Another irony is that I have an assembled B29 that at some point was going to get a respray, British Pacific Fleet markings with 9 Sqn codes (617 is soooo passe…) and a pair of BFO bombs underneath.
My earlier post intrigued me enough to dig out said Lancaster. Lot of masking, but easy enough...
I’ve a 72nd Lancaster, with the far east mods, converted to a B.I special for operations against Japan, but it’s far from completion. I did finish the similar Lancaster B.VI, although that got SEAC roundels.
Fairey did design a monoplane for the same spec as Swordfish. Trousered fixed u/c but quite an attractive aircraft, although I’ve only ever seen a side view.
Why move the pilot back? He needs the best possible view for landing on a carrier. The windshield isn’t a structural piece, so nicking one from a Fulmar or a Defiant (the latter given B-P built Rocs would be logical) is straightforward.
The Roc wing was that of a Skua, but was given dihedral...
The navalised Typhoon was about the same size as the Firebrand and would have been a deathtrap.
As for the Gloster F5/34, the wingspan is about the same as the Hurricane and the latter had few problems in the carriers.
Lockheed were BAC's preferred build partner.
Edit:. IIRC, the source I got it from - a researcher mate who spent decades going through the PRO to get everything on TSR2 he could get his hands on (except some NBC stuff that's still very classified) - added that the US designation for the...
I'll play again.
Isreali Avia S-199 vs RAF Spitfire F.18e or Tempest F.6.
I was working on a 72nd S-199 with the blown hood and a recce pack to end up as an Isreali one but in the light of recent events, I don't do Isreali subjects.
I not read much on the Finnish plans, although I suspect that they’d use whatever wood they could grow.
I can’t remember which book I came across the Indian proposal, I have as many Mosquito references as I could get my hands on. They were to have been B.IV equivalents though.
The US got a load of PR.IV equivalent aircraft built in Canada but used them largely for training. One US commander tried to get them, complained to the British and was angrily told ‘you mean all the ones you’ve kept in the US?)
They did get PR.XVIs later in the war.
Canadian production only...
The only problem with the Mosquito is that there was never enough of them.
Yes, it could carry 4,000lb bombs, but the converted Mk IVs were marginal performers and hated by their crews. The properly designed B.XVIs were superb aircraft.