Spinners

Arsenal de l'Aéronautique VG.33's

Death Dive

Fairey Fulcrum Mk.I - No.15 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command, 1938 During 1931, the British Air Ministry released Specification G.4/31 calling for a general purpose aircraft capable of carrying out level bombing, army co-operation, dive bombing, reconnaissance, casualty evacuation and torpedo bombing. Fairey's proposal was the Fairey G.4/31, a single-engine, two-seat biplane but this was rejected by the Air Ministry and the requirement was eventually met by the Vickers Wellesley. But even as work proceeded on the construction of the Fairey G.4/31 prototype, the Fairey design office had already started work on Operational Requirements for a light-bomber to Specification P.27/32 and also for a naval torpedo-bomber to Specification P.2/33. Marcel Lobelle, Fairey Aviation's chief designer, led the design team responsible for the light-bomber (a project that would eventually lead to the Fairy Battle) whilst John Walvis led the design team working on the naval torpedo-bomber. With the Air Ministry strongly favouring a radial engine for the naval torpedo-bomber, Walvis set about designing the Fairey P.2/33 as an all metal, single-engine monoplane powered by the promising Bristol Pegasus XX nine-cylinder, single-row, air-cooled radial aero engine with a planned rating of 925 hp. During the design phase Walvis was able to incorporate aerodynamic innovations such as wing fillets, a fully enclosed cockpit and a fixed landing gear covered in streamlined spats. By mid-1934, Air Ministry officials could see such a high demand for the Rolls-Royce PV-12 (Merlin) engine that a decision was taken to prioritise production of the PV-12 for the planned interceptor/fighter aircraft (most notably F.36/34 & F.37/34) and the Fairey Battle. However, the Air Ministry were so impressed with Fairey's P.2/33 radial-engined design that they asked Fairey to submit it to a new Specification P.41/34 for a general purpose attack bomber for the RAF and authorised the production of three P.41/34 prototypes. Renamed as the Fairey Fulcrum, development moved swiftly and on December 8th 1935 the first Fulcrum prototype (K4404) equipped with an early Bristol Pegasus IV rated at 680 hp made its maiden flight at Hayes in Middlesex before being transferred to RAF Martlesham Heath for service trials. The second and third prototypes were both powered by Bristol Pegasus VI engines rated at 750 hp and completed an accelerated programme of service trials during the Spring of 1936 leading to a production order of 145 Fulcrum Mk.I aircraft. Entering service with No.15 Squadron in March 1937 the Fulcrum Mk.I eventually served with seven RAF Squadrons and whilst largely obsolete by the start of the Second World War it remained in front-line service. However, it was not deployed to France as part of the British RAF Advanced Air Striking Force but served at home with No. 1 Group in operations against German shipping massed in the Channel ports for Operation Sealion. Their last combat sorties included raids on Boulogne and Calais in late 1940 but by early 1941 the remaining Fulcrums were transferred to Northern Ireland for coastal patrol work. Skin Credit: Charles In case you haven't recognised it this is the Northrop Gamma 2E. Reading up on this, I already knew about the A-17 Nomad but I had no idea of the later A-33 which, in turn, led me to learn about 'Little Norway' - gotta love wikipedia!

Fairey Fulcrum Mk.I - No.600 (City of London) Squadron, Royal Auxilliary Air Force, 1938

Fairey Fulcrum Mk.I - No.15 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command, 1938

Nakajima Ki-27P - 2nd Fighter Regiment, Parani Army Air Force, 1940

Armstrong Whitworth Elswick Mk.II - No.74 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1937 Skin Credit: Charles

Dornier Do 22P - 4th Attack Regiment, Parani Army Air Force, 1939 Dornier's Do C3 was a three-seat, single-engined, parasol wing monoplane floatplane that first flew in 1935. With little or no interest from the Luftwaffe, Dornier looked for export customers with small numbers of the floatplane version eventually being sold to Yugoslavia, Greece and Latvia. In March 1938, the Republic of Paran expressed interest in the proposed Do 22L landplane version and Dornier offered a new export version to Paran designated as the Do 22P. Powered by a Hispano-Suiza 12Ybrs engine driving a three-bladed propeller the Do 22P could carry up bombs under the fuselage and had a defensive armament of one fixed forward-firing machine gun plus two in the rear cockpit and one in a ventral tunnel. Paran ordered 12 Do 22P's and, with no requirement for a prototype, production at Dornier's factory at Friedrichshafen began in November 1938. Entering service with the 4th Attack Regiment (The Jerboa's) of the Parani Army Air Force in the Spring of 1939 the Do 22P's were docile to fly and easy to maintain. By the end of September 1939 the 4th Attack Regiment were fully equipped and Shah Mushani of Paran was keen to use the Do 22P's against Dhimar. With the outbreak of World War Two Dhimar had seen the RAF leave the region and, with Dhimar's defences down, Shah Mushani wanted revenge for the attacks on Parani settlers in the Kerman Valley. On October 1st, 1939 Shah Mushani launched an attack on the Dhimari oilfields at Al'Haramlek and Najahaf and also an attack on the port of Al'Duhok. The 4th Attack Regiment were tasked with the strike on the two oilfields and dispatched two flights of four Do 22P's achieving total surprise and destroying both objectives. Skin Credit: Charles

