Republic of Texas

[Redhorse]

Added in February 1943 is the North American T-6 Texan:

[Redhorse]

And for nighthunter, the P-47 in the Texas Drab and Sand scheme for North Africa:

[emperor_andreas]

Nice!

[eswube]

Very nice drawings.

[Redhorse]

March 1943:

The Globe Aircraft Company was established in 1941 in Fort Worth, Texas. It's initial product was a simple, low-wing metal monoplane called the GC-1 Swift. Globe tried to sell the Texas Air Force the GC-1 as a competitor to the Stearman 75 for primary flight instruction, but the war interrupted the process.

Globe ended up license-producing Beech 18s for the Air Force starting in 1942. Ironically, they were used as trainers, even though the one in-house design had not been seriously considered for fielding.

In 1943 Globe's efforts paid off. The oldest of the Stearmans were starting to show their age. The high demand for pilots created high demand on the airframes. Globe's Swift was again offered and accepted, though instructor pilots took time to warm up to the side-by-side seating. But the Swift, being smaller, lighter, cheaper to operate and easier to maintain, quickly became the backbone of the primary flight instruction program through the rest of the war.

[emperor_andreas]

Nice work!

[Hood]

Excellent work on all of these aircraft.

[Redhorse]

April 1943:

To speed up ship production, Texas agreed to construct Destroyer Escorts according to US designs, reducing the lead time required for a ship's development. The Navy was in desperate need of more escort ships, and the first was laid down in July 1942. In exchange for the ability to modify the designs to their operational requirements, the Navy agreed to allow the yards to produce "stock" hulls for the US Navy, as Texas could not immediately man the quantity of boats produced.

The result is the James Bowie class, a modified US Edsall destroyer escort.



The major difference was installation of the Texan's 25mm/70 AA machine gun in place of the Oerlikon 20mm. Twin mounts were developed for smaller deck areas. The decision was purely political, no licence production fees were needed for the guns.

The Bowies also mount the first units of the Bofors 40mm AA guns for the Texas Navy.

[emperor_andreas]

Nice!

[Colosseum]

Cool stuff all around...

I'm never been a fan of drawing the shell plating on the hulls of ships. I generally don't think it's visible at the distance at which an SB-scale ship would appear in real life. Because of that I've always left it off. But it is of course entirely your choice.