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Catalog #: 08_00913
Title: Space Shuttle Program
Date: 1981-2010
Additional Information: Mock up and engineers
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
A Weapon Intern Program class learns about the MK-5 bomb from Erik McIntire.
See the complete “A day in the life of Sandia — 70 years and counting” photo essay at bit.ly/2WxBcF0
Photo by Randy Montoya
Language(s): English
Format: Still image
Subject(s): Health Education, African Americans
Abstract: Nurses training program class of white and African American nurses.
Related Title(s): Is part of: Archives, 1894-1952, box 1.; See related catalog record: 2934107R
Extent: 1 photographic print..
NLM Unique ID: 101441859
NLM Image ID: A014811
Permanent Link: resource.nlm.nih.gov/101441859
Catalog #: 08_00819
Title: Space Shuttle Program
Date: 1981-2010
Additional Information: shows the design for the module buttons
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
Catalog #: 08_00927
Title: Space Shuttle Program
Date: 1981-2010
Additional Information: Space Shuttle Mock up
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
Catalog #: 08_00825
Title: Space Shuttle Program
Date: 1981-2010
Additional Information: shows a mockup of a mission control module
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
Photo credit: Elena Olivo
Copyright: NYU Photo Bureau
The Fall 2010 Student Hackathon brought in hundreds of students from 30 universities to NYU's Courant Institute for 24 hours of creative hacking on New York City startups' APIs.
Selected startups presented their technologies at the beginning of the event, and students formed groups to brainstorm and begin coding on their ideas. Many students worked into the night, foregoing sleep to fulfill their visions.
On Sunday afternoon students presented their projects to an audience including a judging panel, which selected the final winners.
hackNY hosts hackathons one each semester, as well as a Summer Fellows Program, which pairs quantitative and computational students with startups which can demonstrate a strong mentoring environment, a problem for a student to work on, a person to mentor them, and a place for them to work. Startups selected to host a student are expected to compensate student Fellows. Students enjoy free housing together and a pedagogical lecture series to introduce them to the ins and outs of joining and founding a startup.
For more information on hackNY's initiatives, please visit www.hackNY.org and follow us on twitter @hackNY
(The following is a completely fictional history!)
By 1982, the deficiences of the SA-77C Wildfire program were rapidly becoming apparent, and so the FIRAF began looking at a replacement. To preserve the FIR’s self-sufficiency and desire for armament sources beyond the United States, Minister of Defense Akela Canis authorized Intelani Aeronautics to begin designing a replacement for the Wildfire in strict secrecy. Emphasis was placed on affordability and manueverability above all other aspects of the new design. Like the SA-77C, it would be a pure fighter rather than a multirole aircraft.
The design team decided to start from scratch, and numerous ideas were put on the table. This included a license-built, simplified F-16A (based on the unsuccessful F-16/79 proposal), resurrecting the Northrop YF-17 Cobra (which had provided the prototype for the F/A-18 Hornet), and essentially a scaled-down version of the Wildfire with variable-sweep wings. The proposal that was liked the most was to design something that would be “radical and practicable,” and centered around the research being made by Grumman Aerospace on forward-swept wing designs. The forward swept wing (FSW) would offer unparalleled (at the time) manueverability, excellent low-speed handling characteristics, and high-Alpha capability.
With the permission of Canis, IA contacted Grumman and offered to partner with them in the design of a testbed for the FSW design, which would become the X-29, in August 1983. The X-29 had already begun design work funded by DARPA, and Intelani Aeronautics’ involvement in the design was officially “observer only,” and the fact that much of the research funding came from IA was kept secret.
In the interests of speed and cost, the X-29 prototypes were adapted from existing F-5A Freedom Fighter airframes, retaining the forward fuselage and nose landing gear of the type, with main landing gear and control surface actuators of the F-16A. IA, with a better knowledge of composites than Grumman, provided the wings. The X-29 first flew in December 1984.
By this time, the Third World War had begun, and a crash program was started to design a military version of the X-29, designated XF-31 Stingray. The second X-29 was designed with a strengthened wing to simulate the addition of hardpoints and first flew in March 1985. By this time, the third X-29 prototype was already being reworked into the first XF-31.
