Selwyn

The base feet setting was the essential part of the sight. All multi gun fighters (even today) have their guns "Harmonised." This means in simple terms that they are all angled so that the bullets from all of them meet at a focal point a few hundred yards in front of the aircraft. (this is a standard set distance but some ace pilots in WW2 had this changed from personal preference)The gunsite graticule (the sighting dot in the reflector) was also aligned to this point. The problem with air to air gunnery was always estimating the correct range so that you ensured your target was also at this focal point where your bullets were concentrated, and would cause the most amount of damage. The solution was the range ring. It was basic triganometry. If you know the wingspan of the target aircraft and you took this to be the base of a triangle, and the correct distance from you and the target (the harmonised focal point) as the height of the triangle you can work out the angles from the sight to the wingtips. This was was displayed in the sight as a adjustable ring (either solid or a ring of diamonds depending on the mark number of the sight), the ring as displayed sat on the imaginary line from the gunsight to the wingtips. When the firer saw a Heinkel for instance, he would set the ring to that aircrafts wingspan (this would adjust the size of the range ring in the sight) and start his attack. On approach, at the point when the wingtips of the Heinkel touched the ring, this told him he was exactly the correct distance from it to give the concentrated eight gun killing punch to the target. Obviously if the target was smaller, say a Messerschmitt, adjusting the ring to its wingspan would change the geometry of the triangle so that he always maintainined that correct "killing distance" when he fired. Selwyn PS this is a Mk II* sight used from 1941, the Mk II as used in the battle of Britain had a circular reflector glass (mkII). Circular glasses MkII sights are extremly rare as they were all progressively modified with a square glass in service.

I know they say that the stirling couldn't hit high altitude, but I now understand the comment that you needed to be on oxygen just to sit in the cockpit on the ground! That is really a high place to sit for the driver. Selwyn

Spike, I cannot believe a RAF Armourer would ever do such a thing..............................! Selwyn. Otherwise known as the Plum who woke up in a roadside ditch near Metheringham, at 4AM, covered in frost after a Armourers soiree at Scampton (I was aiming for Waddo but missed!) I am now Tea total. (he said... lying through his teeth.)

Spike, I seem to remember it was called the Oak leaf club ? or am I getting old and senile? (aah....Cosford AWM 55 in 1979, AWF 72 1982 happy days!) Selwyn

Forgive me if this appears a silly question, but am I right in assuming that the arials as depicted are repeated on the other wing/ power egg? Selwyn

All RAF T1 hawks have been re winged at some point in the past, Selwyn

Why no bombs in the bomb bay? do we have a bit of a modelling slacker who couldn't be bothered to paint a few extra bombs? Selwyn (ducking for cover and cowering under his model table!) PS A really fantastic build.

James its no doubt very good but Being a Hasegawa kit I would probably have to re- morgage my house to afford it. Until the UK importer decides to offer their wares at acceptable prices I will not be buying! Selwyn

For GW1 Tornadoes (GR1 and F3) had their intakes lined with radar absorbant tiles that IIRC were a very dark grey/almost black colour. they also painted the wing and fin leading edges with a similar treatment to reduce the radar cross section. Selwyn

Steve, The aircraft would have probably been scrapped, as in its "Identity" R5548 would have been listed as writtten off, but the front fuselage, both wings, engines, tailplanes, turrets etc would have been dissassembled on site and transported to the Lancaster repair organisation. (at Bracebridge Heath IIRC) These parts would have probably re-appeared as replacement sections /components fitted to battle damaged Lancs. The rear fuselage would have been stripped of all useful parts, they would have been recycled either for use by the repair organisation or put back on the Lanc production lines. The now stripped, damaged fuselage would have been smelted down and then made into new aeroplanes! Remember we were at war and any waste was not acceptable, and recycling is not a modern concept! Selwyn

Geoff the hybrid missiles were seen for only a short time when Skyflash was first introduced on F4, there are a few published pictures around, I remember seeing them, but for the life of me I can't remember where! I am suprised that the TEMP standard of missile was introduced so early but I bow to your knowledge, I did not get involved with Skyflash until 87 when Leeming reopened for Tornado F3 ops and TEMP was the current standard in use by then. Super temp was around a year or so later, but if I remember did not get into common use until the first gulf war when I was involved in building up from boxed stock the rounds that were sent to the gulf. Selwyn

