Marines with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 775, Marine Aircraft Group 41, 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, execute pre-flight checks and procedures on an AH-1Z attack helicopter before take-off at Naval Air Facility El Centro, Calif., Feb. 7, 2022. HMLA-775 provides aviation support that enables the unit to maintain and enhance their mission capabilities and readiness. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Jonathan L. Gonzalez)

The Bell AH-1Z Viper is a twin-engine attack helicopter, based on the AH-1W SuperCobra, designed and produced by the American aerospace manufacturer Bell Helicopter. It is one of the latest members of the prolific Bell Huey family. It is often called “Zulu Cobra”, based on the military phonetic alphabet pronunciation of its variant letter.

The AH-1Z was developed during the 1990s and 2000s as a part of the H-1 upgrade program on behalf of the United States Marine Corps (USMC). It is essentially a modernisation of the service’s existing AH-1Ws, and was originally intended to be a rebuild program before subsequent orders were made for new-build helicopters instead. The AH-1Z and Bell UH-1Y Venom utility helicopter share a common tailboom, engines, rotor system, drivetrain, avionics architecture, software, controls and displays for over 84% identical components. Furthermore, it features a four-blade, bearingless, composite main rotor system, uprated transmission, and a new target sighting system amongst other improvements. On 8th December 2000, the AH-1Z conducted its maiden flight; low-rate initial production was launched in October 2003.

On 30th September 2010, the USMC declared that the AH-1Z had attained combat readiness; it fully replaced the preceding AH-1W Super Cobra during October 2020. The type forms a key element of the Aviation Combat Element (ACE) taskforce which support all phases of USMC expeditionary operations. Since its introduction, the USMC has pursued various upgrades, such as installing Link 16 datalink and outfitting it with the AGM-179A Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM). Additionally, numerous export customers have been sought for the AH-1Z, it has regularly competed with the Boeing AH-64 Apache for orders. The first export customer was the Royal Bahraini Air Force, and the Czech Air Force has also ordered the type. At one point, Pakistan was set to operate its own AH-1Zs, but deliveries were blocked due to political factors.

Development

Background

Aspects of the AH-1Z can be traced back to the experimental Bell 249 of 1979, which was essentially an upgraded AH-1S, having been equipped with the four-blade main rotor system from the Bell 412 utility helicopter. The Bell 249 was used as a demonstrator for Bell’s Cobra II concept, and made an appearance at the Farnborough Airshow in 1980. As promoted by Bell, the Cobra II was to be equipped with various new and redesigned combat systems, which included the AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missile, a new targeting system, and was also to be powered by improved engines as well.

The further-developed Cobra 2000 proposal included the General Electric T700 engine and a four-blade rotor. While Bell’s proposal did generate some interest within the US Marine Corps, funding was not forthcoming to pursue its development at that time. During 1993, Bell opted to enter an AH-1W-based variant for the UK’s new attack helicopter program. This derivative, which was named the CobraVenom, featured a modern digital cockpit and could carry wire-guided missiles, Hellfire or Brimstone missiles. The CobraVenom design was further refined two years later, notably by the adoption of a four-blade rotor system. However, later that same year, a rival bid for the AH-64D Apache Longbow was selected to fulfil the program instead.

An AH-1Z at an air show displaying four-blade rotors and longer stub wings

H-1 upgrade program

In 1996, the USMC launched the H-1 upgrade program by signing a contract with Bell Helicopter for upgrading 180 AH-1Ws into AH-1Zs and upgrading 100 UH-1Ns into UH-1Ys. The H-1 program created completely modernized attack and utility helicopters with considerable design commonality to reduce operating costs. The AH-1Z and UH-1Y share a common tailboom, engines, rotor system, drivetrain, avionics architecture, software, controls and displays for over 84% identical components.[

Bell participated in a joint government test team during the engineering manufacturing and development phase of the H-1 program. Research and development progressed slowly from 1996 to 2003. The existing two-blade semi-rigid, teetering rotor system was replaced with a four-blade, hingeless, bearingless rotor system. The four-blade configuration provides improvements in flight characteristics including increased flight envelope, maximum speed, vertical rate of climb, payload and reduced rotor vibration level.[

The AH-1Z first flew on 8th December 2000. Bell delivered three prototype aircraft to the United States Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in July 2002, for the flight test phase of the program. Low-rate initial production began in October 2003, with deliveries running through 2018. In late 2006, a contract was awarded to Meggitt Defense Systems to develop a new linkless 20 mm ammunition handling system to improve on the gun feed reliability of the existing linked feed system.

In February 2008, the U.S. Navy adjusted the contract so the last 40 AH-1Zs were built as new airframes instead of the previously planned rebuild of AH-1Ws. In September 2008, the Navy requested an additional 46 airframes for the Marine Corps, bringing the total number ordered to 226. During 2010, the Marine Corps ordered 189 AH-1Zs, with 58 of them being new airframes, with deliveries to continue until 2022. On 10th December 2010, the Department of the Navy approved the AH-1Z for full-rate production.

In November 2022, Bell delivered the 189th AH-1Z to the U.S. Marine Corps, completing the program of record for the Viper. Combined with the 160 UH-1Y airframes which completed delivery in 2018, it marked the final deliveries of the H-1 series rotorcraft for the U.S. military since deliveries began in 1959.

Design

The Bell AH-1Z Viper is an attack helicopter derived from the earlier Bell AH-1 SuperCobra. When contrasted against its predecessor, it incorporates various improvements and advances, including new rotor technology, upgraded military avionics, updated weapons systems, and electro-optical sensors in an integrated weapons platform. Amongst other advantages provided by these changes, it has improved survivability and can locate targets at longer ranges and also attack them using precision weapons. The airframe was extensively redesigned to maximise crashworthiness; measures include energy-absorbing landing gear, fuel vapor inerting systems, self-sealing fuel tanks, energy-attenuating crashworthy seating, and a mass retention design approach applied to many major components. Active systems include countermeasure dispensers, radar warning, incoming/on-way missile warning, on-fuselage laser spot warning systems, and the Hover Infrared Suppression System (HIRSS) to protect the engine exhausts.

The AH-1Z is equipped with a bearingless and hingeless rotor system; this has 75% fewer parts than that of four-bladed articulated systems. The rotor blades are composed of composites, which give them increased ballistic survivability; the rotor is equipped with a semi-automatic folding system, enabling the AH-1Z to be stored more efficiently aboard amphibious assault ships and other means of transportation. Efforts were made to maximise its maintainability and to minimise maintenance requirements; in comparison to the SuperCobra, numerous maintenance tasks have been eliminated, interactive electronic technical manuals have been produced, less spares storage is required, and accessibility has also been improved. Furthermore, various fault detection sensors are present to facilitate condition-based maintenance.

The AH-1Z is equipped with a pair of redesigned stub wings, these being substantially longer than those of the preceding SuperCobra. Each one has an additional wingtip station for a missile such as the AIM-9 Sidewinder. Each stub wing has two other stations for 2.75-inch (70 mm) Hydra 70 rocket pods, or AGM-114 Hellfire quad missile launchers. In early 2022 Initial Operational Capability (IOC) was reached with the AGM-179 JAGM; it uses the same type of missile launchers as the Hellfires. The AN/APG-78 Longbow fire control radar can also be mounted on a wingtip station. Similarly, other mission equipment can be fitted to these stations, including 77 and 100 gallon external auxiliary fuel tanks, LUU-2A/B nighttime illumination flares, and numerous types of practice munitions. Underneath the nose of the AH-1Z is an A/A49E-7 turret fitted with a 20 mm (0.787 in) M197 three-barreled rotary cannon; this weapon has a higher muzzle velocity and flatter trajectory than predecessors; it is also compatible with M50-series air-to-air rounds.

AH-1Z pilots aboard USS Makin Island wearing helmet mounted displays (displays not shown)

The cockpit of the AH-1Z has been designed so that both crewmembers have virtually identical controls; it can be readily flown from either the front or rear positions. These positions incorporate a Hands on Collective and Stick (HOCAS) side-stick architecture, which enables many functions to be carried out by the pilot without moving their hands from the flight controls. Both of the two crew stations are provisioned with a pair of 8×6-inch multifunction liquid crystal displays (LCD) and a single 4.2×4.2-inch dual function LCD. The AH-1Z has an integrated avionics system developed by Northrop Grumman; this system includes two mission computers and an automatic flight control system. The communications suite combines a U.S. Navy RT-1824 integrated radio, UHF/VHF, COMSEC and modem into a single unit. The navigation suite includes an embedded GPS inertial navigation system, a digital map system and Meggitt’s low-airspeed air data subsystem, which allows weapons delivery when hovering.

Crew members are equipped with the Thales “Top Owl” helmet-mounted sight and display system. This display provides a 24-hour day/night capability and a binocular display with a 40° field of view; its visor projection provides forward-looking infrared (FLIR) or video imagery. Furthermore, it has been designed from the onset to accommodate in-service upgrades. The Lockheed Martin target sight system (TSS) incorporates a third-generation FLIR sensor which provides target sighting and identification in day, night, or adverse weather conditions. It is a passive sensor, unlike radar, thus is untrackable. The TSS has various view modes and can track with FLIR or by TV. The same system is also used on the KC-130J Harvest HAWK.

A U.S. Marine Corps AH-1Z lands on USS Makin Island in 2010.

Operational History

United States

During May 2005, it was announced that the AH-1Z had completed its first round of sea-based flight trials. On 15th October 2005, the USMC, through the Naval Air Systems Command, accepted delivery of the first AH-1Z production standard helicopter. Both the AH-1Z and UH-1Y completed their developmental testing during early 2006. During the first quarter of 2006, initial examples of the type were transferred to the Operational Test Unit at the NAS Patuxent River to undergo operational evaluation (OPEVAL) testing. In February 2008, both the AH-1Z and UH-1Y began the second and final portion of OPEVAL testing. On 30th September 2010, the USMC declared that the AH-1Z had attained combat readiness.

Since the type’s introduction, numerous upgrades have been investigated and integrated. During March 2022, it was announced that the AGM-179A Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) has achieved initial operational capability upon the AH-1Z; this munition will replace both the Hellfire and Maverick missiles. As of early 2022, work to install kits to facilitate a Link 16 datalink upon both the AH-1Z and UH-1Y was underway.

During October 2020, the USMC announced the withdrawal of the last of its AH-1W Super Cobras; the type has been entirely replaced by AH-1Z Vipers. In USMC service, the AH-1Z forms a key element of the Aviation Combat Element (ACE), a task-orientated force of supporting the USMC throughout all phases of its expeditionary operations; key tasks in this capacity include offensive air support, anti-air warfare, assault support, and aerial reconnaissance. During the early 2020s, there were debates over cutting as much as one-third of the USMC’s attack helicopter fleet in order to reallocate budget to other capabilities. In May 2021, even as deliveries continued, several USMC AH-1Zs went into long-term storage at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) in Arizona as part of a wider restructuring effort.

Armed USMC AH-1Zs on the flight deck of an amphibious assault ship

Bahrain

On 27th April 2018, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced it had received U.S. State Department approval and notified Congress of a possible sale to Bahrain of 12 AH-1Zs, 26 T-700 GE 401C engines, and armaments for an estimated cost of US$911.4 million (~$1.09 billion in 2023). In November 2018, Bahrain confirmed the order for 12 AH-1Zs, and the first six were delivered in mid-2022.

Production of AH-1Zs for Bahrain were completed in December 2022 and final deliveries will be made in 2023.

Czech Republic

In 2016, Bell was also interested in selling the AH-1Z to the Czech Republic, which sought to retire its Soviet-era Mil Mi-24 gunships. In December 2019, the Czech Republic finalized the sale with the U.S. of four AH-1Zs for the Czech Air Force. In March 2022, Czech Defense Minister Jana Černochová announced plans to buy further helicopters, attributing this decision to the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Bell AH-1Z ”Viper” of Czech Air Force registration 0487 on static display at NATO Days 2023

Forces of Valor 1/72nd scale Bell AH-1Z “Viper” USMC Attack Helicopter Leg. “3rd Marine Aircraft Wing” Mag-39 HMLA-469 “Vengeance”

Check out the latest Forces of Valor 1/72nd scale Bell AH-1Z “Viper”  available to order from Flying Tigers. Please click on the image or link below to go straight to the model page.

FOV821007A Forces of Valor 1/72nd scale Bell AH-1Z “Viper” USMC Attack Helicopter Leg. “3rd Marine Aircraft Wing” Mag-39 HMLA-469 “Vengeance”  RRP £70.00  Flying Tigers only £59.99

Hobbymaster updated photo gallery.

Check out the latest HM photos below. Please click on the images or links to go straight to the model page to order your model

HA4572 Hobbymaster 1/72n scale McDonnell Douglas F-15B “NASA” 836, Edwards AFB Airshow 2022 (w/ optional AIM-54 missile)  RRP £116.00  Flying Tigers only £87.99

HA6806 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Su-57 Stealth Fighter 01 Blue, Russian Air Force, 2019 (w/ 2 x R-77 and 2 x R-37 missiles on the wings)  RRP £126.00  Flying Tigers only £94.99

HA7862 Hobbymaster 1/48th scale Spitfire Mk. Vb EN921, flown by F/O Jack Sheppard, No. 401 Sqn. (RCAF), 1943  RRP £90.00  Flying Tigers only £67.99

HA7861 Hobbymaster 1/48th scale Spitfire Mk. Vb BM124, flown by Sqn. Ldr. ‘Paddy’ Finucane, No. 602 Sqn., 1942  RRP £72.00  Flying Tigers only £65.99

Thank you for reading this week’s Newsletter.