Though the X-29 performed well in all respects, Intelani Aeronautics made some improvements to the design. The wing was made slightly larger with more area, while the forward fuselage was made slightly longer and deeper to accommodate the APG-65 radar of the F-16A. A gatling gun setup similar to that of the F/A-18 was proposed, but ultimately rejected in favor of two M39A2 20mm cannon; this was because the F-5 fuselage that the XF-31 was adapted was easily fitted with the M39s and FIRAF pilots were already more used to the cannon armament of the SA-77C and A-4ES. The analog cockpit of the X-29/F-5A was revised to include three multifunction displays, and, taking advantage of combat reports from Europe, an undernose Television Camera System (TCS), adapted from the F-14A+ Tomcat, was added underneath the nose. Because of weight distribution, the decision was made to place the TCS behind the forward landing gear rather than in front of it.
Wingtip and underwing fuselage hardpoints were added (the fuselage being too narrow for an underfuselage hardpoint), with the inner pylons “plumbed” for drop tanks. Though the XF-31 was cleared for unguided rocket pods and bombs, and software included for air-to-ground missions, the Stingray was meant to be a pure fighter first and foremost. For the same reason, the canopy was revised as a bubble canopy and the rear fuselage slightly cut down from the X-29, giving better all-around visibility, though not as good as the F-16’s.
The most radical change to the X-29 design was the rear fuselage. While it retained the long rear-leading edge extensions (RLEX) of the X-29, a forked twin-tail configuration was adapted for better handling. It was also planned to equip the XF-31 with two engines instead of one, but in the interests of speed the X-29’s single F404 powerplant was retained. The “canoe” that the X-29’s tail was mounted on was retained and used to hold a Holly Stinger ECM suite, essentially equipping the Stingray with internal ECM equivalent to the ALQ-119 pods used over wartime Europe. It was also a “no-frills” aircraft, designed to be built purely for the air superiority role in a hurry at a reasonable price; indeed, the flyaway cost of the Stingray was only $6.2 million per aircraft, half that of the F-16. Because of the speed required to get the aircraft into production, no two-seat conversion trainer F-31 was built.
For all the design changes, the XF-31 first flew in May 1985. Again, it was found to be generally a good design, and not as difficult to fly as first thought; the forward swept wing made it virtually impossible to stall, and it was found to be controllable even at an angle of attack of 67 degrees. The heavier nose and twin tails caused some airflow problems, and so the canards were raised a foot higher than those on the XF-31 and made fully controllable; pilots could angle the canards completely down and drop their airspeed precipitously, though this made the Stingray very difficult to control. Strakes were added to the nose (similar to that of the IAI Kfir) to improve longitudinal stability.
Production of the standard F-31A was already begun before testing of the XF-31 prototype was complete, and the first production aircraft was rolled out in August 1985. This was done without a formal ceremony to keep the design secret, and the first three F-31As were intended purely for research; these were flown against captured MiG-21s and MiG-23s to develop tactics. Instrumental in this development was Akela Canis Jr., the top-ranked intelani ace, who test-flew the Stingray in October 1985 and proclaimed the design “superb.” The formal announcement of the F-31A was made in November, by which time six were already in Europe with the 51st Fighter Squadron.
The Stingray saw its first combat in December, and pilots reported that Soviet pilots were obviously stunned by the radical design being operational. These combat trials also revealed a number of small technical problems, mainly with the guns and TCS system; it also showed the Stingray’s Achilles heel, though one that had been anticipated: the design was very short-ranged compared to other fighters, and was not truly suited for all-weather operations over Europe. Nonetheless, the design was a huge leap forward over the SA-77C and A-4ES, and was placed in full production with priority over all other weapons for the FIR armed forces.
