Spinners

Convair B-53C Cougar - Arkansas Air National Guard, 1957 In 1947 Convair's futuristic-looking XB-46 lost out to the North American B-45 Tornado in the race to produce the first operational American jet bomber but there still remained the hope of their even more radical forward-swept wing (with canard) XA-44 project being selected as a more advanced medium bomber. However, the outstanding success of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet in the medium bomber role led to USAF officials cancelling the XA-44 in early 1949 but immediately inviting Convair to design a smaller tactical bomber with reconnaissance capability as a replacement for the Douglas B-26 Invader still in widespread USAF service. Convair proposed a relatively conventional straight-wing aircraft powered by two Rolls-Royce Nene centrifugal turbojets licence-produced by Pratt & Whitney as the J42. The crew of three (pilot, navigator/bombardier and rear gunner) were housed in separate pressurised compartments with a small bomb bay under the wing, forward of which was housed an AN/APQ-17 air-ground radar contained within a protruding ventral blister. Designated XB-53 (and soon named 'Cougar' in a poll taken of employees at Consolidated's San Diego plant) development move swiftly and the first XB-53 took to the air on July 31st, 1950 by which time the project had been given added impetus by the outbreak of the Korean war during the previous month. The first B-53A entered service with the 405th Bomb Squadron in February 1951 with the RB-53B entering service with the 30th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron during the following month. However, the main production version was the B-53C which switched to the more powerful Pratt & Whitney J48 engine (a license-built version of the Rolls-Royce Tay) and introduced the more advanced AN/APQ-31 bombing and navigational radar. Entering service with the 764th Bombardment Squadron at Blytheville AFB, Arkansas in March 1952 the B-53 force served in large numbers with TAC, USAFE and PACAF units but was soon relegated to ANG units as they were replaced by more advanced tactical aircraft such as the F-100 from about 1956 onwards. The final production version was the B-53D 'Night Cougar' essentially a minimum change version of the B-53C for night attack. During 1963 the remaining B-53C's and B-53D's were gathered together for refurbishment by General Dynamics to re-enter service as the B-53E and deployed to South Vietnam in October 1964 with the first excursion into North Vietnam taking place in early 1965 as part of Operation Rolling Thunder followed by sustained night interdiction missions against the Ho Chi Minh trail and ending with airstrikes against the North's petroleum, oil, and lubricants (POL) storage areas during July and August 1966. After this the B-53E's were withdrawn from USAF service and handed over to the Vietnam Air Force who operated the type until the eventual Fall of South Vietnam in 1975.

Daniel - I don't think your lovely Boreas could safely 'rotate' with those bombs being so far back.

The Il-28 Beagle masquerading as... The Consolidated B-53C Cougar And I know how much you boys like Cougars...

Gloster Meteor NF.14 - No.64 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command.

The XI does also have a deeper forward section immediately aft of the propeller. I think it was for an enlarged oil tank.

Gloster RF-73C Meteor - 45th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, USAF, Korea, 1951

Gloster Meteor RF-73D - 45th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Korea 1951

Dhimari Air Force Meteor FR.8

You owe me a new keyboard...

Annette

Gloster Meteor FR.8 - RAF Photo Reconnaissance Development Unit, 1950 Even though Gloster's had the FR.9 and PR.10 versions of the Meteor under development the increasing obsolescence of the 'PR' Mosquitoes and 'FR' Spitfires saw the RAF demand an interim Fighter Reconnaissance version of the Meteor to which Gloster quickly responded with the FR.8. The minimum change airframe incorporated a Type F.24 camera in the nose with glass side panels allowing oblique photography whilst retaining the standard F.8 armament of four 20mm cannon. First flown by Jan Zurakowski on August 15th, 1949 the Meteor FR.8 served alongside the Meteor F.8 in several RAF squadrons in the UK, Germany and the Middle East from 1950 onwards but without ever wholly equipping an entire RAF squadron. Export orders for the Meteor FR.8 were gained from Brazil, Pakistan and Dhimar with the latter still operating the type in the early 1970's.

