XV107

It would also appear that both have PW1120s fitted.... (as per the Phantom 2000). Having tracked the video down, I'd say that's rather poor computer-generated footage; the top of the dodgy-looking Phantom's fin seems to have something flapping from it which, I'd gently suggest, might not be conducive to the wingman wanting to stay in close formation... Later in the film there's an even more spectacularly rubbish attempt to present a Phantom (the AI-generated voice talks about a TuAF crash while showing some sort of abomination that's meant to be a crashed USN aircraft. I say aircraft, because what in the name of Donald J Trump's underpants it might be is anyone's guess - it's a sort of cross between a Phantom, an F3H and the creative interpretation of several thousand pixels which went out on the lash shortly before Christmas and haven't quite sobered up yet. This leads me to suspect that the 'upgrade' in the OP is probably CGI gone a bit wrong.

As a man whose stash will be expended in about 2104 at my current build rate (and that's not much of an exaggeration), I was intending to have a 'Ooh, interesting choice' moment before not adding whatever the kit turned out to be to the aforementioned stash (I really like Sea Kings but have no space for one even if I did build it immediately, for instance). It would appear that this plan has not survived contact with the Lysander... I suspect that it's a combination of unusual looks and the Special Duties angle. What was it 'Tim' Pile, the AA Command boss said - something like “the British anti-aircraft gunner can recognise three types of aircraft: approaching and considered hostile, receding and considered friendly, and Westland Lysanders"? Chuck in the fact that we've had Secret Army and the like on the TV, the link to Arkell's 'Moonlight' beer (the late boss of the firm had flown Lysanders - I don't think Moonlight is brewed now [edit: yes it is! That's more money Airfix is compelling me to spend...], but Hurricane and Mustang - he also flew those - are still on the books) and it is one of the more distinctive aircraft that even those with only something a bit deeper than a passing interest in military history sort of recognise. A propos of nothing, there's a chap on the Army Rumour Service who has a mere 494 years of his site ban to go before he's posting angry diatribes at the owner and moderators... Somewhat greater toleration appears to have applied here....

I notice the words E-7A on sprues A and B in the shots above... So fans of 8 Squadron may be in for a treat at some point.

Yes - a high-back Spit XIV for a start! (Preferably 1/48 to accompany the low-back, but I'd settle for 72nd if pushed). That said, a new Jaguar in either 72nd or 48th would be welcome and I suspect would do well - the Hasegawa kit seems to remain popular, after al - and just building on my last, think of the RAF schemes you could do - several boxings possible and popular with aftermarket decal people (black display Jag, retirement schemes, arctic and varieties from the seven front line squadrons all seem to have been in enough demand to get people doing them as AM options).

Well, since 2024 is the 50th anniversary of the Jag entering RAF service, it wouldn't be inappropriate (although from memory 54 got its aircraft in about March '74, with 6 and 225 OCU following in the Autumn. 72nd kit, while great fun, is ancient (as observed) and the Hasegawa is unrepresentative of later GR1/GR3 (needs tandem bomb beams, AIM-9 rather than R550 for overwing and 1000lb bombs as well as the couple of BL755 for starters). And something easier (and a bit less costly) than the KittyHawk and a bit newer than the Heller/Airfix effort (and the ESCI kit, for that matter) would be fine for 1/48 as well. Opportunity for a Jag in Granby fit (overwing pylons, CBU-87 [without open tail fins. Yes, Italeri, I am being sarcastic about your research], CRV-7, Have Quick antenna, Phimat and AL! pod, etc) plus a former Yugoslavia fit (add Paveway & TIALD sprue) could be exploited, as could the opportunity for a Jaguar in the ASuW role with India (Sea Eagle, slight change to nose), all on top of the standard Cold War RAFG aircraft. With the various colour schemes - camo/LAG; wraparound; desert 'pink'; ATRF grey; grey + India and a choice of Ecuador, Nigeria & Oman and there are several boxings that could be released. I'd happily have a couple of each...

Looking at the rather economically-worded F540, the Swifts appear to have arrived at Wunstorf (79 moved to Gütersloh shortly after the Swift arrived) alongside Meteors, and there is little evidence from the 540 of aircraft being stationed at Benson. What did happen in early 1956, though, was that the Meteors returned to the UK for a refurbishment programme; the F540 laments the fact that fulfilling the flying programme for January and February 1956 was made more difficult by the aircraft being away. The problem is that the aircraft were at 32MU, which was at St Athan. So not them... But... Benson was home to 147 Sqn, one of the Ferry Squadrons. Assuming that the serial for the Airfix kit on Scalemates is correct (VZ603), the 540 for 147 Sqn says that the aircraft was ferried from 79 Sqn at Wunstorf to Benson on 28 August 1956 by Fg Off Wood, who'd gone to RAFG to take a Vampire T11 to RAF Wildenrath; he came home with the Meteor. It was still at Benson on 30 August 1956, so we can all mark the 68th anniversary of the aircraft being there today... The 147 Sqn 540 has Meteor VX603 [sic] being ferried to Kirkbride (the home of 12 MU) on 4 September 1956 by F/Sgt Greene, but since the UK Serials site doesn't have any aircraft with that serial, never mind a Meteor 9, I suspect this is a typo. VZ603 was finally struck of charge at Khormaksar in 1960. If that's correct, then it would appear that the decals capture a period of a week when the airframe was no longer on strength of 79 Squadron (but carrying the markings) but on its way to 12 MU for storage and subsequent despatch to the Middle East. VZ603 was, of course, represented in the Airfix Club kit, with 8 Sqn markings (when the unit was at Sharjah in 1958)