Richard
Flying Tigers.

The post Bell AH-1Z Viper , Hobbymaster and Panzerkampf Updates, and Offer of the Week Sale! appeared first on Flying Tigers.

MH-47E Night Stalkers

The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), abbreviated as 160th SOAR (A), is a special operations force of the United States Army that provides helicopter aviation support for general purpose forces and special operations forces. Its missions have included attack, assault, and reconnaissance, and these missions are usually conducted at night, at high speeds, low altitudes, and on short notice.

Nicknamed the Night Stalkers and called Task Force Brown within the JSOC, the 160th SOAR(A) is headquartered at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Overview

The 160th SOAR (A) consists of the Army’s best-qualified aviators, crew chiefs, and support soldiers. Officers volunteer while enlisted soldiers volunteer or are assigned by the U.S. Army Human Resources Command. Until 2013, only men were allowed to be pilots in the 160th.

Upon joining the 160th, all soldiers are assigned to “Green Platoon”, in which they receive intensive training in “advanced methods of the five basic combat skills: first responder, land navigation, combatives, weapons and teamwork”. The weapons training includes firing hundreds of thousands of rounds with the M9 pistol, M4 carbine, and AK-47 and AK-74 rifles. Soldiers who fail to pass the course a first time may retake it, but there is no guarantee that anyone assigned to Green Platoon will pass and continue on with the 160th. The basic Night Stalker course for enlisted soldiers lasts five weeks; the officer course lasts 20 to 28 weeks.

A new Night Stalker pilot arrives at a unit Basic Mission Qualified (BMQ). After a series of skills test qualifications, experience, leadership, and oral review boards lasting up to three years, the Night Stalker is designated Fully Mission Qualified (FMQ). After three to five years as an FMQ, the Night Stalker may try out for flight lead qualification.

SOAR Flight Medics can qualify as special operations combat medics by completing the 36-week long Special Operations Combat Medic (SOCM) Course at Fort Bragg.

The Regiment’s E Company gets a tutorial of the MQ-1C Gray Eagles

History

1980s and 1990s

After the 1980 Operation Eagle Claw attempt to rescue American hostages held in Tehran, Iran, failed, President Jimmy Carter ordered former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James L. Holloway III to figure out how the U.S. military could best mount another attempt. At the time there were no U.S. helicopter units trained in this kind of stealthy, short-notice Special Operations mission.

The Army looked to the 101st Aviation Group, the air arm of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), which had the most diverse operating experience of the service’s helicopter units, and selected elements of the 158th Aviation Battalion, 101st Aviation Battalion, 229th Aviation Battalion, and the 159th Aviation Battalion. The chosen pilots immediately entered intensive training in night flying.

This provisional unit was dubbed Task Force 158, since most of its pilots were Black Hawk aviators detached from the 158th. Their distinctive 101st “Screaming Eagle” patches remained on their uniforms. The Black Hawks and Chinooks continued to operate around Campbell Army Airfield at the north of post, and Saber Army Heliport at the south. The OH-6 Cayuses, aircraft that had vanished from the division’s regular inventory after Vietnam, were hidden on base in an ammunition holding area still known as the “SHOC Pad”, for “Special Helicopter Operations Company”.

As the first batch of pilots completed training in the fall of 1980, a second attempt to rescue the hostages was planned for early 1981. Dubbed Operation Honey Badger, it was called off when the hostages were released on the morning of President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration.

Task Force 158 was the Army’s only special operations aviation unit, and its members had already become recognized as the Army’s premier aviation night fighters. Their capability was judged too useful to lose, and so instead of returning to the 101st, the pilots and modified aircraft became a new unit. (Original members of the Night Stalkers refer to it as “the day the Eagles came off”. The unit was officially established on 16 October 1981, when it was designated as the 160th Aviation Battalion.

The 160th first saw combat during 1983’s Operation Urgent Fury, the U.S. invasion of Grenada.

In 1986, it was renamed the 160th Aviation Group (Airborne); and in May 1990, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne). As demand for highly trained special operations aviation assets bloomed, the regiment activated three battalions, a separate detachment, and incorporated one Army National Guard unit, the 1st Battalion, 245th Aviation (OK ARNG).

In 1987 and 1988, its pilots took part in Operation Earnest Will, the protection of re-flagged Kuwaiti tankers in the Persian Gulf during the Iran–Iraq War. They flew from US Navy warships and leased oil barges in a secret sub-part called Operation Prime Chance, and became the first helicopter pilots to use night vision goggles and forward looking infrared (FLIR) devices in night combat.

The Regiment’s Company E fly the slingloaded Mil Mi-25 out of Chad, known as Operation Mount Hope III

In June 1988, the unit received a short-notice directive to recover a Soviet made Mi-25 Hind (Mi-24 Hind export version) attack helicopter from a remote location in Chad. The Hind was abandoned by the Libyans after 15 years of fighting, and was of great intelligence value to the U.S. In April 1988, two CH-47 Chinooks, a U.S. Air Force C-5 Galaxy, and 75 maintenance personnel and crew flew to White Sands AFB, New Mexico to rehearse the mission. In late May of that year an advance team went to Ndjamena, Chad, to await their aircraft. Two weeks later two Chinooks and 76 crew members and maintenance personnel arrived by C-5. At midnight on 11th June 1988, two MH-47s flew 490 miles at night without outside navigational aids to the target location, the Ouadi Doum Airfield in northern Chad. The first Chinook landed and configured the Hind, while the second hovered overhead and sling loaded it for return to Ndjamena. A surprise sandstorm slowed the return trip, but less than 67 hours after the arrival of the C-5 in Chad, the ground crew had the Hind and Chinooks aboard and ready for return to the U.S.

The Night Stalkers spearheaded Operation Just Cause, the 1989 invasion of Panama, and they were also used in Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

Super 6-4 one month before the Battle of Mogadishu. From left: Winn Mahuron, Tommy Field, Bill Cleveland, Ray Frank and Michael Durant.

In October 1993 in Somalia, Night Stalkers became involved in the Battle of Mogadishu, which later became the subject of the book Black Hawk Down, and its film adaptation. Two Night Stalker Black Hawks, Super 6-1 (piloted by Cliff Wolcott), and Super 6-4 (piloted by Mike Durant), were shot down in the battle. Five of the eighteen men killed (not counting a nineteenth post-operation casualty) in the Battle of Mogadishu were members of the Night Stalkers team, who were lost along with the two Black Hawks.

Global War on Terrorism

2001–2005

During the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the Night Stalkers from 2nd Battalion supported two task forces established in early October 2001: Dagger and Sword. (Their unit in TF Sword was designated Task Force Brown.) In the evening of 18th October into 19th October 2001, two SOAR MH-47E helicopters, escorted by MH-60L (Direct Action Penetrators) (DAPs), airlifted U.S. troops from the Karshi-Khanabad Air Base in Uzbekistan more than 300 kilometers (190 mi) across the 16,000-foot (4,900 m) Hindu Kush mountains into Afghanistan.

The pilots of the Chinooks, flying in zero-visibility conditions, were refueled in flight three times during the 11-hour mission, establishing a new world record for combat rotorcraft. The troops – two 12-man Green Beret teams from the 5th Special Forces Group dubbed Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 555 and 595 plus four Air Force Combat Controllers — linked up with the CIA and Northern Alliance. Within a few weeks, the Northern Alliance, assisted by U.S. ground and air forces, captured several key cities from the Taliban.

A MH-60L DAP fires its 2.75 in (7.0 cm) rockets on a U.S. test range

In November 2001, Night Stalker AH-6J Little Birds took part in Objective Wolverine and Raptor missions and Operation Relentless Strike. In December 2001, Night Stalker crews resupplied more than 150 Delta Force, British Special Boat Service, and CIA Special Activities Division operatives as they hunted for Osama bin Laden in the Tora Bora mountain complex.

On 21st February 2002, while scouting Islamist terrorists on Basilan Island as part of Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines and seeking to rescue a nurse and an American missionary couple, a MH-47 crashed at sea in the southern Philippines’ Bohol Strait, killing 10 servicemen (eight from E company, 160th SOAR and two from the 353rd Special Operations Group).

In March 2002, Night Stalkers from B Company, 2nd Battalion, 160th SOAR supported coalition troops during Operation Anaconda, particularly at the Battle of Takur Ghar on 4th March, where one of their MH-47Es, callsign Razor 03, was damaged by rocket-propelled grenades and crash-landed carrying Mako 30. A second MH-47E, callsign Razor 01, responded to the shoot down with a Quick Reaction Force; it was damaged by small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, and crash-landed. One Night Stalker was killed in the battle.

On 21st June 2002 in the Philippines, Night Stalker MH-47Es were involved in the operation that killed Abu Sabaya, a senior leader in Abu Sayyef. A U.S. Predator drone marked the person with an infrared laser as he tried to escape in a smuggler’s boat. The MH-47Es trained searchlights on the boat while operators from the Philippine Naval Special Operations Group opened fire, killing the terrorist leader and capturing four other terrorists with him.

Later 2002, in Afghanistan, Task Force 11 (previously known as Task Force Sword-renamed in January 2002) was composed of DEVGRU, and a company of Rangers, and was supported by a company of helicopters from the 160th SOAR.

An AH-6M attacks designated targets during an offensive air support exercise with the USMC’s MAWTS-1

During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, 3rd Battalion, 160th SOAR, deployed as the Joint Special Operations Air Detachment-West under CJSOTF-West (Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-West/Task Force Dagger). It was equipped with eight MH-47E Chinooks, four MH-60L DAPs, and two MH-60M Black Hawks. At 9 p.m. on 19 March 2003, the first strike of Operation Iraqi Freedom was carried out by members of the 160th SOAR, on Iraqi visual observation posts along the southern and western borders of Iraq. The strike groups included one flight of MH-60L DAPs and four “Black Swarm” flights, each consisting of a pair of AH-6M Little Birds; a FLIR-equipped, target-spotting MH-6M; and a pair of U.S. Air Force A-10As.

In seven hours, more than 70 sites were destroyed, effectively depriving the Iraqi military of any early warning of the coming invasion. As the sites were eliminated the first heliborne SOF teams launched from H-5 airbase in Jordan, including vehicle-mounted patrols from the British and Australian special forces, who were transported by the MH-47Es of the 160th SOAR. Night Stalkers from 1st Battalion 160th SOAR were tasked with supporting Task Force 20 with its MH-60M Black Hawks, MH-60L DAPs, MH-6M transport and AH-6M Little Birds; they were based at Ar’Ar. On 26th March, the 160th SOAR took part in the Objective Beaver mission, a raid by DEVGRU on a complex known as al Qadisiyah Research Centre that was suspected to have stocks of chemical and biological weapons.

A MH-6M insert a team of Rangers atop a building using the Fast Rope Insertion Extraction System (FRIES)

On 1st April 2003, the 160th SOAR took part in the rescue mission of PFC Jessica Lynch who was taken prisoner during the Battle of Nasiriyah. On 2nd April, a Delta Force squadron operating in Iraq was ambushed by a half-dozen armed technicals from an anti-special forces Fedayeen. Two MH-60K Black Hawks carrying a parajumper medical team and two MH-60L DAPs of the 160th SOAR responded and engaged the Iraqis, which allowed the Delta operators to move their two casualties to an emergency HLZ. However, one Delta Force operator succumbed to his wounds.

On the evening of 13th December 2003, Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces in Operation Red Dawn, he was exfiltrated by a MH-6 Little Bird from the 160th SOAR and he was taken into custody at Baghdad International Airport.

In 2004 they took part in the rescue of three Italian contractors and one Polish businessman held for ransom by Iraqi insurgents.

An MH-60K conducts air-refueling with an AFSOC MC-130J Commando II

In Afghanistan in 2005: Eight Night Stalkers (four from HHC and four from Bravo company of 3rd Battalion were killed along with eight Navy SEALs on a rescue mission for Marcus Luttrell, after their MH-47 Chinook helicopter was hit by an RPG (rocket propelled grenade). They were sent out to look for Luttrell after Operation Red Wings, in which he was involved with three other SEALs, was compromised and Luttrell’s teammates killed.

2006–2009

In March 2006, SEALs from DEVGRU and Rangers were flown by the 160th SOAR into in North Waziristan, Pakistan, to assault an al-Qaeda training camp, allegedly under the codename: Operation Vigilant Harvest, the assaulters killed as many as 30 terrorists including the camps commandant.

On 14th May 2006, helicopters from the 160th SOAR brought operators from Delta Force’s B Squadron to Yusufiyah, Iraq, to fight al-Qaeda fighters in several buildings. As the operators disembarked their helicopters, they came under fire from a nearby house, and more al-Qaeda fighters soon joined the firefight. The door gunners of the 160th’s Black Hawks fired at the insurgents; a pair of AH-6M Little Birds carried out strafing runs. One Little Bird from the 160th’s 1st Battalion, B Company, was shot down. An estimated 25 al-Qaeda fighters were killed.

