[Fictional] Corsair GR.1 - RAF South East Asia Command Version 3

BAC/Vought Corsair GR.1 for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2:VIETNAM

This is a very simple mod of the stock Third Wire A-7B to give a fictional BAC/Vought Corsair GR.1 with markings for No.8 and No.20 squadrons of RAF South East Asia Command.

BACKSTORY

The UK General Election of October 1964 saw a new Labour government slip into power with a slender four-seat majority but this did not deter their planned shake-up of the UK Defence Budget. Whilst many observers felt that the TSR.2 programme would survive until at least the 1965 April budget it was not that great a shock when the axe fell earlier than expected in November 1964 with a bland announcement that a three-month study period of the RAF's tactical strike and recconnaisance requirements would be immediately started as part of a much broader Emergency Defence Review.

The Emergency Defence Review of February 1965 concluded that the RAF needed a more flexible force and recommended a mix of aircraft with a small force of sophisticated all-weather tactical strike aircraft, a much larger force of tactical attack machines plus an improved interceptor-fighter force equipped with longer-range aircraft than the totally inadequate Lightning.

Whilst initially ordered as a replacement for the Hunter the Spey-enginned Phantoms already on order (thanks to an order placed by the outgoing Conservative Government in February 1964) were now allocated to air defence duties to replace the Lightnings in the UK and RAF Germany squadrons. For the tactical strike role it was no surprise that the F-111 was ordered but, like the Phantoms, with Spey engines which soon hit many of same problems encountered by the Spey-Phantoms.

For the RAF's tactical attack role almost no one foresaw the purchase of Ling-Temco Vought's VAL contender (later designated A-7 Corsair II) as it had only just been selected, literally days earlier, by the US Navy as their A-4 Skyhawk replacement. The UK Government simply couldn't resist putting the non-afterburning Spey into their version of the Corsair but, thankfully, this was a much happier marriage and LTV had actually already planned their A-7 to use this engine as an insurance policy and to be able to offer an export version of their promising design. As some sort of feeble compensation to BAC for the loss of the TSR.2 the UK Government negotiated with LTV a manufacturing licence for BAC to licence-build all British production aircraft although this

was more of a final assembly deal plus partnering on all European and Commonwealth sales which actually became quite lucrative for BAC.

Development moved swiftly and apart from minor delays due to the substitution of the TF-30 for the Rolls-Royce Spey RB.168-2A turbofan engine the only other delay was caused by the substitution of the Colt Mk12 20mm cannon for British 30mm Aden (with reduced round capacity) and progress was certainly helped by having the prototypes built and test-flown in the USA and the British Corsairs simply slotted into the very smooth and highly successful LTV Corsair programme that saw the A-7A move from operational requirement to squadron service in three years. Entering service as the Corsair GR.1 in early 1968 the aircraft was extremely popular in RAF service and served until late 1991 after seeing service in Desert Storm.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the CorsairGR1 folder into your Aircraft folder.

2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the CorsairGR1 folder into your main Decals folder.

3. From the SOUNDS folder drag and drop the Spey_Dry file into your main Sounds folder.

CREDITS

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

And thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community.

Regards

Spinners

Version 3 - 30/12/13