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Flying the 'spinning incinerator' in Wings over Flanders Fields! "Led by Lanoe Hawker, No.24 Squadron (DH2s), Britain's first single-seater scout squadron, arrived in France on 8 February 1916 in great excitement but was immediately absorbed in a crisis of its own. The day after their arrival, one of the flight commanders, on the first flight of a DH2 from a French airfield, got into a spin and failed to recover. Five days later, another pilot spun in, and this time the machine caught fire. It had happened before, earning the DH2 the grisly sobriquet of the 'spinning incinerator'...Hawker responded by taking up a DH2 and, according to his biographer, spinning it from every conceivable angle, engine on and engine off, and demonstrating how, with correct remedial action, and provided there was sufficient height, it always recovered." Ralph Barker, 'A Brief History of the Royal Flying Corps', Constable & Robinson, 2002 Major Lanoe George Hawker, VC, DSO, deserves to be remembered not so much as a famous early victim of Manfred von Richthofen in November 1916, but rather, as the aggressive pioneer air fighter who won a VC for victories over three Germain aircraft - all I think machine-gun armed 2-seaters - on a single day in July 1915, flying a Bristol Scout with a Lewis Gun which had to be fixed to fire at an angle ahead to clear the prop disc - a real feat of arms. This is the actual machine he flew: As a Flight Commander in those days, Hawker's motto, pinned to the notice board, was 'Attack EVERYTHING!' and it was certainly a dictum he lived up to. Later, he was a natural choice to lead the Royal Flying Corps' first real single-seat fighter squadron. Just as No.24 Squadron was a natural choice of unit, when I decided to fly an early-war British fighter campaign in Wings over Flanders Fields. I had only just ended a 1916 campaign in another 'pusher', the two-seat F.E.2 - after one mission! We crashed after a dramatic collision with a Fokker... ...which didn't survive the encounter... We lasted a bit longer, surviving further damage in another Fokker attack as we drifted down with a dead motor and elevator control gone, but didn't live through the ensuing crash landing... So, you might say that I had a score to settle, when I chose to try my hand with another lattice-tailed aircraft, the De Havilland D.H.2, which was credited with a large part in ending the 'Fokker Scourge'. My new career starts in early March 1916, with 24 Squadron's first operations following its deployment to Bertangles in Flanders. You can see from the roster that the redoubtable Major Hawker is very much on the squadron roster - COs were forbidden to fly on ops due to the need to preserve experienced leaders, but Hawker still flew, letting one of the other flight commanders lead. One of whom is me, for my pilot, Lieutenant 'Jock' Higgins - no relation to famous pioneer RFC flier 'all bum and eyeglass' J.F.A. 'Josh' Higgins - is the leader of 'B' Flight. Our first mission is a patrol up to the lines, more or less directly to the east. I'm leading no less that six machines, and 'A' flight are putting up another four, so we should be able to give any Huns we meet a run for their money. The C.O isn't flying with me today, but I see one or two other famous names in my flight, including the later Air Marshall Sir Robert Saundy, who wasn't a 'Sir' (knighted) in 1916, butI think should be an officer by that point, rather than the Sergeant he's recorded as...maybe the Recording Officer has made a bit of a mix-up in the squadron roster somewhere. We make a fine sight on the grass before the sheds at Bertangles in the fine early morning March weather... ...and it's not long before we're off the ground and climbing away. Those Huns had better watch out - 'Twenty-four' has opened shop and means to do some business this day! ...to be continued!

File Name: 'What if' KAW Hawker Hunter F.1 with Campiagn File Submitter: dtmdragon File Submitted: 02 March 2015 File Category: What If Hangar 'What if' KAW Hawker Hunter F.1A & F.1B with campiagn 1.0 The back story: In order to meet the Mig-15 threat over Korea and with no capable fighters currently in the RAF inventory the British Ministry of Supply instructs Hawker Aviation to undertake a crash production program of its P.1067 fighter. Project ‘Huntsman’. In less than a year since the prototype flew and two years ahead of schedule the Hawker Hunter is deployed to the Korean Theatre in early 1952. Since the Hunter F.1 designation was already assigned to the first full production Hunters due into service in 1954, the Hunters produced under program ‘Huntsman’ are (unusually) designated Hunter F.1A These aircraft are basically identical to the future production Hunter F.1 the most obvious difference being that they are finished in High Speed Silver. However the lack of paint means these Hunters are 21 Mph faster and 53Kg lighter than the full production F.1 Hunters. Operations over Korea immediately highlighted the Hunters inherent shortcomings. Of most concern was its lack of fuel and endurance with barely an hour’s flight time. Also of concern was the damage done to the fuselage caused by the ejection of spent cartridge links. These concerns (among others) would be addressed in time by future models of the Hunter, but in the skies of Korea in 1952 the lack of range and endurance had to be immediately mitigated. And thus the Hunter F.1B is born with the addition of wing mounted drop tanks installed in theatre. What's in it: - Hawker Hunter F.1A - Hawker Hunter F.1B - Various RAF 43 and 222 Squadron Skins in Camo and High Speed Silver. - NOTE: The camo skins are included as a bonus but the aircraft data.ini files are set up to reflect the high speed silver skins as I have included the weight reduction and increased speed that comes without using camo paint. I found the figures I used in an article about the trial OD green Sabres in Korea. - sounds - pilot - Modified Korea Campaign using the Hunters. This will not change the original campaign in any way, you will see an additional campaign called 'Korean War Hunters Over Korea' that you can select. Missions will be similar to the Sabre, No 43 Squadron is based at Suwon AB (K-13) and No. 222 Squadron at Kimpo AB (K-14). - NOTE: this mod can be added to the Wings Over Korea mod without any change what so ever to the original game play. You will never see these Hunters show up over Korea unless you play the above included campaign or start a single mission with a Hunter. Operations: - canopy open key=10 automatic closing at take off To Install: - Designed to be used with the Wings Over Korea mod but should work without it. - Put everything in you main StrikeFighters2 KAW mods folder - Get the Wings Over Korea mod here: http://combatace.com/files/file/15221-wings-over-korea-1-of-2/ http://combatace.com/files/file/15220-wings-over-korea-2-of-2/ Credits: - Third Wire - Paulopanz Hunter F.1 Skins & Edits for SF2 - Sundowner Hunter F6 Templates. - Do335 Wings Over Korea - Evryone else in the WOK/ KAW team Released under CombatAce Fair-Use terms. Enjoy! Dan (Dtmdragon) Click here to download this file