[skanchan95]

1:72 Eurocopter EC665 Tiger German Army (Amercom)
The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) Tiger is a four-bladed, twin-engined attack helicopter which first entered service in 2003. It is manufactured by Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters), the successor company to Aérospatiale's and DASA's respective helicopter divisions, which designate it as the EC665. Following their languages, in Germany it is known as the Tiger; in France and Spain it is called the Tigre.

This particular model is the Tiger UHT of the German Army.The UHT (from Unterstützungshubschrauber Tiger German for "Support Helicopter Tiger") is a medium-weight multi-role fire support helicopter built for the German Army.

The UHT can carry PARS 3 LR and/or HOT3 anti-tank missiles as well as 70 mm (2.8 in) Hydra 70 air-to-ground fire support rockets . Four AIM-92 Stinger missiles (two on each side) are mounted for air-to-air combat. Unlike the HAP/HCP version it has no integrated gun turret, but a 12.7 mm (0.50 in) gunpod can be fitted if needed. The weapon configuration was designed to be multirole and easily convertible to cover the whole spectrum of possible mission scenarios and to be effective against a broad range of targets. Another difference is the use of a mast-mounted sight, which has second-generation infrared and CCD TV cameras (range 18 km).

German Army Aviation Corps Attack Helicopter Regiment 26 Franken based in Roth Air Base is to be equipped with the Eurocopter Tiger as well as German Army Aviation Corps Attack Helicopter Regiment 36 based in Fritzlar.













Note the mast-mounted sight. The pilot (in front) and the gunner are seated as a tandem, i.e. one behind the other. The gunner is responsible for the weapon employment by using the passive sensors of the mast-mounted sight and a head-in-display of the integrated helmet system. The mast-mounted sight located above the rotor level allows for observation and reconnaissance from cover.




PARS3 LR on the inner pylons & HOT3 ATGMs on the outer pylon


The real Tiger UHT 98+12

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

1:72 Eurocopter EC665 Tiger German Army (Amercom)

This particular model is the Tiger UHT of the German Army.The UHT (from Unterstützungshubschrauber Tiger German for "Support Helicopter Tiger") is a medium-weight multi-role fire support helicopter built for the German Army.

A brand new aircraft for this thread. It looks nasty and growly like it should. Congratulations. I notice your P-3 has a stand. Oops I didn't get one. Ouch.

[skanchan95]

1:72 Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet VFA-81 Sunliners (Witty Wings)
Enough has been written on the Super Hornet in previous pages of this thread so I am not going to repeat it.

The model is armed with 2 X AIM-9s, 2 X AIM-120s, 2X GBU-31 JDAMs, 3 X Hornet drop tanks, 1 X Raytheon AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR targeting pod.



Pilot Name - Capt Stephen McKerney , DCAG CVW-17 onboard USS Carl Vinson






















The actual aircraft : F/A-18E BuNo 166830 VFA-81


VFA-81 "Sunliners"



Those who follow military aviation keenly would instantly recognize VFA-81 "Sunliners" as the squadron whose F/A-18C pilot - Lt Cdr Scott Speicher, was shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25 on the first night of the first Gulf War. But it was also the squadron that got the US Navy's only confirmed fixed wing air to air kills in the war (the only other kill was by a VF-1 F-14 on an Iraqi Mi-8 helicopter flown by Lt Stuart Broce and his RIO and squadron commander, Cdr Ron McElraft).

On the very next day of Lt Cdr Speicher's shootdown, his squadron mates shot down two Iraqi MiG-21s while on a bombing mission to Iraqi Air Force H3 Airfield near Baghdad. Here's what happened that day...

On Jan. 17, 1991 Lieutenant Commander Mark Fox and Lieutenant Nick Mongillo launched with five other VFA-81 F/A-18 Hornets as part of a CVW-17 strike. In reality, Lieutenant Commander Fox was an airborne spare and was not scheduled to cross the beach. However, three of the scheduled strikers aborted for various reasons, and Lieutenant Commander Fox joined the three
remaining aircraft as they headed inland.



