Spinners

McDonnell RF-101B Voodoo - 42 smaldeel, Belgian Air Force, 1973

As someone with a recent interest in the F-5 family I'm wondering how this project is going?

Well, I like to recycle the decals I've made!

Northrop F-5K Firenza FGA.1 - No.1 Squadron, Royal Air Force, 1968 Even before the 1964 General Election the British Labour Party were developing a pathological hatred of the British aviation industry and despite the narrowness of their election win (by just five seats) they soon went into overdrive by cancelling virtually every advanced aircraft programme within weeks of coming to power. Out went the TSR.2 strike aircraft, P.1154 V/STOL fighter-bomber and AW.681 V/STOL transport with all three to be replaced by 'cheaper' aircraft from the United States namely the F-111, F-4 Phantom and C-130 Hercules respectively. Just days later they ordered a stop-work notice on the Hawker P.1127 leading to a complete abandonment of the RAF's hopes of having a small V/STOL force. Not content with that they then studied the RAF's requirements for a Hunter replacement and queried why the RAF were demanding an aircraft of the size and complexity of the Phantom. In early January 1965 McDonnell Douglas received a small taste of what the British aircraft companies had endured when the planned Phantom order of 170 aircraft was slashed to just 50 aircraft for the Royal Navy followed by an announcement that the RAF were to receive "150 advanced supersonic fighter aircraft" to replace the Hunters. This was soon followed by a statement from the Minister of State for Defence, Denis Healey, that the RAF were to receive 150 Northrop F-5K fighter aircraft and 30 TF-5K advanced trainers for delivery during the period 1967 and 1968 which would include substantial work for UK companies in undisclosed 'offset' agreements. Mercifully, this did not include re-engining the F-5 but the British F-5's did have uprated J85 engines, stronger landing gear, anti-skid brakes and a more advanced avionics package than the basic F-5A. Entering service as the Firenza FGA.1 with No.1 Squadron in November 1967 the F-5K's were supplemented by the Jaguar GR.1 in RAF service but not entirely replaced by that type and two UK-based squadrons were still in service during 1990 leading them to be deployed to RAF Germany in August 1990 to replace Jaguars sent to Saudi Arabia during the build up to Operation Desert Shield and the resultant Operation Desert Storm. The last Firenza was retired from RAF service in September 1991 when the RAF's Aggressor Flight at Akrotiri was disbanded.

Waiting for the call...

Vought A-7A Corsair - 522nd Fighter Squadron, Vietnam Air Force, 1974 Following the signing of the Kissinger-Tho accord in Paris on January 28th, 1973 all US air operations over North and South Vietnam ended although operations in Laos continued into the following month and operations over Cambodia continued right up until the August 15th cut-off date stated in the Cooper-Church amendment. As a prelude to the South being effectively on their own a massive amount of US equipment had been transferred over to the South and whilst the Vietnam Air Force had welcomed the A-37 Dragonfly and F-5 Freedom Fighter aircraft President Thieu had repeatedly asked for the more capable F-4 Phantom but was repeatedly denied. During early 1974 the Vietnamese Air Force began the return to service of many of the stored A-1 Skyraiders but these, and the Cessa O-1 Bird Dog, were becoming increasingly vulnerable to the shoulder-mounted SAM's now being used against them and Vietnamese Air Force commanders made a desperate plea for better tactical aircraft to support the hard-pressed ARVN forces. With the scaling down of US forces the Nixon administration allowed the free transfer of 50 A-7A Corsairs from the US Navy to the Vietnamese Air Force and these were hastily transferred during March 1974 in an operation optimistically entitled 'Peace Piper' by Pentagon officials. LOL I'm making good use of the A-7P download.

Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter - No.1 Squadron, Irish Air Corps, 1977

Vought A-7A Corsair - 2 Smaldeel, Belgian Air Force, 1979

Aye!

How about something between F-24 or F-31? The jump from F-22/23 to F-32/F-35 leaves a few gaps or, in a typical Lockheed stealthy move, go back to F-13.