Props 1 Turbines 0

I said that without moving my lips...

Bristol Bedouin B.III - No.39 Squadron, RAF Desert Air Force, 1949 The failure of the French resistance to carry out a planned coup d'état in Algiers during Operation Torch saw Axis forces eventually repel the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942. Following this failure there followed bitter disagreement amongst the Allies as to 'what next' with the United States eventually electing to renege on the previously agreed policy of 'Europe First' and committing heavy resources to the defeat of Japan. Subsequent Axis victories in the North African campaign led to a bolstering of the Axis position leading to a long-term stalemate in that theatre and the release of substantial Axis forces that were quickly diverted to the Eastern Front. During the Spring and Summer of 1943 the Wehrmacht pushed ahead slowly at first but gained momentum before eventually smashing the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army at Kursk and continuing on to inflict further defeats on Soviet forces at Orel and Kharkov during the Autumn of 1943 and making substantial gains into the Ukraine where a popular anti-Russian uprising led to an uneasy truce. But the cessation of hostilities in the Ukraine led to an overall strengthening of the Wehrmacht's position on the Eastern Front and ultimately extended the war allowing Germany to field their advanced jet and rocket powered aircraft during 1945 and 1946. Meanwhile, in the UK during the Spring of 1944 the success of the Derwent powered Gloster Meteor and the high expectations of the forthcoming Rolls-Royce Nene led the RAF to request a jet-powered replacement for the Boston, Marauder and Mitchell light bombers of the Desert Air Force and the Bristol Aeroplane Company designed a fairly conventional three-seat tactical bomber utilising two of the proposed Nene centrifugal engines and developed in parallel with a radar equipped two-seat night fighter variant. Design progressed quickly with the prototype Bristol Bedouin taking to the air at Filton on February 28th 1947 and entering service with No.39 Squadron in October 1948 and eventually serving in eight Squadrons of the Desert Air Force during the successful North African campaigns of 1949 and 1950.

Bristol Bedouin B.III - No.39 Squadron, Desert Air Force, 1949

Funny thing was that I was going to do this as a 'masquerade' made by Polikarpov!

Seversky P-35E Guardsman - Soviet Air Force, 1941

I know what you mean but direct that question to General Dynamics!

Lockheed-Martin F-22B Stingray - 899 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 2011

Mitsubishi Aerospace F-3A - 302nd Hikotai (Aggressor Flight), Japanese Air Self Defense Force, 2013 When Japan selected the F-16 to be it's new 'secondary fighter' in 1987 it had already been planned to produce a developed version of the F-16 to be manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to replace the ageing Mitsubishi F-1 and F-4EJ and eventually supplement the F-15J. But even before production of the F-2 had started, senior JASDF officials requested a more capable aircraft to replace the F-15J and by late 1992 they had settled upon a revised version of the rejected General Dynamics ATF submission dating from the late 1980's. This promised to give Mitsubishi an opportunity to introduce technologies planned for the F-2 into the new F-3 'primary fighter' such as the co-cured technology used to create lighter composite structures and the F110-GE-129 engine. With rumours emerging of a probable merger between General Dynamics and Lockheed, Mitsubishi moved swiftly and controversially bought the GD design in early 1993 including long-term production licences regarded by many aerospace industry insiders as being grossly over-valued and leading to a unit price that eventually exceeded that of the F-22 Raptor. Despite this, development of the F-3 moved smoothly with the programme generally running about five years behind the F-2 and thus able to continue to incorporate innovations learnt from it's smaller predecessor. The first flight of the XF-3A took place on December 24th, 2000 with production F-3A aircraft entering service with 302nd Hikotai in early 2011. Julhelm's outstanding General Dynamics ATF Contender.

Tough opposition!

It only winged me...

Republic P-72B Superbolts - JG71, 1950