CVW-17 in USS Saratoga (CV-60) flew the strike together with aircraft from CVW-3 from USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67). It was the first daylight strike of the Gulf war. The previous night had seen an intense first-strike effort by hundreds of allied aircraft against Iraqi facilities, especially around Baghdad and the major airfields in western Iraq, codenamed H-2 and H-3.

Although the enemy defenses had got everyone’s attention -there had been heavy concentrations of AAA and SAMs, and a few Iraqi interceptors had taken off – the planners had scheduled an ongoing series of around-the-clock strikes. Planes had been lost during the first strikes, all to flak and SAMs, except Lt Cdr Speicher's F/A-18C which was lost to an Iraqi MiG-25. The MiGs and Mirages had been in the air, but none had been flown aggressively. The threat was there, however, and not to be taken lightly.

The four Sunliner F/A-18Cs each carried four Mk 84 2,000-lb bombs, a hefty load for a single-seat aircraft. They approached their target, H-3 airfield in western Iraq, in a ‘wall’, lined abreast. The other two Hornet pilots were Commander Bill McKee, VFA-81’s Executive Officer, and Lieutenant Commander ‘Chuck’ Osborne. High overhead, the ever-present AWACS and an E-2C from Saratoga’s VAW-125 monitored the strike.

Although they were under visual ID (VID) Rules of Engagement, the Hornet pilots knew the E-2 could make the difference. The Hawkeye used various geographic reference points for its calls.

As he ran in on his target, Lieutenant Commander Fox was confident of himself, his aircraft and the rest of his flight, as he
explains in the book Gulf Air War Debrief.

“I didn’t leave thinking I wasn’t going to come back later. During the few hours before we entered Iraqi airspace, I thought abouta lot of practical things. I made sure everything was set up, switches were in the right position, and that I kept the other three planes in sight. There wasn’t time to think about anything but the mission.”

As they ran in from the south, the radio was alive with calls from other portions of the strike group. Kennedy’s package had run into a few MiG-29s that had tailed the strikers as they exited the target area after delivering their ordnance. The ‘Fulcrums’ stalked the CVW-3 planes as two F-15Cs from the USAF’s 33rd TFW, based at Eglin AFB, Florida, dropped from their CAP station.

The F-14 escort watched as the F-15s streaked past and fired missiles at the MiGs. Two MiG-29s failed to return to their base.

When Lieutenant Commander Fox and his flight were about 30 miles from their target, their systems set up for the bomb delivery they would soon make, the E-2 called a bandit alert as MiGs seemed to head for the VFA-81 Hornets soon after the Kennedy group had left the area. The Hornets flew on.
Then, Lieutenant John Joyce, the E-2’s Air Control Officer (ACO) -one of the three Naval Flight Officers (NFOs) in the back of an E-2 – made another call, this time with a real sense of urgency.

“Hornets, bandits on your nose, 15 miles!”

That was it. Lieutenant Commander Fox and Lieutenant Mongillo each thumbed the knurled knob on the control stick that selected the missiles and changed their systems to the air-to-air mode. Their hands tightened on the stick-mounted trigger that fired their missiles.

As the flight flew on, Fox, in F/A-18C AA 401 (BuNo 163508) and Mongillo in AA 410 (BuNo 163502) looked for the oncoming MiGs. Fox got a lock-on at 10 miles – two MiG-21s in a left echelon, a standard Soviet formation. Commander McKee and Lieutenant Commander Osborne had also locked up the lead MiG.

“It all happened very quickly. I switched back to air-to-air and got a lock on one of them. I had the MiG on the right while the second Hornet in our formation -Lieutenant Mongillo – took the MiG on the left. The other two Hornets had also acquired radar locks."

