(the newest of comrade harps)
3 arid FACs #3: Omani Vampire OT-55
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de Havilland Vampire OT.55
a/c 123, 4 Squadron Sultan's of Oman Air Force (SOAF)
April or May 1967, Salalah, Oman
Crew: pilot Squadron Leader Bobby Chalmers and navigator/observer, Captain João Manuel Vieira Pinto
It was inevitable that both sides would be using some of the same equipment. In the aftermath of the European Red Revolutions of 1950, British designed aircraft were flown by UN, Moscow Pact and neutrals alike. One such type was the de Havilland Vampire, which continued to be manufactured in the Moscow Pact's Red Britain, France and Italy, plus UN member Australia and neutral India.
HAL produced 286 Vampire FB.52 fighters-bombers and 124 Vampire Trainer T.55s for the Indian Air Force (IAF). 20 FB.52s were converted to PR.52 standard and 8 T.55 to PR.55 standard as reconnaissance aircraft. 18 T.55s were also converted to T.56 radar trainers with the APG-37 radar fitted, these being used to train F-86K pilots, the Indian Air Force having received 60 K model Sabres in 1957. 8 T.56s were armed as NF.56 night fighters for export to Laos. HAL also built 60 FB.52s and 12 T.55s for Egypt, 46 FB.52s and 8 T.55s for Ethiopia, 28 FB.52s and 6 T.55s for Jordan, 24 FB.52s and 6 T.55s for Palestine, 24 FB.52s and 5 T.55s for Syria and 16 FB.52s and 4 T.55s for Sri Lanka. Iraq acquired 14 HAL-built FB.52s to replace an undelivered order for British made FB.9s, plus 3 ex-IAF T.55s. As they were replaced in IAF service by HAL-built F-86F and H Sabres and HAL HJT-16 Kiran trainers, many ex-IAF Vampires were exported to Burma, Egypt, Iraq, Laos, Oman, Palestine and Sri Lanka.
The Vampire Trainer had an unusual history. Whereas the FB.52 had been in production by HAL since early 1949, the prototype two seat Vampire Trainer T.11 was yet to fly at the time of the British Red Revolution. Although its first flight was in November 1950 (after the Revolution), T.11 blueprints had been distributed before the Revolution to de Havilland Australia and to HAL in anticipation of export sales and local production orders. The RAAF ordered the type as the T.33 and the IAF as the T.55.
A British Protectorate, the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman gained full national sovereignty from the Free British government in exile in 1954. A small Air Wing was established in 1955 and its first jets were delivered in 1960, at which time the service was renamed the Sultan of Oman's Air Force (SOAF). From public statements, the SOAF purchased just 15 ex-IAF Vampires: 9 FB.52s, 2 PR.52s and 4 T.55s. However, IAF records reveal that a further 5 FB.52s and 1 PR.52 were "transferred" or "loaned" to the SOAF. Documents from Airworks (the company contracted to maintain and repair SOAF aircraft from 1960 to 1991) note that 5 ex-Jordanian Vampires were delivered to the SOAF in 1966: 2 T.55s and 3 FB.52s also served with the SOAF. In total, 26 Vampires are confirmed as having entered the SOAF inventory.
