Spinners

Without my meds I've struggled to come up with a backstory. Leased off Russia perhaps when the Tornado F.3 went a bit pear-shaped? Whatever. It's such a cool-looking jet!

Give us more information please! Is this on a particular aircraft? If so what one? Installing the update and the weapons pack should not cause slats to deploy and retract and affect the bomb bay doors.

I'm sure Wrench is correct as it would have been my guess too! Another short-ranged British jet!

Milestone for me! (50)

Dassault-Convair F-114A Mirage - 119th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, New Jersey ANG, 1965 During the Spring of 1961 the incoming Secretary of Defence Robert S. McNamara left no stone unturned in his search for efficiencies in procurement and operational costs and his attention soon turned to the Air Defence units of the Air National Guard (ANG). At the time the ANG units were operating a mix of early 1950's jet fighters such as the F-84 and F-86 alongside the hot ships of the 'Century Series' with some fanciful and expensive plans on future re-equipment by advanced versions of the F-106 and, looking further ahead, the F-108. But McNamara soon put these plans in jeopardy by setting his whizz-kids to work on a lower cost solution. Adoption of the F-4 Phantom II by the USAF was all well and good but this was an expensive beast even when considering 'commonality' and with several hundred aircraft to replace another solution was needed. Envious eyes were soon turned to Europe where two excellent single-engined Mach 2 interceptors were entering service - the Saab Draken and the Mirage III and 'Project Zeus' was an exhaustive study into the operational effectiveness and expected cost-savings of both types measured against re-starting the recently closed F-106A production line. Studies continued through 1961 and early 1962 and, when published in May 1962, 'Project Zeus' revealed that the Mirage IIIC offered the best combination of price and performance. Crucially, it further outlined that only a minimum change version would yield sufficient cost savings as plans to re-engine the Mirage with the J-79 and to introduce the Hughes MA-X radar (essentially a scaled-down version of their MA-1 integrated fire control system as fitted to the F-106A) reduced the gains to zero. With Convair's hopes of further F-106A production dashed they readily agreed to partner Dassault and licence-produce the Mirage IIIC for the USAF soon designated as the F-114A. Production commenced in late 1963 and the type entered service in May 1964 with the 119th Fighter Interceptor Squadron of the New Jersey ANG. The F-114A served until the early 1980's with most replaced by the F-16A (ADC).

Training for war

Going Up! MiG-21UM - Republic of Paran Air Force

@ Turtlehawk. It's Julhelm's Kestrel from the downloads section.

SAAB/BAe Kestrel FG.3 - No.6 Squadron, 'The Flying Can-Openers', RAF, 1991

Dune Racer

Double Double Ugly Not my sentiments, I love the F-4

Beautiful work Jules!

SAAB/BAe Kestrel FG.2's - 899 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm

SAAB/BAe Kestrel FG.1 - No.14 Squadron, RAF

SAAB/BAe Kestrel FG.1 - No.14 Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1983

Hi jjddoo, Welcome to Combat Ace. You have textures missing (or corrupted). Edited as just noticed OP is making his/her first post.

Roger that. I've just got some household chores to do and I'll ship it over.

Kestrel FG.2 - 899 Naval Air Squadron, 2002

Royal Dhimari Air Force Kestrel Mk.51 - No.13 Squadron, 1993

It is a very popular aircraft so I think it will be well received by the community.

Sunset Strip (Younger readers need not apply)

McDonnell Douglas F-4EN Phantom II - Hävittäjälentolaivue 31, Ilmavoimat, 1974 During the late 1960's McDonnell Douglas realised that the fast-falling unit price of the Phantom could open up more export opportunities for the F-4 especially in downgraded and/or lightweight versions. A study into a single-seat export version of the new baseline F-4E called the F-4EF was initially proposed for the West German Luftwaffe before they sensibly adopted the two-seat F-4F and McDonnell Douglas then re-focused their efforts on a spin-off version of the F-4F for export with limited offensive capability and designed for air defence only. Designated F-4EN (believed to have initially stood for F-4E for neutral countries but subsequently changed to F-4E for Nordic countries) McDonnell Douglas initially pitched the F-4EN to Finland and were rewarded with a contract for 72 aircraft the first of which entered service with HävLLv 31 in 1972.

@ ravenclaw_007 - Best Buccaneer shot ever. Please stop using real photographs!

Phantoms Over Finland