sloegin57

There was also a further aerial on the forward part of the port flare bay door as shown on my photo of XH168 over my house in Paola Malta in the sixties :- HTH Dennis

I hope security is better at Telford - be warned - Idiots are about https://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/news/photos-of-the-damage-vandals-broke-into-stamford-welland-academy-9070669/?fbclid=IwAR3g77UK1OAPg13j5zzZGc5Tmt9TIBdppR1RbzTsh3yWktlzdp1KmjcClsk Dennis

Scans en route - Dennis

Inst and decals scanned - PM me your addy and I'll send them over in two/three mails (5 to 6 Mb each) Do you want both USAF and Danish instructions ? Dennis

Revell 48th kit on the "next in line" table after the Meteor II (in the post). Scanning decal sheet and instructions after lunch. Dennis

Oh No, No, No, Mike - no slur intended on the site whatsoever. I was getting a bit frustrated when receiving mails re subjects I had contributed to and just could not reply. Like getting phone calls and unable to talk back. I knew where the problem is/was - Talk-Talk -my current ISP. Been a pain for ages. Fortunately we are getting FTTP to this neck of the NE Fife Woods "soon" so hopefully will be able to select a much better service. Honestly Mike - I would never ever slag Britmodeller off - far too valuable an asset. Regards and thanks for the service. Dennis

FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY, after 36 hours and 26 minutes of "we are migrating" blocks - back in to BM. Wonder how long it will last Dennis

David is fundamentally correct. Because the flaps operated on independent systems and in order to prevent asymmetric lowering of the flaps to any position, an "equalising valve" was installed between the systems which ensured that the flaps lowered/raised equally. this valve also prevented as far as possible, any "creep" in either side so yes, flaps were normally in the up position when parked. As regards the airbrake. Dependent on the leakage rate past the seals in the hydraulic jack, the airbrake could be seen either fully closed or partially open. As I recall, and it was a long time ago now, if the airbrake drooped half way during a turnaround inspection, then the jack was DD'd (Deferred Defect) usually until cease flying that day. Most underslung airbrakes, either on the fuselage or mainplane mounted, had that problem. Dennis

The original "Light Aircraft Grey" 9-095-BS2660 which was dropped by the RAF early on as it had a distinctive yellowish cast, especially under strong sunlight and especially at altitude.

.....and the Saudi Hunters with roundels on all four mainplane surfaces...... Very similar to the much earlier Cutting Edge decals which I have in front of me .........just saying !!

I do not think that it would have been any good anyway YK as they do not appear to be Saudi Hunters. Firstly they have a brake para rear end, which the F.6's did not have and secondly they are carrying the large tanks only associated with the F.6A's/FGA.9's. Further, the large roundel on the fuselage side is not visible (see my photo at the bottom of Page 75 of the book) neither is the Blue undersurface. I think that they are possibly Omani aircraft Dennis

The Jordanian Hunter '708' referred to in the table above was not a Jordanian Hunter. It was formerly F.6 IF-110 of the Belgian Air Force, converted to an F.56A of the Indian Air Force,serial A-471 painted up to look like a RJAF aircraft. Following its display at Farnborough, it was repainted in its proper colours and delivered with 3 others with a Canberra B(I)58, IF-976, as Navigation escort, on the 2nd November 1966. Jordanian Air Force Hunters did not carry serials under the wings. The RSAF had adopted the USAF style of markings with the exception that the first digits of the serial indicated the User Unit. In the case of the Hunter F.6's and T.7's; the designation F.60 and T.70 came in later; the User Unit was the 6th Squadron RSAF. On arrival in Kingdom, the first two numerals of the delivery serial were removed and the last three used as the serial, e.g. 60-602 became 602 and 70-616 became 616. As the aircraft did not serve with any other Unit, unlike the Lightnings, F-15's, Hawks, F-86's et al, the serials were retained until the aircraft were transferred to other Air Forces. RSAF aircraft had distinctive, USAF style markings on the mainplanes with the Green/White roundel on the port upper and stbd lower mainplane surface and "RSAF" in Green or Black on the opposing mainplane surfaces. The RSAF museum example, marked as 60-602, is incorrect in that it has roundels on all four mainplane surfaces, the serial and inscription on the nose and rear fuselage are in black, should be green and it has a tail brake chute, the original F.6's supplied did not. It appears that the decal sheet is based on this aircraft. Saudi Hunters as supplied, did not carry serials under the mainplanes for the reasons given above. Dennis

