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petetasker

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petetasker last won the day on August 24 2023

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    I really do need to get a life!

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  1. Hi Can’t answer your question but if it’s of any interest a new book titled ‘Q Birds - American manned aircraft as drones’ is due to be published in the next month or so by Frederick A Johnsen. Fascinating subject.
  2. There’s a break down and full service history for the 16 aircraft (along with the rest of the fleet) in Tim McLelland’s ‘Lightning book. I’ll copy it across to you.
  3. Still going to get one. It might just take a bit more work than I’d hoped. Dare I say it, I’m actually looking forward to it!
  4. Hello mate. This is from memory as I’m away at the moment. I’m pretty sure she never did. 272 was modified with the Tornado nose I think around 1974 by Marshalls at Cambridge and rolled out post mod in its old medium sea grey scheme but with dayglo sections on the nose, tail and wing tips. She was then later repainted in the Raspberry Ripple scheme. The only shots I’ve ever seen of her with a standard nose were in her old Navy days prior to being transferred for trials work. Pete
  5. I’ve waited so long to be able to do a 1/48 T.11 I’ll happily live with any problems and try to correct as much as I can. I’ll be long gone by the time any bugger else gets round to doing a kit. Might have to try and practice some of that ‘modelling’ we’re always talking about.
  6. Not 1979 but heres XJ437 in April 75 at Akrotiri. Another from 'The Good Old Days'.
  7. Are you after yellow SAR or the ones in camo? This shots from 'The Good Old Days' Vol 3 The Royal Air Force 1962-1980.
  8. Guess you've got to take them at their word but I do still wonder whether it was just a cock up.
  9. One more quick thought. If you do plan to model 587 carrying a Ruston Target the following from ‘The Long Drag - A short history of British Target Towing’ by Don Evans might be of interest …. ‘The winch (on the Sea Vixen) was carried under the port mainplane on the standard NATO stores pylon, while the target launcher was mounted outboard of the winch. Unfortunately the operators window was on the starboard side of the aircraft but for some obscure technical reason the target system could not be mounted on that side. This meant that the operator had to watch the winch and target through a periscope. Even so the system proved quite satisfactory and the asymmetric tow did not present any problems’. As I say it may or may not be of interest. Pete
  10. Hello mate Other than the striking colour scheme as I understand it there aren't really any external differences other than 587 receiving a transparent observers hatch cover when it was modified at Tarrant Rushton prior to delivery to Llanbedr (source Sea Vixen by Tony Butler Air Britain). The actual towed target trials consisted of towed arrays suspended from the underwing hard points. You're probably already aware that there is a useful walk round of 587 in the Walkround section.
  11. Hello mate. I’ve seen this question posed on a couple of other Naval/FAA forums over the years always unfortunately without any answers. The following probably isn’t going to be that useful but may non the less be of interest. It’s a couple of lines from Phoenix Squadron by Roland White which tells the story of the Op. Unfortunately the Bucc tankers are only ever referred to in the book as simply ‘tankers’ rather than using their codes as the author does for the actual mission airframes. There are however a couple of interesting lines re planning for the tanking part of the mission. “The Squadron always kept two of its fourteen Buccs set up as 'maxi tankers'. These aircraft were kept permanently configured with both bomb bay tanks and FR Mk 20 buddy refuelling pods under the starboard wing. On top of this a couple more cabs were assigned the role of 'mini tanker'. They still had the buddy pods under the wings but not the overload tanks in the bomb bay. The mini tankers could be scrambled in a fix but had far less fuel available to transfer to anyone who needed a top up” The book goes on to say…. “Carl Davis (809 Boss) wanted three maxi tankers (presumably for redundancy purposes) - that meant installing a bomb bay tank into one of the ‘minis'." As I say not very helpful in your quest for the tankers identities but maybe still of interest. Might it be worth contacting the FAA museum at Yeovilton? Another possibility might be the Squadron themselves as they recently stood up on the F-35 at Marham. Both RAF & FAA Squadrons are always big on their own history though 809 might at this stage still be unpacking their bags. One last piece of information - its known the pilots of the two tankers were Pete Lewis and Neil Maclean. Pete's Observer was US Naval Exchange Officer George Dammeyer, sorry haven't got a name for the other observer. As far as the Flightpath buddy refuelling pod goes I used one a little while ago on the new 1/48 Airfix Bucc. I'd descibe it as a bit crude if you judge it by some of the lastest offerings but it cleaned up okay and looks pretty effective. Hope it helps. Pete
  12. Not yet mate. I’ve got everything lined up but I’m trying to finish an RAE Gnat at the moment. Unfortunately life’s getting in the way and this little Gnats nowhere near finished despite being on the go for the last three months.
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