Spinners

Hawker Hawk F.Mk.I - No 74 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1952

Hawker Hawk F.Mk.I - No 56 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1949

September 23rd, 1947 - The prototype Hawker P.1040 departs Boscombe Down for Farnborough for further testing

Aeritalia Firecrest GR.1 - No.112 Squadron, RAF Germany, 1971

The Fokker D.XXI masquerading as the Handley Page Hunter Mk.II (1938 Munich Crisis)

Der Flug von vier

de havilland Sea Venom FB.6 - 810 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1956

de Havilland Sea Venom FB.6 - 810 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1956

de Havilland Sea Venom FB.6 - 806 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1959

Hurricanes

British Aerospace Sea Hawk FRS.1 - 807 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1979

Parani Su-17M Fitter-C

Sorry but no. The 3D model is not hosted here.

Fiat G.81 Veleno - 14°Gruppo, 2°Stormo, Aeronautica Militare, 1958 Skin Credit: Charles

Poisonous Kiwi

Two out of three (ain't bad)

Hurricane Force Four

Hawker Hurricane Mk.III - F 9 Säve, Flygvapnet, 1941 The Hawker Hurricane entered service with the Royal Air Force at the end of 1937 when No.111 Squadron re-equipped with the type at RAF Northolt. By late 1938 the production capacity for Hurricanes at the Hawker Siddeley Aircraft group of companies was sufficient not only to meet the needs of the RAF's ambitious expansion scheme but also to allow exports to Yugoslavia, South Africa, Romania, Persia, Belgium, Poland and Turkey. Belgium and Yugoslavia had already negotiated production licences and with war clouds looming Sweden soon followed suit selecting the Hurricane as a replacement for the obsolete Gloster Gladiator biplane fighters used by the Flygvapnet for air defence. In August 1939 the Swedish government obtained a production licence for 120 Hurricanes but with Saab running at full capacity building Saab 17 and Saab 18 bombers, a new firm and factory was commissioned to licence-build Hurricane airframes powered by Merlin engines supplied by the British government under a seperate contract. The new company was called Flygförvaltningens Flygverkstad i Stockholm (FFVS) and was headed up by the talented Bo Lundberg. However, there was an urgent demand for Rolls-Royce Merlin engines for the RAF's day fighters and also for the Boulton & Paul Defiant and Bristol Beaufighter night fighters. The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, was keen to block the sale of Merlin engines outright but Sydney Camm at Hawker considered that the Hurricane airframe could be adapted to take a different engine and, with one eye on export sales, Camm had previously schemed the Hurricane Mk.III using the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp 14-cylinder radial piston engine rated at 1,050 hp. Camm sent a small team over to FFVS at Stockholm to effect the changes and the new company performed miracles in keeping to their original schedule of a first flight before the end of 1940. There was no Hurricane Mk.III prototype as such and the first two production aircraft off the Stockholm production line were thoroughly tested by Bill Humble of Hawker's and Gloster's chief test pilot Gerry Sayer who both praised it's flying characteristics noting that "the aircraft is simple and easy to fly and has no apparent vices" although the stalling speed was 8 knots higher than a standard Merlin-engined Hurricane. Entering service with F 9 Säve (located at Säve airport near Gothenburg) in the Autumn of 1941, the Hurricane's were popular with Flygvapnet pilots although they were increasingly short on speed when compared to aircraft from other nations that had inadvertently strayed into Swedish skies. The Hurricane Mk.III continued in low-rate production well into 1943 and was finally retired in 1947. Template Credit: Raven

F-CK-1B Grupo 6

Swedish Hurricane Mk.III

High Above Warsaw

Fairey Barracuda Mk.II - 5th Torpedo Aviation Division, Soviet Naval Aviation, 1945 As the war in Europe entered it's final phase, the thoughts of the Allied nations turned towards the defeat of Japan. At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Stalin eventually agreed to Allied pleas to join them in the war against Japan within three months of the end of the war in Europe. As this deadline approached, the US and the UK (along with China) made the Potsdam Declaration - an ultimatum to Japan calling for complete Japanese surrender and that, if ignored by Japan, this would lead to the "prompt and utter destruction" of Japan. On the eve of the three-month deadline the Soviets declared war on Japan on August 7th, 1945 and at one minute past midnight on August 9th, the Soviets commenced their invasion on a broad front that included the east, west and north of Manchuria. Stalin realised that this would give him licence to win back the disputed Kuril Islands including the southern half of Sakhalin Island previously lost in the Sino-Japanese war of 1904-1905. With the invasion of Manchuria underway the Soviets commenced the 'Kuril Islands Landing Operation' or the invasion of the Kuril Islands. This was mainly a Red Army operation but was supported by the Soviet Pacific Fleet and Soviet Naval Aviation who supplied an aviation regiment equipped with 60 Fairey Barracuda torpedo-bombers. Supplied by the UK as part of lend-lease the Barracuda's were transferred to Soviet Naval Aviation from the Red Air Force who much preferred the IL-2. With little or no Japanese fighter aircraft operating in the area the Barracuda's were surprisingly effective in sinking Japanese ships in Kuril Islands area. On September 1st, 1945 the Barracuda's were used to cover the assault landing made by elements of the 87th Rifle Corps who were landed by torpedo boats, mine trawlers and transports on Kunashir and Shikotan in the southern Kuril Islands. By September 4th, Soviet forces had completely occupied the rest of the Kuril Islands thus ending further resistance. The fate of the Soviet Fairey Barracuda's is unclear but some may have been passed onto the North Korean People's Air Force as several unconfirmed sightings were made by US/USN pilots in the early days of the Korean War in the summer of 1950.

In a Hurri...

Shar-p!

Murphy's War Cowling repaired and wing patch painted