Spinners

North American Nomad GA.2 - No.45 Squadron, RAF South East Asia Command, 1958

Nice to know it's still alive!

http://www.ukserials.com/ The above site is good for 'what if' RAF serial numbers as you can use either the frequent gaps, cancelled orders or 'target drone' serial numbers. However, I suggest you use stock Third Wire Spitfire 22/24 serial numbers (if different from the earlier Spit's) as it will be so much easier. I'd have it post-war or certainly post VE-Day and it would have used camo and silver very much like the Tempest. Looking forward to seeing what you do with this one!

Ed's VL Myrsky with a WIP skin http://www.vlmyrsky.fi/en

Yellow 10

Field Trip

Yes, the 'J' got the bulges but going back to the original change from Naval 'B' to Air Force 'C' I quote World Air Power Journal's excellent book 'McDonnell F-4 Phantom - Spirit in the skies; "The high tire pressure of the F-4B was unacceptable for USAF operations and the wheel/tire assembly was redesigned with lower pressure and the width increased from 7.7in to 11.5in. That's the reverse of what you are suggesting so I maintain that wider tyres are not a necessity for operating from hard steel carrier decks. BTW the beefing up on the 'J' was to do with sink rate associated with higher operating weights and not tyre pressures.

No, the bulges came on the 'C' model due to the wider tyres.

Wedell-Williams P-34A Excalibur - 78th Pursuit Group, United States Army Air Corps, Hawaii, 1941 During the early 1930's United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) officials noticed that many private racing aircraft were reaching speeds far faster than the front-line pursuit aircraft types then in service and soon identified that the Wedell-Williams Model 44 air racer, as flown by Jimmy Wedell, had the most potential of being adapted to military service. In April 1934, USAAC officials met Marguerite Clark Williams (widow of millionaire Harry P. Williams) and offered the Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation a contract to urgently produce a pursuit fighter with a maximum speed in excess of 300mph and with an armament of four .30 calibre M2 AN Browning machine guns. By the Summer of 1935 the Wedell-Williams proposal had evolved into a sleek design powered by a Rolls-Royce Kestrel inline engine and characterised by an extremely long nose that set the cockpit towards the rear of the fuselage. Whilst the Kestrel engine was based on the excellent Curtiss D-12 'cast-block' engine the Kestrel introduced a new pressurised cooling system allowing a far lower frontal area for cooling and a corresponding increase in speed due to the reduced drag which was further reduced by the early adoption of a retractable landing gear and a new wing airfoil profile. On October 31st, 1935 the USAAC issued the XP-34 designation and ordered 1 prototype, 9 pre-production and 190 production aircraft. The prototype XP-34 took to the air for the first time on August 15th, 1936 and the maiden flight of the first production aircraft took place on December 24th, 1937. Entering service as the P-34A in March 1938 with the 78th Pursuit Group at Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii the P-34A's of the 78th and 15th Pursuit Groups were responsible for air defense of the Hawaiian Islands Territory and were scheduled to be replaced by P-40C's during December 1941 when Wheeler Army Airfield was hit by the first Japanese attack on December 7th, 1941 as a prelude to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Most of the P-34A's were destroyed on the ground but 12 pilots assigned to the 15th Pursuit Group managed to get their P-34A's off the ground to score some of the first American victories of World War II. (Nice one Ed)

Out of Gas

Not so sure about that last part as the Phantom had fatter main gear tyres in it's Air Force versions.

Cor Blimey mate!

Very nice indeed - thank you!