“The MiGs approached us, nose on, supersonic at Mach 1.2. Our relative rate of closure Was more than 1,200 kt. They weren’t maneuvering."

“I shot a Sidewinder first. It was a smokeless missile and I thought, at first, that I had wasted it because I couldn’t see it tracking toward the MiG. I fired a Sparrow. The Sidewinder hit, though, followed by the Sparrow. The first missile actually did the job, and the Sparrow flew into the fireball. The whole event, from the E-2’s call to missile impact, took less than 40 seconds.”

Lieutenant Mongillo fired a single Sparrow which took out the second MiG-21.
“The Iraqi pilot knew what he was getting into when he climbed into that jet and took off after us.”

Following their two kills, the two new shooters rejoined their flight and continued with their bomb delivery. Throughout their engagement with the MiGs, they had kept their bombs, all 8,000 lb of them. As the four F/A-18s came off target and headed south, they could see the two columns of black smoke rising up from the desert where the two MiGs had crashed.

Talking about the strike-fighter concept that the F/A-18 represents, Fox has a definite opinion. “This is the first time to my knowledge that an airplane scored a kill while carrying four 2,000-lb bombs, then continued on to hit its target. If the MiGs had got behind us, we would have had no choice but to honor their threat. You can’t do that with 8,000 lb of bombs. We would have
had to jettison ( ordnance to face them, and would have served their purpose in stopping our strike. They failed we succeeded.”

These two kills were the Navy's only confirmed air-to-air kills on Iraqi fixed-wing aircraft.

[V.Narayan]

^^^^
skanchan95, congratulations. This is without doubt your classiest Hornet. Its finish and detailed parts set it apart from the earlier pieces which also were of great quality. But this one trumps them all. Excellent photos.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

^^^^
skanchan95, congratulations. This is without doubt your classiest Hornet. Its finish and detailed parts set it apart from the earlier pieces which also were of great quality. But this one trumps them all. Excellent photos.

Thank you. Yes, this one is less flashy compared to the other ones. Its the only one I have that is in the true swing-role config with AIM-120s, AIM-9s and GBU-31s loaded. All gear door panels and wing attachments slotted in without too much effort. My only grouse is that the pilot is too fat to fit in the cockpit.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

I notice your P-3 has a stand. Oops I didn't get one. Ouch.

That's because some Hogan models do not have the stand groove underneath. Mine has it, so it gets a stand.

I may be wrong but from what I have seen, all of HG's P-3Cs US Navy, RoK Navy and a few models of RoC Navy have a stand, the JMSDF P-3C models don't.

Even HG's two 1:200 Air India B787-8 models has this ambiguity. One is in "Inflight mode(wings flexed upwards)" which has a stand and groove but no regn, the other one is "in ground mode(wings in normal resting position)", does not have a grove and stand but has VT-AND regn.

[V.Narayan]

Mitsubishi G4M ‘Betty’ medium bomber; Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force; 1:144 Altaya, Plastic

Wing span: a little under 7”; Length a little over 5.5”; not as detailed or of as high quality as a Witty Wings, HobbyMaster or Hogan but I accept that given that this is a relatively rare piece

To aviation enthusiasts of this thread the G4M needs no introduction being Japan’s primary land based bomber throughout WW-II. Powered by two 1530 hp radials and weighing around 14 tonnes it was a well powered and relatively fast bomber for 1939 with a power to weight ratio of 0.22 hp/kg. Its three contemporaries were the British Vickers Wellington with a ratio of 0.16, the German Heinkel He-111 at 0.18 and the Soviet Ilyushin IL-4 at 0.18. The G4M was designed to be as light weight as possible and to carry as much fuel to fly the long ranges needed in the Pacific theatre of operations.

This light weight was achieved at the cost of ‘survivability engineering’ ie self-sealing fuel tanks, armour around the crew bays etc and led to many a G4M falling prey to fire that a stronger aircraft could have survived. The Wellington & the He-111 both weighed 8.5 tonnes empty while the Betty weighed 6.7 tonnes empty for similar size and maximum take-off weight. This super light empty weight also meant the G4M could fly back from a raid on a single engine which its contemporaries practically could not.