In July 2006, a pair of MH-47Es from 160th SOAR attempted to insert a combined strike element of DEVGRU, Rangers, and Afghan commandos in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, to attack a compound. With some troops on the ground, a large insurgent force ambushed them. Both helicopters were struck by small arms fire. One MH-47E pilot put his aircraft in the line of fire to protect the other MH-47E as its assault team disembarked. An RPG hit the shielding MH-47E, whose pilot crash-landed with no serious injuries to operators or aircrew. The Ranger commander and an attached Australian Commando organized an all-round defence while the other MH-47E held back the advancing insurgents until its miniguns ran out of ammunition. An AC-130 Spectre joined the battle and kept the down crew and passengers safe until a British Immediate Response Team helicopter recovered them. The AC-130 then destroyed the MH-47E wreck, denying it to the Taliban.

A MH-60M from the regiment lands aboard the USS Bataan (LHD-5) 2006

Elements of 3rd Battalion 160th SOAR have conducted episodic deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom – Caribbean and Central America, begun in 2008. Night Stalker helicopters were present during the 2008 SOCOM counter-terror exercises in Denver. On 24th April 2008, Company D, 3rd Battalion, 160th SOAR was inactivated at a ceremony conducted at Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, as part of a regimental transformation plan. The 160th SOAR also took part in the 2008 Abu Kamal raid.

On 19th August 2009, four Night Stalkers from D Company, 1st Battalion, 160th SOAR lost their lives in a MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crash in Leadville, Colorado, during mountain and environmental training. On 9th September 2009 in Afghanistan, Night Stalkers inserted the British SBS and SFSG into Kunduz Province to rescue Times journalist Stephen Farrell after he and his Afghan interpreter were captured by the Taliban. On 19th September 2009 in Somalia, the Night Stalkers took part in Operation Celestial Balance, whose target was a senior terrorist leader connected to al-Qaeda affiliated organizations. The assault force (4 AH-6M Little Birds and 4 MH-60L Black Hawks) carried in DEVGRU operators to kill or capture the leader. AH-6Ms strafed the two-vehicle convoy, killing the leader along with three other al-Shabaab terrorists, then carried out an overwatch while DEVGRU cleared the vehicles and recovered the body.

A MH-47G conducts Maritime External Air Transportation System (MEATS) training with the U.S. Navy’s Special Operations Craft–Riverine

On 22nd October 2009, a 3rd Battalion helicopter crashed into the USNS Arctic during a joint training exercise involving fast roping about 20 miles off Fort Story, Virginia. The crash killed a soldier, Sergeant First Class James R. Stright, 29, and injured eight others, three seriously.

2010–2020

In May 2011, the Night Stalkers took part in the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound. The operation involved flying covertly into Abbotabad, Pakistan in a pair of MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, specially modified for stealth and piloted by the 160th SOAR, to take a team of Navy SEALs directly to bin Laden’s compound. While one of the helicopters crash landed on arrival, all on board survived. The SEALs were successfully inserted onto the property while the crew was able to extract themselves, provide cover for the SEALs and then leave on the other helicopter. The mission was overall considered a success. The dramatic nighttime raid was “painstakingly recreated” in the film Zero Dark Thirty, which covers the CIA’s efforts to track down bin Laden, from just after the September 11th attacks to the daring raid ten years later.

On 28th May 2012, Operation Jubilee took place: Black Hawks from the 160th SOAR flew in a teams from the British 22nd SAS Regiment and DEVGRU into Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan so they could rescue a British aid worker, a Kenyan NGO worker and 2 Afghans who were taken hostage by Bandits in the province. The rescue was a success.

On 15th January 2014, a MH-60M Black Hawk of the 160th performed a hard landing at Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia. One soldier, CPT Clayton Carpenter of NY (posthumously promoted to MAJ), was killed with another two injured. On 4th July 2014, during Operation Inherent Resolve, the Night Stalkers inserted Delta Force operators into Syria to rescue James Foley and other US hostages. One American was wounded, no hostages were found, but a substantial number of terrorists were killed. CENTCOM mistakenly posted a video on the internet of a flight of four MH-60Ms of the 160th SOAR conducting a mid-air refueling over Iraq in October 2014, the video was hastily taken down. On 26th November 2014, MH-60s flown by Nightstalkers took part in the first raid in the 2014 hostage rescue operations in Yemen.

An MH-60L deploys an ODA from 7th Special Forces Group onto the deck of a U.S. Navy submarine

The Night Stalkers continue to be deployed to Afghanistan as part of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission after Operation Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan ended in late 2014 and was replaced with Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. Throughout that night of 5th December 2015, a group of Rangers engaged in a firefight with enemy troops near the Afghan-Pakistan border; after about 5 a.m. their commander called for an extraction after they learned of a larger enemy group approaching. A helicopter from the 160th SOAR arrived and began receiving heavy fire from the enemy, with an AH-64 Apache helicopter from the 1st Battalion 101st Aviation Regiment escorting the helicopter, put their Apache directly between the U.S. troops, the helicopter and the enemy forces to draw the fire. As a result, the extraction was a success.

The Washington Post reported that 160th SOAR took part in the Yakla raid in Yemen on 29th January 2017, distinguishing itself when its helicopters flew repeatedly into heavy enemy fire to support U.S. Navy SEALs pinned down on the ground. On 25th August 2017, a Black Hawk helicopter flown by the 160th SOAR crashed off the coast of Yemen while conducting hoist training when it lost power and crashed into the sea, six servicemen survived, one US service member remained missing. CNN reported that on 27th October 2017, a US helicopter from 4th Battalion 160th SOAR crashed in Logar province, Afghanistan, killing one and injuring 6 more US service members, the crash was not a result of enemy action.

On 20th August 2018, CW3 Taylor Galvin died from injuries resulting from an MH-60M crash while conducting a partnered counter-terrorism mission in support of the Operation Inherent Resolve.

An MH-47E from the regiment lands aboard the USS Kearsarge (LHD-3)

Forces of Valor Boeing MH-47G Chinook ,160th SOAR ( Special Operations Aviation Regiment ) Night Stalkers Special Forces

Boeing MH-47G Chinook ,160th SOAR Night Stalkers Special Forces is available to pre-order from Flying Tigers. Please click on the image below to go straight to the model page to order yours now.

FOV821005E 1/72nd scale Forces of Valor Boeing Chinook MH-47G No.160 Special Operations Aviation Regiment, (160th SOAR) United States Army
PRICE: £59.99 incl VAT (RRP £70.00, SAVING £10.01)

Hobbymaster arrivals at Flying Tigers !

Check out the Hobbymaster models that have arrived at Flying Tigers. Click on the model photo of your choice below to go straight to the model page.

Pre-ordered models will start to be dispatched ASAP from today and early next week.

Sorry…, HA6505 , HA6507 , have already SOLD OUT at pre-order stage…

HA3881 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale  Lockheed F-16AM “66th Anniversary of Royal Danish AF” 87-0008, Eskadrille 727, 2016  RRP £94.00  Flying Tigers only £69.99

HA3898 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Lockheed F-16BM 691/FN-K, Royal Norwegian Air Force, 2019  RRP  £88.00  Flying Tigers only £65.99

HA3904 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Japan T-4 Trainer “Red Dolphin” 26-5808, 32nd TSQ, JASDF, Hamamatsu A.B.  RRP £86.00  Flying Tigers only £64.99

HA3905 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Japan T-4 Trainer 06-5634, JASDF, Ashiya Special 2016  RRP £86.00  Flying Tigers only £64.99

HA4612 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Lockheed F-35B Lightning II 169415, VMFA-211 January 2019 “2018 Afghanistan mission markings” comes in Beast Mode (New Peregrine Missile)  RRP £114.00  Flying Tigers only £85.99

HA5009 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Grumman EA-6B Prowler “Patriots” 163521, VAQ-140, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, CVW7, 2012 “Operation Enduring Freedom”  RRP £120.00  Flying Tigers only £89.99

HA6503B Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale MiG-29A Fulcrum 29+03, German Air Force, 2000s (preserved Luftwaffenmuseum Berlin-Gatow)  RRP £100.00  Flying Tigers only £75.99

HA6606 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Eurofighter “Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary” ZK349, RAF, 2015  RRP £102.00  Flying Tigers only £76.99

HA6607 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Eurofighter “Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary” ZK349, RAF, 2015 (full loaded version)  RRP £108.00  Flying Tigers only £81.99

Corgi Aviation Archive arrivals  at Flying Tigers !

Check out the Corgi Aviation Archive models that have just arrived at Flying Tigers.  Click on the model photo of your choice below to go straight to the model page.

Pre-ordered models will start to be dispatched ASAP from today and early next week.

That is all for this week.

Thank you for reading this week’s Newsletter.

Richard.
Flying Tigers.

The post Night Stalkers Special Forces (160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment Airborne) , Hobbymaster and Corgi Arrivals ! appeared first on Flying Tigers.

Prince of Wales visiting Liverpool dockyard yesterday 5th March 2020

The Queen Elizabeth class is a class of two aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy. The lead ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, was named on 4th July 2014, in honour of Elizabeth I (not Elizabeth II). She was commissioned on 7th December 2017, with an initial operating capability expected in 2018. The second, HMS Prince of Wales, was launched on 21st December 2017, and was commissioned on 10 December 2019. At the NATO 2014 Wales summit, the Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the second carrier would be brought into service, ending years of uncertainty surrounding its future. This was confirmed by the November 2015 Government Strategic Defence Review, with both carriers entering service, one being available at any time.

The contract for the vessels was announced on 25th July 2007, by the then Secretary of State for Defence, Des Browne, ending several years of delay over cost issues and British naval shipbuilding restructuring. The contracts were signed one year later on 3rd July 2008, with the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, a partnership formed with Babcock International, Thales Group, A&P Group, Rosyth Dockyard, the UK Ministry of Defence and BAE Systems (after the creation of BVT Surface Fleet through the merger of BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions and VT Group’s VT Shipbuilding, which was a requirement of the UK Government).

The vessels currently have a displacement of approximately 65,000 tonnes (64,000 long tons; 72,000 short tons), but the design anticipates added weight over the lifetime of the ships. The ships are 280 metres (920 ft) long and will have a Carrier Air Wing (CVW) of up to forty aircraft (though they are capable of carrying up to fifty at full load). They are the largest warships ever constructed for the Royal Navy. The projected cost of the programme is £6.2 billion.

Both carriers were completed as originally planned, in a Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) configuration, deploying the Lockheed Martin F-35B. Following the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the British government had intended to purchase the F-35C carrier version of this aircraft, and adopted plans for Prince of Wales to be built to a Catapult Assisted Take Off Barrier Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) configuration. After the projected costs of the CATOBAR system rose to around twice the original estimate, the government announced that it would revert to the original design on 10th May 2012.

HMS Queen Elizabeth, July 2014

Background

Defence co-operation with France and the European Union

In 1996, the British Defence Secretary Michael Portillo signed a letter of intent with his French equivalent to establish Anglo-French naval study groups, one of which was to be about future development of aircraft carriers. This was followed by the Saint-Malo declaration of 1998, in which Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac agreed to work together on an integrated European Union defence force. In December 1999, the European Council established the Helsinki Headline Goal, which focussed on creating a European Union Rapid Reaction Force to operate at the global level. One element of such a force was to be three large aircraft carriers, two provided by the Royal Navy and one by the French. According to this plan, other western European navies were to provide the escort cover needed by the carriers.

Strategic Defence Review

• In May 1997, the newly elected Labour government led by Tony Blair launched the Strategic Defence Review, which re-evaluated every weapon system, then active or in procurement, with the exception of the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines. The report, published in July 1998, stated that aircraft carriers offer the following:
• Ability to operate offensive aircraft overseas, when foreign bases may not be available early in a conflict
• All required space and infrastructure, as even where foreign bases are available infrastructure is often lacking
• A coercive and deterrent effect when deployed to a trouble spot

The report concluded: “the emphasis is now on increased offensive air power, and an ability to operate the largest possible range of aircraft in the widest possible range of roles. When the current carrier force reaches the end of its planned life, we plan to replace it with two larger vessels. Work will now begin to refine our requirements but present thinking suggests that they might be of the order of 30,000–40,000 tonnes and capable of deploying up to 50 aircraft, including helicopters.”

Design studies

Initial Ministry of Defence (MoD) design studies for what was then the Invincible class replacement were conducted in the mid-1990s. Options considered at this early stage included the possibilities of lengthening the hulls and extending the life of the existing Invincible class ships, converting commercial ships to carriers, and the construction of purpose-built new aircraft carriers.

On 25th January 1999, six companies were invited to tender for the assessment phase of the project – Boeing, British Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Marconi Electronic Systems, Raytheon and Thomson-CSF. On 23rd November 1999, the MoD awarded detailed assessment studies to two consortia, one led by BAe (renamed BAE Systems on 30th November 1999) and one led by Thomson-CSF (renamed Thales Group in 2000). The brief required up to six designs from each consortium with air-groups of thirty to forty Future Joint Combat Aircraft (FJCA). The contracts were split into phases; the first £5.9 million phase was for design assessment which would form part of the aircraft selection, while the second £23.5 million phase involved “risk reduction on the preferred carrier design option”.

HMS Queen Elizabeth Leaving Portsmouth 10th June 2018

Final carrier design submissions by the two rival industry teams in November 2002 led to a design down-selection decision in January 2003, in which the UK government decided to discontinue the BAE Systems carrier designs and to proceed instead with the rival ‘adaptable’ carrier design offered by the Thales team. The political decision was also taken at this point to progress CVF through a joint Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA) team formed of representatives from the MoD and the former BAE Systems and Thales teams.
The design offerings of the unsuccessful BAE Systems team are reported by Campbell-Roddis (2017).