Hispano Aviación Spitfire XIVe - Ala 36, Ejército del Aire, 1952 The UN Conference on International Organisation opened in San Francisco on April 25th, 1945 and quickly drafted the historic United Nations Charter with the United Nations officially coming into existence on October 24th, 1945 and headed by the five permanent members of the Security Council; France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the UK and the US. The first meetings of the United Nations General Assembly took place in London in early 1946 and in an effort led by the Allied Powers, the United Nations placed a trade embargo on Spain for it's part in aiding Germany and the Axis Powers during WW2. In February 1946, France closed it's border to commerce with Spain following the execution of an exiled Republican who had fought in the French Resistance. These events quickly resulted in the economic and diplomatic isolation of Spain, badly hindering any hope of progress for the Spanish economy. During December 1946, the United Nations recommended that all member states should withdraw their ambassadors from Madrid and in early 1947 Spain was excluded from the Marshall Plan for the economic recovery of Europe as long as the Franco dictatorship remained. Economically and culturally isolated from the outside world, the Spanish people quickly became disillusioned with the military dictatorship seeing all trade unions and political parties banned (except for the official Falange party). In June 1947, just when it seemed that a violent revolution or re-ignition of the Spanish Civil War would result, Franco made an unexpected approach to the United Nations for assistance and applied to join the European Recovery Program. Only in later years, and after Franco's death in 1975, would it be revealed that this event was due to the political horse-trading between President Truman and Franco with the former appreciative of Franco's aggressive anti-communist policies and the latter seeking the support of the United States over the retention of it's African colonies and the return of Gibraltar from the United Kingdom. In the Autumn of 1947, Ejército del Aire (EDA) officials began the slow modernisation of the EDA with the acquisition of 38 ex-RAF Spitfire XIVe's that were refurbished by Hispano Aviación at it's Tablada factory in Seville with the first Spitfires entering EDA service with Ala 36 at Alcantarilla Air Base near Murcia in May 1948. Although outdated by modern Western standards, the EDA's Spitfires were well-suited for the task of controlling Spanish colonial territories in Africa where a higher level of technology was unnecessary. In EDA service the Spitfire's armament consisted of two 20 mm Hispano-Suiza 404/408 cannons plus two Oerlikon-built M2 Browning machine guns. It remained in service until late 1965 and surviving examples then embarked upon a successful theatrical career starting with the 1969 film 'Battle of Britain'.

Valmet T-100 Myrsky - Hävittäjälentolaivue 11, Ilmavoimat, 1947 In September 1944 the new Finnish Government led by Prime Minister Urho Jonas Castrén began to plan ahead for an uncertain future after the end of WW2 and maintaining the independence of the country was right at the top of the agenda. During the winter of 1944-1945 Jari Kijanen, a young aeronautical engineer from Kouvola, began the design of an interceptor fighter for the Ilmavoimat with a heavy armament and good endurance. Designated as the T-100 interceptor project, Kijanen's radical design used an unusual canard configuration with tricycle landing gear, a rear mounted engine and a jettisonable propeller to prevent the pilot from hitting the rear-mounted propeller when bailing out. Whilst Finland had no suitable aero engines Kijanen gambled on the availability of the Rolls-Royce Merlin but cleverly designed a modular engine bay that could accommodate any contemporary liquid-cooled engine such as the Klimov VK-107 or DB605. The new Prime Minister Juho Kusti Paasikivi approved the T-100 design and in February 1945 a production order was given to the newly formed Kijanen Ilmailu Company to produce 2 prototype and 80 production aircraft although this company was quickly absorbed into the state owned Valtion Metallitehtaat (Valmet) in 1946. A mixture of national pride and state ownership saw the design progress quickly and Valmet benefited from the British Government's decision to grant an export licence to Rolls-Royce for the export of the Merlin 66 engine rated at 1,720 hp and fitted with a Bendix-Stromberg anti-g carburetor although the first prototype was temporarily equipped with a DB605 borrowed from an Ilmavoimat Me-109G-6. Production machines, by now christened 'Myrsky' (Tempest), were all powered by Merlin 66 engines and were armed with four of the new lightweight Soviet Berezin B-20 cannons in the nose. Under the terms of the 1947 Paris Agreement the aircraft had no facility for carrying offensive weapons and no pylons were ever fitted to the T-100, not even for drop tanks. Entering service in June 1948, the T-100 served with five Ilmavoimat squadrons and although the flight performance was inferior to contemporary fighter aircraft already in service the T-100 was a rugged aircraft with generally good handling charcteristics. Consideration was given to modifying the T-100 airframe to accommodate the De Havilland Ghost jet engine (in very much the same way that Saab did with the J21) but by this time Kijanen was already sketching the Valmet T-122 Nuoli delta-winged supersonic interceptor and the proposed conversion was dropped in favour of the new design.

The Curtiss XP-55 masquerading as the Valmet T-100 'Myrsky'... Full picture set and backstory in the main 'what if' forum.

Thanks Paul. I love reading about the early days of the F-111 and respectfully salute these guys.

Excellent! Thanks to everyone involved.