File Name: [Fictional] BF-5A 'Freedom Fighter' File Submitter: Spinners File Submitted: 30 March 2013 File Category: What If Hangar BF-5A Freedom Fighter for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2 This is a very simple mod of 'The Mirage Factory' F-5A/F-5C to create a fictional export version in service with the Belgian Air Force during the 1970-1991 timeline with markings for No.1, No.2, No.8 and No.42 smaldeel (the latter unit tasked with reconnaissance). BACKSTORY During the first half of the 1960's, Belgium and the Netherlands both started looking for a replacement for their F-84F Thunderstreak fighter-bombers and the Lockheed T-33 advanced trainer for delivery around 1970. After both countries had written their individual requirements 12 potential aircraft were studied resulting in a shortlist consisting of the A-7 Corsair, the A-4 Skyhawk, the CL-984 (a version of the F-104), the Mirage 5 and the F-5A. In the mood of the times, Europe was awash with joint requirements and collaborative programmes so it was quite appropriate for the two nations to work together for maximum standarisation so the BAF and KLu issued 'Specification TFT70' a joint requirement for a tactical fighter and advanced trainer. After exhaustive testing and evaluation both airforces reported to their respective Ministers of Defence, that with some adjustments, the F-5A fighter-bomber and the F-5B advanced trainer were their preferred choice. However, the Belgians had a problem in that Wallonia (the French-speaking part of the country) preferred a French plane (i.e. the Mirage) but after protracted political discussions including the promise of a good share in the license production of the airframe by SABCA and the engines by FN (both based in Wallonia) the F-5 was chosen. In the Netherlands Fokker was chosen to participate in the manufacturing program. However, during this time Northrop had increased the price of the baseline F-5A by no less than 11% leading both countries to make a deal with Canadair who had recently acquired a production license for their CF-5 derivative. With its more powerful Orenda J85-15 engines and a more sophisticated navigation system this was a step in the direction the BAF and the KLu needed. With further modifications including more advanced avionics, moving-map navigation, radar altimeter, SAAB BT9 bombing computer, bigger underwing droptanks, a two-position nose wheel strut, extra auxiliary louvre-type air inlets for take off and manoeuvering flaps it resulted in the most advanced F-5A ever produced. Compared to the F-5A the more advanced BF/NF-5A promised to be a superb multi-role tactical fighter with a useful air-to-air capability due to it's 50% increase in turn rate over the 'vanilla' F-5A. In early 1968 both Belgium and the Netherlands each ordered 80 single-seat BF/NF-5A's and 20 two-seat BF/NF-5B's advanced trainers for delivery during 1970 and by the beginning of 1972 both countries had 4 front-line squadrons and an OCU operational in service. The aircraft were generally popular with pilots and ground-crew alike and served both airforces well before slowly being retired during the latter part of the 1980's and by the early 1990's most BF/NF-5's had been retired with most being sold on to Greece, Turkey and Venezuela. INSTRUCTIONS 1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the BF-5A folder into your Aircraft folder. 2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the BF-5A folder into your main Decals folder. 3. From the PILOTS folder drag and drop the PILOT_BAF folder into you main Pilots folder. 4. From the WEAPONS folder drag and drop the F-5C_TIPTANK and F-5C_WINGTANK folders into your main Weapons folder. CREDITS Thanks to Third Wire for the continuous improvement of a great little game/sim. Thanks to Sony Tuckson of 'The Mirage Factory' for permission to mod their F-5A and F-5C. Thanks to Derk for the BF-5A idea and for the bulk of the backstory. This is more of a 'nearly was' than a 'what if'. And thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community. Regards Spinners Version 1 - 30/03/13 Click here to download this file

Canadair NF-5A - No.2 Squadron, Belgian Air Force, 1970 This 'what if' is more of a a 'nearly was' and was suggested by Derk who recently informed me that the Netherlands and Belgium had planned a joint purchase of the F-5A but that the Belgian's had stalled, cooled and eventually bailed out.

He's already done the F-4N. Agree about the F-4S.

@ Paulopanz - nice Croatian MiG-21.

File Name: [Fictional] Mikoyan MiG-21bis Croatia (Two-Tone Grey) File Submitter: Spinners File Submitted: 27 March 2013 File Category: What If Hangar Mikoyan MiG-21bis 'Croatia' for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2 This is a very simple mod of the stock Third Wire MiG-21bis to create a semi-fictional MiG-21bis in service with the Croatian Air Force who actually operate the type but not in this two-tone grey scheme. Perhaps a more talented modder can reproduce their excellent real world schemes and add them to this package. This revised pack simply adds two USAF skins as bonus content and with basic decals. INSTRUCTIONS 1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the MiG-21bisC folder into your Aircraft folder. 2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the MiG-21bisC folder into your main Decals folder. 3. From the PILOTS folder drag and drop the PILOT_CRO folder into you main Pilots folder. 4. From the WEAPONS folder drag and drop the TANK_MiG21BISC folder into your main Weapons folder. CREDITS Thanks to Third Wire for the continuous improvement of a great little game/sim. Thanks to Paladrian for the MiG-21 pit. And thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community. Regards Spinners Version 2 - 02/03/14 Version 1 - 27/03/13 Click here to download this file

No.1 and No.2 Squadrons No.8 and No.42 Squadrons

Swiss (take-off) roll

Pole Position

Training Days

Created yes - released no. I did a 'bleu' scheme and then RAF Camo and USAF Camo but only the pictures survive (on my thread at the What If modellers website).

McDonnell Douglas F-4F Phantom - Croatian Air Force, 1997 Skin Credit: PraetorH for his spiffing F-4F (80) Norm 81B Camouflage