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Tim's RAF Angel fighter - COMPLETED


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Rejoining to build an idea I've had for a long time,

with this Airfix Angel Interceptor kit, in RAF Interceptor scheme.

IMG-20190830-233439.jpgg

Kit cost me £2.50,  well 4 for £10 at a local car-boot sale in 2015.  Rest of the litter was an Assault Gun, an 88mm plus tug, and a P-40B.

This is the last built of that spend, so £10 well spent.

To build with with leftover Fujimi Phantom decals.

101-9101.jpg

I'd really love to know how this would perform in combat,  at least we'll see how it would look.

 

Twisted News Reports:  In the dark day of 1966, the RAF has no effective interceptor force.  The promised Lightning was cancelled at the same time as the TSR2,  leaving the RAF reliant upon subsonic Hunters and their allies.

Around the same time Gerry Anderson was realizing that his Captain Scarlet series, would never be as successful as Thunderbirds, and was thinking of his next project.

Rumours and speculation were rife at Spectrum, Col White opted for early retirement, Cptn Black ran off to become an undercover hit-man, Captain Scarlet an office furniture salesman, Captain Blue a male model, and Lt Green a movie stunt-double.  Orders came through for Cloudbase to descent to a lower altitude over the mid-Atlantic, and for the Angels to push their Interceptors over the edge of the flight deck.

In a bizzare twist of fate, the British Prime Minister heard that the Interceptors were available, and called Gerry Anderson to see if a deal could be arranged.  Here was an available aircraft with twice the speed of that troublesome Lightning project that he'd cancelled - what's not to like,  he'd become the Hero of the RAF!

Orders came thru just in time to save the first Interceptor from its watery grave, Cloudbase ascended again - and the Angels launched their aircraft, arriving at RAF London an hour later.

 

To say that the RAF were surprised at their arrival was an understatement - though the Angels themselves were hugely popular, despite no female mess facilities. 

But what to do with those planes?  No two-seat trainers available,  downward firing ejection-seat,  strange undercarriage without wheels, unconventional weaponry - integration was not going to be easy.

The first job that could be accomplished, was a repaint.  As the first aircraft were earmarked for 43, and 111 Interceptor Squadrons - the first aircraft was painted in a low-viz grey scheme, with those squadrons markings on either side.

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12 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Very nice choice and interesting adaptation. Would you classify this as an aircraft, spacecraft, or is it both ? Im curious so I can add it to the build log in the correct list ? 

Aircraft.  Flight ceiling of 40,000feet,  say so here

 

Thought the What-If or Sci-Fi categories has tormented me for months - it's both of those!

 

But here's my previous Sci-Fi build from 2012.

Airfix-Angel.jpg

 

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Declaring completion:  anti dazzle applied.

Airfix-Angel-RAF-FP.jpg

Airfix-Angel-RAF-FS.jpg

turbo-exhaust installed
Airfix-Angel-RAF-RP.jpg

Airfix-Angel-RAF-RS.jpg

 

And in a nod to its Angel origin.

Airfix-Angel-RAF-U.jpg

 

Twisted News Update:  Following their unprepared arrival at RAF London, the RAF put some serious thought into operation of the Interceptors.  The ejection seat lowing mechanism was modified to avoid pushing the seat into the apron.  This greatly assisted the strapping in procedure for ground-crews.  There was great excitement, and rivalry whenever an Angel arrived to be assisted into or out of the seat. The nose cannon was replaced with a single 30mm Aden, but thereafter nothing suitable was found to be available.  The undercarriage was another problem, for which no satisfactory solution was ever found - hence the aircraft were hauled to one side of the airfield, and quietly forgotten.

The British Prime Minister hastily but quietly reversed the Lightning cancellation, resurrecting and accelerating the project amid a shroud of secrecy - with the RAF bringing it into service later that year.

The Interceptors never flew again.  Most were scrapped and buried,  just this example remaining, immortalized at RAFM Hendon.

 

As for the Angels, well their Officers Mess party lifestyles continued long after receiving redundancy papers and P45s from Spectrum.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Lovely!

I have a plan for an alternative Angel Interceptor at some point, involving an F-104, some white paint and Spectum roundels... but I've already built one Angel this year so it will have to wait until next year :)

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Twisted News Epilogue:  What became of the Angels.  Well they are all of retirement age now.

Destiny - married the base Weapons Officer, had 2 children, became a schoool teacher.  

Harmony - continued her flying career with executive helicopters,  marrying a fellow pilot.  One son, she is now a proud gran.

Melody - string of affairs eventually resulted in a child and a short but disastrous marriage. Emigrated with her daughter to USA where she had a highly successful career as a marketting manager.

Rhapsody - Married and divorced 3 times, never really settling into any job.  Was the madame at several dubious establishments.  Retained her interest in flying, she has dissapeared - thought to be running drugs in Latin America.

Symphony - Married a university lecturer, then moved into the hotel industry.  Two grown-up children, Symphony is now retired , living by the sea, with a cat and a dog.

 

 

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