Spinners

Saab Draken F.1 for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2 This is a 'what if' Saab Draken F.1 with markings for No.56 and No.74 squadrons of the Royal Air Force as they might of appeared in the 1960's in service with RAF Fighter Command. I've used the excellent Draken J35D 'David' from the Draken pack uploaded at CombatACE by lindr2 to create this 'what if' RAF Draken but heartily recommend the Draken pack which has no less than 8 Drakens and is a superb effort by all concerned. Apart from a simple bit of overspray onto the superb Bare Metal Skin I've simply used my decals to create RAF Drakens for No.56 sqd (The Firebirds) and No.74 sqd (The Tigers) and these two squadrons were never far away from each other during that era. I've tweaked the data.ini and also the loading.ini to give RAF style loadouts and also used the stock Su-7 drop tanks which are a good match. The Draken itself was an amazing achievement and has a similar WOW factor to the contempory 'Century Series' of fighters - you just cannot believe it first flew in 1955... it just looks so cool! As much as I love the English Electric Lightning you must remember that the Draken had half the power but effectively did the same job plus another half-a-dozen! In addition, it cost dramatically less and it certainly required a fraction of the maintenance man-hours! Suggested further reading - Saab Draken (chapter) 'Early Supersonic Fighters of the West' (Bill Gunston) INSTRUCTIONS 1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the DrakenF1 folder into your Aircraft folder. 2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the DrakenF1 folder into your main Decals folder. 3. From the WEAPONS folder drag and drop the Firestreak1 folder into your Weapons folder. CREDITS I've lifted these credits from the Draken pack and also from the skin I've used. If I've left anyone out then please accept my apology and do not hesitate to contact me to allow me to amend this download. Lud von Pipper -- Lead 3D Modeller BPAO -- Additional 3D Modeling Sony Tuckson -- Textures and Decals Crab_02 -- Weapon and Drop Tank Models column5 -- Flight Model and INI files Matthew Ouellette -- Bare Metal Skin As always, thanks to Third Wire for a great little game/sim. Special thanks to russouk2004 for the Firestreak missile from his superb Lightning F.6 package and this is added just in case you don't have the Third Wire version. And, finally, thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community. Regards Spinners Version 3 - December 13th, 2023.

Republic Thunderchief S.1 for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2 This is a very simple mod of the stock Third Wire F-105D to create a fictional Thunderchief in service with the Royal Air Force in the 1964 to 1973 timeline. In addition, a bonus RAAF 'anti-flash' white skin is included together with an RAF SEAC skin. BACKSTORY At the onset of the fatigue problems suffered by the Vickers Valiant in 1964 it wasn't only the RAF that urgently looked for a quick replacement. With the October 1962 Cuban Missile crisis relatively fresh in their minds, the American administration led by LBJ realised that a quick infusion of European striking power was required and authorised the transfer of a batch of 39 F-105D-25's from US stocks to the RAF and these arrived in December 1964 under "Operation Hastings" (later discovered to be an American jibe at the incoming British Prime Minister Harold Wilson). Entering service with No.207 squadron at RAF Marham in February 1965 the Thunderchief S.1 soon also re-equipped No.49 and No.148 squadrons (also based at RAF Marham) and were initially armed with American Mk28 (B-61) free-fall tactical nuclear bombs before switching to the UK WE.177B in late 1966. Due to their relative short range the Thunderchief S.1's were regularly deployed to RAF Germany until the Victor K.1 tanker force had built up in sufficient numbers. In RAF service the Thunderchief suffered from a high attrition rate and the type was never popular with pilots and began to be supplanted in RAF service by Blackburn Buccaneer S.2's in 1968 with the remaining Thunderchiefs being transferred to RAF South East Asia Command before being retired in 1973. INSTRUCTIONS 1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the ThunderchiefS1 folder into your Aircraft folder. 2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the ThunderchiefS1 folder into your main Decals folder. CREDITS Thanks to Third Wire for the continuous improvement of a great little game/sim. Thanks to Daddyairplanes for the 'Euro 1' skin and also to Centurion for the tweaks to this skin and ludo.m54 for the F-105D templates. And thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community. Regards Spinners Version 1 - 08/09/13