Akela Canis Jr. lobbied hard for his 1st Fighter Squadron to be reequipped with Stingrays, and got his wish in February 1986. Pairing the most manueverable fighter then in existence with some of the best-trained fighter pilots in the world proved to be a deadly combination, and “Polar” would go on to score an incredible 420 aerial kills in the Stingray between February 1986 and May 1987. Canis, in his memoirs, attributed this high number to a number of factors: the Stingray’s sudden appearance caught the Soviets by surprise and did not give them enough time to develop counter-tactics; the marked decrease in Soviet pilot quality by summer 1986, which meant poorly-trained pilots were going up against hardened veterans; the Stingray’s unmatched capability in the short-range turning dogfight—up to that point one of the Soviets’ best tactics against large, less manueverable fighters like the Wildfire, F-4, and F-15. This, in Canis’ words, gave Polar the “perfect storm” they needed to achieve a murderous kill ratio, fully ten percent of all NATO kills of the war.
The heavy use of composites in the Stingray also made it a very resilient aircraft; Canis returned to base with an entire wingtip missing, while Matthew White, another Polar ace, collided with a flagpole on a strafing mission and managed to return home despite a huge rent in the lower fuselage.
The Stingray proved wildly popular, and by the end of the war, four squadrons were equipped with them. It was thought that as many as twenty squadrons might be reequipped with Stingrays, but postwar cuts and the F-31A’s shortcomings proved to limit their numbers. While the Stingray had proven to be arguably the best fighter of the Third World War, it was nonetheless hampered by a lack of range and lack of multirole capability.
F-31As were committed to Operation Desert Shield/Storm, using oversize ferry tanks to improve their range. Once more, put into an environment where they excelled, the Stingray reigned supreme, scoring 32 kills, nearly half of all Coalition aerial victories of the war.
Though outnumbered by F-15s and F-16s in FIRAF service, the F-31C Stingray remains an important part of the FIRAF and a much-sought after assignment. 72 Stingrays are in service with the FIRAF. These aircraft are slated to be replaced beginning in 2015, possibly by F-32A Mantas or F-35A Lightnings.
Completely made-up history aside, I got the idea of equipping my literary characters and fantasy air force with FSW fighters from my childhood, when one of my favorite toys was the GI Joe X-30 Conquest. Dad and I collaborated on the F-31 design, with Dad using the 1/48 scale Hasegawa X-29 kit. He used F-18 tails for the twin tails of the Stingray design, moved the canards to the top of the intakes, added the guns to the nose, and some assorted bumps and such for ECM. (There is a TCS taken from a F-14B kit, but it can't be seen from this angle.) Then hardpoints were added under the wings and on the wingtips, with two drop tanks, two AIM-120 AMRAAMs, and two AIM-9L Sidewinders. Most decals were taken from a F-16 sheet, with JASDF hinomarus used for the "Free Intelani Air Force" roundels; a F-15 sheet supplied both the bear and the blue/white starburst for the tail logo (the bear is from a JASDF F-15 unit, while the starburst is from the 318th FIS from McChord AFB, WA). The whole thing was painted in F-16 style camouflage.
The end result was a great looking kitbash, and it was our favorite collaboration. I ran the design by some aviation designers, and they said it was a viable design--though the tails should be moved down to the ends of the RLEXs, as the split tail doesn't offer any benefits to aerodynamics as placed. I was interested to see that the Iranian F-5 Shahegh variant uses a similar tail configuration...
Catalog #: 08_00839
Title: Space Shuttle Program
Date: 1981-2010
Additional Information: Proposed Shuttle Ground Equipment
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
When I was making the programs/fans, I didn't know what to put on the back, so I thought about what I wanted to see when I looked out at the crowd. Of course! My aunt with a mustache.
Photo by www.flickr.com/photos/kriegsaz/
Ferrari FXX (evo ?) at $WAP SHOPS, in Florida ... With F40, F50 and Enzo (unless you can't see it) behind
Catalog #: 08_00936
Title: Space Shuttle Program
Date: 1981-2010
Additional Information: Space Shuttle Mock up
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
Catalog #: 08_00838
Title: Space Shuttle Program
Date: 1981-2010
Additional Information: Proposed Shuttle Ground Equipment
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
In the Kennedy Space Center’s Press Site auditorium, Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of Mission Assurance, SpaceX, discusses SpaceX's participation in NASA's Commercial Crew Program and the status of launch preparations for SpaceX CRS-7, the seventh commercial resupply services mission to the station on June 28. From left are Stephanie Schierholz, NASA Communications; Lisa Colloredo, associate program manager, Commercial Crew Program; and Koenigsmann. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
Part of the JavaScript code that was attached to an e-mail as a fake invoice in a zip file.
