Mike Dora

I recall the A-10 being initially designed (as project A-X) to replace the A-1 in the low-level CAS task in Vietnam. The intent being to replace the venerable “SPAD” in a role that the contemporary USAF had not anticipated (recall that the A-1 was a USN type adopted by the USAF), with a modern technology bomb-truck heavily emphasising survivability. In this role it was to carry the 20mm M61 Vulcan cannon. By 1970 the direct American involvement in Vietnam was rapidly winding down, so the USAF recast project A-X to become a tank-killer carrying the 30mm GAU-8. The two prototype YA-10s first flew in 1972, fitted with 20mm M61s. Bottom line, project A-X began in 1966, the specification for the GAU-8 was issued in 1970.

Good grief Spinners! You’ve given us a flying Lada! If memory serves, the first generation of this type (before they put hinges in the wings) had about 8 minutes’ endurance when using afterburners. Probably why they invariably flew with 2 drop tanks on the fuselage pylons. (Not that the RAF had much to crow about there, cf EE Lightning - it was so fuel-hungry, it had tanks in its flaps.)

Thank you! This is gloriously nostalgic. I joined the Service in 1972, and many of the locations in the film are familiar, eg my first tour after graduating from Cranwell in 1977 was Leeming, where film’s student pilot flew JPs. Plus the haircuts, cars, fashions were all “normal” then! Thanks again!

This looks very nice, it’ll be the second movie this year to star the Mosquito. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was the first*. Harrison Ford was in it too. * several passes in the initial “castle” sequence

Nice. Expect you know that c.1970 the original name for the MRCA* was to have been the Panavia Panther? I have a drawing somewhere with that title, showing a more streamlined/less boxy ac, with round “half-cone” intakes like the F-104, Mirage III & TSR 2. *MRCA development was taking so long that in the 1970s the RAF believed that the acronym stood for “Must Refurbish Canberra Again”.

If you modify your machine guns to carry incendiary ammunition in FE2, be careful to carry a letter from your squadron commander certifying that you are on an authorised anti-balloon mission. Otherwise, if captured with incendiary ammunition in your guns, you are liable to being court-martialled by your captors for using ammunition which is illegal for “normal use” under the Geneva Conventions. WW1 was that kind of war.

It’s a Chinese NAAFI van!

Impressive! Thought - replacing the floats with retractable wheels, putting some guns in the wings, could perhaps turn it into a useful fighter?

Love the bombers in the background! Are they the Convair Chicago BI?

Very close to reality. The US offered F-117’s to the UK, but we declined for budgetary reasons.

Nice again, Spinners. That would have given the RAF faster Phantoms than its actual Spey-powered FG1’s and FGR2’s, at about 2/3 the price! Fitting the “fatter”, more powerful Spey (turbofan vs the turbojet J79), with its bigger intakes, not only led to increased intake drag but also messed with the F-4’s fuselage area ruling. As well as costing a lot more. So while our Phantoms could accelerate faster than a standard J79-powered ac, and had greater endurance, they couldn’t fly as fast. As proved when 74 Sqn was equipped with the second-hand J79-powered F-4J(UK)* in the 1980’s. *That clumsy designation always irritated. Being employed in the pure fighter role, the F-4J(UK) should logically have been designated the Phantom F3.

I’ve always liked the Lightning, my home town Arbroath was just 17 miles from RAF Leuchars, home to 3 Lightning sqns* when I was at school. We saw and/or heard them all the time. It was only after joining the RAF that I learned how short its legs were (it even had fuel in its flaps), and what a maintenance nightmare it was. *11, 23 & 74 Sqns, though the latter departed for RAF Tengah, Singapore in 1967.

An American Frightning! Nice, Spinners. So, do we get to sell them probe & drogue-compatible Victor tankers too, so that they have the range to defend more than one (US) county? But Dunlop would have been very pleased with the F-112, it would have boosted their profits. The Frightning’s high-pressure, low-profile mainwheel tyres lasted an average (average) of 3 landings..

My next question, regarding the WW2 Bomber Offensive variant I’m trying to construct. In previous personal mods I became reasonably familiar with the Formation.ini file. Trouble is I’ve forgotten much of what I learned. What I’m trying to do now, is two things. First, to create a large but well-separated bomber formation, to simulate the Bomber Stream. I know how to do the separations, but don’t recall how to get the system to generate a large number of bombers. I keep getting eg “2 Lancasters”. I want 12 or more! Secondly, looking to achieve the opposite with nightfighters. Want eg 1-2 Bf110G, getting whole staffels in close formation. At night.. Advice anyone? I’m thinking it’s all about the combination of Base, Squadron, Flight and Element parameters, but my experimentation is getting nowhere. Thanks Mike