Harrier force performed remarkably well in the 1982 Falklands Conflict and with confidence high the Admiralty immediately planned for the attrition replacement of the six Harriers lost, the speedy introduction of an improved version and also the design and development of a supersonic V/STOL successor. The first two elements of this plan were immediately approved but, in January 1983, the Admiralty were informed that the Sea Harrier replacement would have to be part of the RAF's Air Staff Target 403 (AST 403) essentially for a planned successor for the Jaguar and Harrier in RAF service.

During this time the British Aerospace (BAe) design team at Kingston (formerly the Hawker design team) had been sketching advanced V/STOL designs to meet AST 403 and could see that the involvement of the Royal Navy would lead to a larger UK programme and also open up a larger export market for an aircraft designed both for land-based and carrier-based use. By March 1983 the Kingston design team had dusted off their P.1214 project and offered several versions to the UK Ministry of Defence. The build-up to the 1983 British General Election saw the Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher, make capital of the UK's victory in the previous year's Falklands War and on the promise of 'strong defence' announced the decision to procure a successor to the Sea Harrier on June 2nd, 1983 with an order for 50 P.1214's for the Fleet Air Arm and a further 200 P.1214's for the RAF with initial deliveries going to the Royal Navy. Development moved smoothly and, as a nod towards the P.1214's lineage, the BAe design team renamed the aircraft Kestrel II.

Entering service in May 1988 with the newly reformed 899 Naval Air Squadron the Sea Kestrel FRS.1 served with four frontline Fleet Air Arm squadrons seeing service in both Gulf Wars and also the Second Falklands War of 2002.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the SeaKestrelFRS1 folder into your Aircraft folder.

2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the SeaKestrelFRS1 folder into your main Decals folder.

3. From the PILOTS folder drag and drop the PILOT_RN folder into you main Pilots folder.

4. From the WEAPONS folder drag and drop all of the enclosed folders into your main Weapons folder.

CREDITS

Thanks to Third Wire for the continuous improvement of a great little game/sim.

Massive thanks to Cocas for creating the 3D model.

Both Cocas and I are grateful to Dels for creating the superb F-23/F-29 cockpit used here.

And thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community.

Regards

Spinners

Version 1 - 27/04/13