The successful (down-selected) Thales/BMT team’s aircraft carrier design, and its subsequent evolution into the final Queen Elizabeth class ship design, is reported by Knight (2009) and Harris et al. (2009).

Capability requirements and ship size

The vessels, described as “supercarriers” by the media, legislators and sometimes by the Royal Navy, displace approximately 65,000 tonnes (64,000 long tons; 72,000 short tons) each, almost three times the displacement of its predecessor, the Invincible class. They are the largest warships ever built in the United Kingdom. The last large carriers proposed for the Royal Navy, the CVA-01 programme, were cancelled by the then Labour government in the 1966 Defence White Paper. In November 2004, giving evidence to the House of Commons Defence Committee, First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West explained that the sortie rate and interoperability with the United States Navy were factors in deciding on the size of the carriers and the composition of the carriers’ air-wings:

The reason that we have arrived at what we have arrived at is because to do the initial strike package, that deep strike package, we have done really quite detailed calculations and we have come out with the figure of 36 joint strike fighters, and that is what has driven the size of it, and that is to be able to deliver the weight of effort that you need for these operations that we are planning in the future. That is the thing that has made us arrive at that size of deck and that size of ship, to enable that to happen. I think it is something like 75 sorties per day over the five-day period or something like that as well.
— Admiral Sir Alan West, evidence to the Select Committee on Defence, 24th November 2004

I have talked with the CNO (Chief of Naval Operations) in America. He is very keen for us to get these because he sees us slotting in with his carrier groups. For example, in Afghanistan last year they had to call on the French to bail them out with their carrier. He really wants us to have these, but he wants us to have same sort of clout as one of their carriers, which is this figure at 36. He would find that very useful, and really we would mix and match with that.
— Admiral Sir Alan West, evidence to the Select Committee on Defence, 24th November 2004

Aircraft and carrier format selection

On 17th January 2001, the UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States Department of Defense (DoD) for full participation in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme, confirming the JSF as the FJCA. This gave the UK input into aircraft design and the choice between the Lockheed Martin X-35 and Boeing X-32. On 26th October 2001, the DoD announced that Lockheed Martin had won the JSF contract.

Test aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth

On 30th September 2002, the MoD announced that the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force would operate the STOVL F-35B variant. Also announced was that the carriers would take the form of large, conventional carriers, initially adapted for STOVL operations. The carriers, expected to remain in service for fifty years, were designed for but not with catapults and arrestor wires. The carriers were thus planned to be “future proof”, allowing them to operate a generation of CATOBAR aircraft beyond the F-35. Four months later on 30th January 2003, the Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, announced that the Thales Group design had won the competition but that BAE Systems would operate as prime contractor.

When the Secretary of State for Defence announced the contract for the vessels, the cost was initially estimated at £3.9 billion. The contracts were officially signed one year later on 3rd July 2008, after the creation of BVT Surface Fleet through the merger of BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions and VT Group’s VT Shipbuilding which was a requirement of the UK Government. At the time of approval the first carrier was expected to enter service in July 2015 and the budget was £4,085m for two ships. The financial crisis led to a decision in December 2008 to slow production, delaying the first ship until May 2016 and the second by two years. This decision alone added £1,560m to the cost. By March 2010 the budget was estimated at £5,900m; taking off the cost of capital led to a MPR10 Capital DEL baseline cost of £5,254m at this time. If the carriers had been abandoned in the 2010 SDSR then the MoD could have cancelled £1.5bn of planned spending on Queen Elizabeth and £1.3bn of planned spending on Prince of Wales, but the loss of VAT exemption meant that cancelling one or two carriers would have overall saved £989m and £2,098m respectively. These long term savings were less important than the short term costs, there would have been nearly an extra £1bn of expenditure on cancellation costs in the FY11/12 budget. In November 2013 the contract was renegotiated with a budget of £6,200m and BAE agreeing to pay 50% of any cost overruns rather than 10% as previously.

Then in August 2009, speculation mounted that the UK would drop the F-35B for the F-35C model, which would have meant the carriers being built to operate conventional take off and landing aircraft using the US-designed Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapults.

Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010

HMS Prince of Wales berthed in the River Mersey March 2020

On 19th October 2010, the government announced the results of its Strategic Defence and Security Review. The review stated that only one carrier was certain to be commissioned; the fate of the other was left undecided. The second ship of the class could be placed in “extended readiness” to provide a continuous single carrier strike capability when the other was in refit, or provide the option to regenerate more quickly to a two carrier strike ability. Alternatively, the second ship could be sold in “cooperation with a close ally to provide continuous carrier-strike capability”.

It was also announced that the operational carrier would have catapult and arrestor gear (CATOBAR) installed to accommodate the carrier variant of the Joint Strike Fighter rather than the short-take off and vertical-landing version.

The decision to convert Prince of Wales to CATOBAR was reviewed after the projected costs rose to around double the original estimate. On 10th May 2012, the Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, announced in Parliament that the government had decided to revert to its predecessor’s plans to purchase the F-35B rather than the F-35C, and to complete both aircraft carriers with ski-jumps in the STOVL configuration. The total cost of the work that had been done on the conversion to a CATOBAR configuration, and of reverting the design to the original STOVL configuration, was estimated by Philip Hammond to be “something in the order of £100 million”. In later testimony before a parliamentary committee, Bernard Gray, Chief of Defence Materiel, revealed that even though the carriers had been sold as adaptable and easy to convert for CATOBAR, no serious effort had been made in this direction since 2002.

Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015

On 23rd November 2015, the government published its 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review which confirmed its plans to bring into service both Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, with one to be available at all times. The review also confirmed that one of the carriers would have enhanced amphibious capabilities. The government also reaffirmed its commitment to ordering 138 F-35 Lightning IIs, although the specific variant(s) was not mentioned. The review stated that 24 of these aircraft would be available to the aircraft carriers by 2023.

BAE Systems test pilot Peter Wilson carries out the world’s first shipborne vertical rolling landing (SVRL) on board HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Design

General characteristics

The Queen Elizabeth-class carriers are closer in size to a Nimitz-class carrier (left) than the Invincible-class ships they replace (right)
The ships’ company is 679, rising to 1,600 when the air crew is added. In April 2015 a parliamentary reply stated that the average crew size would be 672. The ships have a displacement of 65,000 tonnes on delivery, but the design allows for this to reach over 70,000 tonnes as the ships are upgraded through their lifetime. They have an overall length of 280 metres (920 ft), a width at deck level of 70 metres (230 ft), a height of 56 metres (184 ft), a draught of 11 metres (36 ft), and a range of 10,000 nautical miles (12,000 mi; 19,000 km). The Ministry of Defence decided not to use nuclear propulsion due to its high cost, so Integrated Electric Propulsion was chosen whereby power is supplied by two Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30 36 MW (48,000 hp) gas turbine generator units and four Wärtsilä diesel generator sets (two 9 MW or 12,000 hp and two 11 MW or 15,000 hp). The Trents and diesels are the largest ever supplied to the Royal Navy, and together they feed the low-voltage electrical systems as well as four GE Power Conversion’s 20 MW Advanced Induction Motor (arranged in tandem) electric propulsion motors that drive the twin fixed-pitch propellers.

The Queen Elizabeth-class carriers are closer in size to a Nimitz-class carrier (left) than the Invincible-class ships they replace (right)

Instead of a single island superstructure containing both the ships’ navigation bridges and flying control (flyco) centres, the ships have these operations divided between two structures, with the forward island for navigation and the aft island for controlling flying operations. The primary reason for having twin islands was to space out the funnels, as the ships were designed with redundancy with “duplicated main and secondary machinery in two complexes with independent uptakes and downtakes in each of the two islands”, while the alternative of consolidating all the exhaust trunkings would have reduced hangar space as well as increasing the vulnerability to flooding. There are also additional benefits to having separate islands rather than a single large island, such as easier construction, reduced wind turbulence, and freed up deck space. Using two structures provides separate mountings for the air surveillance radar (forward), which does not interfere with the medium range radar (aft); furthermore, visibility is improved for both navigation and landing operations.

Under the flight deck are a further nine decks. The hangar deck measures 155 by 33.5 metres (509 by 110 ft) with a height of 6.7 to 10 metres (22 to 33 ft), large enough to accommodate up to twenty fixed and rotary wing aircraft. To transfer aircraft from the hangar to the flight deck, the ships have two large lifts, each of which is capable of lifting two F-35-sized aircraft, or one C47 Chinook from the hangar to the flight deck in sixty seconds. The ships’ only announced self-defence weapons are currently the Phalanx CIWS for airborne threats, with miniguns and 30 mm cannon to counter seaborne threats.

Systems

The ship’s radars will be the BAE Systems and Thales S1850M, the same as fitted to the Type 45 destroyers, for long-range wide-area search, the BAE Systems Artisan 3D Type 997 maritime medium-range active electronically scanned array radar, and a navigation radar. BAE claims the S1850M has a fully automatic detection and track initiation that can track up to 1,000 air targets at a range of around 400 kilometres (250 mi). Artisan can “track a target the size of a snooker ball over 20 kilometres (12 mi) away”, with a maximum range of 200 km. (Artisan is also fitted on Type 23 frigates and the assault ships HMS Albion, HMS Bulwark.) They will also be fitted with the Ultra Electronics Series 2500 Electro Optical System (EOS) and Glide Path Camera (GPC).

Munitions and ammunition handling is accomplished using a Babcock designed highly mechanised weapons handling system (HMWHS). This is a first naval application of a common land-based warehouse system. The HMWHS moves palletised munitions from the magazines and weapon preparation areas, along track ways and via several lifts, forward and aft or port and starboard. The tracks can carry a pallet to magazines, the hangar, weapons preparation areas, and the flight deck. In a change from normal procedures the magazines are unmanned, the movement of pallets is controlled from a central location, and manpower is only required when munitions are being initially stored or prepared for use. This system speeds up delivery and reduces the size of the crew by automation.

Merlins and Wildcats on HMS Prince of Wales at Liverpool March 2020

Crew facilities

Crew facilities will include a cinema, physical fitness areas and four galleys manned by sixty-seven catering staff. There are four large dining areas, the largest with the capacity to serve 960 meals in one hour. There are eleven medical staff for the eight-bed medical facility, which includes an operating theatre and a dental surgery. There are 1,600 bunks in 470 cabins, including accommodation for a company of 250 Royal Marines with wide assault routes up to the flight deck.

Carrier air group

The vessels are expected to typically carry forty aircraft, comprising thirty-six F-35B strike fighters and four Merlin helicopters equipped with EWS and ASW, while the carriers’ maximum load capacity is 72 aircraft, depending on the configuration. Then Commodore (now Rear Admiral) Jerry Kyd has stated that the QE class carrier can carry up to 70 F-35Bs. The 2010 SDSR anticipated the routine peacetime deployment of twelve F-35Bs; thereafter, an initial surge capacity of a further 24 F-35Bs plus additional helicopters would be available to join the carrier at short notice. In addition, the QE class design specification also accommodates a maximum load capacity of 72 aircraft of all types. Fourteen Merlin HM2 will be available as a Maritime Force Protection package on the carriers with typically nine in anti-submarine configuration and five with Crowsnest for airborne early warning; alternatively a Littoral Manoeuvre package could include a mix of Royal Navy Commando Helicopter Force Merlin HC4, Wildcat AH1, RAF Chinooks, and Army Air Corps Apaches. As of September 2013 six landing spots are planned, but the deck could be marked out for the operation of ten medium helicopters at once, allowing the lift of a company of 250 troops. The hangars are designed for Boeing Chinook operations without blade folding and the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor, whilst the two aircraft lifts can each accommodate a Chinook with unfolded blades.

Fixed-wing aircraft

F-35B Lightning II

Although the size of the Queen Elizabeth class would enable it to accommodate most current and projected carrier-based fixed-wing aircraft, the lack of arresting gear means that, as initially completed, it is only capable of operating either STOVL aircraft, such as the AV-8B Harrier or F-35B Lightning, tiltrotor aircraft such as the V-22 Osprey, or aircraft that do not require either catapult-assisted take-off or arrested recovery.

F-35 Lightning II

With the retirement of the Harrier GR7/9 in 2010, there remained no carrier-capable fixed-wing aircraft available to the Royal Navy or Royal Air Force. Their expected replacement is the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.

As originally intended, the ships will carry the STOVL version, the F-35B. The aircraft will be flown by pilots from the Fleet Air Arm and the Royal Air Force. The aircraft are expected to begin trials flying from Queen Elizabeth in 2018 with a carrier air wing fully operational by 2020.

A British F-35B hovering at the Royal International Air Tattoo in 2016

For a period following the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the government had intended to purchase the F-35C carrier variant and modify one carrier to use the CATOBAR system to launch and recover these aircraft. This was because the cheaper F-35C variant has a greater range and can carry a larger and more diverse payload than the F-35B. On 10th May 2012 Defence Secretary Philip Hammond announced in Parliament that the government had decided to revert to its predecessor’s plans to purchase the F-35B rather than the F-35C, and to abandon the completion of Prince of Wales to a CATOBAR configuration. The reason given was that “conversion to ‘cats and traps’ will cost about double what was originally estimated – and would not be delivered until 2023 at the earliest”. On 19th July 2012, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond indicated in a speech in the United States that the UK would order an initial 48 F-35B aircraft to be operated jointly by the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm. In November 2015, the government announced its commitment to a full order of 138 F-35 aircraft, with 24 available for carrier duties by 2023.