The G4M was best known for having sunk the HMS Repulse and the HMS Prince of Wales with torpedoes on 1st December 1941. This was the first time two capital ships had been sunk solely by land based air power with no supporting sea forces. The G4M’s had flown about 1000 kms from Saigon on a 3+ hour flight and attacked the British battleships on the east coast of Malaya. It was a shock that reverberated across the world and brought home to many military & political leaders of the coming potential of airpower at sea.

The British ships fought back valiantly. So much so that, uncharacteristically for them, the Japanese dropped a wreath from the air, using a G4M to respect the valour of the Royal Navy sailors. The G4M was also famous for carrying Admiral Yamamoto over Vietnam in 1943 when the aircraft was jumped by US fighters in a planned attack to successfully knock out Japan’s most capable naval leader by assassinating him.

Length: 65 feet

Wingspan: 81 feet

Maximum T.O. Weight: 13,800 kgs

Speed: 428 kmph

Effective bombing combat radius:~ 1100 kms; ferry range with fuel overload ~ 5000 kms

Weapons: 1000 kgs of iron bombs or 1 anti-ship torpedo; 4 light machine guns plus one tail mounted 20mm cannon for self defense

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by skanchan95

My only grouse is that the pilot is too fat to fit in the cockpit.

This quizzically is a problem I have faced often.

That's because some Hogan models do not have the stand groove underneath. Mine has it, so it gets a stand.

My P-3J of JMSDF has the groove for a stand but no stand, no Harpoons, no Sidewinders <Emoji of a grown up man bawling>

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Mitsubishi G4M ‘Betty’ medium bomber; Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force; 1:144 Altaya, Plastic

Welcome back to the Dark Side (Axis Powers)

One more relatively rare bomber in your collection. I think you should open up a museum soon!

In the later years of WWII the "Betty" was used to launch Kamikaze rocket propelled Okha bombs.


One of these can be seen at the Indian Air Force Museum in Palam, New Delhi.

[skanchan95]

Congratulations one getting a model that is of such rich historical significance. The wreck of Admiral Yamamoto's Betty still lies on that island.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

[b]
My P-3J of JMSDF has the groove for a stand but no stand, no Harpoons, no Sidewinders <Emoji of a grown up man bawling>

I tried using the stands of Hogan's A320 and B737 models on the P-3, but it does not fit. If it had, you could have tried ordering one a stand for the P-3.

[V.Narayan]

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, USAAF Heavy bomber, World War-II; 1:200 scale, M-Series Hogan Wings
Length: ~ 4.5 inches; Wingspan: ~6 inches. Very detailed diecast model.

The Flying Fortress needs no introduction. It was the first modern American 4-engined bomber and went on to be one of those war winning weapons in WW-2. It carried a smaller bomb load of 3600 kgs compared to the British Avro Lancaster or the American B-24 Liberator or Petlyakov Pe-8 but it had greater defensive armament and a rugged construction that never failed to surprise. Its ability to survive battle damage was legendary (see photo below). It also had the then very advanced Norden bomb sight that enabled the bomb aimer to fly the aircraft as he aimed the whole machine onto the target. Over 12,000 were built and hundreds served on after WW-2 with other Air Forces. The B-17 was the first of the ‘Fortress’ brand names by Boeing going on to the B-29 Superfortress and B-52 Stratofortress. In the 1930s the B-17 along with the Boeing 314 Clipper flying boats made Boeing the world leader at modern large 4-engined long ranged airplanes. This experience in aeronautical engineering and good design practices directly led to the B-52 bomber and the Boeing 707 in the 1950s variants of which are in service even today.