Flag Waving Exercise

F-4E_ADC

Supermarine Spitfire XIVe - HävLLv 31, Ilmavoimat, 1947

Wright Aeronautical F4W-1 Hurricane - VF-3, USS Lexington, US Navy, 1942

Supermarine Spitfire XIVe - No.302 Squadron, Polish Air Force, 1946

Sukhoi Su-19K 'Fisher' - Soviet Naval Aviation, 1983 [Decal001] MeshName=Fuselage DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=LEFT FilenameFormat= Position=-2.850,0.050 Scale=1.2 DecalMaxLOD=2 [Decal002] MeshName=Fuselage DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=RIGHT FilenameFormat= Position=-2.850,0.0500 Scale=1.2 DecalMaxLOD=2 [Decal003] MeshName=Left_Wing DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=INSIGNIA Position=-3.750,-3.100 Scale=1.6 DecalMaxLOD=2 [Decal004] MeshName=Right_Wing DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=INSIGNIA Position=3.750,-3.100 Scale=1.6 DecalMaxLOD=2 [Decal005] MeshName=Left_Outer_Wing DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=INSIGNIA Position=-3.750,-3.100 Scale=1.6 DecalMaxLOD=2 [Decal006] MeshName=Right_Outer_Wing DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=INSIGNIA Position=3.750,-3.100 Scale=1.6 DecalMaxLOD=2 [Decal007] MeshName=Left_Wing DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=INSIGNIA Position=-3.750,-3.100 Scale=1.6 DecalMaxLOD=2 [Decal008] MeshName=Right_Wing DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=INSIGNIA Position=3.750,-3.100 Scale=1.6 DecalMaxLOD=2 [Decal009] MeshName=Left_Outer_Wing DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=INSIGNIA Position=-3.750,-3.100 Scale=1.6 DecalMaxLOD=2 [Decal010] MeshName=Right_Outer_Wing DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=INSIGNIA Position=3.750,-3.100 Scale=1.6 DecalMaxLOD=2 [Decal011] MeshName=Vert_Tail DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=LEFT FilenameFormat=INSIGNIA Position=-6.000,1.600 Scale=1.6 DecalMaxLOD=2 [Decal012] MeshName=Vert_Tail DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=RIGHT FilenameFormat=INSIGNIA Position=-6.000,1.600 Scale=1.6 DecalMaxLOD=2 [Decal013] MeshName=Vert_Tail DecalLevel=2 DecalFacing=LEFT FilenameFormat=SOVIETYELLOWNUM Position=-6.500,2.000 Scale=0.5 DecalMaxLOD=2 [Decal014] MeshName=Vert_Tail DecalLevel=2 DecalFacing=RIGHT FilenameFormat=SOVIETYELLOWNUM Position=-6.500,2.000 Scale=0.5 DecalMaxLOD=2 [Decal015] MeshName=Nose DecalLevel=2 DecalFacing=LEFT FilenameFormat=SOVIETYELLOWNUM Position=4.150,-0.250 Scale=0.9 DecalMaxLOD=2 [Decal016] MeshName=Nose DecalLevel=2 DecalFacing=RIGHT FilenameFormat=SOVIETYELLOWNUM Position=4.150,-0.250 Scale=0.9 DecalMaxLOD=2