Tony Just a technical point that occured to me when I saw your beautiful model. Have you got a photo showing these type of bombs fitted? Its just that the British 250Lb GP bomb ( a pre war design) was single point suspension round, the Vengeance being a US aircraft would have twin point suspension release units, so those type of bombs would not fit on the aircraft! Wartime made British bombs (of the MC type) were "Universal" in that they had both single and twin lugs and could be fitted to UK and US aircraft with no problem, they are more cylindrical in shape, but I don't believe that there was a British 250Lb MC bomb. Are you sure they carried 250 lb bombs? A great model though, I might have to invest in one myself..........................! (sound of wallet screaming!!!) Selwyn (Quick edit - I have checked my references and there was a 250LB MC bomb that had both single and twin suspension lugs)

Well that one slipped under my radar! Selwyn

I may be Very wrong on this, but I was not aware that Airfix were doing a new mould of the Hawk, I thought it was the Gnat that was being redone? Or is it me? Selwyn

I agree. At that time I think all home based RAF fighters, Javs, Hunters, Sabres,Swift etc were in the green/grey/silver scheme. the only difference being the lightning. In fact this scheme lasted into the seventies, the only change being the adoption of Light Aircraft Grey undersides, and this was forced on the RAF With the introduction of polyurethane paints in the late sixties. They could not for some technical reason manufacture a silver polyurethane paint at that time, so LA Grey was chosen as the closest equivelant paint available. Selwyn

You don't really have to be a detail freak! The Sparrow and Skyflash initially shared the same airframe, In fact The very first RAF Skyflash missiles in service were actually hybrids , basically sparrow missiles with skyflash forebodies, so colour wise they were LA Grey back to the warhead, and the rest white! It was only later with the TEMP and superTEMP standard of S/F could you see any tangible detail changes. For a Phantom Skyflash just paint the kit Sparrows LA Grey and add the proximity sensor strips on the forebody. Selwyn

Yes, but the Javelin wasn't a nightfighter! it was an ALL WEATHER fighter (FAW) it marked the end of the dedicated Nightfighter aircraft. Selwyn

Steve great picture of the WasP, If you look carefully you can see the Parachute operating Line at the back of the tail unit (it curls up to the aircraft) The Drawings of the weapons are quite good, probably about the best you can get to date. He is wrong about the red container it contained one wiring harness and lanyard assembly without seperate lanyards. There were several differing sizes of container depending on the aircraft, as the harnesses although basically the same were A/C type specific. Selwyn

Just a few notes about the Bomb that not many people would know, and that I include for interest, The weapon on the wasp looks like a We177B/C (133" long 950 lb) rather than the We177A (112" long 600Lb) although it is correct in that it does not have the wiring ducts on the sides that only featured on the larger bomb. The Wasp could not carry the heavier weapon. The Yellow and Orange ring markings are correct for a Live weapon but it features the "crossed" ejection markings which were only seen on Drill bombs. These were only on the nose, the tail parachute was deployed by a static line on helicopters and not explosively ejected as on fast jets so they should not be there on the tail. The raydome on the nose was white porcilin pot usually covered on the ground by a red plastic cover.The red tube between the fins was the the bomb connection harness transit container. and would not be there when the bomb was loaded. The harness would of course be in use when it was on the aircraft! Otherwise,just about the best Wasp I have seen in that scale, impressive stuff! selwyn

Humbrol 11 best for HSS! Selwyn

This looks like the release trials aircraft, you can see the camera fairings under the fuselage and the missiles and the aircraft have the black and white tracking camera marks on them. The missiles will be painted Black and Golden Yellow (not orange probably a trick of the light as Golden yellow is a "Orangy" Yellow). These colours are not representative of operational storm shadows. Selwyn

I stand Corrected! Selwyn

the Valiant had a similar loading process to the Vulcan, 3 bomb carriers, loaded seperately, each carrier carried 7 x 1000lb bombs. The carriers were not the same as the Vulcan AVRO type, but had the same four on the top, three underneath configuration. the bombs provided are in the kit are its only main disappointment as they look nothing like the British 1000lb bomb. Selwyn

Lovely Gr1! Just a quick point , GR1/2 (And T2/4) Harriers when parked had their nosewheel doors open. They were opened on engine shutdown by the groundcrew to allow access to the accumilators etc in the nosewheel bay. They closed automatically on engine start. Selwyn

Thanks for the pictures guys, it looks like it is some sort of zero length rocket launcher, in that as the missile fires it travels forward a few inches and is then free from the launcher so its a cross between forward firing and a drop! Selwyn