Spinners

Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing TAM-1 'Foolish' - PVO Stany, Soviet Air Force,1961 Following the movement of the Taganrog and Sevastopol aircraft factories to Tbilisi in Georgia during 1941, the formation of the Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing company (TAM) saw TAM manufacture large amounts of LaGG-3 and Yak-3 fighters for the Soviet Air Force during World War 2. After the war the company scaled down but continued to manufacture Yakovlev fighter aircraft including the first Soviet jet fighter, the Yak-15, in 1946 followed by the Yak-17 and Yak-23 gaining considerable experience before switching to the manufacture of the MiG-15. In early 1949 TAM sought official permission to design their own aircraft and, once granted, Irakli Chelidze was promoted to become TAM's senior designer. Meanwhile, in 1949 the PVO Strany (Soviet Air Defence Forces) was separated from the other Soviet Armed Forces services (but with equal status) with a declared principal aim of defending Soviet airspace and immediately issued a requirement for a supersonic interceptor with long range and heavy armament. Three OKB's submitted designs for this requirement; Lavochkin, Yakovlev and TAM. Lavochkin's La-190 was a small, highly swept-wing design ultimately let down by a poor engine whilst Yakovlev's Yak-1000 demonstrated such poor handling characteristics during ground tests that it never flew! TAM's design, however, was very well regarded and sufficiently large for the mission but engines of sufficient thrust were simply not available to realise the design's tremendous potential. At this stage, Stalin intervened by issuing a directive that the MiG OKB should design a smaller supersonic fighter eventually leading to the successful MiG-19 (first flown in September 1953) and allowing TAM to continue with their larger TAM-1 design whilst Tumansky refined their promising R-11 engine which would later power the MiG-21, Yak-28 and Su-15. The prototype TAM-1 took to the air in Tbilisi on September 29th, 1954 and even on the low thrust of it's early R-11 engines it exhibited excellent performance and was soon selected for series production. After a successful flight testing phase the TAM-1 eventually entered service in November 1956 with PVO units in the Moscow Air Defence District and Leningrad Military District before being issued to PVO units in the Byelorussian Military District and Far Eastern Military District in 1957 and 1958. Known as the 'Champion' in Soviet service the TAM-1 was given the rather less flattering NATO codename of 'Foolish' but remained in service until 1970 when the 689th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment re-equipped with the Mig-25 'Foxbat'.

Saab-GD JAS38 'Spöke' - F13, Flygvapnet, 2005

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23S Flogger-A - HävLLv 31, Ilmavoimat, 1975 The initial production batch of 60 MiG-23S aircraft were used for both flight and operational testing but did not actually enter operational service due to various teething problems and delays to the Sapfir-23 radar necessitating the use of the earlier S-21 weapons control system with the RP-22SM radar as used in the MiG-21MF. In 1974, 30 of the surviving MiG-23S aircraft were refurbished by Mikoyan-Gurevich for export to Finland for an undisclosed sum but believed to have been 'gifted' to Finland as a gesture of thanks to Finnish President Urho Kaleva Kekkonen for his acknowledgement of Soviet concerns regarding Finland's negotiations with the EEC for a free-trade agreement during the previous year. Entering service with HävLLv in late 1974 the MiG-23S served with just one squadron but suffered from high attrition leading to Ilmavoimat officials withdrawing the type from service in early 1978 and re-equipping HävLLv 31 with second-hand Saab Drakens from Swedish stocks. N.B. On this occasion, the Finnish roundel on the fin is deliberate and done as a request by someone over at the What If Modelers website.

Lavochkin La-19 'Freebird' - PVO Strany, 1962 Thanks to ndicki for the Hunter templates.

I'm not after a company logo. Just an 'award of excellence' badge (which I thought I had). Gepard seems to be indicating that the MiG design bureau had their own 'award of excellence' badge (I can certainly see a hint of MiG in that fin).

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soviet_aviation_excellence_banner.svg

The Hawker Hunter masquerading as the...

Swashbuckingly good

Hawker Hunter F.61 - 17th Fighter Squadron, 2nd Fighter Wing, Republic of China Air Force, 1967

Wild! But no weasel...

That's the Griffon engined PR.19 - I wish Third Wire would give us that one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZakKw_DJ7A Nice work Mario.

Convair B-53C Cougar - Arkansas Air National Guard, 1957 In 1947 Convair's futuristic-looking XB-46 lost out to the North American B-45 Tornado in the race to produce the first operational American jet bomber but there still remained the hope of their even more radical forward-swept wing (with canard) XA-44 project being selected as a more advanced medium bomber. However, the outstanding success of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet in the medium bomber role led to USAF officials cancelling the XA-44 in early 1949 but immediately inviting Convair to design a smaller tactical bomber with reconnaissance capability as a replacement for the Douglas B-26 Invader still in widespread USAF service. Convair proposed a relatively conventional straight-wing aircraft powered by two Rolls-Royce Nene centrifugal turbojets licence-produced by Pratt & Whitney as the J42. The crew of three (pilot, navigator/bombardier and rear gunner) were housed in separate pressurised compartments with a small bomb bay under the wing, forward of which was housed an AN/APQ-17 air-ground radar contained within a protruding ventral blister. Designated XB-53 (and soon named 'Cougar' in a poll taken of employees at Consolidated's San Diego plant) development move swiftly and the first XB-53 took to the air on July 31st, 1950 by which time the project had been given added impetus by the outbreak of the Korean war during the previous month. The first B-53A entered service with the 405th Bomb Squadron in February 1951 with the RB-53B entering service with the 30th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron during the following month. However, the main production version was the B-53C which switched to the more powerful Pratt & Whitney J48 engine (a license-built version of the Rolls-Royce Tay) and introduced the more advanced AN/APQ-31 bombing and navigational radar. Entering service with the 764th Bombardment Squadron at Blytheville AFB, Arkansas in March 1952 the B-53 force served in large numbers with TAC, USAFE and PACAF units but was soon relegated to ANG units as they were replaced by more advanced tactical aircraft such as the F-100 from about 1956 onwards. The final production version was the B-53D 'Night Cougar' essentially a minimum change version of the B-53C for night attack. During 1963 the remaining B-53C's and B-53D's were gathered together for refurbishment by General Dynamics to re-enter service as the B-53E and deployed to South Vietnam in October 1964 with the first excursion into North Vietnam taking place in early 1965 as part of Operation Rolling Thunder followed by sustained night interdiction missions against the Ho Chi Minh trail and ending with airstrikes against the North's petroleum, oil, and lubricants (POL) storage areas during July and August 1966. After this the B-53E's were withdrawn from USAF service and handed over to the Vietnam Air Force who operated the type until the eventual Fall of South Vietnam in 1975.

Convair B-53D 'Night Cougar' - 85th Bomb Squadron, USAF, 1953

Clouds and silver linings...

Ilyushin Il-28 - Ilmavoimat, 1977 Only a partial 'what if' as Finland did actually operate four Beagles supposedly in the 'target-towing' role but not in camo and not the bog standard bomber version.

Smothered

The Flashing Blade

Nice Kitty!

Daniel - I don't think your lovely Boreas could safely 'rotate' with those bombs being so far back.

The Il-28 Beagle masquerading as... The Consolidated B-53C Cougar And I know how much you boys like Cougars...

Gloster Meteor NF.14 - No.64 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command.

The XI does also have a deeper forward section immediately aft of the propeller. I think it was for an enlarged oil tank.

Gloster RF-73C Meteor - 45th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, USAF, Korea, 1951