A very good point - the Soviets were convinced (and they were probably right to be) that Jim Callaghan and Mrs Thatcher - particularly the latter - would authorise a full-on 'the weather forecast today in the Moscow/Leningrad/Volgograd region is for temperatures of 1,000,000 degrees Celsius with occasional gusts of wind of up to 2,500mph: pack that factor 4550, comrades!' response to any nuclear attack on the UK (Callaghan was eventually persuaded to say that he would indeed have retaliated 'but would never have been able to live with myself had I survived'; nobody asked Thatcher, since it was just assumed that the answer to 'would you have...?' was blindingly obvious...). There is one strand of opinion which holds that the Soviets may well have conducted a couple of strikes on airfields or military facilities, but might very well have concluded that as long as GLCM wasn't being pinged at mother Russia from a field not that far from the A339, nuclear use against the UK should be confined to things like carrier groups, etc, etc, just to be on the safe side. This view is, of course, contested when measured against Soviet doctrine. There were also concerns that the Poles might 'have views' on taking mild fallout, never mind being hit - I once met a retired Russian officer who confided that he was convinced that they'd find a Polish armoured division bearing down on the Kremlin to settle some 300 years of scores had the balloon gone up - and the reliability of allies, apart from the East Germans, was always uncertain. Anyway, Stornaway was a FOB; Phantoms deployed there in support of Ex OCEAN SAFARI in 1987, and Tornado F3s were there in 1989. And because Mr Putin is being a bit of a nuisance, some Typhoons have visited more recently...

I'm going to have to break my pledge not to buy any more kits until I've sorted and sold off the stash... A bit late, but on the Mirage/FD2 thing, if I recall the biography of Sir Richard Fairey correctly, he and Dassault got on very well (and he was known in Europe, of course, because of Avions Fairey) and he was rather grumpy if he heard suggestions that Dassault had 'stolen' ideas that had, in fact, been the result of a spirit of cooperation. I do wonder whether we'd have ended up with the RAF operating the Fairey Mirage FGA1 in due course had Fairey Aviation not merged with Westland (had Sir Richard still been alive, he might have 'had views' on that).

It may well predate even the 'Delayed Again...' rationale. The first use of 'Dave' seems to stem from Pprune's military aviation forum and the announcement of the competition to give the beast a name. As can be seen Dave wasn't the first choice, but it gained favour over Colin, Steve and Gary... By the autumn of 2006 PPrune users were routinely calling it 'Dave' and the nickname seemed to persist for quite some time, particularly when it became clear that one of the prolific PPruner contributors (who manages to wind some other users up) was irritated by it. It also started to be used by RAF pilots who had no idea of the origin, and then spread a bit more widely still. I strongly suspect that 'Delayed Against, Very Expensive' was then retrofitted to answer 'Why Dave?' when the answer was 'because some users of PPrune were being a bit silly one afternoon...'

That's almost today for most Ppruners who moan that the answer is 'Blackhawk', though...

Here's a thought, then... This consortium gets the helicopter. Leonardo gets being involved in the M346 contract to provide the RAFAT with a new aircraft as 'consolation', while a couple of AW[insert appropriate number] end up providing VIP or SF transport, or the Army ends up with some more Wildcat ['finest naval helicopter the AAC has ever had']. Meanwhile, AAC and RAF types on both Arrse and Pprune bemoan the fact that the answer was, of course, 'Blackhawk'. Or complain that buying into the Tilt-Rotor was the answer, or... (any other variation of the PPrune 'it may, in fact, be the exact right answer, but I'm still going to say that it was wrong' approach to life)

There was a period when Flight suggested that the leading option might be the Westland WG30...

If it's a leak, it ought to be Prince of Wales for accuracy... [add pointed comment about Trumpeter and accuracy of your choice here]

Mentioning 'Singapore' - would be good to get an FGA74 with the extra pylon options (including centreline), and/or an F58 (some nice AGM-65)...

As I recall it, Airwaves were from ED Models in Hall Green in Birmingham; I used to frequent the shop on a pretty regular basis for banter, a brew and increasing my credit card balance. From memory, Dad (the ED) had retired and Andy, his son ran the show with help from his father. Andy then decided to stop because the demands of the business meant that he wasn’t getting to see enough of his young daughter. The shop shut (and was replaced by a store which sold running kit, etc - not sure if that’s still there - and the Airwaves stock was taken up by Hannants. I have a dim recollection that there was some talk of Hannants continuing with the range (i.e. not simply selling all the stock until it was gone), but can’t remember. Someone will doubtless be able to correct the errors above - it’s nearly 20 years since they closed (which is frightening) - but I have a nasty feeling that Hannants now tend to major on the Airwaves PE stuff and haven’t done much with conversions, etc in recent years. That doesn’t mean you won’t be lucky, though… Also consider checking the Kingkit website, as they seem to get a reasonably regular flow of stuff and you could do a stock notification with them for when/if they get one in?