Once the user opens the malicious zip file the JavaScript code is executed and the ransomware software is downloaded from an infected website.
When the ransomware software is running it will encrypt all files that match particular extensions.
After encryption, a message (displayed on the user's desktop) instructs them to download the Tor browser and visit a specific criminal-operated Web site for further information.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransomware
Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah at workshop held for participants in the Youth Leadership Program.
Amman, Jordan/ June 6, 2011
جلالة الملكة رانيا العبدالله خلال جلسة حوارية مع المشاركين في برنامج "القيادات الشبابية لأجيال قادرة"
عمان، الأردن/ 6 حزيران 2011
© Royal Hashemite Court
Health Programs by www.trinitycarefoundation.org/
Write a mail to us : support@trinitycarefoundation.org
Photo credit: Elena Olivo
Copyright: NYU Photo Bureau
The Fall 2010 Student Hackathon brought in hundreds of students from 30 universities to NYU's Courant Institute for 24 hours of creative hacking on New York City startups' APIs.
Selected startups presented their technologies at the beginning of the event, and students formed groups to brainstorm and begin coding on their ideas. Many students worked into the night, foregoing sleep to fulfill their visions.
On Sunday afternoon students presented their projects to an audience including a judging panel, which selected the final winners.
hackNY hosts hackathons one each semester, as well as a Summer Fellows Program, which pairs quantitative and computational students with startups which can demonstrate a strong mentoring environment, a problem for a student to work on, a person to mentor them, and a place for them to work. Startups selected to host a student are expected to compensate student Fellows. Students enjoy free housing together and a pedagogical lecture series to introduce them to the ins and outs of joining and founding a startup.
For more information on hackNY's initiatives, please visit www.hackNY.org and follow us on twitter @hackNY
Health Program for Children focusing on Nutrition, Eye and Dental.
Write a mail to us : support@trinitycarefoundation.org
Title: Space Shuttle Program
Catalog #: 08_01033
Date: 1981-2010
Additional Information: North American Rockwell Two Stage Winged Space Shuttle
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
Photo credit: Elena Olivo
Copyright: NYU Photo Bureau
The Fall 2010 Student Hackathon brought in hundreds of students from 30 universities to NYU's Courant Institute for 24 hours of creative hacking on New York City startups' APIs.
Selected startups presented their technologies at the beginning of the event, and students formed groups to brainstorm and begin coding on their ideas. Many students worked into the night, foregoing sleep to fulfill their visions.
On Sunday afternoon students presented their projects to an audience including a judging panel, which selected the final winners.
hackNY hosts hackathons one each semester, as well as a Summer Fellows Program, which pairs quantitative and computational students with startups which can demonstrate a strong mentoring environment, a problem for a student to work on, a person to mentor them, and a place for them to work. Startups selected to host a student are expected to compensate student Fellows. Students enjoy free housing together and a pedagogical lecture series to introduce them to the ins and outs of joining and founding a startup.
For more information on hackNY's initiatives, please visit www.hackNY.org and follow us on twitter @hackNY
Catalog #: 08_00923
Title: Space Shuttle Program
Date: 1981-2010
Additional Information: Space Shuttle Mock up
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
Photo credit: Elena Olivo
Copyright: NYU Photo Bureau
The Fall 2010 Student Hackathon brought in hundreds of students from 30 universities to NYU's Courant Institute for 24 hours of creative hacking on New York City startups' APIs.
Selected startups presented their technologies at the beginning of the event, and students formed groups to brainstorm and begin coding on their ideas. Many students worked into the night, foregoing sleep to fulfill their visions.