Although the F-35B is fully capable of performing vertical landing, in a similar fashion to the way that the Harrier and Sea Harrier operated, this method of operation places limitations on the loads that the aircraft is capable of returning to the ship with. As a consequence, to avoid the costly disposal at sea of both fuel and munitions, the Royal Navy is developing the Shipborne rolling vertical landing (SRVL) technique for its operation of the Lightning II. SRVL is a hybrid landing technique that uses the Lightning’s vectored thrust capability to slow its forward speed to around 70 knots to allow it to make a rolling landing, using its disc brakes, without the need of an arrestor wire. A special type of metallic ‘thermal paint’ is being developed to withstand temperatures of up to 1,500 °C in the vicinity of jet nozzles.

In December 2016, the British Government announced that it reached an agreement with the United States to allow the deployment of USMC F-35s from Queen Elizabeth upon the ship’s entry into service, with a reciprocal arrangement seeing RAF and FAA aircraft operating from ships of the US Navy.

Helicopters

Merlin

A Merlin Mk2 flying alongside Queen Elizabeth

The AgustaWestland AW101 is a medium-sized multi-role helicopter. Two versions are in service with the UK armed forces, where it is known as Merlin. The utility version can carry up to twenty-four troops seated or sixteen stretcher patients and the HM2 anti-submarine warfare variant has a dipping sonar and sonar-buoys, and a complete electronic warfare suite.

Both versions use a common airframe, with three Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 engines, their range and endurance using only a two engine cruise option, is 750 nautical miles (1,390 km; 860 mi), or six hours. However, range can be extended further when the five underfloor fuel tanks are supplemented with auxiliary fuel tanks fitted in the cabin. Armament depends on mission, but includes anti-ship missiles, torpedoes, three door-mounted machine guns, multi-purpose rocket, cannon pods, air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface missiles. At least 14 Merlin HM2s will be assigned to the carrier.

Wildcat

Wildcat HM2 operating over the English Channel

On 23rd March 2015, the Royal Navy’s first Wildcat HMA2 entered service. The Wildcat can be equipped with several mission sensors, which can include: radar, active dipping sonar, electro-optical imaging, electronic surveillance measures and an integrated self-defence suite. The HM2 maritime version can be armed with air-to-surface missiles, torpedoes, depth charges, cannons and heavy machine guns. The aircraft has a maximum range of 520 nautical miles (960 km; 600 mi) and an endurance of four and a half hours.

Airborne early warning and control

The 1982 Falklands War made clear the importance of airborne early warning and control and led to the development of the Sea King AEW2, which was succeeded by the Sea King ASaC7. This will be retired in the second half of 2018 and planning for its replacement was identified at an early stage as an integral part of the next-generation aircraft carrier. The programme became known as the “Future Organic Airborne Early Warning” (FOAEW), and contracts were placed with BAE / Northrop Grumman and Thales in April 2001. In April 2002, BAE and Northrop Grumman received a follow-on study contract for Phase II of the project, by then renamed Maritime Airborne Surveillance and Control (MASC). The MASC assessment phase began in September 2005 and by May 2006 three study contracts were awarded for MASC platform and mission systems options: one to Lockheed Martin UK for a Merlin helicopter fitted with AEW mission systems, another to AgustaWestland to maintain the present Sea King ASaC7 and finally to Thales UK to upgrade the Sea King’s mission systems.

Sea King ASaC.7 flying from HMS Ark Royal

The 2010 SDSR delayed the project which became a competition between Thales and Lockheed to supply Crowsnest, a bolt-on sensor package that can be carried by any Merlin HM2. The Thales pod is based on the Sea King’s Searchwater 2000; Lockheed had intended to use a derivative of the F-35’s APG-81 radar but is now believed to be using an Elta system. Both systems will begin flight trials in the summer of 2014 ahead of Main Gate in 2016. Ten pods are planned with IOC in 2019. Until the Crowsnest system is available, a small force of Sea King ASaC.7 helicopters will remain in service with 849 Naval Air Squadron after the final withdrawal of the remainder of the Royal Navy’s Sea Kings.

Apache and Chinook at sea on HMS Ocean

Construction

During a speech on 21st July 2004, Geoff Hoon announced a one-year delay to allow contractual and cost issues to be resolved. The building of the carriers was confirmed in December 2005. The building is being undertaken by four companies across seven shipyards, with final block integration and assembly at Rosyth:

• BAE Systems Surface Ships – Govan (Lower Blocks 3 and 4), Scotstoun (aft island) and Portsmouth (Lower Blocks 2, 5 and forward island)
• Babcock Marine – Rosyth (Sponsons, Mast and Centre Blocks 5 and 6) and Appledore (Lower Block 1)
  A&P Group – Hebburn (Centre Block 3)
• Cammell Laird – Birkenhead (Centre Blocks 2 and 4)

In December 2007, eight diesel engines and electricity generators, four for each ship, were ordered from Wärtsilä. On 4th March 2008, contracts for the supply of 80,000 tonnes of steel were awarded to Corus Group, with an estimated value of £65 million. Other contracts included £3 million for fibre optic cable, over £1 million for reverse osmosis equipment to provide over 500 tonnes of fresh water daily, and £4 million for aviation fuel systems. On 3rd April 2008, a contract for the manufacture of aircraft lifts (worth £13m) was awarded to MacTaggart Scott of Loanhead, Scotland.

Lower section of Lower Block 1 (bulbous bow) of HMS Queen Elizabeth at Rosyth

In mid May 2008, the Treasury announced that it would be making available further funds on top of the regular defence budget, reportedly allowing the construction of the carriers to begin. This was followed, on 20th May 2008, by the government giving the “green light” for construction of the Queen Elizabeth class, stating that it was ready to sign the contracts for full production once the creation of the planned shipbuilding joint venture between BAE Systems and the VT Group had taken place. This joint venture, BVT Surface Fleet, became operational on 1st July 2008. VT Group later sold its share to BAE Systems which renamed the unit BAE Systems Surface Ships. It will undertake approximately forty per cent of the project workload.

On 1st September 2008, the MoD announced a £51 million package of important equipment contracts; £34 million for the highly mechanised weapons handling system for the two ships, £8 million for supply of uptake and down-take systems for both ships, £5 million for air traffic control software, £3 million for supply of pumps and associated systems engineering, and £1 million for emergency diesel generators. On 6th October 2008, it was announced that contracts had been placed for “the carriers’ Rolls-Royce gas turbines, generators, motors, power distribution equipment, platform management systems, propellers, shafts, steering gear, rudders and stabilisers”.

The construction of the two carriers involves more than 10,000 people from 90 companies, 7,000 of them in the six shipyards building the sections of the ships

Bow bulb of HMS Prince of Wales at Rosyth, May 2014

Queen Elizabeth

The first steel cut for the project, in July 2009, signalled the start of construction of Lower Block 3 at BAE Systems Clyde, where production of Lower Block 4 started in January 2010. Meanwhile, construction of the bow Lower Block 1 was carried out at Appledore, North Devon, and was completed in March 2010.

On 25th January 2010, it was announced that the Cammell Laird shipyard has secured a £44 million contract to build the flight decks of the carriers. That same day, construction began in Portsmouth of the 6,000-tonne Lower Block 2 for Queen Elizabeth. On 16th August 2011, the 8,000-tonne Lower Block 03 of Queen Elizabeth left BAE Systems Surface Ships’ Govan shipyard in Glasgow on a large ocean-going barge. Travelling 600 miles (970 km) around the northern coast of Scotland, the block arrived at Rosyth on the evening of 20th August 2011. Her forward island was built at BAE Portsmouth and attached on 14th March 2013; the aft island was attached in June 2013 and the ski jump in November 2013.

Queen Elizabeth during fitting-out, December 2014

Queen Elizabeth was christened on 4th July 2014, and floated-out on 17th July 2014. On 26th June 2017, the new carrier left Rosyth for the first time to commence sea trials. Flight trials with helicopters began in July 2017 and F-35B flight trials are expected towards the end of 2018. Initial operational capability is expected to be declared in 2020.

Prince of Wales

The 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) declared that the UK needed only one aircraft carrier; however, penalty clauses in the contract meant that cancelling the second vessel would be more expensive than actually building it. The SDSR, therefore, directed that the second aircraft carrier, Prince of Wales, should be built but upon completion be either mothballed or sold. The SDSR also directed that the ship be converted to a CATOBAR configuration; however, the costs associated with the conversion escalated to £2bn, leading the government to reverse its decision and build the ship to the original STOVL configuration. On 26th May 2011, Defence Secretary Liam Fox cut the first steel for Prince of Wales. The Royal Navy’s 2012/13 yearbook stated “both carriers are likely to be commissioned and may even be capable of operating together”. In 2014, the prime minister, David Cameron, announced that Prince of Wales would be brought into service.

Prince of Wales is marshalled out of the basin at Rosyth for the first time, September 2019

As of 20th April 2016, construction of Prince of Wales was announced to be 80% complete. The ship is set to be handed over to the Royal Navy in 2019 and be fully ready for front-line duties around the globe from 2023.

On 1st September 2017 HMS Prince of Wales’ senior officer, Captain Ian Groom, confirmed that the carrier was now essential to fulfilling the Royal Navy’s ‘full carrier strike capability’. Prince of Wales is scheduled to assume responsibility for the continuing carrier trials of the F-35B in 2019 when Queen Elizabeth enters dry-dock for her scheduled maintenance period.

An F-35B Lightning II aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, October 15th, 2019

Hobbymaster VSTOL models available from Flying Tigers.

Check out the following VSTOL models that are available from Flying Tigers. Every model below will be supplied with a complimentary Hobbymaster VSTOL at SEA booklet (RRP £1.55) free of charge. 

Simply click on the photo of your choice to go straight to the model page to order.

55 Years of Naval fixed-wing VSTOL at SEAA 1963-2018 by Lewis Gaylard £1.55

HA4610 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Lockheed Martin F-35B ZM151 RAF 2019  RRP £94.00  Flying Tigers only £67.99

HA4105 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Sea Harrier FA.2 “Operation Deliberate Force” No.800 NAS, Fleet Air Arm , HMS Invincible Mediterranean July 1995  RRP £70.00  Flying Tigers only £53.99 Small re-stock !

HA2623 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Bae Harrier GR7A “Operation Herrick” ZD404 “Lucy”, RAF, Kandahar, Afghanistan, Nov 2006  RRP £75.00  Flying Tigers only £56.99 small re-stock !

HA4611 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Lockheed F-35B Ligthning II 169164, VMFA-121, USMC, Iwakuni 2018  RRP £104.00  Flying Tigers only £74.99

HA6204 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Lockheed Martin F-35C 168735 “ED-104”, Edwards AFB, California 2016  RRP £118.00  Flying Tigers only £86.99

HA6202 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Lockheed F-35C Lightning II CF-01, US Navy  RRP £110.00  Flying Tigers only £82.99

HA6201 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II 101, VFA-101 “Grim Reapers”, CAG Bird, 2013  RRP £100.00  Flying Tigers only £74.99

HA6203 Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale Lockheed Martin F-35C 003 “Pole Test Scheme”, 2012  RRP £118.00 Flying Tigers only £86.99

New Forces of Valor Arrival Model Arrival .

The latest model arrival from Forces of Valor is now available from Flying Tigers…UN821004C Forces of Valor 1/72nd scale Boeing Chinook HC-1 Mk.I RAF 18 Sqn., RAF Odiham. Those of you that have already pre-ordered your model will receive them shortly. Please click on the photo below to order your now!

UN821004C  Forces of Valor 1/72nd scale Boeing Chinook HC-1 Mk.I RAF 18 Sqn., RAF Odiham  RRP £40.00  Flying Tigers only £32.99

That’s all this week.

Thank you for reading this week’s Newsletter.

Richard.
Flying Tigers.

The post Queen Elizabeth-class Aircraft Carrier , VSTOL Hobbymaster models and New Forces of Valor Arrival. appeared first on Flying Tigers.

Dornier Do 17

The Dornier Do 17, sometimes referred to as the Fliegender Bleistift (“flying pencil”), is a light bomber of Nazi Germany during World War II. It was produced by Claudius Dornier’s company, Dornier Flugzeugwerke. The aircraft was designed as a Schnellbomber (“fast bomber”), a light bomber which, in theory, would be so fast that it could outrun defending fighter aircraft.

The Dornier was designed with two engines mounted on a “shoulder wing” structure and possessed a twin tail fin configuration. The type was popular among its crews due to its handling, especially at low altitude, which made the Do 17 harder to hit than other German bombers.

Designed in the early 1930s, it was one of the three main Luftwaffe bomber types used in the first three years of the war. The Do 17 made its combat debut in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, operating in the Condor Legion in various roles. Along with the Heinkel He 111 it was the main bomber type of the German air arm in 1939–1940. The Dornier was used throughout the early war, and saw action in significant numbers in every major campaign theatre as a front line aircraft until the end of 1941, when its effectiveness and usage was curtailed as its bomb load and range were limited.