When the Vampire deal was struck, Said bin Taimur, the Sultan of Muscat and Oman, was fighting two opponents in a war for national unity. One group of guerilla fighters were northern inland separatists, backed by Saudi Arabia, trying to re-establish autonomy for the Imamate of Oman. This became known as the Jebel Akhdar War. A second insurgency was based in the southern region of Dhofar, the Dhofar Liberation Movement being backed by the Arab Nationalist governments in Egypt, Iraq and Oman's newly independent neighbour, South Yemen. This front was known as the Dhofar Rebellion. Against these active threats stood the Sultan's Armed Forces, which were small in number, poorly equipped and barely trained. A declassified UN report documented the Air Wing as having a 15 plane inventory as of 1 January 1960, made up of 3 C-47Ds, 4 DHC-2 Beavers and 2 Bell 0H-13H Sioux choppers; its most numerous type was 6 Piper L-21B Super Cubs. However, only 7 of these airframes were listed as active (1 C-47D, 2 Beavers and 4 Super Cubs). The severity of the situation forced the Sultan to seek foreign help. Wanting to avoid the loss of sovereignty that came with UN intervention and sceptical of the intentions of the nations making overtures of assistance (particularly Iran, Pakistan and the US), Said bin Taimur chose to employ mercenaries and acquire arms from neutral India in order to keep the conflicts under his control. With the Vampires came foreign contract personnel and seconded IAF officers, plus a training programme for Omani citizens
The Vampires crews of 4 Squadron SOAF were primarily concerned with COIN warfare. Reconnaissance, CAS and interdiction missions were mounted in support of the Sultan's tiny army and the foreign mercenaries. Taking a low-intensity approach, the Sultan's forces gradually wore down their enemies, although several key actions have been highlighted in the popular narrative of what became known as the Omani Civil War. Vampires at the Battle of Mirbat in 1964 provided timely and accurate CAS to defeat a major attack by Dhofar guerillas. Heavy losses were inflicted on the Imamate's army on the approaches to Qarn Alam in 1966, Vampire pilots making sustained attacks with cannon and rockets. After many ad-hoc cross-border actions in hot pursuit, in April and May 1967 Oman launched Operation Steadfast. Omani forces crossed the border into North Yemen (independent and neutral since 1960) to hit major Dhofar rebel bases and arms caches in Hauf, Jaadib and Habarut. These incursions were supported by attacks from SOAF Vampires and the recently received ex-IAF F-86F Sabres of 5 Squadron. Two Vampires were shot down over South Yemen in May, with another badly damaged, all victims of Strella SAMs. Nevertheless, by the end of the year, both insurgencies had been defeated. Furthermore, the Dhofar Liberation Movement's defeat and the South Yemen Army's inability to repulse the Omani attacks destabilised the government of South Yemen, leading to a CIA backed coup that subsequently brought the country into UN membership.
This Vampire was photographed at Salalah in Dhofar in April 1967, prior to taking off on a mission into North Yemen. One of the 2 ex-Jordanian T.55s delivered to Oman in 1966, it was modified for fast FAC duties by Airwork in preparation of the campaigns into North Yemen. Previously, all SOAF FAC work had been done by the Super Cubs (5 more having been delivered in 1963-65 to fulfil the role). As North Yemen was armed with Egyptian-supplied triple-A and SA-7 Strella SAMs and had a squadron of Helwan Ha-200s, the Super Cub was considered too vulnerable for sustained use across the border. Refurbishing and modifying both former Jordanian T.55s to the same fast FAC OT-55 standard, the airframes received new radios and were equipped with underwing pylons in place of their individual rocket launchers. The pylons usually carried Indian-made 18 round rocket pods, each armed with 2 inch projectiles tipped with WP smoke warheads. Both OT-55s were conspicuously painted to promote identification and to assist formation flying when acting as leadships.
No Indian citizens were directly involved in Operation Steadfast's cross-border missions, this plane's crew during the incursions being the Rhodesian mercenary pilot, Squadron Leader Bobby Chalmers and his navigator/observer, the Free Portuguese citizen Captain João Manuel Vieira Pinto. They were forced to eject when was struck by a Strella SAM over Hauf on 8 May. Although injured, they were close to friendly troops and walked back to safety.
In addition to its Super Cubs, Vampires and Sabres, the SOAF supported Steadfast with DHC-5A Buffalo and Mooney C-10H Monarch STOL transports plus OH-6A and UH-1D helicopters. With the formation of 5 Squadron flying F-86Fs in 1966 and the delivery of F-5A/RF-5A/F-5B Freedom Fighters planned for 1968, the SOAF retired its few remaining Vampires in late 1967.
