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Motley

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Posts posted by Motley

  1. 41 minutes ago, cherisy said:

    Was stormshadow carried at all?

     

    It was rare to see them (i never saw them fitted) but i know they did use them a few times, always a preplaned target for them. Most bombs were fitted at some point, for example i also saw loadouts of Paveways 2 and 3 plus full load outs of just Brimstones

    • Thanks 1
  2. On 11/25/2022 at 11:59 PM, Alan P said:

    Definitely take note of this antenna under the rear fuselage which was on all operational aircraft after Op Ellamy.

    The usual load during Op Shader (Syria) would be Litening 3 pod on fwd left belly pylon, Paveway IV on fwd right pylon, and either another PW4  or three-pack Brimstone 2 on the right rear, and a three-pack Brimstone 2 on the left rear. Right wing usually a 1500L inboard, BOZ chaff dispenser rail on the inboard shoulder pylon possibly with ASRAAM, and BOZ dispenser pod outboard. On the left wing, same inboard pylons load, with TERMA pod outboard.

    The antenna under the engines was the CAGNET radio, pain in the bottom and stabbed myself on it many times.

     

    For Op Shader the load out was pretty much the same as above, but the jets flew with the bigger 2250Ltr tanks fitted, 2 Paveway IVs on the right side with a Litening Pod front left and a Brimestone Launcher with 2 missiles back right (very rarely flew with 3 missiles fitted). Fitting ASRAAMs was very very rare in Shader (had the Typhoons for A2A if needed), can only think of a handful of times they were fitted. Of course there was different load outs depending on what missions were to be carried out, for example the first night the jets flew into Syria they had a Litening fitted with just Paveways IV believe it was 4 that night, so there is a wide range of different loads. Spent almost a year in Cyprus on Shader so if you have any questions ask away.

    • Like 3
  3. On 7/15/2021 at 3:58 PM, junglierating said:

    Stick Puma for early release too (2023)....so I have been informed....mind you bittersweet that one for me.

     

    Fear God honour the king ...etc

     

     

    Rumours ive heard is as early as March next year or December next year, due to then being back from Afghan now not much point keeping them going much longer 

  4. As a current Chinook engineer, as much as i good idea as it seems, the biggest limiting factor to increasing how much the cabs can lift etc is the drive train between the engines and the blades. Can have all the power you want but if you cant transfer it, whats the point of having it. The transmissions seem to be one of the few parts that havent been upgraded as much as other areas such as the engines over the years. Saying that the current 714 engines which are used have plenty of power for what the Chinooks are used for

    • Like 2
  5. 14 hours ago, DaveJL said:

    Thanks mate, that would be great!

    Cheers, I'll have a look.

     

    I can get a rough idea from some pictures and footage from Mike Brewer's 'Frontline Battle Machines' for the MERT kit, but I'm not sure of the location for the M134 ammunition boxes or the carbine storage for the crew.

     

    The pilots rifles are strapped to the sides of their seats and the crewmen in the back have their rifles strapped up on the side walls above the top of the seats just cant remember where in the cab though 

    • Like 1
  6. 54 minutes ago, canberraman said:

    I believe all other 12 Sqn jets will get similar markings. The reason being that the newly reformed 12 Sqn is a joint Qatar/RAF Typhoon training unit, does not have a war role, and hence no need for anonymity when in combat zones like much of the rest of the Typhoon fleet.

     

    Mark

     

    The sqns don't take jets with them when on ops like Shader, the jets stay out there and the sqns rotate. I was told the reason the sqn marks were removed was its easier with the jet moving between sqns and ops, as aircraft are pooled alot more now to help with availability and such, just look at the Tornado fleet to see how it worked. 

  7. On 6/11/2020 at 11:44 AM, Lord Riot said:

    Obviously it's highly capable and functional, although I fail to understand why we can't engender some pride and esprit de corps with proper squadron markings. All jets look better with big, bright fighter bars each side of the roundel and the unit's crest on the fin. 

     

    Modern jets are so boring compared to even just ten years ago, and incomparable to the 50s to 80s. I honestly don't think I'd have got into aircraft at all if they were like they are now when I was a kid.

     

    The problem with squadron markings and the such is now that the RAF is so small all the aircraft and pooled between the squadrons so they move around a lot.