Production of the Dornier ended in mid-1940, in favour of the newer and more powerful Junkers Ju 88. The successor of the Do 17 was the much more powerful Dornier Do 217, which started to appear in strength in 1942. Even so, the Do 17 continued service in the Luftwaffe in various roles until the end of the war, as a glider tug, research and trainer aircraft. A considerable number of surviving examples were sent to other Axis nations as well as countries like Finland. Few Dornier Do 17s survived the war and the last was scrapped in Finland in 1952.

On 3rd September 2010, the Royal Air Force Museum London announced the discovery of a Henschel-built Dornier Do 17Z buried in the Goodwin Sands off the coast of Kent, England. On 10th June 2013, the salvage team raised the airframe from the seabed.

Dornier Do 17Z-2 3387 of 4./KG3 crashed into the North Sea on 2 (or 1) November 1940 after it was shot down by RAF fighters.

In 1932, the Ordnance Department (Heereswaffenamt) issued a specification for the construction of a “freight aircraft for German State Railways”, and a “high speed mail plane for Lufthansa”. The factory at Friedrichshafen began work on the design on 1st August 1932.

When the Nazis took power in 1933, Hermann Göring became National Commissar for aviation with former Deutsche Luft Hansa employee Erhard Milch as his deputy, soon forming the Ministry of Aviation. The Ministry of Aviation designated the new aircraft Do 17, and on 17th March 1933, just three months after taking office, Milch gave the go ahead for the building of prototypes. At the end of 1933, the Ministry of Aviation issued an order for a “high speed aircraft with double tail,” and for a “freight aircraft with special equipment,” in other words, a bomber. The original design (the Do 17 V1) configuration in 1932 had sported a single vertical stabilizer, and Dornier continued developing that model. The Do 17 was first demonstrated in mock-up form in April 1933. The “special equipment” was to be fitted later, to disguise its offensive role.

In April 1934, the Dornier works at Manzell began project “definition.” During this month, the defensive armament was designed and the bomb release mechanism details ironed out. Production of these prototypes began on 20 May 1934 and, on 23rd November 1934, the Do 17 V1, with a single fin and powered by two BMW VI 7.3 motors, took off on its first flight. Testing was delayed by a series of accidents, with V1 being damaged in landing accidents in February and April 1935. The twin-tailed V2 (powered by low-compression BMW VI 6.3 engines) first flew on 18th May 1935 and was evaluated together with the V1 by the Ministry of Aviation at Rechlin in June. During the tests, the single fin proved to be only marginally stable, resulting in the V1 being modified with a twin tail. The aircraft was destroyed in a crash after an engine failure on 21st December 1935. The V3, also fitted with a twin tail, was originally planned to be powered by Hispano-Suiza 12Ybrs engines, but as these were unavailable, it was fitted with BMW VI 7.3 engines like the V1 and flew on 19th September 1935. The V1 prototype remained the only built machine with the single stabilizer.

D-o17 Bulgaria

It is claimed that, unlike the Heinkel He 111 series, whose military use was planned from the start, the Do 17 V1 was contracted as a fast six-passenger mail plane to compete with the smaller Heinkel He 70 monoplane It has been suggested that it was rejected by Luft Hansa, as the cramped cabin was too uncomfortable for passenger use and the operating costs were too high for a mail plane. According to the story, the three prototypes remained unused in the Dornier factory in Lowental for almost six months, until Flight Captain Untucht of Luft Hansa came across them. After receiving permission to fly one of the machines, he proceeded to put it through an almost stunt flying routine. After landing, he said that “the machine is as nimble as a fighter, give it more lateral stability and we’ll have a high speed bomber!” Untucht’s comments prompted Dornier to redesign the tail unit and revived interest in the type.

Dornier was then ordered to produce the V4 prototype. Some sources state this differed from the V3 in that the passenger portholes were removed and the single fin was replaced with two smaller ones. Photographic evidence demonstrates the V3 had twin stabilizers from the start of its construction. The tests of the “twin-tailed” V4, V6 and V7 prototypes were positive and more prototypes like the V8 emerged as the forerunner of the long-range reconnaissance version, while the V9 was tested as a high-speed airliner. The V9 machine was still flying in 1944.

Dornier Do 17-V1

The forward fuselage had a conventional stepped cockpit, with a fully glazed nose. Early variants were labelled the “flying pencil” owing to its sleek and continuous “stick-like” lines. As a result of the lessons learned in the Spanish Civil War, the cockpit roof was raised and the lower, or bottom half, of the crew compartment was a typical under-nose gondola or “Bodenlafette” (abbreviated Bola): this inverted-casemate design ventral defensive armament position was a common feature of most German medium bombers. The Bola was extended back to the leading edge of the wings where the lower-rear gunners position and upper-rear gunner position were level with each other. As with contemporary German bombers, the crew were concentrated in a single compartment. The cockpit layout consisted of the pilot seat and front gunner in the forward part of the cockpit. The pilot sat on the left side, close up to the Plexiglas windshield. One of the gunners sat on the right seat, which was set further back to provide room for the 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 15 machine gun to be traversed in use. The Do 17 usually carried a crew of four: the pilot, a bombardier and two gunners. The bomb-aimer also manned the MG 15 in the nose glazing and Bola-housed rear lower position. The two gunners operated the forward-firing MG 15 installed in the front windshield, the two MGs located in the side windows (one each side) and the rearward firing weapon. The cockpit offered a bright and panoramic view at high altitude. The standard ammunition load was 3,300 rounds of 7.92 mm ammunition in 44 double-drum magazines.

The wings were of a broad 55 m2 (590 sq ft) area and had a span of 18 m (59 ft 5⁄8 in) with a straight leading edge which curved in a near-perfect semicircle into the trailing edge. The positions of the wing roots were offset. The leading edge wing root merged with the top of the fuselage and cockpit. As the wing extended backwards, by roughly two thirds, it declined downwards at a sharp angle so that the trailing edge wing root ended nearly halfway down the side of the fuselage increasing the angle of incidence. This design feature was used on all future Dornier bomber designs, namely the Dornier Do 217. The trailing edge was faired into the round fuselage shape. The engine nacelle was also faired into the flaps. The extreme rear of the nacelle was hollow and allowed the flap with an attached vertical slot to fit into the cavity when deployed.

FuG 10 radio set used in the Do 17Z

The fuselage was 15.80 m (51 ft 10 in) long. It was thin and narrow, which presented an enemy with a difficult target to hit. The fuselage had twin vertical stabilizers to increase lateral stability. The power plant of the Z-1 was to have been the Daimler-Benz DB 601 but, owing to shortages from priority allocation for Bf 109E and Bf 110 fighter production, it was allocated Bramo 323 A-1 power plants. The Bramos could only reach 352 km/h (219 mph) at 1,070 m (3,510 ft). The limited performance of the Bramo 323s ensured the Do 17 could not reach 416 km/h (258 mph) at 3,960 m (12,990 ft) in level flight when fully loaded. The range of the Do 17Z-1 at ground level was 635 nmi (1,176 km); this increased to 1,370 km (850 nm) at 4,700 m (15,400 ft). This gave an average attack range of 400 nmi (740 km). The introduction of the Bramo 323P increased the Z-2 performance slightly in all areas.

The Dornier had self-sealing fuel tanks to protect fuel stored in the wings and fuselage. This reduced the loss of fuel and risk of fire when hit in action, and often enabled the aircraft to return. Twenty oxygen bottles were provided for crew use during long flights above 3,660 m (12,010 ft).

Dornier Do217 at Odense Aerodrome

Communications usually consisted of FuG X, the later FuG 10 (Funkgerät), navigational direction finder PeilG V direction finder (PeilG – Peilgerät) and the FuG 25 IFF and FuBI 1 blind-landing devices. The crew communicated by EiV intercom. A primitive autopilot device, the Siemens K4Ü, was installed and could maintain bearing using the rudder’s control surfaces.

The bomb bay accommodated four bomb racks, the No. 5 for SC50 bombs and two ETC 500 racks to carry heavier loads of up to 500 kg (1,100 lb) each. A Lotfe A, or B bombsight was issued together with the BZA-2 aperture (a modernised optical lens system). The aircraft’s bomb bay allowed two options. The first was to carry four 250 kg (550 lb) bombs for a load of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb), which reduced aircraft range. With half the maximum load, ten 50 kg (110 lb) bombs, additional fuel tanks could be placed into the forward part of the bomb bay to increase range. The bomb aimer would deploy the bomb load via the Lotfe (A, B or C 7/A, depending on the variant) bomb sight which was in the left side of the nose compartment directly under and forward of the pilot. When fully loaded, the Z-1 weighed 7,740 kg (17,060 lb).

Dornier Do 17E somewhere at Sicily with DFS 230 gliders, 1943

The initial production variants were the Do 17E-1 bomber, which was tested with two Daimler-Benz DB 600, and Do 17F-1 reconnaissance aircraft, powered like the early prototypes with BMW VI engines, which entered production in late 1936. The first Luftwaffe units converted to the Do 17 in early 1937.

The Do 17E-1 was equipped with two BMW VI 7.3D inline engines of 750 PS each. The crew numbered three. The radio operator manned the two 7.92 mm MG 15 machine guns within a B-Stand pod in the rear cockpit. They had 750 rounds of ammunition. The bomb bay was divided into two compartments. Each had five bomb racks with individual capacity of 50 kg (110 lb). A single ETC 500/IX bomb rack could be mounted externally underneath the aircraft to carry a 500 kg bomb. A Do 17 E-1 with the designation D-AJUN was tested with an unusual configuration, two SC 500 bombs mounted side by side under the fuselage. It showed a notable performance reduction due to the increase in weight and drag, this configuration was not used operationally. The E-1 continued to carry low bomb loads into the Second World War. The performance of the E-1 enabled it to reach a speed of 330 km/h (210 mph) at 3,000 m (9,800 ft). Conducting a shallow dive the light frame of the Do 17 could reach 500 km/h (310 mph). Its maximum ceiling was 5,500 m (18,000 ft). Several E-1s were rebuilt as E-2 or E-3, at least three E-2 and one E-3 were used by DVL and Hansa-Luftbild GmbH (Hansa Aerial Photography Ltd) in a secret military reconnaissance role prior to the war.

Dornier Do217 M or K at Copenhagen, imediatly post war

The Do 17F-1 was a long-range reconnaissance aircraft based on field modified Do 17Es. The Do 17 prototype V8 was used to test the configuration of the F-1 and V11 for the F-2. The defensive armament consisted of a MG 15 in the B- and C-Stand (B-Stand – an upper rear firing position, C-Stand — lower gun emplacement). The fuselage had two cameras along with six ejector tubes for flashlight cartridges. The F-1 would see service until replaced by the Do 17 P in 1938. Only one F-2 was ever built, it was designated D-ACZJ and was used by Zeiss-Jena Company as a factory aircraft.

Conversion of two E-2 series aircraft with two BMW 132F radial engines led to the Do 17 J-1 and J-2. These aircraft served as flight testing machines to evaluate the BMW 132 for usage in the Do 17. The aircraft were the V18 (Wrk Nr, or Werknummer meaning works/factory number, 2021) and V19 (Wrk Nr 2022) prototypes. Trials began in late 1937. A similar conversion, but with Bramo 323 radial engines, led to the designation Do 17 L-1 and L-2. Two Do 17 (Wrk Nr 2031 and 2032) were renamed as V20 and V21 prototypes and used to evaluate the Bramo 323 for usage in the Do 17. The test were satisfactory and all future production models would be equipped with this engine.
After seeing the Do 17M V1 at the Zürich air races in 1937, the Yugoslav Royal Air Force bought license rights for production at the Drzavna Fabrika Aviona factory in 1938. They equipped it with the more powerful Gnome-Rhône 14N radial engine (although the French exaggerated its performance)

Rudolf Heitsch’s Dornier in Castle Farm Shoreham. The flame throwing device is just visible on the aft fuselage. The Do 17 was shot down by John Dundas and his wingman

Dornier designs were delivered to the Pomorsko Vazduhoplovstvo (Naval Aviation – PV) in 1926, namely the Dornier Komet and Dornier Do Y heavy bombers. The Yugoslavs were familiar with Dornier designs, and on 19th November 1935 Yugoslav pilots test-flew the Do 17 V-3 prototype, D-ABIH, W.Nr. 258. They decided to select the Do 17 for service, despite it being more expensive than any other aircraft, because of the German willingness to deliver them quickly without limitations on numbers. The Do 17L-0 and Do 17M-0 were developed in parallel as replacements for the earlier E and Fs, the L being the reconnaissance version. Both were designed around the more powerful DB 600A engines, delivering about 746 kW (1,000 hp). Two L and one M versions were built as prototypes, both with another MG 15 in the nose. The first prototype of the revised version, the Do 17M V1 (D-ABVD) was powered by two DB 600s, and demonstrated impressive performance, including a maximum speed of 425 km/h (264 mph). At the International Military Aircraft Competition at Zürich, Switzerland in 1937, the Dornier Do 17M V1 proved a leader in its class and was faster than the fastest foreign fighter, the French Dewoitine D.510. The Do 17, along with the Messerschmitt Bf 109, won many prizes, demonstrating the prowess of German aviation design.

On March 7th 1945 a Finnish Do 17 was forced to land at Kalixfors to refuel, afterwards it continued to the homebase at Kemi.