File Name: [Fictional] PZL-60 (Polish Gloster Meteor F.8) File Submitter: Spinners File Submitted: 18 August 2014 File Category: What If Hangar PZL-60 / Gloster Meteor F.8 'Sily Powietrzne' for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2 Requires Expansion Pack 1 This is a very simple mod of the stock Third Wire Meteor F.8 to give a fictional PZL-60 in service with the Polish Air Force with markings for; No.302 Squadron - In a silver or bare metal finish. No.317 Squadron - In an earthy camo scheme. No.318 Squadron - In a Photo-Recon scheme (this scheme is for the camera equipped PZL-60R). If you wanted all three squadrons in silver it would be easy to swap things around and a 'patch' PSD is included to help you make the changes or to help you introduce your own favourite esquadron. BACKSTORY The stunning success of Operation Market Garden and the subsequent push through Holland and across the North German Plain during the Autumn of 1944 shook the German Military High Command to it's core and eventually led to the assassination of Adolf Hitler on November 10th, 1944 when his Ju-52 transport aircraft was shot down by unknown rogue Luftwaffe pilots as the part of the Fighter Pilots Conspiracy. The new German Military High Command concluded that it would be in the best interests of the country to throw everything into the defence of the Eastern Front and allow Allied forces in the West to advance without opposition, although the logistical chain made this advance slower than expected. On the Eastern Front there was an almost immediate slowdown in the rate of the Soviet advance and soon Soviet forces inside Poland were held at the Bialystok-Rzeszow line. By January 1944 Allied forces in the West were reaching the borders of Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland hampered only by roads clogged by evacuees and surrendering German troops but by the middle of January 1945 General Patton's Third US Army had punched through to liberate Warsaw before swinging north to meet up with Montgomery's 21st Army Group at Gdansk. By February 8th it was all over and the formal German surrender was signed at Lublin in Eastern Poland by Grand Admiral Karl Donitz and General Walter Bedell Smith and witnessed by Russian General Ivan Susloparov and French General Francois Sevez. The rescheduled Yalta Conference held on March 1st, 1945 saw Stalin demanding a "Soviet sphere of political influence" in Eastern and Central Europe in return for Soviet support in the Pacific War against Japan by invading Japan through Manchuria. However a last minute briefing made to President Roosevelt by Major General Kenneth Nichols on the progress on the Manhattan Project led to President Roosevelt's decision not to rely on Soviet support in the Pacific and to wholeheartedly support Winston Churchill's demand for free elections and democratic governments in Eastern and Central Europe and specifically in Poland. Churchill reminded all present that in September 1939 Britain and France had gone to war with Germany in support of Poland and nothing other than a free and democratic Poland would suffice. Roosevelt knew that Soviet spies at Los Alamos were aware of the power of the atomic bombs and also how close to operational status and used this knowledge that Stalin also knew to stiffen his resolve. In the horsetrading that followed the Western Allies essentially got what they wanted with regard to Poland with the new border essentially following the 1940 version of the Curzon Line but the the rest of Central and Eastern were handed over to the Soviet sphere of political influence. The Allied withdrawl from Poland followed during the Spring and Summer of 1945 and culminated in the declaration of "The Third Polish Republic" on November 11th, 1945 a date chosen to coincide with the existing National Independence Day. Also on this day, and wisely for a country now surrounded by Communist states and within the Soviet sphere of influence, the new Polish Government declared its neutrality as an Act of Parliament as part of the Constitution of Poland. Led by Stanislaw Mikolajczyk the new Republic of Poland had a difficult birth but the Polish people reconstructed their battered country with such vigour that by 1948 they had recovered their economy and infrastructure to pre-WW2 levels and continued this economic miracle into the 1950's and beyond. During this tumultuous time the new Polish Air Force had a similarly difficult birth commencing with the dove-tailing of the Polish elements of the Royal Air Force (active since 1940) with the Polish People's Air Force (created in 1943 in defence of the Soviet Union). Some RAF Spitfire IX's and USAAF P-51D's were left behind at airfields in the West of the country to reform No.302 Squadron at Swidwin and a handful of elderly Yak-1 and damaged Yak-9 fighters were scraped together in the East of the country to reform the 1st Fighter Regiment at Warsaw later renamed No.303 Squadron. During the Spring of 1946 ex-RAF Tempest V's replaced the Spitfires and Mustangs of No.302 Squadron but No.303 Squadron had to wait until 1948 to re-equip with the unpopular Avia S-199 supplied by Czechoslovakia. During 1950 both squadrons began to receive Gloster Meteor F.8's from a cancelled Egyptian order following the UN arms embargo and No.302 Squadron operated the type until 1961 when they were replaced by Dassault Super Mystères. A production licence was granted to PZL (Panstwowe Zaklady Lotnicze - the State Aviation Works) to manufacture the Gloster Meteor F.8 and a total of 96 aircraft were manufactured between 1952 and 1956. INSTRUCTIONS 1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the PZL-60 folder into your Aircraft folder. 2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the PZL-60 folder into your main Decals folder. 3. From the PILOTS folder drag and drop the Pilot_PWL folder into your main Pilots folder. CREDITS Thanks to TK and Third Wire for the continuous improvement of a great little game/sim. And thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community. Regards Spinners Click here to download this file