According to Dick Ward on MD Sheet 95 (XV428 plus a load of Wessexes ), the special scheme was removed from XV428 in July 1988. HTH ( a little bit) Dennis

Barley Grey was devised by Mr PJ Barley as part of the three tone paint system designed to "merge" the aircraft into any background. It comprised 20 parts Light Aircraft Grey to one part Black (according to Dick Ward - who phoned and asked Farnborough !!). The resultant scheme as devised was dead Matt on purpose. As far as I know, Barley Grey, which was mixed at RAE Farnborough and issued to the MU, was never given a number, either BSC 381 or BS 4800. For commercial production, and also to overcome the problems with the Matt painted aircraft as discussed here, a new colour, BS4800 18.B.21, was selected as this was the nearest that Farnborough could get to the original Barley Grey. This colour was slightly darker and much bluer than Barley Grey but the most important point about it was that it, and the other two colours - MSG and LAG, were produced in a Satin finish, almost semi-Gloss. The introduction of this new colour resulted in Phantom Mod 741 as indicated on the AP drawing that Canberra kid published. There was not a lot of difference between the Satin/Semi-Gloss BS4800 colour and the Satin/Semi-Gloss Medium Sea Grey Many commentators, including the late Dick Ward got the impression that Barley Grey had been given the designation BS4800 18.B.21. This is incorrect. The latter paint was a commercially available paint and put into production in a manner fit for aircraft use by the various paint manufacturers. In 1982, along with a set of decals, I received from Dick the following urgent request :- The aircraft that Alan was talking about was the first post mod aircraft that Leuchars received and I new immediately that he has passed on to Dick his reservations as I had been talking to him that very same day. I had already checked the recently amended AP and knew that the aircraft was still in a three tone scheme although it was at times difficult to tell the fuselage colour from the upper inner mainplane colour :- Post Mod 741 As a comparison, I am attaching a shot of the first Grey aircraft that we received, XT870 in 1980 also fresh from the St Athan paint Shop :- Barley Grey, MSG and LAG Strictly speaking, Barley Grey should not be referred to as the fuselage and outer mainplanes colour after the first half a dozen or so aircraft had been painted but some how, Barley Grey appears to have set itself in the consciousness of modellers and commentators ever since. It has, as I have already said, been associated incorrectly with BS4800 which it never was. The decals that Dick was designing at the time would have been Set 65 but the Falklands War got in the way and the 43Sqdn markings together with my notes were relegated to Set 67 as a bit of an afterthought. HTH (a little bit) Dennis

As far as I am aware, it was the Vampire FB.5 which first had the squared off wing tips together with further strengthening modifications including a thicker top wing skin and re-wiring to enable the carriage of removable rocket rails and bomb pylons. The wing tips were shortened by 1 foot per side giving the squared off look and to improve manoeuvrability at low level. As regards the Canadians. They do not appear to have built or operated Vampire FB.5's in Canada only F.3's. However, in October 1950, Number 421(F) Squadron of the RCAF was selected to be the first RCAF fighter Squadron to operate in the UK on a rotational basis. Their F.3's would be left behind in Canada and the Unit would be issued with borrowed Vampire FB.5's, in full RCAF markings but with RAF serials, and be based at Odiham. The Unit arrived at Odiham in January 1951, operating the FB.5's successfully until returning home to Canada, leaving the aircraft behind, the following November. As far as I can tell, the RCAF did not fit shortened wings to their F.3's. But (Caveat), I would always be pleased to be corrected. HTH (a bit) Dennis