Dornier Do-22P - 4th Attack Regiment, Parani Army Air Force, 1940

Thanks! I wanted to do an RAF pre-war aircraft similar to the Gloster Gauntlet on the cover of this book;

Armstrong Whitworth Elswick Mk.II - No.74 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1937

Curtiss-Wright CW-21B Demon - 3rd Squadron, American Volunteer Group, 1941 Skin Credit: Charles

Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat - 3e Escuadrille Aeronaval de Ataque, Comando de la Aviacion Naval Argentina, 1954 Skin Credit: Charles

Parani Aircraft Company YG/3 'Storm' - 3rd Fighter Regiment, Parani Army Air Force, 1941 Skin Credit: Spinners

Curtiss-Wright CW-21B Demon - 3rd Squadron, American Volunteer Group, 1941

Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat - 3e Escuadrille Aeronaval de Ataque, Comando de la Aviacion Naval Argentina, 1954

Douglas A-24 Banshee - No.9 Squadron, Royal Dhimari Air Force, 1941

Bell FL-1 Airabonita - VFM-21 United States Marine Corps, 1942

Parani Aviation Company YG/2 - 1st Bomber Regiment, Parani Army Air Force, 1939 Skin Credit: Charles

Parani Aviation Company YG/1 'Goshawk' - 1st Training Air Regiment, Parani Army Air Force, 1939 In 1919 British geologists discovered oil reserves located in the Mazadran area straddling the River Kerman which for many centuries had been recognised as defining the border between the neighbouring Arab nations of Dhimar and Paran. The British government quickly negotiated permissions to drill on the Dhimari side of the Kerman Valley setting up the Anglo-Dhimari Oil Company and in 1921 drilling operations followed. However, in January 1928 Shah Mushani of Paran sent his army across the border in an attempt to capture the Mazadran oil fields but this was repelled by Dhimari forces bolstered by UK forces drawn in from Persia. In particular, the RAF inflicted severe losses on Parani forces and were subsequently largely responsible for preventing any resurgence with 'air policing' tactics that saw the constant harassment of Parani forces and Parani settlers in the Kerman Valley. Over the next two years Dhimar becomes a wealthy and economically powerful country whilst Paran has become poor. By the middle of 1930 Shah Mushani of Paran had stopped his attempts to capture the Mazadran oil fields and focused on re-building his domestic power base by the ruthless eradication of his political opponents after which he had absolute control of his political party and government. In early 1931 Mushani announced a five year plan to strengthen his armed forces by expansion allied to an ambitious domestic arms production programme including the creation of an indigenous aviation industry. In June 1931, Shah Mushani announced the creation of the Parani Aviation Company who were tasked with three aircraft projects of increasing complexity; a light-attack aircraft that could also serve as a trainer, a tactical bomber and a single-seat fighter aircraft. To kick start these projects, Mushani appoints Nikolai Yergin as the chief designer of the Parani Aviation Company giving Yergin licence to recruit several other Russian engineers including Vladimir Gudkov from the OKB-301 design bureau. For the light attack aircraft Yergin and Gudkov schemed the YG/1 a two-seat, single-engined biplane with a tubular steel framework covered with fabric. This was a conservative design but probably the right choice for an embryonic aircraft company in 1932. The prototype YG/1 was completed by late 1933 but it's first flight was delayed due to problems with the Italian supplied Alfa Romeo D2 nine-cylinder radial engine. The first flight of the YG/1 took place on February 1st, 1934 with it's designer Nikolai Yergin at the controls and after a series of successful trials production began later in 1934 and 36 aircraft were built over a period of nearly three years. Entering service with the 1st Training Air Regiment of the Parani Army Air Force in September 1935 this versatile but pedestrian aircraft served as a trainer, close air support aircraft and army liaison aircraft with the final examples finally being removed from the Parani Army Air Force inventory in December 1949. Skin Credit: Charles

Lockheed Lightning Mk.IV - No. 60 Squadron, RAF South East Asia Command, 1945

Dora's Over Dhimar Avia S-190D Luňák - 1st Fighter Regiment, Parani Army Air Force, 1946

Night Intruder North American Mustang IB (A-36A) - No.1 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1943

Winter War Warrior Bristol Blenheim Mk.IF - HavLLv 11, Ilmavoimat, 1940

Training at Twilight Bristol Blenheim IF - No.54 Operational Training Unit, RAF Church Fenton, North Yorkshire, 1940