Spinners

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-27 "Flogger-D" - Mongolian Air Force, 1979

BAC Lightning F.56 - Grupo de Aviación No.7, Fuerza Aérea de Chile, 1986 When the Falkland Islands were invaded by Argentina in 1982 Chile was officially neutral during the conflict but is known to have provided the United Kingdom with intelligence information and operational support during the conflict. Whilst the alliance between the UK and Chile remained secret the Thatcher government quietly rewarded the Pinochet government with a cut price arms deal which included ex-RAF Canberra, Hunter and Lightning aircraft. A total of 15 Lightning F.6 aircraft were transferred without refurbishment to Grupo de Aviación No.7 of the Fuerza Aérea de Chile in the Autumn of 1982 thus preventing the planned expansion of the RAF's Lightning force from two squadrons to three and forcing the RAF to acquire ex-USN Phantom F-4J's. Later given the designation Lightning F.56 the aircraft had a short service life and were retired in 1990. Russo's F.6 - one of my favourite add-on aircarft for SF1.

McDonnell Douglas F-110E Phantom - 555th TFS, United States Air Force, 1975 The resounding success of the US Navy's F-4B in the competitive fly-off against the F-106 during ‘Operation Highspeed’ led to a more comprehensive evaluation of two loaned Navy F-4B’s (designated as the F-110A) but McDonnell had already been planning a purpose-built tactical fighter version of the F-4 for the USAF with manual terrain-following radar and TF30 turbofan engines. Designated F-110B this aircraft promised to be an excellent partner to the F-111A (TFX) and quickly gained the support of Defense Secretary Robert McNamara who authorised production of the type in February 1962. The pre-production prototype first flew in November 1963 and the F-110B entered service during the following year before production switched to the improved F-110C for TAC and the F-110D interceptor for ADC. In 1969 the definitive F-110E started to roll off the St. Louis production line which matched the AN/APG-59 pulse doppler radar coupled with the AN/AWG-10 Fire Control System for look-down shoot-down capability. The F-110E also featured the substantially more powerful TF30-P-100 turbofan rated at 25,000 lbs thrust each and was far less prone to compressor stalls at high angles of attack than previous versions of the TF30. Initial production aircraft were delivered to USAFE in 1970 but soon began to replace F-105D's and F-110B's in Vietnam from 1971 onwards.

McDonnell Douglas F-110E Phantom - 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Udorn RTAFB, Thailand, 1975

Hawker Siddeley Harrier Mk.51 - People's Liberation Army Air Force, 1976 Interest in the Hawker P.1127 programme surged after the 1967 Six-Day War and whilst most interest faded within a few months the Chinese government kept an official observer status on the project until 1972 when they signed up for 60 Harrier Mk.51 aircraft. Apart from the PLAAF's genuine interest in the aircraft it was also clearly a political deal that saw the Chinese government officially recognise the British government's position on Hong Kong who, in turn, acknowledged China's position on Taiwan (albeit whilst not agreeing to it). The Chinese government also received permission to licence build the aircraft with the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation building a further 200 Harrier Mk.52's.

Not at the moment Daniel.

Shenyang J-31 Falcon Hawk - Korean People's Army Air Force, 2019 I made a simple skin for this and used a toned down version of the roundel and fin flash. At the moment, I've no modern 'red' weapons in my SF1 install so it all looks a bit bare.

Nesher

Bonsoir

Aw shucks!

Republic F-84F Thunderstreak - 69 Sqd 'The Hammers', Israeli Air Force, 1967 The Armee de l'Air received its first F-84F Thunderstreaks in 1955 and it was in French service that the Thunderstreak saw its only actual combat during the Suez Crisis of October 1956. French Thunderstreaks from the 3rd Escadre moved to RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus whilst the 1st Escadre were deployed to the Israeli base at Lyddia where they supported the Israeli forces that invaded Sinai on October 29th. Despite seeing intensive action only one F-84F was lost and the tough and rugged aircraft so impressed the Israeli Air Force that they ordered 50 F-84F-70-RE aircraft before the end of 1956. The F-84F-70-RE featured the more powerful J65-W-7 rated at 7,800lbs thrust which helped with the initial climb rate and the combat ceiling and these were among the last Thunderstreak's to roll off the Farmingdale production line in the Summer of 1957. In 1962 the entire Israeli F-84F fleet was grounded due to the same corrosion of control rods that had affected the F-84F worldwide but they were soon restored to full operational capacity, eventually serving with distinction during the 1967 Six Day War and surviving in Israeli service until 1972 when stress corrosion eventually forced the retirement of the Israeli F-84F fleet. (I did release this one in SF2 but never did a backstory)

Thanks Kevin. I'll try not to leave it so long between visits.

No, it was given to me to play with ; )

Il-102 Brawny - Soviet Air Force, Afghanistan, 1984

Hawker Hunter FGA9 - No. 112 Sqd, RAF Middle East Command, 1973