UN vs DPRK 2007 cont.: Mitsubishi F-39C
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Mitsubishi F-39C
a/c 46-5720, 6th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Air Wing, Japan Air Self-Defense Force
Tsuiki Airbase, 21 June 2007
During the 1990s the 8th Air Wing (8thAW) of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) consisted of 3 flying squadrons, the 6th and 8th Tactical Fighter Squadrons and the 7th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron. Operating fighter, attack and recce versions of Mitsubishi F-37, the 8thAW was the JASDF’s lead tactical combat unit for developing network-centric, time-sensitive targeting capabilities. This focus continued into the 21st century as the Wing transitioned to the new F-39C (single seat) and F-39D (two-seat) fighters, in the process losing its reconnaissance squadron as the F-39C/Ds were equipped with the F-39 Digital Reconnaissance Pod and the Litening AT targeting pod.
In the early 2000s, as the 8thAW brought its F-37C/Ds up to full operational capability, the unit made its first foreign forays to international exercises, including Pitch Black 2004 and 2006 in Australia and Red Flag in America during 2006. Another, less publicised, series of exercises attended by the Wing were Touted Gleem 2005 and 2007. Touted Gleem focused specifically on so-called Scud hunting, and it was this kind of dynamic targeting of the Democractic Peoples Republic of Korea’s (DPRK’s) mobile tactical and theatre ballistic missile threats that the Wing put into effect on the night of 21 June, 20017.
On the night of 20 June 2007, the United Nations (UN) forcibly put into effect no-fly zone and civilisation protection measured across the Korean Peninsula. In response, as the UN bombs and missiles were still striking, during the early hours of the 21st the DPRK launched eight ballistic missiles at Japan, hitting cities and causing civilian casualties. Additionally, a Japanese-registered fishing vessel was attacked by a ship of the DPRK navy near the island of Ulleungdo (a possession of the UN-member nation of the Republic of Korea), Having been directly attacked, the Japanese government responded to the maritime threat with naval and air power. On the night of the 21/22 June, JASDF Tornado J-Kai’s joining the Great Korean Turkey Shoot and F-39C/Ds countered the Scud threat by joining the UN’s Operation Bow String, the UN’s hunter-killer mission against mobile ballistic missile launchers.
Assigned a kill box, the 8thAw deployed its F-39Cs and Ds over the Korean Penisula in hunter-killer teams. Each wo aircraft team featured a F-39D acting as the hunter and an F-37C riding shotgun as the killer. Both aircraft carried a Litening AT targeting pod, a pair of drop tanks and, for self-defence, two AESA radar AAM-4Bs underwing and a pair of wingtip-mounted AAM-3B imaging-infrared guided missiles. The F-39D carried the F-39 Digital Reconnaissance Pod on its centreline, while the F-39C’s central pylon was equipped with a dual stores adaptor armed with two EGCS-1 bombs. Based around the licence manufactured Mk 82 250 kg bomb, the EGCS-1 kit was an Enhanced version of Japan’s original infrared guided GSC-1, with a new imaging infrared (IIR) seeker and embedded GPS and INS. This combination of guidance made the EGCS-1 an IIR equivalent to the laser/GPS/INS guided Paveway IV. Meshed via datalinks into the UN’s intelligence, surveillance, targeting, acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) network, they were also backed by Japan’s own netcentric ISTAR systems, the airborne nodes of which included E-767J AWACs, EP-3J-Kai Orions and the U-2J-Kai Dragon Lady.