On Sunday afternoon students presented their projects to an audience including a judging panel, which selected the final winners.
hackNY hosts hackathons one each semester, as well as a Summer Fellows Program, which pairs quantitative and computational students with startups which can demonstrate a strong mentoring environment, a problem for a student to work on, a person to mentor them, and a place for them to work. Startups selected to host a student are expected to compensate student Fellows. Students enjoy free housing together and a pedagogical lecture series to introduce them to the ins and outs of joining and founding a startup.
For more information on hackNY's initiatives, please visit www.hackNY.org and follow us on twitter @hackNY
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
After the success of the Soviet Union’s first carrier ship, the Moskva Class (Projekt 1123, also called „Кондор“/„Kondor“) cruisers in the mid 1960s, the country became more ambitious. This resulted in Project 1153 Orel (Russian: Орёл, Eagle), a planned 1970s-era Soviet program to give the Soviet Navy a true blue water aviation capability. Project Orel would have resulted in a program very similar to the aircraft carriers available to the U.S. Navy. The ship would have been about 75-80,000 tons displacement, with a nuclear power plant and carried about 70 aircraft launched via steam catapults – the first Soviet aircraft carrier that would be able to deploy fixed-wing aircraft.
Beyond this core capability, the Orel carrier was designed with a large offensive capability with the ship mounts including 24 vertical launch tubes for anti-ship cruise missiles. In the USSR it was actually classified as the "large cruiser with aircraft armament".
Anyway, the carrier needed appropriate aircraft, and in order to develop a the aircraft major design bureaus were asked to submit ideas and proposals in 1959. OKB Yakovlev and MiG responded. While Yakovlev concentrated on the Yak-36 VTOL design that could also be deployed aboard of smaller ships without catapult and arrester equipment, Mikoyan-Gurevich looked at navalized variants of existing or projected aircraft.
While land-based fighters went through a remarkable performance improvement during the 60ies, OKB MiG considered a robust aircraft with proven systems and – foremost – two engines to be the best start for the Soviet Union’s first naval fighter. “Learning by doing”, the gathered experience would then be used in a dedicated new design that would be ready in the mid 70ies when Project 1153 was ready for service, too.
Internally designated “I-SK” or “SK-01” (Samolyot Korabelniy = carrier-borne aircraft), the naval fighter was based on the MiG-19 (NATO: Farmer), which had been in production in the USSR since 1954.
Faster and more modern types like the MiG-21 were rejected for a naval conversion because of their poor take-off performance, uncertain aerodynamics in the naval environment and lack of ruggedness. The MiG-19 also offered the benefit of relatively compact dimensions, as well as a structure that would carry the desired two engines.
Several innovations had to be addresses:
- A new wing for improved low speed handling
- Improvement of the landing gear and internal structures for carrier operations
- Development of a wing folding mechanism
- Integration of arrester hook and catapult launch devices into the structure
- Protection of structure, engine and equipment from the aggressive naval environment
- Improvement of the pilot’s field of view for carrier landings
- Improved avionics, esp. for navigation
Work on the SK-01 started in 1960, and by 1962 a heavily redesigned MiG-19 was ready as a mock-up for inspection and further approval. The “new” aircraft shared the outlines with the land-based MiG-19, but the nose section was completely new and shared a certain similarity to the experimental “Aircraft SN”, a MiG-17 derivative with side air intakes and a solid nose that carried a. Unlike the latter, the cockpit had been moved forward, which offered, together with an enlarged canopy and a short nose, an excellent field of view for the pilot.
On the SK-01 the air intakes with short splitter plates were re-located to the fuselage flanks underneath the cockpit. In order to avoid gun smoke ingestion problems (and the lack of space in the nose for any equipment except for a small SRD-3 Grad gun ranging radar, coupled with an ASP-5N computing gun-sight), the SK-01’s internal armament, a pair of NR-30 cannon, was placed in the wing roots.
The wing itself was another major modification, it featured a reduced sweep of only 33° at ¼ chord angle (compared to the MiG-19’s original 55°). Four wing hardpoints, outside of the landing gear wells, could carry a modest ordnance payload, including rocket and gun pods, unguided missiles, iron bombs and up to four Vympel K-13 AAMs.
