FD AU 3

[eswube]

Ended up very nicely.

[BB1987]

Very cool indeed

[reytuerto]

Thank to both of you, guys!

[reytuerto]

Good morning.
I need some help for the attack wings of my AU Air Force. I want to know in which pèrcentage is improved the range by switching a mission from a hi-lo-hi profile, to a hi-hi-hi pattern. My appologies if this question is an off-topic. Thanks and cheers.

[llamaman2]

And cue the threatened spam. Number one, the Grumman/Panavia A-11A Tornado II:



Even though the Tornado ECR was mooted as a replacement for the F-4G back in the 80s, I'm putting this here since the project was never really finalised and I've taken quite a few liberties. And invented a recce variant.

Backstory is that Grumman partnered with the Panavia companies to produce an ECR variant for the USAF's Wild Weasel VI. Although the type had a fairly high US content anyway (Texas Instruments built the attack radar and TFR, for example), to placate Congress MBB came up with a modified rear fuselage that could house a pair of F404's in place of the normal RB199 engine. The longer nozzle petals of the F404 precluded the use of the original thrust reversers so a braking chute was fitted at the base of the fin.
The RA-11 uses the same Tornado IR Reconnaissance System as the RAF's GR.1A, along with a longer nose housing four EO cameras and the TFR. Like the RF-4C it replaced, it wasn't intended to be combat-capable but could still carry weapons if needed.

I've gone for an F-15E Gunship Grey scheme since I kinda like it. Colo mentioned Compass Ghost when I put it up on Deviantart, but I've never been a fan. Might redo them in a Have Glass scheme at some point though.

[odysseus1980]

Interesting concept.

[Hood]

Yeah, an interesting idea based a real what-if. An F404-engined version might have been workable.

[llamaman2]

Next, {puts on Epic Voice Guy voice} in a world, where RAF Coastal Command retained its maritime strike capability post-war...

Coastal Command's Beaufighter and Mosquito forces had been replaced with the Bristol Brigand TF.1 shortly after WWII, but the Brigand was approaching the end of its useful life by 1954. Although some in the Air Staff still considered Coastal Command an anachronism at best, and one that shouldn’t be funded much further, the supporters won out and a minimum-change maritime Canberra was ordered.



The B.10 took the B(I).8 airframe and added the ASV.14 radar in place of the glazed nose. A direct descendent of the wartime ASV radars, it provided ranging information on surface targets and a relatively basic search function. Four underwing pylons allowed bombs, rocket pods, Red Angel anti-ship rockets or (from 1962) Bullpup missiles to be carried. Finally, the internal bomb bay was stressed for the carriage of two 18-inch torpedoes, as well as the B(I).8’s usual load of bombs or 20mm cannon pod. Production aircraft began reaching squadrons in late 1955, alongside B(I).8 deliveries, with the last of sixty delivered in November 1956.

Four squadrons based in the UK were equipped with the B.10, with a fifth operating from RAF Luqa in Malta. No attempt was made to upgrade the aircraft with new radar, since the replacement strike aircraft to GOR.339 would be in service by 1966 and it would come with a dedicated anti-ship weapon. Bullpup was brought into use in 1962 as an interim guided missile instead. By the time the TSR.2 began entering service in 1969, orders had been pared back to barely 150 front-line aircraft, nowhere near enough to replace the existing Canberra force. Instead the B.10 of Coastal Command and the B.15 and B.16 of the Near and Far East Air Forces were replaced with the Buccaneer S.2A, which reached squadrons in 1968.

[odysseus1980]

Seen interesting, nice to see another guy tinkering with British aircraft.

[reytuerto]

Oh! I need an aluminuim foil hat!
Nice drawings, both Tornado and Canberra!