At 03.10 hours Korean-time, the crew of F-39D 46-5712 identified what appeared to be a transporter erector launcher (TEL) on the move and designated it for the pilot of F-39C 46-5720 to attack. With the TEL’s GPS coordinates data linked to the F-39C, the single-seater’s pilot locked onto the target with his Litening AT, slaved the EGCS-1’s infrared imaging sensor to the pod’s cross-hairs to establish a positive acquisition of the TEL and dropped a single bomb, scoring a direct hit. A second EGCS-1 was subsequently dropped on an accompanying truck. The next day the Japanese government and the Operation Freedom Dawn command issued statements praising the work of JSDF in their "measured and responsible response" to the "unprovoked attacks" on Japan. No video was released at the time, as "the Japanese government takes no pleasure in conducting combat operations." Five years later the video was quietly released by the UN, knowledgable observers identifying the TEL as a carrying a FROG-7, a tactical artillery rocket without the range to strike Japan. No video has been released of the second target.
Eastern Front 1941: Kyiv Aviation Institute
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Kyiv Aviation Institute KAI-11M
“Москва” ("Moscow") White 96, personal mount of Flight Leader Viktor Shishkin
183rd Escadrille, 180th “Moscow” Fighter Regiment, 324th Fighter Aviation Division (Guards), 6th Fighter Air Corps, Socialist Union Red Army Air Force
Kubinka, Socialist Union, 14th November 1941
The Kyiv Aviation Institute KAI-11 was designed in response to a 1936 Moscow Pact requirement for a fast, modern fighter with a good climbing speed and an armament centred on a 20 mm cannon. Designed and built by Kyiv Aviation Institute, 2,145 KAI-11s were manufactured in Ukraine before production switched to the KAI-13.
The -11 was an all-metal plane powered by the Klimov M-103, the -13 being a development of the -11 powered by the M-105 engine. The -13 was in production at the time of the Axis invasion of June, 1941, but due to German bombing and their rapid advance the factory was unable to be evacuated east. This, and the need to focus production on planes that used less metal, meant that the KAI-13 was abandoned, along with several promising prototypes and lines of development.
In 1941 the 183rd Escadrille (Guards) was resident at Kubinka and flying the modernised KAI-11M. The KAI-11M was an upgraded KAI-11, which brought together a number of improvements and sought to standardise the fleet to a single model. The M model can be identified by its long spinner, which was part of a fix for cannon vibration and poor reliability of the propeller's variable pitch mechanism. Being an elite Guards unit, and committed to the air defence of Moscow, the unit was awarded the privilege to take its pick of the best KAI-11Ms coming off the upgrade line located nearby at Chkalovsky.
Note that the heraldry ahead of the canopy is a unit badge and not a Guards one. However, the yellow inscription on the intake near the nose says Guards.
All KAI-11s were armed with a 20mm ShVAK cannon that fired through the propeller hub and four wing-mounted 7.62mm ShKAS machine guns. To save weight some pilots removed a pair of ShKAS, but this was unusual. They were rarely seen with air to ground armament.
This aircraft's pilot, Fight Leader Viktor Shishkin, was recruited for service with the Red Army Air Force Guards after a rigorous selection process. All Guards units are elite formations, with personnel selected from volunteers who were subjected to military and ideological testing. Two of the F/L Shishkin's 5 red star kills markings under the canopy of White 96 are from the Khalkhin Gol battles of 1939, both being Japanese Ki-27 fighters. It was these victories that caught the attention of Guards recruiters, who invited Shishkin to enter the selection process. He joined the Guards in September 1940 and was assigned to the 183rd Escadrille, 180th “Moscow” Fighter Regiment, which (with other units) was responsible for the air defence of Moscow. He was credited with the destruction of a Luftwaffe Bf109E in October, 1941, and a He-111H on 6 November. On the 14th November, 1941, a fifth red victory star was added to White 96 after he shot down another He-111H.
He would go on to earn Hero of the Socialist Union status in 1943 and ended his combat career on 23rd June, 1945, with 56 confirmed kills. On that date he was badly wounded during an engagement with a Luftwaffe Me262A-1 while flying a BeSS-5 (see
www.whatifmodellers.com/index.…).