Outside of these pylons, the wings featured a folding mechanism that allowed the wing span to be reduced from 10 m to 6.5 m for stowage. The fin remained unchanged, but the stabilizers had a reduced sweep, too.
The single ventral fin of the MiG-19 gave way to a fairing for a massive, semi-retractable arrester hook, flanked by a pair of smaller fins. The landing gear was beefed up, too, with a stronger suspension. Catapult launch from deck was to be realized through expandable cables that were attached onto massive hooks under the fuselage.
The SK-01 received a “thumbs up” in March 1962 and three prototypes, powered by special Sorokin R3M-28 engines, derivatives of the MiG-19's RB-9 that were adapted to the naval environment, were created and tested until 1965, when the type – now designated MiG-SK – went through State Acceptance Trials, including simulated landing tests on an “unsinkalble carrier” dummy, a modified part of the runway at Air Base at the Western coast of the Caspian Sea. Not only flight tests were conducted at Kaspiysk, but also different layouts for landing cables were tested and optimized as well. Furthermore, on a special platform at the coast, an experimental steam catapult went through trials, even though no aircraft starts were made from it – but weights hauled out into the sea.
Anyway, the flight tests and the landing performance on the simulated carrier deck were successful, and while the MiG-SK (the machine differed from the MiG-19 so much that it was not recognized as an official MiG-19 variant) was not an outstanding combat aircraft, rather a technology carrier with field use capabilities.
The MiG-SK’s performance was good enough to earn OKB MiG an initial production run of 20 aircraft, primarily intended for training and development units, since the whole infrastructure and procedures for naval aviation from a carrier had to be developed from scratch. These machines were built at slow pace until 1968 and trials were carried out in the vicinity of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
The MiG-SK successfully remained hidden from the public, since the Soviet Navy did not want to give away its plans for a CTOL carrier. Spy flights of balloons and aircraft recognized the MiG-SK, but the type was mistaken as MiG-17 fighters. Consequently, no NATO codename was ever allocated.
Alas, the future of the Soviet, carrier-borne fixed wing aircraft was not bright: Laid down in in 1970, the Kiev-class aircraft carriers (also known as Project 1143 or as the Krechyet (Gyrfalcon) class) were the first class of fixed-wing aircraft carriers to be built in the Soviet Union, and they entered service, together with the Yak-38 (Forger) VTOL fighter, in 1973. This weapon system already offered a combat performance similar to the MiG-SK, and the VTOL concept rendered the need for catapult launch and deck landing capability obsolete.
OKB MiG still tried to lobby for a CTOL aircraft (in the meantime, the swing-wing MiG-23 was on the drawing board, as well as a projected, navalized multi-purpose derivative, the MiG-23K), but to no avail.
Furthermore, carrier Project 1153 was cancelled in October 1978 as being too expensive, and a program for a smaller ship called Project 11435, more V/STOL-aircraft-oriented, was developed instead; in its initial stage, a version of 65,000 tons and 52 aircraft was proposed, but eventually an even smaller ship was built in the form of the Kuznetsov-class aircraft carriers in 1985, outfitted with a 12-degree ski-jump bow flight deck instead of using complex aircraft catapults. This CTOL carrier was finally equipped with navalized Su-33, MiG-29 and Su-25 aircraft – and the MiG-SK paved the early way to these shipboard fighters, especially the MiG-29K.
General characteristics:
Crew: One
Length: 13.28 m (43 ft 6 in)
Wingspan: 10.39 m (34 ft)
Height: 3.9 m (12 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 22.6 m² (242.5 ft²)
Empty weight: 5.172 kg (11,392 lb)
Max. take-off weight: 7,560 kg (16,632 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Sorokin R3M-28 turbojets afterburning turbojets, rated at 33.8 kN (7,605 lbf) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 1,145 km/h (618 knots, 711 mph) at 3,000 m (10,000 ft)
Range: 2,060 km (1,111 nmi, 1,280 mi) with drop tanks
Service ceiling: 17,500 m (57,400 ft)
Rate of climb: 180 m/s (35,425 ft/min)
Wing loading: 302.4 kg/m² (61.6 lb/ft²)
Thrust/weight: 0.86
Armament:
2x 30 mm NR-30 cannons in the wing roots with 75 RPG
4x underwing pylons, with a maximum load of 1.000 kg (2.205 lb)
The kit and its assembly:
This kitbash creation was spawned by thoughts concerning the Soviet Naval Aviation and its lack of CTOL aircraft carriers until the 1980ies and kicked-off by a CG rendition of a navalized MiG-17 from fellow member SPINNERS at whatifmodelers.com, posted a couple of months ago. I liked this idea, and at first I wanted to convert a MiG-17 with a solid nose as a dedicated carrier aircraft. But the more I thought about it and did historic research, the less probable this concept appeared to me: the MiG-17 was simply too old to match Soviet plans for a carrier ship, at least with the real world as reference.