Despite its success, owing to shortages in the supply of the Daimler-Benz engine, the production Do 17M was fitted with the Bramo 323 engine, with the corresponding reconnaissance aircraft, the Do 17P, being powered by BMW 132Ns to give better range. The supply of the DB 600 remained extremely limited as production was soon switched over to the fuel-injected DB 601, which was reserved for the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighters. Therefore, production versions of the basic Do 17M model airframe were fitted with the new Bramo 323A-1 Fafnir engines of 670 kW (900 hp), which gave reasonable performance and raised the bomb load to 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). The resulting Do 17 M-1 was produced in small numbers and operated until 1941.

The prototypes for the M-1 series were Do 17M V1 (Werk Nr 691) and Do 17M V2 (Werk Nr 692) which were tested with bomb loads of a medium bomber. The third prototype, Do 17M V3 was evaluated as a fast bomber. The M V1 was fitted with two Daimler Benz DB 601 inline engines while the M V2 and M V3 had the Bramo 323 A and D respectively. The Ministry of Aviation favoured the widespread use of the DB 601, but demand for the DB 601s in fighter aircraft and the lack of production forced the use of the Bramo.

The Do 17 M-1 started its service as a medium bomber and was able to carry 2,200 lb (1,000 kg) of bombs. It was equipped with two air-cooled Bramo 323 A-1 or A-2. The defensive armament consisted of two, and later three, MG 15 machine guns. The first was operated in an A-Stand pod operated by the navigator through the windshield. The position was allocated 370 rounds of ammunition. The rearward firing B-Stand was operated by the radio operator and allocated 750 rounds. The rear position in the lower fuselage was allocated 375 rounds in a C-Stand pod. The Do 17M could carry a bomb load of either 20 SC50 50 kg (110 lb) or two SC250 250 kg (550 lb) bombs or 10 SC50 and a single SC250 bomb. The speed of the M was superior to that of the E variant. The Do 17M could reach 420 km/h (260 mph) at altitudes of 3,500 m (11,500 ft) and could achieve a maximum service ceiling of 5,790 m (19,000 ft) and a range of 850 nautical miles (1,570 km).

Do 17Z in the Soviet Union, winter 1941-42. The image provides a clear view of its sleek, pencil-like, outline.

Reconnaissance aircraft based on the M-1, the under-surfaces of the wing were covered with duralumin and it had a wider engine axis and longer engine nacelles. The demand for a reconnaissance aircraft based on the M-1 led to the development of the P-1 variant. The L version would not be able to enter production with the DB 600 owing to its use in the Bf 109, and the Bramo engine was rather thirsty on fuel and left the M models with too short a range for reconnaissance use. BMW 132N radials of 865 PS were selected instead, which had lower fuel consumption for better range. Another two prototypes with DB 600 engines were produced as the Do 17R-0, but did not enter production. During reconnaissance missions the P-1 was armed with four MG 15s in the A, B and C—Stands. One machine gun was located in the rear of the cockpit, another in the lower rear Bola mount, one facing forward through the windscreen and the other in the nose glazing. In earlier variants the B-Stand (the gun position in the upper rear cockpit) was open to the elements, but the P-1 now provided an enclosed bulb-shaped mount protecting the radio operator from the weather.

Dornier Do 17E KG77 nose gunners position

The P variant had similar features to the Do 17M-1, with added blind flying and camera equipment for reconnaissance work. The Do 17P-1 was powered by two BMW 132N radial engines with a maximum performance of 865 PS (853 hp (636 kW) each. The machine was fitted with several radio variations. The FuG IIIaU radio (Funkgerät), the PeilG V direction finder (PeilG – Peilgerät) and the FuBI 1 radio blind-landing device (FuBI – Funkblindlandegerät). The crew of three communicated with each other via the EiV intercom (EiV -Eigenverständigungsanlage). The P-1 was equipped with either Rb 20/30 and Rb 50/30 or Rb 20/18 and Rb 50/18 cameras. The P-1/trop was fitted with filters and protection for the cameras. The cameras were controlled remotely by the crew from the cockpit.

Due to a shortage of night fighters, at least one Do 17P-1 was assigned to this role. A smooth metal sheet was installed in place of its glass nose and it was armed with three 20 mm (0.79 in) MG 151/20 cannons. The machine operated under Luftflotte 1.

Two Do 17Zs in a maintenance hangar. The detached Bramo 323s power plants can be seen

The Do 17P-2 was identical to the P-1, with the additional installation of an ETC 500 bomb rack under the fuselage. These aircraft were designed for night reconnaissance. It is assumed that Dornier converted most, if not all, P-2 models from existing P-1 production aircraft.

Unlike the P-2, the Do 17R-1 did not see series production. The experiences of the Spanish Civil War proved that unarmed aircraft were easy prey for fighter aircraft. The R-1 was to be a fast long-range reconnaissance aircraft with two additional fuel cells inside the fuselage aft of the bomb bay. Two variants were suggested, the first (variant I) had a single Rb 50/30 and two Rb 20/30 cameras, while variant II had a third fuel cell to replace the rear Rb 20/30. The aircraft had a gross weight of 7,250 kg (15,980 lb) but could be overloaded to 7,500 kg (16,500 lb) in emergencies. The crew usually numbered three, but a fourth was added depending on the missions to be flown. To achieve a high performance at increased altitudes two DB 600 Gs were to be used. The power plants were tested in the Do 17R V1 prototype registered D-ABEE. The second, the R V2, registered D-ATJU, received the even more powerful DB 601 Aa engines. The power plant of the R-1s that did exist are not known.

Dornier Do 17 P Stavanger Sola Norway

The lessons from the Spanish Civil War had led Dornier’s designers to incorporate more defensive machine guns. Battles with Soviet-built fighter aircraft had demonstrated that the Dornier was not as fast and invulnerable as was first thought. To cope with this, a completely new pod-like cockpit was designed to give the crew more room and better visibility. The roof was extended upward over the line of the fuselage, sloping down to meet it just in front of the wing. The dorsal gun was moved to the rear of the pod where it had a considerably better field of fire. Likewise, the floor was dropped under the fuselage as a Bola casemate-style defensive armament emplacement, and the ventral gun moved to the back of the Bola, allowing it to fire directly to the rear. The changes in the roof and floor made the whole front of the aircraft much larger. The rest of the airframe remained the same. The new cockpit design was nicknamed Kampfkopf (German: “Battle head”).

Three S variant prototypes with the DB 600 G inline engines were tested. The S-01 (designation D-AFFY), 03 and 04 were flown. The inverted V-12 engines were constructed as the Do 17 S-0 reconnaissance version, but it did not go into production. An additional 15 Do 17 U-1 pathfinder models were built, similar to the S-0 but adding another crewman (taking the total to five) to operate the extra radio equipment. The U models were to fly ahead of other bombers on night missions, using the radio equipment to locate the target and drop flares on it. They were personally requested by KG 100 as experimental models for this role. The U-1 had a maximum speed of 265 mph (426 km/h) and a combat ceiling of 4,500 m (14,800 ft). The U-1 had a cruising speed of 384 km/h (239 mph) and a maximum reachable height of 5,700 m (18,700 ft), owing to the “rather low performance of the Bramo 323 A-1 engines”. The three prototypes (U-01 – U-03) and twelve production aircraft were built by 1938.

Dornier Do 17Z of the Finnish Air Force  January, 1942

The Dornier Do 17Z series was the most recognised and mass-produced variant, and saw more combat service than the E-U types. The type was modified as a result of combat experience during the Spanish Civil War. The forward fuselage was redesigned, with the cockpit area being “dropped”, or extended further to enable a rear firing gunner position to be installed, and the canopy extended aft, until it was nearly parallel with the leading edge and wing root.

To test the design, the Do 17S and Do 17U were produced, both to be powered by the DB 600 power plants. However, a call for all DB 600 series engines to be reserved for fighters led to the variants being fitted with Bramo Fafnir 323 A radial engines. The bomb load was increased to 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) and a fourth crew member was added. It proved to be underpowered, so Bramo 323 P engines were then fitted. Only three Do 17S and 15 Do 17Us were built. With the updates, the Dornier, with a full bomb load, had a combat radius of 322 km (200 mi). Later variants, in the Do 17 Z-3, Z-4 and Z-5, which were fitted with cameras, dual trainer controls and flotation aids (for maritime operations) respectively, still could not solve the problems with range and bomb load.

At first, a batch of Z-0s were built with the Fafnir for testing, the DB 600 again proving to be too hard to obtain. These were quickly replaced with the Z-1 model, which added another gun for the bombardier, but the additional weight of the nose and guns meant the bomb load was reduced to 500 kg (1,100 lb). The Luftwaffe, not being satisfied with the test outcome of the Z series, immediately ordered performance and design studies to increase the overall performance of the bomber. These resulted in very optimistic speeds and altitudes for all future Z variants, especially for the Z-5 aircraft. Planned performance altitudes of up to 7,620 m (25,000 ft) at a maximum speed of 418 km/h (260 mph) with an aircraft weight of 8,100 kg (17,900 lb) were planned. Unfortunately, production aircraft never reached these optimistic performances during the service career of the Do 17Z. At 7,740 kg (17,060 lb), the heavy Do 17Z-1 used two Bramo 323 A-1 engines with self-sealing fuel cells in the fuselage and wings. The crew of four consumed approximately 20 bottles of oxygen during long flights above 3,700 m (12,100 ft). The Do 17Z-1 had a speed of 352 km/h (219 mph) at 1,100 m (3,600 ft). However, the performance of the Bramo 323s did not permit the Do 17 to reach 416 km/h (258 mph) at 3,900 m (12,800 ft) and level flight when fully loaded. Range of the Z-1 at ground level was 635 nmi (1,176 km) while at 4,700 m (15,400 ft) this increased to 850 nmi (1,570 km). This gave an average range of 400 nmi (740 km).

Dornier Do 17

The introduction of the Bramo 323P increased subsequent performance in the following sub variants.
This was addressed in the major production model, the Do 17 Z-2. The Z-2 mounted the new 323P-1 version of the Fafnir with 746 kW (1,000 hp), which was specifically tuned to the performance needs of the Do 17 by decreasing supercharger power at lower altitudes and thus improving low-level performance. The increase in takeoff power allowed the bomb load to be increased from 500 to 1,000 kg (1,100 to 2,200 lb). However the combat range with a full 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) bomb load was a very short 330 km (210 mi). The armament was further upgraded by adding another pair of guns firing out of the sides of the upper part of the pod, but as the three guns were all fired by a single gunner, only one of them could be fired at a time. From May 1940, 422 Do 17 Z-2s flew with Kampfgeschwader 2, Kampfgeschwader 3, Kampfgeschwader 76 and Kampfgeschwader 77. The upgrades of the Z-2 had its overall weight increased from 17,600 to 17,920 lb (7,980 to 8,130 kg). After heavy losses of Do 17s during the Battle of Britain it was decided to replace the MG FF cannon with the more powerful MG 151/15. Losses had mounted in spite of an increase of up to eight machine guns in some Dorniers.The standard MG 15 machine guns were retained. These features were present in the next variant the Z-3.

Dornier Do 17 Z-10 Kauz II

The Z-3 formed part of the bomber versions of the Z series, it was, however, also used as a reconnaissance aircraft by the staff flight of the particular unit. The engines and the general equipment were identical to the Z-2 standard; however two cameras — the Rb 50/30 and Rb 20/30 – were incorporated into the crew entry hatch. A handheld camera was issued to the crew to validate the success during bombing missions. Autopilot equipment was added later. The Z-2 and Z-3 were identical visually, and could only be distinguished from each other by the altered crew hatch on the Z-3. Owing to spacing problems because of the added camera equipment, the ammunition supply was reduced from 44 to 42 magazines. The power plant of the Z-3 was upgraded to the Bramo 323P-2. The Bramo P-2 remained the engine of all the remaining Z series variants.

Do 17 dropping bombs

The Z-4 was designed as trainer. Although nearly identical to the Z-2 and Z-3, it featured several equipment changes optimised for blind flying training. The four-seat aircraft had a single control column with dual steering, which was achieved by a jib protruding to the right. Rudder pedals were in front of both seats. The defensive armament and bomb racks were reduced, or in most cases omitted to reduce weight.

The Z-5 was similar to the Z-3 with a weight of 19,000 lb (8,600 kg). Designed as an anti-shipping aircraft, the Z-5, was fitted with flotation cells in the fuselage and engine nacelles in case it was forced down on water. Usually the flotation devices took the form of inflatable bags stored in the rear of the engine nacelles and in bulges on either side of the nose, just behind the front glazing. Later variants of the Z model were developed. The Z-6 was to be a reconnaissance aircraft, although it was only built as a prototype. During the war only a few were converted from existing combat variants. The type was selected for weather check flights. It was identical to the Z-1/Z-2 variants, but offensive armament was omitted and extra fuel cells fitted. This increased the fuel load to 2,890 l (578 Imperial Gallons). As flights required higher altitude, the oxygen supply was increased from 20 to 24 bottles. For long-range flights over water, the larger dinghy of the Z-5 with its updated emergency escape equipment was mandatory during operations. The Z-6s were also used for night fighter operations. Some of the few converted Z-6s had the Ju 88C-6 nose installed and were equipped with machine guns and cannons. The nose proved to be unsatisfactory, and it was redesigned. In the tip of the new nose was an infrared spotlight which was soon made redundant after the introduction of Lichtenstein radar which was fitted to some of the Z-6.

Dornier Do 17Z 5 Luftflotte North Africa

The Z-8 Geier was not produced. It was intended as a ground attack aircraft and reached the first planning phase but was given up due to lack of performance and protective armour allocation against anti-aircraft artillery. An increase in armour would have meant a decrease in speed which would have exposed the aircraft further to enemy fire.

