Spinners

I'm in Aussie Phantom heaven, Thanks to Ravenclaw_007!

Wizard of Oz

lol - one day, one day.

Nice one Mac! I love April Fools and, in the days before websites, once posted a simple barcode within our cycling club newsletter explaining that club members had been specially chosen to test a laser scanner for time-trials and had to cut out the barcode and attach it to the top tube of their bicycles on the first club event of the season... on April 1st. Caught a few out.

Probably got a few holes in them... Or olive green with VPAF markings!

McDonnell Douglas F-4C Phantom - 522nd TFS, Vietnam Air Force, 1973 The end of the Linebacker campaign on October 23rd, 1972 coincided with the US Government's 'Project Enhance Plus' - essentially the building up of the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) to an adequate level to sustain effective operations after any final ceasefire and, more importantly for domestic politics, to continue the fight after the complete withdrawl of US forces. In a rush effort, 288 aircraft were transferred to the VNAF including 116 F-5's Freedom Fighters, 90 A-37's Dragonflys and 28 A-1 Skyraiders. Not content with that, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu specifically asked for F-4 Phantoms explaining that he felt that the VNAF was being issued with aircraft that were short on range and unable to carry the fight to the North. Initially refused, US President Nixon later added an amendment to 'Project Enhance Plus' by allowing the transfer of 36 F-4C Phantoms from USAF stocks. The war-weary F-4C's began to arrive in early 1973 to equip two squadrons of the VNAF based at Tan Son Nhut airbase seeing sporadic action during the uneasy truce and scattered skirmishes of 1973 and 1974. However, when NVA forces burst through the crumbing South Vietnamese defences during April 1975 they quickly captured Bien Hoa airbase to the north of Saigon and immediately swung west to capture Tan Son Nhut airbase catching most the surviving 27 F-4C's of the VNAF on the ground. The Phantoms were inspected and overhauled by Chinese technicians before entering service with the 927th Fighter Regiment of the Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) who operated the type until 1982 when they were grounded by a chronic spares shortage.

As someone with a recent interest in the F-5 family I'm wondering how this project is going?

Well, I like to recycle the decals I've made!

McDonnell RF-101B Voodoo - 42 smaldeel, Belgian Air Force, 1973

Waiting for the call...

Northrop F-5K Firenza FGA.1 - No.1 Squadron, Royal Air Force, 1968 Even before the 1964 General Election the British Labour Party were developing a pathological hatred of the British aviation industry and despite the narrowness of their election win (by just five seats) they soon went into overdrive by cancelling virtually every advanced aircraft programme within weeks of coming to power. Out went the TSR.2 strike aircraft, P.1154 V/STOL fighter-bomber and AW.681 V/STOL transport with all three to be replaced by 'cheaper' aircraft from the United States namely the F-111, F-4 Phantom and C-130 Hercules respectively. Just days later they ordered a stop-work notice on the Hawker P.1127 leading to a complete abandonment of the RAF's hopes of having a small V/STOL force. Not content with that they then studied the RAF's requirements for a Hunter replacement and queried why the RAF were demanding an aircraft of the size and complexity of the Phantom. In early January 1965 McDonnell Douglas received a small taste of what the British aircraft companies had endured when the planned Phantom order of 170 aircraft was slashed to just 50 aircraft for the Royal Navy followed by an announcement that the RAF were to receive "150 advanced supersonic fighter aircraft" to replace the Hunters. This was soon followed by a statement from the Minister of State for Defence, Denis Healey, that the RAF were to receive 150 Northrop F-5K fighter aircraft and 30 TF-5K advanced trainers for delivery during the period 1967 and 1968 which would include substantial work for UK companies in undisclosed 'offset' agreements. Mercifully, this did not include re-engining the F-5 but the British F-5's did have uprated J85 engines, stronger landing gear, anti-skid brakes and a more advanced avionics package than the basic F-5A. Entering service as the Firenza FGA.1 with No.1 Squadron in November 1967 the F-5K's were supplemented by the Jaguar GR.1 in RAF service but not entirely replaced by that type and two UK-based squadrons were still in service during 1990 leading them to be deployed to RAF Germany in August 1990 to replace Jaguars sent to Saudi Arabia during the build up to Operation Desert Shield and the resultant Operation Desert Storm. The last Firenza was retired from RAF service in September 1991 when the RAF's Aggressor Flight at Akrotiri was disbanded.

Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter - No.1 Squadron, Irish Air Corps, 1977

Aye!

