Troffa

Great Job, I remember building the VF-31 Felix the Cat boxing around '78. Brilliant stuff.

That is a chilling piece of video-a matter of feet. climb to safe altitude and straight home to base one would think. Imagine the poor Engineer who released the aircraft to service- the stress he would have been under if it had gone in. Gives me the heeby-jeebies

I'd use any F-4J set and lose no sleep. Not sure if specific K ( or M) sets are available.

Great looking build- brings back good memories- My final board at Cosford before I was let loose on the rest of the RAF was an ILS channel select snag on an Argosy,

Looks similar size and shape to the HARM targeting system (HTS) pod used on the F16- bit early for that though.

With several Lanc's in the stash I'm following along keenly, love your work and your stories!

Ow' be on? from the shadow of the Tor!

Having resisted the urge to buy any previously, I recently purchased one of the Multi Vane test type probes for an F-16, super stuff and far superior to anything I could produce in styrene. Probably worth spending a few quid extra on a build for that finishing touch.

Jings! That brings back some memories- me and a mate travelled to Varna in Bulgaria from Edinburgh (Via Newcastle!) on a charter TU154M in August 1995 (I think) - no seat allocations, every drink, soft or alcoholic, cost £1 with everyone smoking and a bloke who got on in Newcastle travelling shirtless for the outbound. I don't suppose anyone has a picture of that aircraft?

Mr Phone Phixer states "The pod that Sky dancer refers to in the photos, was a radar reflecting pod. In the Tornado F3's early days, the radar had a difficult job locking onto a Hawk. So when 100 Sqn went up in their aggressor role, to give the F3's a fighting chance, the Hawks carried those pods to increase their radar signature and allow radar intercepts to be carried out." Not quite, the AI24 on the Tornado would quite happily lock on to a Hawk in order to smash it in the face with a Skyflash at around 20 miles, (and without a RWR he wouldn't know what hit him) but the Hawk's in question were playing the role of the F-3's intended target, formations of Rooskie bombers. The large size of which would allow a detection at much further ranges than the single engine fighter. In order to properly practice tactics to be used against Backfires and Blinders picked up at 60+ Miles the Hawk's Radar return was enhanced. The F3 was a very capable interceptor. You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.

The entire Flight archive is fascinating, and searchable! There goes a few hours...

Don't know if this is a regular thing, but the Royal Navy Air Day is being live streamed on You Tube- Spanish Harrier next up at 1300 BST, Apache has just finished. Royal Navy Air Day 2019

On the F-15 versus Tornado ADV question, the F-15A Had already been considered and rejected due to the perceived vulnerabilities of the APG-63 to ECM, It's single seat configuration and the lack of 60 degree Track While Scan capabilities. The Tornado was designed as a Bomber killer, not a dogfighter. I heartily recommend David Gledhill's book "Tornado F3 in focus" as his background as operator and MOD Desk officer provide a brilliant perspective on the Mighty Fin, and the winding road that it took to become (at it's demise) a very capable weapon system. Here's a clipping from Flight International that may be of interest: https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1978/1978 - 1979.PDF

Hope this helps a bit- This is what my link for the S-64 photo above looks like, with the Tags removed it will become the embedded image. [im-g]https://live.staticflickr.com/4658/38773743715_0bcf8a4bf3_b.jpg[i-mg]

Ciao Giuseppe! Photographs have to be hosted somewhere online (i.e. Flikr or Photobucket, or your own web server) and the Direct links to those Photographs are embedded in your Britmodeller post. I have linked this picture (Levaldigi, Cuneo, last year, from my Flikr Album) A guide is available at the FAQ link below, but please ask if you need any further help. Regards, Troffa