The Z-9, which was fitted with special bomb release equipment, and delayed release gear for low-level attack missions. Its purpose was to suppress enemy air defences. Therefore, it was designed to fly over anti-aircraft positions and drop Butterfly Bombs, an early form of cluster bomb munitions. This could only be done with air superiority, as the Z-9 was unarmoured. The airframe and equipment was identical to the Z-1/Z-2 version. Only the bomb bay was altered to accommodate 16 bomb-dispenser systems. The maximum weight of the Z-9 was 7,800 kg (17,200 lb). The design did not reach serial production.

After bomber production ended in 1940, the Z model was modified with a “solid” nose from the Ju 88C, fitted with one 20 mm MG FF cannon and three 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine guns, to be used as night fighters. Three prototypes were converted from existing Z-series airframes to the Do 17 Z-7 Kauz I (“screech-owl”) configuration. The standard Z-7 was fitted with Bramo 323P-1 radial engines and had a crew of three airmen. In comparison to the standard bomber version, the fuel load arrangement was altered by subdividing into cells. Two cells were in the wings, with a capacity of 770 litres (154 imperial gallons) each. A third cell was placed in the bomb bay within the main fuselage, having a capacity of 895 litres (179 imperial gallons). The oxygen supply for the three man crew was reduced to nine bottles, as intercepts at high altitudes were not anticipated. Add-on armour in the form of heavy steel plates was bolted to the nose bulkhead to protect the crew against frontal fire. Originally, it was planned to completely armour the crew compartment. This idea, was given up again as the increased weight would have reduced flight performance of an already slow aircraft. The ammunition loads for the three 7.92 mm MG 17s amounted to 3,000 rounds and 400 rounds of ammunition for the 20 mm MG 151 cannon (although some Do 17Z bombers carried a single 20 mm for ground attack missions).

Do 17 Z-2s over France, summer 1940

Later, the design was further modified to the Do 17 Z-10 Kauz II, the solid nose now containing an infra-red searchlight for the Spanner Anlage infrared detection system. The infrared lamp in the nose was used to illuminate the target while the display unit in the windshield made the reflection visible to the pilot. The Z-10 was armed with four 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine guns grouped above the IR light and two 20 mm MG FF in the lower nose. The crew could reload the 20 mm cannons’ drum magazines internally. The Z-10 contained an IR searchlight (Spanner-Anlage) for the Spanner infrared detection system. A single Kauz II was equipped with and tested the Lichtenstein radar.

Only 10 of these Kauz II designs were converted from existing Z-series airframes. The Spanner system proved to be essentially useless and many Z-10 were left without any detection system. At least one Z-10, coded CD+PV, was used as a flying test bed to help developing the early low-UHF band B/C version of the Lichtenstein radar system in late 1941–1942. When the Z-10 was stripped of all non-night fighter equipment, it had a maximum weight of 7,300 kg (16,100 lb). Armament fit was similar to that of the Z-7, with an added MG 17 and an additional 1,000 rounds of ammunition in the nose section. Defensive gun positions included the B and C stand, each equipped with a single MG 15.

Dornier Do 17Z-10 nightfighter with FuG 220 Lichtenstein radar

Official figures state 2,139 Do 17s were built on German assembly lines. At the Dornier factory at Oberpfaffenhofen, 328 Do 17Es were built along with a further 77 Do 17Fs and 200 Do 17M variants. Do 17Z production figures for Oberpfaffenhofen stand at 420. At Friedrichshafen, 84 Do 17Ks were built, some of which were sold to the Yugoslav Royal Air Force. Do 17P production was spread out over different factory lines. At Siebel/Halle, eight were built. At the Henschel factory at Berlin-Schönefeld 73 were constructed. At the HFB plant in Hamburg 149 were built. Henschel also produced some 320 Do 17Zs, HFB contributed to construction of 74 at its Hamburg plant, and another 73 were built at Siebel. Some 105 examples of the Dornier Do 215B was later built at Oberpfaffenhofen.

By 19th September 1938, the Luftwaffe had received 579 Dornier Do 17s. These were mostly Do 17E, F, M and P variants. During 1939–1940, some 475 Dornier Do 17Z bombers, 16 reconnaissance aircraft and nine night fighters were built. Another 100 Dornier Do 215s, an updated variant of the Do 17, were built during this period also.

The Do 17Z was the most produced variant of the Do 17 series

Other governments were interested in the Do 17. In June 1936, the Yugoslav government ordered 36 Do 17E variants from Germany. The negotiations for a licence were completed on 27th June 1938 for 36 Do 17Ka’s at the cost of 1,829,825 Reichsmark (RM). On 18th March 1938, Yugoslavia ordered 16 complete Do 17 Ka-2’s and Ka-3’s at a cost of 3,316,788 RM. They received the last on 21st April 1939. The machines were from 72-96% complete.

The Dorniers were devoid of German equipment, including engines. The Yugoslavs found a French manufacturer to supply the powerplants instead. Gnome et Rhône was the supplier chosen, and the Gnome-Rhône Mistral Major engine was to be used in the Dornier. The French had inflated the performance data of the engine, claiming it to have 649 kW (870 hp) and a speed of 420 km/h (260 mph) at 3,850 m (12,630 ft). The constant-speed propellers were also poor, and delivered late. This led to trials with Piaggio Aero and Ratier propellers. Only one of the Do 17s delivered was fitted out complete with German equipment. The rest of the Dorniers were equipped with Belgian FN 7.9 mm (.31 in) machine guns, Czech camera equipment and eventually Telefunken radio sets. Altogether, 70 Do 17s were produced by Yugoslav factories.

Dornier Do 17E 9KG77 3Z+AT landing accident showing camouflage and II.KG255 emblem

Dornier Do 17Z Werknummer 1160

On 3rd September 2010, the RAF Museum announced that a Do 17 had been discovered in 50 ft (15 m) of water off the coast of England. The aircraft had been discovered in September 2008 on the Goodwin Sands, a large sandbank 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) off the coast of Kent, but the discovery was kept a closely guarded secret. The Dornier Do 17Z-2, Werknummer 1160, built under license by Henschel with the full Geschwaderkennung (combat wing aircraft ID code) of 5K+AR, was operated by 7 Staffel, III Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 3 (KG 3).

Restoration project. The fuselage, upside down with the cockpit area nearest the camera

On 26th August 1940, 5K+AR was taking part in a raid by KG 2 and KG 3, targeting the RAF stations RAF Debden and RAF Hornchurch. While flying over clouds, the aircraft became separated from the bomber formation and lost its bearings; it was then attacked by Boulton Paul Defiant fighters of No. 264 Squadron RAF. One of the Dornier’s engines was disabled and the other damaged, so the wounded pilot, Feldwebel (Flight Sergeant) Willi Effmert, elected to make a crash landing on the Goodwin Sands. He and another crew member survived and were taken prisoner. The other two crew were killed; one is buried at Cannock Chase German war cemetery and the other in the Netherlands. The identity of the Defiant that shot down the Dornier is not certain – it may have been one of three 264 Squadron aircraft that was shot down soon after in a battle with Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter escorts from Jagdgeschwader 3.

Restoration project. Port engine nacelle; note the tyre is still pressurized

In June 2010 diving operations were carried out and the survey report indicated that the aircraft was largely complete, although 5K+AR lay inverted on the seabed, indicating that it ground-looped on landing. The port rudder, starboard stabiliser, forward nose glazing, undercarriage doors and engine cowling were missing, but the discovery of a small debris field associated with the wreck indicates that some or all of those parts may still be present at the site. Some items, including two of the Dornier’s six MG 15 machine guns, are missing and are believed to have been stolen by unauthorized divers sometime after the aircraft’s discovery.

It was then taken to the Michael Beetham Restoration Centre at the Royal Air Force Museum’s Cosford site, where metallurgists from Imperial College London have a significant role in the post-recovery conservation of the aircraft.

Corgi Aviation Archive Dornier Do17Z-10 available to pre-order at Flying Tigers.

Corgi Aviation Archive has produced AA38808 Corgi Aviation Archive Dornier Do17Z-10 Kauz R4+AK, I/NJG.2, Erich Jung, Gilze-Rijen airfield, Holland, October 1940 which is available to pre-order from Flying Tigers. Please click on the image below to go straight to the model page.

AA38808 Corgi Aviation Archive Dornier Do17Z-10 Kauz R4+AK, I/NJG.2, Erich Jung, Gilze-Rijen airfield, Holland, October 1940  RRP £82.50  Flying Tigers only £73.99

Forces of Valor brand added to Flying Tigers.

I have added the latest diecast models available to pre-order from Forces of Valor. These are new toolings with improved accuaracy and new parts. Available in 1/32nd , 1/48th and 1/72nd scale,  please click on the image below to go straight to the model of your choice or CLICK HERE to see them all.

UN812015A Forces of Valor 1/72nd scale Martin B-26B Marauder “Shootin’ In”, 556th BS, 387th BG, Germany, 1945  RRP £70.00  Flying Tigers only £54.99

UN812014A Forces of Valor 1/72nd scale North American B-25J Mitchell 345th BG “Air Apaches”, The Philippines, 1945  RRP £70.00  Flying Tigers only £54.99

UN821004A Forces of Valor 1/72nd scale Boeing CH-47D Chinook US Army, A Company, 7th Battalion, 101st Airborne Division, Afghanistan, 2003  RRP £40.00  Flying Tigers only £32.99

UN821004C Forces of Valor 1/72nd scale Boeing Chinook HC-1 Mk.I RAF 18 Sqn., RAF Odiham  RRP £40.00  Flying Tigers only £32.99

UN820005A Forces of Valor 1/48th scale Bell UH-1D Iroquois “Huey” US Army, 174th Attack Helicopter Company, Vietnam, 1967  RRP £70.00  Flying Tigers only ££54.99

UN820005B Forces of Valor 1/48th scale Bell UH-1 Huey Helicopter US Army, 57th Medical Detachment, “Dust Off 90”, Vietnam, 1964  RRP £70.00  Flying Tigers only £54.99

UN820003A Forces of Valor 1/48th scale Bell AH-1W Super Cobra Attack Helicopter USMC, Squadron 167, Al Assad Air Base, Iraq, 2007  RRP £70.00  Flying Tigers only £54.99

UN810001A Forces of Valor 1/32nd scale Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IX RAF 1942  RRP £135.00  Flying Tigers only £99.99

UN810002A Forces of Valor 1/32nd scale North American P-51D Mustang USAAF  RRP £135.00  Flying Tigers only £99.99

Corgi Aviation Archive arriving soon !

In the next couple of weeks Flying Tigers will receive the following models. These models have already been heavily pre-ordered, so if you want one of these and have not already ordered one , don’t miss out and order as soon as possible. Please click on the images below to go straight to the model of your choice.

AA34018 Corgi Aviation 1/72nd scale Archive B-24 Liberator ‘Male Call’ 453rd BG, US Eighth Air Force, 1944 Jimmy Stewart  RRP £132.00  Flying Tigers only £118.99

AA34018 Corgi Aviation Archive B-24 Liberator ‘Male Call’ 453rd BG, US Eighth Air Force, 1944 Jimmy Stewart    BOX ARTWORK

AA28402 Corgi Aviation Archive 1/48th scale English Electric Lightning F.6 XS927/N RAF No.74 Squadron ‘The Tigers’, RAF Tengah, Singapore, 1969  RRP £132.00  Flying Tigers only £119.99

AA28402 Corgi Aviation Archive 1/48th scale English Electric Lightning F.6 XS927/N RAF No.74 Squadron ‘The Tigers’, RAF Tengah, Singapore, 1969    Box Artwork

Air Force One Re-stock

Flying Tigers has been able to get a small re-stock of the General Atomics MQ9 Reaper USAF. Sold out very quickly last time… here is another chance to add one of these to your collection. Please click on the image below to go straight to the model page.

AF1-0016 Air Force One 1/72nd scale General Atomics MQ9 Reaper USAF  RRP £36.00  Flying Tigers only £29.99

Thats all for this week’s Newsletter.

Thank you for taking time out to read it.

Richard.

Flying Tigers.

The post Dornier Do 17 “Flying Pencil”, Forces of Valor New Models, Corgi Aviation and Air Force One Arrivals. appeared first on Flying Tigers.

Flying Tigers are established Diecast Aviation specialists

We work closely with all the major manufacturing companies such as Hornby/Corgi, Corgi Aviation Archive, Gemini Aces, Gemini Jets, Hobbymaster, Century Wings, Witty Sky Guardian, Dragon and Forces of Valor. We include website sections which include New Releases, New to Pre Order, New Corgi, Exclusive Commissioned Model Aircraft, Rare and Collectable, Rare & Collectable, Corgi, Gemini Aces, Century Wings, Hobbymaster, Witty Sky Guardian, Dragon and Forces of Valor. Check Flying Tigers for Supermarine Spitfire, Avro Vulcan, Concorde, Avro Lancaster, Crusader, Tomcat, Messerschmitt, Handley Page Halifax, Bristol Beaufighter, Bristol Blenheim, North American Mustang, Dambusters, Battle of Britain, Royal Navy Phantom and RAF Phantom.   Corgi Die-cast, Corgi Aviation Specialists, New Corgi Catalogue.

The post Model Aviation Shop appeared first on Flying Tigers.