Spinners

View File [Fictional] F-23E 'Karesh' (Shark) F-23E for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2 This is a simple mod of Dels' excellent F-23A 'Black Widow' to give a fictional F-23E 'Karish' (Shark) of the Israeli Air Force with markings for; No.110 squadron - The Knights Of The North Squadron. No.119 Squadron - The Bat Squadron (with toned-down markings). BACKSTORY With the success of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom and F-15 Eagle in Heyl HaAvir service the Israeli's were hoping that the Northrop/McDonnell Douglas F-23A 'Black Widow' would win the USAF's ATF competition to continue their successful relationship with the McDonnell Douglas team at St. Louis but unfortunately Lockheed Martin's victory in the ATF competition looked like bringing an end to a long and enduring partnership. However in a brave move, in May 1991 the Northrop/McDonnell Douglas team secured permission from Congress to actively market the F-23 to (State Department) 'approved' nations and offered a single-seat multi-role version called the F-23E (Export) to Germany, Japan, Israel and the UK. With Germany looking for any excuse to get out of the Eurofighter consortium and facing high reunification costs they persuaded the UK to team up in a combined purchase of 200 F-23E's. In return, this led to the German and UK Governments persuading Northrop/McDonnell Douglas to make BAe and MBB prime sub-contractors for any further export sales. However, with only 200 F-23E's on order Northrop/McDonnell Douglas were not convinced that it was enough to start a viable programme but the breakthrough came in January 1994 when the USAF agreed to purchase 100 F-23A's for PACAF (the air component of United States Pacific Command) and this move finally saw Japan and Israel also join the programme with 100 F-23E's each. INSTRUCTIONS 1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the F-23E folder into your Aircraft folder. 2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the F-23E folder into your Decals folder. That's it! CREDITS As always, thanks to Third Wire for a great little game/sim. Massive thanks to Dels for this superb add-on aircraft, it's one of the very best. And, finally, thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community. Regards Spinners Version 2 - January 6th, 2024 Submitter Spinners Submitted 10/04/2009 Category What If Hangar  

North American F-100D 'Shavit' - 117 Squadron, Israeli Air Force, 1967 Despite a very smooth test and development phase North American Aviation's superb F-107 unexpectedly lost out to Republic Aviation's F-105 Thunderchief in the competition for a new supersonic fighter-bomber for TAC. By early 1959 the end of the F-100D production line was now in sight and with the F-108 and B-70 programmes now on the far horizon North American Aviation needed to stretch the F-100 Super Sabre programme out to plug the gap and urgently proposed a variety of F-100 variants to several friendly nations, including Israel, Japan and the United Kingdom. In April 1959 the Israeli government signed for 50 F-100D's and the first of these entered Heyl Ha'Avir service in February 1960 replacing the obsolete Gloster Meteors of 117 Squadron. The 'Shavit' was a popular machine in Heyl Ha'Avir service and served with distinction during the 1967 'Six-Day' war but losses were heavy during the early days of the 1973 'Yom Kippur' war and two small batches of ex-USAF F-100D's were accquired as attrition replacements allowing No.253 squadron to re-equip with the F-100D before finally retiring the type in November 1977.

North American F-100D 'Shavit' - 253 Squadron, Israeli Air Force, 1973

You should have DM'd me as I rarely come to the SF1 section. Hopefully sorted but probably awaiting admin approval for a while due to the time difference.

Does the game even support JDAM's?

The Draken was amazing for the era in which it was designed as the overall configuration was just about finalised as far back as 1949! Incredible.

Saab Draken F.2A - No.23 'Red Eagle' Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1991

I've been hit by a big wave of nostalgia!

Sister Squadrons

I didn't get on board until early 2008 when I saw a copy of Strike Fighters Gold (with an F-4E on the cover) in a local department store. My PC at that time was far from being a gaming machine but SFG worked just fine and I quickly caught up with WoV and WoE. This was a great time as WoI came out soon after and Strike Fighters 2 came in at the end of the year. From the very start I just wanted to modify the game to my own tastes and have the ability to place, say, an F-105D in service with the RAF and give it contemporary markings still gives me a kick. This nudged me in the direction of making my own decals and then making my own skins, mainly from templates but sometimes from scratch. I have tried other flight sims but I still find that SF best suits my interests. It's a pity that Third Wire did not continue to support SF on PC as I liked the direction they were going with DLC's and I'm convinced that SF2:Korea was on the horizon. Hey ho.

The Chase

Californication

North American F-107C Ultra Sabre - 196th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, California ANG, 1977

North American F-107C Ultra Sabre - 101st Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Massachusetts Air National Guard, 1974

"Mercy sake's alive, looks like we got us a convoy!"

General Dynamics Falcon FG.3 - No.41 Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1988

Dhimari Starfighter

Republic Thunderjet FB.2 - No.33 Squadron, RAF Germany, 1952 Skin Credit: yakarov79

Northrop/McDonnell Douglas F-23E 'Karish' - 119 Squadron, Israeli Air Force, 2011

Eyes Over Egypt

North American F-109A Retaliator Development of the North American A3J-1 Vigilante progressed well during the late 1950's and the first flight of the YA3J-1 prototype in August 1958 revealed it to be a real thoroughbred, packed from nose to tail with outstanding technology. However, a strong faction against the Vigilante was forming within the USN arguing that strategic bombing was not part of the USN's business and North American decided not to assume that large orders for the 'basic' A3J-1 would follow and they began to look at other roles for the Vigilante. One line of development would eventually lead to the reconnaissance Vigilante (RA-5C) but another line of development transformed the A3J-1 into various fleet defender and ADC fighter options. Fortunately, the wing of the A3J-1 was designed for zero wind over deck launches and this resulted in a wing too large for low-level attack missions but ideal for a fighter. During early 1959 North American offered a long-range fighter version to the USN and USAF but had only a lukewarm response. However, following the cancellation of their F-108 Rapier in September 1959 things now became a bit more urgent for North American and they schemed a revised A3J-1 Fighter with uprated J79 engines and semi-recessed Sparrow missiles. Trying again in 1960 they received a firm no from the USN (who by then knew they had a winner in the F4H-1 Phantom II) but the USAF agreed to a detailed analysis of an optimsed land-based interceptor fighter (named Retaliator in May 1960) and in June 1960 they announced that the Retaliator was to be ordered as an immediate follow-on to the F-106 programme with 350 ordered although this figure was later reduced to 240. The prototype YF-109 flew on April 30th 1962 and production F-109A's entered service in late 1964 with the 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Minot AFB, North Dakota. The only export order was from Canada who ordered 60 in 1968 and these entered service with No.409 squadron in 1969 remaining in service until 1990. 3D Model & template Credit: Julhelm

A Great Dane

Bear Hunt