Interestingly in size and weight the B-17 is similar to the Sukhoi Su-30MKI. Both are roughly 74 feet long. The B-17 in normal full load topped the scales at 25 tonnes and the Su-30MKI in air-to-air mode at 26 tonnes. I'd purchased this some time back. Got around to photographing it only last week.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

[b]Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, USAAF Heavy bomber, World War-II; .

Always loved the B-17. quite an amazing aircraft and as you mentioned, it good take an awful lot of damage.

I actually saw the Liberty Bell flying, landing and displayed in Kansas City at the Downtown airport. I believe this was in 2011 when we lived in Kansas City. It was by pure chance. I was out on my bicycle near the Downtown airport when I saw her approaching. By the time I raced to the terminal she had already landed. I did manage to video her taxi-ing into the ramp:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkmQ...ature=youtu.be

When they had shut her down, we were allowed to wonder around her. As you will see, you could actually walk right underneath her.











Little did I know this was to be her last visit to KC. A few weeks she suffered from an onboard fire. Crash-landed in a field. All crew and passengers managed to get out safely, but the fire completely destroyed the plane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8Mi9WoQD_4

[Jeroen]

I just realised I have seen some more B17’s flying. Whilst living in the USA, I visited the Oshkosh Airventure every year. A truly remarkable air show. One week a year, this is the busiest airport in the world!! Although most aircraft at the show are General aviation category, there is always a huge display of other military and civil aircraft. This was on the 2010 show. Three B17s flew in, did displays and were on display.

It was so amazing. I had seen the odd B-17 in a museum, but to see three of them, actually airworthy and flying was unforgettable.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Always loved the B-17. quite an amazing aircraft and as you mentioned, it good take an awful lot of damage.

I actually saw the Liberty Bell flying, landing and displayed in Kansas City at the Downtown airport.

Thank you for sharing your personal video and those lovely photos of this grand old aircraft. You have to hand it to the Americans - they know how to design airplanes. For 1935 the B-17, in my view, was like the Rockwell B-1 Lancer today. To think this 4-engined behemoth with a range of 3200 kms with a bomb load flew before the DC-3. Of all the heavy bombers of WW-2 the B-17 was the first and interestingly served the longest - the last was retired out of front line service by the Brazilian AF in 1968 which was the year the Indian AF retired the B-24 Liberator.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, USAAF Heavy bomber, World War-II; 1:200 scale, M-Series Hogan Wings
Length: ~ 4.5 inches; Wingspan: ~6 inches. Very detailed diecast model.

One more WWII bomber in your collection Seems to be a very detailed model. I have a 1/72 B-17 assembled model which I had posed in this thread.
We soon will need a Roundel for the Narayan Air Force

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I actually saw the Liberty Bell flying, landing and displayed in Kansas City at the Downtown airport. I believe this was in 2011 when we lived in Kansas City.

So after a bit of research it seems I have seen part of the actual Liberty Bell also (although not flying!).

The Liberty Foundation flew a composite B-17 named Liberty Belle (constructed from two damaged aircraft (non-combat 44-85734 and the rear part of 44-85813)) as a warbird from 2004 until 2011, when it was destroyed in a fire after an emergency landing.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Belle_(aircraft)

The non-combat aircraft 44-85734 was kept at the Connecticut Aeronautical Historic Association which I visited as very young child in the late 1980s. I vaguely remember it being parked outside and in very poor condition (it had been damaged in a tornado).

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, USAAF Heavy bomber, World War-II; 1:200 scale, M-Series Hogan Wings
Length: ~ 4.5 inches; Wingspan: ~6 inches. Very detailed diecast model.

Great addition to your bomber fleet sir!!! Lovely detailed model Congratulations. Time to hunt for 1:200 P-51 or P-47 as her escort.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

Great addition to your bomber fleet sir!!! Lovely detailed model Congratulations. Time to hunt for 1:200 P-51 or P-47 as her escort.

P-47 will be a nice addition. P-51 already in the WW2 Wing. I am simply catching up on photographing old pieces to show off on this thread