Vought A-7A Corsair - 522nd Fighter Squadron, Vietnam Air Force, 1974 Following the signing of the Kissinger-Tho accord in Paris on January 28th, 1973 all US air operations over North and South Vietnam ended although operations in Laos continued into the following month and operations over Cambodia continued right up until the August 15th cut-off date stated in the Cooper-Church amendment. As a prelude to the South being effectively on their own a massive amount of US equipment had been transferred over to the South and whilst the Vietnam Air Force had welcomed the A-37 Dragonfly and F-5 Freedom Fighter aircraft President Thieu had repeatedly asked for the more capable F-4 Phantom but was repeatedly denied. During early 1974 the Vietnamese Air Force began the return to service of many of the stored A-1 Skyraiders but these, and the Cessa O-1 Bird Dog, were becoming increasingly vulnerable to the shoulder-mounted SAM's now being used against them and Vietnamese Air Force commanders made a desperate plea for better tactical aircraft to support the hard-pressed ARVN forces. With the scaling down of US forces the Nixon administration allowed the free transfer of 50 A-7A Corsairs from the US Navy to the Vietnamese Air Force and these were hastily transferred during March 1974 in an operation optimistically entitled 'Peace Piper' by Pentagon officials. LOL I'm making good use of the A-7P download.

How about something between F-24 or F-31? The jump from F-22/23 to F-32/F-35 leaves a few gaps or, in a typical Lockheed stealthy move, go back to F-13.

Vought A-7A Corsair - 2 Smaldeel, Belgian Air Force, 1979

View File [Fictional] BF-5A 'Freedom Fighter' BF-5A Freedom Fighter for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2 This is a very simple mod of 'The Mirage Factory' F-5A/F-5C to create a fictional export version in service with the Belgian Air Force during the 1970-1991 timeline with markings for No.1, No.2, No.8 and No.42 smaldeel (the latter unit tasked with reconnaissance). BACKSTORY During the first half of the 1960's, Belgium and the Netherlands both started looking for a replacement for their F-84F Thunderstreak fighter-bombers and the Lockheed T-33 advanced trainer for delivery around 1970. After both countries had written their individual requirements 12 potential aircraft were studied resulting in a shortlist consisting of the A-7 Corsair, the A-4 Skyhawk, the CL-984 (a version of the F-104), the Mirage 5 and the F-5A. In the mood of the times, Europe was awash with joint requirements and collaborative programmes so it was quite appropriate for the two nations to work together for maximum standarisation so the BAF and KLu issued 'Specification TFT70' a joint requirement for a tactical fighter and advanced trainer. After exhaustive testing and evaluation both airforces reported to their respective Ministers of Defence, that with some adjustments, the F-5A fighter-bomber and the F-5B advanced trainer were their preferred choice. However, the Belgians had a problem in that Wallonia (the French-speaking part of the country) preferred a French plane (i.e. the Mirage) but after protracted political discussions including the promise of a good share in the license production of the airframe by SABCA and the engines by FN (both based in Wallonia) the F-5 was chosen. In the Netherlands Fokker was chosen to participate in the manufacturing program. However, during this time Northrop had increased the price of the baseline F-5A by no less than 11% leading both countries to make a deal with Canadair who had recently acquired a production license for their CF-5 derivative. With its more powerful Orenda J85-15 engines and a more sophisticated navigation system this was a step in the direction the BAF and the KLu needed. With further modifications including more advanced avionics, moving-map navigation, radar altimeter, SAAB BT9 bombing computer, bigger underwing droptanks, a two-position nose wheel strut, extra auxiliary louvre-type air inlets for take off and manoeuvering flaps it resulted in the most advanced F-5A ever produced. Compared to the F-5A the more advanced BF/NF-5A promised to be a superb multi-role tactical fighter with a useful air-to-air capability due to it's 50% increase in turn rate over the 'vanilla' F-5A. In early 1968 both Belgium and the Netherlands each ordered 80 single-seat BF/NF-5A's and 20 two-seat BF/NF-5B's advanced trainers for delivery during 1970 and by the beginning of 1972 both countries had 4 front-line squadrons and an OCU operational in service. The aircraft were generally popular with pilots and ground-crew alike and served both airforces well before slowly being retired during the latter part of the 1980's and by the early 1990's most BF/NF-5's had been retired with most being sold on to Greece, Turkey and Venezuela. INSTRUCTIONS 1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the BF-5A folder into your Aircraft folder. 2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the BF-5A folder into your main Decals folder. 3. From the PILOTS folder drag and drop the PILOT_BAF folder into you main Pilots folder. 4. From the WEAPONS folder drag and drop the F-5C_TIPTANK and F-5C_WINGTANK folders into your main Weapons folder. CREDITS Thanks to Third Wire for the continuous improvement of a great little game/sim. Thanks to Sony Tuckson of 'The Mirage Factory' for permission to mod their F-5A and F-5C. Thanks to Derk for the BF-5A idea and for the bulk of the backstory. This is more of a 'nearly was' than a 'what if'. And thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community. Regards Spinners Version 1 - 30/03/13 Submitter Spinners Submitted 03/30/2013 Category What If Hangar

He's already done the F-4N. Agree about the F-4S.

@ Paulopanz - nice Croatian MiG-21.