Spinners

It does have a ground attack look about it so perhaps a few went to the Eastern Front.

That's lovely Ed!

Ambrosini SS.4 'Tornado' - 162 Squadriglia, Regia Aeronautica, 1941

Ambrosini SS.4 'Tornado' - 65th Squadriglia, Regia Aeronautica, 1942

​ Ambrosini SS.4 - Regia Aeronautica, 1942

File Name: P-47N Thunderbolt - North Vietnam File Submitter: Spinners File Submitted: 14 September 2015 File Category: What If Hangar Republic Aviation P-47N 'VPAF' for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2 This is a very simple mod of Russouk2004's P-47N Thunderbolt to give a fictional P-47N in service with an embryonic North Vietnamese Air Force. BACKSTORY The Viet Minh artillery attacks against the French airbase at Dien Bien Phu on March 16th, 1954 resulted in the destruction of six French F8F Bearcats , five MS.500's and two helicopters. In addition, several French P-47N Thunderbolts, F6F Hellcats, SB2C Helldivers and PB4Y Privateers were damaged and could not be flown out. This setback was immediately compound by a failed air-drop to help sustain the besieged French garrison and before long the Viet Minh insurgents had overrun the garrison despite a very brave defence by the French forces. Immediately following the Geneva Conference of July 1954, which recognised the 17th parallel as being a provisional military demarcation line dividing the country into two zones, North Vietnam soon started the development of military aviation in the new Communist state by sending a number of trainees to the USSR and China for pilot training and aircraft maintenance training. In September 1954, Vice-Premier Pham Van Ðong ordered the immediate formation of the North Vietnam Air Force mainly using aircraft left behind by the retreating French forces but soon bolstered by equipment from the Soviet Union. Sufficient P-47N's were scraped together to form the 921st Fighter Regiment based at Thanh Hoá Air Base who were declared operational in February 1955. INSTRUCTIONS 1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the P-47N_VPAF folder into your main Aircraft folder. 2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the P-47N_VPAF folder into your main Decals folder. 3. From the WEAPONS folder drag and drop both folders into your main Weapons folder. The SHAVR is simply a fictional Soviet version of the HVAR created as the stock S-24 is too big and heavy. CREDITS As always, thanks to Third Wire for a great little game/sim. Thanks to Russouk2004 for creating the superb P-47N and for making the equally good template available. Regards Spinners Version 1 - 14/09/15 Click here to download this file

Ambrosia SS.4

Republic Aviation P-47N Tiếng sấm sét - North Vietnam Air Force, 1955 The Viet Minh artillery attacks against the French airbase at Dien Bien Phu on March 16th, 1954 resulted in the destruction of six French F8F Bearcats , five MS.500's and two helicopters. In addition, several French P-47N Thunderbolts, F6F Hellcats, SB2C Helldivers and PB4Y Privateers were damaged and could not be flown out. This setback was immediately compound by a failed air-drop to help sustain the besieged French garrison and before long the Viet Minh insurgents had overrun the garrison despite a very brave defence by the French forces. Immediately following the Geneva Conference of July 1954, which recognised the 17th parallel as being a provisional military demarcation line dividing the country into two zones, North Vietnam soon started the development of military aviation in the new Communist state by sending a number of trainees to the USSR and China for pilot training and aircraft maintenance training. In September 1954, Vice-Premier Phạm Văn Đồng ordered the immediate formation of the North Vietnam Air Force mainly using aircraft left behind by the retreating French forces but soon bolstered by equipment from the Soviet Union. Sufficient P-47N's were scraped together to form the 921st Fighter Regiment based at Thanh Hoá Air Base who were declared operational in February 1955. Russo's sweet P-47N!

Work in Progress

Chinese Whispers

Can't see a problem with that. Look out for it during the week ahead.

Wings of Wood!

Fiat G.60 Corsaro - 91st Squadriglia, Regia Aeronautica, 1943

Pfalz Flugzeugwerke D.XIX 'Falke' - Jasta 25, Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte, 1938

The Vought F4U Corsair masquerading as the Fiat G60 Corsaro

Helwan Ha-280 - 1st Squadron, 101st Fighter Brigade, Egyptian Air Force, 1951 The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 required the UK to withdraw all of its troops from Egypt, except those deemed necessary to protect the Suez Canal and its surroundings. Although the treaty was not welcomed by Egyptian nationalists (who wanted full independence) it was generally observed - initially due to fears of Egypt being dragged into the Second Italo-Abbyssinian War and then by the rising tensions preceding World War Two and the outbreak of war itself followed by the turmoil of the North African campaign. But even before the end of World War Two, King Farouk and the Egyptian government had demanded the end of a British military presence and a war-weary United Kingdom quickly let go of it's remaining interests before the end of 1945. Riding on the wave of public opinion and popularity King Farouk immediately announced ambitious plans to build up the Egyptian armed forces and these plans included the development of an indigenous jet fighter for the Egyptian Air Force. Meanwhile back in Germany, Dr. Ernst Heinkel and Robert Lusser (Heinkel's Chief Designer) were frustrated by the restrictions placed on German citizens from undertaking any research or development work related to the any military activity and after being overlooked by British and American aircraft manufacturers both men sought employment elsewhere. By the Spring of 1946 Heinkel and Lusser had been approached by Egyptian Air Force officials and accepted King Farouk's offer of employment to design and build a new jet fighter to enter service before 1950. Both men immediately moved to Helwan in Egypt and were soon joined by Ferdinand Brandner, an Austrian jet engine expert, who had also been approached to develop a new turbojet engine for the new fighter. Right from the start, Heinkel and Lusser knew that a completely new design could not possibly meet the 1950 deadline and quickly agreed to dust off their He-280 design from 1940. This was unfinished business for both men who firmly believed that their design would have been the equal of the Me 262 given the same powerplant and resources. Brandner, who had escaped from the Soviets in Prague during the Spring of 1945, had a design for a slim axial-flow jet engine with a pressure ratio of nearly 5:1 and a projected thrust of 10kN (2,250lbs) and this promised to unlock the He-280's potential. The 'new' design was officially designated as the Helwan HA-280 and was to be produced by the Egyptian General Aero Organisation from the new test facilities and workshops in Factory No. 36 in Helwan, southeast of Cairo. With an essentially proven airframe the design focus centred on the engine, although in early 1949 the main armament was changed to three of the new Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 cannon supplied by the Soviet Union. There were no prototypes as such and production airframes began to roll off the Helwan production line in February 1949 but it was to be another two months before the first Brandner E-280-A engines could be installed due to problems with the six-stage axial compressor. Ground running and testing took up the remainder of the Spring of 1949 before the first production HA-280 took to the air in June 1949, with No.1 Squadron of the Egyptian Air Force being the first Squadron to equip with the type in September 1949. Production continued until 1952 with a total of 87 HA-280's being produced before production switched to the swept-wing HA-288.

Backstory added.

Founding Father

Just a repeat 'Thank You'. It has become an essential and often used tool even for a ham-fisted amateur like me.

It sure does but it is based on a real world WW1 lozenge scheme. Love the word 'crate' btw.

Mitsubishi A9M2 'John' - 2nd Koko Sentai, Imperial Japanese Navy, 1942

I know, I know, but I'd seen a 'Zero' profile with those markings (Darwin Islands 1942) and went with it.

The Gloster E28/39 masquerading as the... Polikarpov I-220 jet fighter