Spinners

Republic F-7S Thunderstorm - 154° Gruppo, 6° Stormo, Aeronautica Militare, 1993

McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle - 18° Gruppo, 37° Stormo, Aeronautica Militare, 1991

The MiG-19S masquerading as the Canadair CF-103 Callisto

Decades ago when I was in my early teens I bought a book called "A Pictorial History of the RAF - Volume 3 1945 to 1969" and perhaps my interest in 'what if's' can be found from within those pages. Page 82 refers to the 1950 RAF display at Farnborough, where the famous Amiens Jail raid was recreated and shows a delightful picture of six clipped-wing Spitfires in full WW2 Luftwaffe markings "masquerading as Messerschmitt Bf109's" - a lovely phrase don't you think? Anyway, this thread is for 'what if's' that use an aircraft to pretend to be an entirely different aircraft and probably from a different nation. This isn't just decals added to an F-14 to make an RAF Tomcat (guilty as charged!) but something entirely different like my Aero L.23 that is a Super Mystere masquerading as a fictional Cold War Czech fighter. A more recent example was my Lavochkin La-13 'Fibber' using the Focke-Wulf Ta-183 Wrench (the original 'what if' guru of this site) has done a couple of 'masquerades' and here is his Northrop F-79 Manta So, there you go. C'mon, give us your 'masquerades'! If you've done one before, repost it here. Give us your thoughts, give us some ideas and give us some pictures!

Dambusters Over Dhimar! Well, Paran actually!

Double Dutch

BAC Thunderstrike S.1 - No.100 Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1970

Cold War Warrior

Sud-Ouest Farandole II - EC1/5 Vendée, Armée de l'Air, 1957 When the straight-wing Sud-Ouest Farandole I lost out to the Dassault Ouragan for a production order they quickly schemed an improved swept-wing version known as the Farandole II utilising the same Hispano-Suiza Nene 104B engine. Working at speed the Sud-Ouest team flew the first prototype in October 1950 and the scintillating performance soon attracted the Armee de l'Air who ordered 150 production aircraft almost immediately leading to the cancellation of the Dassault Mystere IIC. Entering service in November 1952 the Farandole II was considered to be an interim type but served until 1960 with the Armee de l'Air and until 1974 with the Israeli Air Force who were the only export customer.

Sud-Ouest Farandole II - EC1/5 Vendée, Armée de l'Air, 1957

Zoom!

Vought F-8E Crusader - 808 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Australian Navy, 1970

"The FID"

Douglas Skyraider FB.3 - No.112 Squadron, RAF Near East Air Force, 1967

Douglas Skyraider FB.3 - No.6 Squadron, RAF Near East Air Force, 1967

The first of the many...

Blue Sky Thinking

Or one texture still has the alpha channel present.

Hawker Hunter F.55 - No.2 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force, 1970

Sud Aviation Vautour IIA - No.14 Squadron, Royal Dhimari Air Force, 1961