     

    But to go with the pride and esprit de corps you mention, i can't speak for officers, but as a aircraft tech currently serving, most junior ranks couldn't care less what is painted on the side of the aircraft. Most people on squadrons now just want to do the bare minimum time in get their qualifications and leave to get better paid jobs in civvie street. It seems like a lot of squadron pride and the such is forgotten about by them, for most now its just a job for a few years and move on and i don't think its going to change. Even specially painted aircraft like anniversary schemes most people aren't to bothered about.

     

    Sorry for the thread drift all, it is nice to see a F35 with some colour on it for once, lets hope for more in the future

    • Like 1
    • Sad 2
  8. Having spend the best part of 3 years coming and going to Cyprus to look after Tornados, i can only remember the gun being used over Iraq once (which missed so they used Brimstone anyway) it may have been used more but it was very rare for them to use it. Most the fighting that has happened in Iraq and Syria seems be fought by the jets at medium to high levels, the gun doesn't seem that necessary for air to ground now days, especially when you can drop a Brimstone and hit a target in the same building as friendly troops and not have any risk to them. 

    • Like 1
  9. Everywhere ive seen this brought up the true identity of the flypast is for the Russian Victory parade tomorrow. Believe the jets are frogfoots and flankers. Theres another video of the formation about and you get a better view of the jets and they do look like russian jets 

  10. 3 hours ago, tweeky said:

    You have to open it when you turn the battery one (part of the blackbox cooling system) or apply external power if not after a short period of time a warning horn sounds.

    You can have the ground battery on with out them open as nothing really motors up till you apply ground power. In the cockpit on a servicing the ECS switch would be left on auto so when power was a applied these would open automatically.

     

    Also the aerial is the CAGNET aerial, who ever put it there really didnt think of ground crew much, stabbed myself many times on it

    • Like 1
  11. 7 hours ago, Truro Model Builder said:

    Also worth pointing out that at some point GR.4As lost both the A suffix and their reconnaissance role. I believe it was because the RAPTOR pod was capable of being fitted to any GR.4, and replaced the GR.4A's internal fit as the standard recce equipment. It was in service by 2003, with the ex-GR.4As being spread around the TGR Force afterwards.

     

    And why RAPTOR was not integrated onto Typhoon has always puzzled me. But that's a different matter.

     

    Still called them GR.4As when i worked on them for 3 years, needed to know what they were, as some else has said they still had all the reconnaissance equipment inside which meant they couldn't do certain things. One thing they never did was go to Cyprus on Op shader, having no gun was one reason for that.

     

    RAPTOR pods were designed specially for Tornado, hence the name. RAPTOR stands for Reconnaissane Airborne Pod Tornado. Remember hearing a year or 2 ago that they were or were at some point designing a Typhoon version of RAPTOR.

    • Like 3
  12. On 10/18/2019 at 10:08 PM, One 48 said:

    Thing is ... and I'm an RAF Tornado fan too, why would anyone want seamless intakes on a Tonka kit of any scale? the real thing is far from seamless and hard to replicate in 1/48 properly with finesse, its far from being as smooth as an F-16's intake.

    This is what an RAF Tornado intake looks like, its not seamless, its got lots of panels and bits n bobs going on.

    wxRSUE0.jpg

     

    Having spent 3 years working on Tonkas and going down the intakes alot, i can confirm there is alot of panels, rows of rivets and fasteners all the way down to engine blades. Plenty of room down there too, just not nice to be down there cleaning dead bird out during the summer.

     

    Also theres a big dip in the intake right at the front of the engine, water use to pool there along with a dip in the bottom near the aux air doors ( you can actually see water in the intake in the photo on the right hand side of the intake) 

    • Like 2
  13. You are correct with the 2 cables, week of late nights has not helped my head 😂 the thin cable you can see going into the hook near the red circle is the manual release cable and the thinker cable you can just see behind the hook is the electrical cable connecting the hook to the cab. 

     

    Also that picture is really confusing, rear wheel at 90 degrees to the cab and what looks like a blade touching the floor

    • Like 2
  14. Really would be a real shame if this is true, use to love waking up and seeing her out of my window every morning. I do remember a few year ago the SWO at the time was asking all sections on station for volunteers to help clean and look after all 3 jets at Marham, and there was some work that did happen, think it was just cleaning before i left 

  15. Its for the onboard cooling system, ECS, for the crew and all the electronics on board. Theres a fan under it which turns on when power is applied to the jet. Theres 2 more of the doors, the one above the flir as mentioned above and then a smaller one on the right hand side under the refuel probe, usually in the middle of a roundel

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