What If Screenshot Thread.......

[VonS]

Pre-Buchón Era Spanish Bf 109 H-0 Before and After a Surveillance Mission, Circa 1950*

* Originally posted under the SF2 screenies thread on SimHQ in April 2019.

Edited June 21 by VonS
Tweaked title.

[Gepard]

[torno]

[CSomers611]

The F-4EX......

What a view!

Hit 95,000 feet!

There's a reason they look like space men!

[CSomers611]

F-4EX ADC Interceptor....

There could be a reason the crew wears the bulky suits!

[Gepard]

MiG-17F-13, the ultimate Fresco.

R-11A-300 engine with 37.3 kN dry thrust, 10% more than the former VK-1F engine with afterburner

GSh-23L gun with 250 rounds instead N-37 with 40 rounds

launch rails for AA-2 missiles

[Stratos]

Was this bird ever converted to Sf2? It works, but has some flaws and would benefit from some more skins.

 

[torno]

[torno]

[Gepard]

Logans MiG Ye-8-144

[VonS]

The Serie 1.5 Rare "Saetta" (MC.200)

For a brief period in late 1940 Italy flew a small number of rare, upgraded Serie 1 Saettas in North Africa, commonly called the Serie 1.5. These Saettas featured a wider-chord rudder imitative of the Hawker Hurricane - made possible by a leading edge wedge that was fitted to the vertical stabilizer section. Furthermore, the Serie 1.5 incorporated the more open cockpit of later-production Saettas but retained the streamlined prop spinner of the earlier Serie, which preserved better gliding characteristics. As well interesting to note is that while the Serie 1.5 maintained the same, constant profile wings of the Serie 1, not modifying the wing roots with balsa shims to lessen stall abruptness (as would happen with later-production Saettas), four vents were installed into the leading edge of each wing - to allow air to enter at higher speeds, particularly in dives - a pioneering attempt to lessen the risks of dynamic wing loading that was eventually abandoned and wartime research funds siphoned elsewhere.*

These vents were often mistaken for M.G. ports, but the Serie 1.5, like the Serie 1 - carried only two M.G.s installed in the nose of the aircraft and firing through the propeller arc. The Serie 1.5 was a decent low-level dogfighter and also excelled at hit-and-run attacks, before being removed from service entirely by the spring of 1941. Soon after, the later-production Saettas would become standard issue, with modified wing roots and the prop spinner removed. Standard livery for the Serie 1.5 was a greenish-gray cabbage sploch pattern, similar to the Serie 1 - while later-production variants received more of an orange-yellow camo that became standard for the North African theater.

* NOTE: four custom ram-air intake ducts were installed into the leading edge of each wing on the Serie 1.5, featuring a pioneering spring-loaded internal flap mechanism designed by inspired Regia Aeronautica engineers. At low speeds, the spring-loaded valves remained shut to preserve clean aerodynamics; but in steep dives, the increasing dynamic pressure forced the valves open, accelerating the air through a narrowing internal nozzle that exited at the trailing edge of the wings - to manage high-speed internal pressure and prevent structural flutter - a brilliant system that was ultimately abandoned in the spring of 1941 but nonetheless is remembered today as the primitive precursor to high-speed flow management and passive slots.  

Good flying to you.