A plausible alternative was the MiG-19, esp. with its twin-engine layout, even though the highly swept wings and the associated high start and landing speeds would be rather inappropriate for a shipborne fighter. Anyway, a MiG-21 was even less suitable, and I eventually took the Farmer as conversion basis, since it would also fit into the historic time frame between the late 60ies and the mid-70ies.
In this case, the basis is a Plastyk MiG-19 kit, one of the many Eastern European re-incarnations of the vintage KP kit. This cheap re-issue became a positive surprise, because any former raised panel and rivet details have disappeared and were replaced with sound, recessed engravings. The kit is still a bit clumsy, the walls are very thick (esp. the canopy – maybe 2mm!), but IMHO it’s a considerable improvement with acceptable fit, even though there are some sink holes and some nasty surprises (in my case, for instance, the stabilizer fins would not match with the rear fuselage at all, and you basically need putty everywhere).
Not much from the Plastyk kit was taken over, though: only the fuselage’s rear two-thirds were used, some landing gear parts as well as fin and the horizontal stabilizers. The latter were heavily modified and reduced in sweep in order to match new wings from a Hobby Boss MiG-15 (the parts were cut into three pieces each and then set back together again).
Furthermore, the complete front section from a Novo Supermarine Attacker was transplanted, because its short nose and the high cockpit are perfect parts for a carrier aircraft. The Attacker’s front end, including the air intakes, fits almost perfectly onto the round MiG-19 forward fuselage, only little body work was necessary. A complete cockpit tub and a new seat were implanted, as well as a front landing gear well and walls inside of the (otherwise empty) air intakes. The jet exhausts were drilled open, too, and afterburner dummies added. Simple jobs.
On the other side, the wings were trickier than expected. The MiG-19 kit comes with voluminous and massive wing root fairings, probably aerodynamic bodies for some area-ruling. I decided to keep them, but this caused some unexpected troubles…
The MiG-15 wings’ position, considerably further back due to the reduced sweep angle, was deduced from the relative MiG-19’s landing gear position. A lot of sculpting and body work followed, and after the wings were finally in place I recognized that the aforementioned, thick wing root fairings had reduced the wing sweep – basically not a bad thing, but with the inconvenient side effect that the original wing MiG-15 fences were not parallel to the fuselage anymore, looking rather awkward! What to do? Grrrr…. I could not leave it that way, so I scraped them away and replaced with them with four scratched substitutes (from styrene profiles), moving the outer pair towards the wing folding mechanism.
Under the wings, four new pylons were added (two from an IAI Kfir, two from a Su-22) and the ordnance gathered from the scrap box – bombs and rocket pods formerly belonged to a Kangnam/Revell Yak-38.
The landing gear was raised by ~2mm for a higher stance on the ground. The original, thick central fin was reduced in length, so that it could become a plausible attachment point for an arrester hook (also from the spares box), and a pair of splayed stabilizer fins was added as a compensation. Finally, some of the OOB air scoops were placed all round the hull and some pitots, antennae and a gun camera fairing added.
Painting and markings:
This whif was to look naval at first sight, so I referred to the early Yak-38 VTOL aircraft and their rather minimalistic paint scheme in an overall dull blue. The green underside, seen on many service aircraft, was AFAIK a (later) protective coating – an obsolete detail for a CTOL aircraft.
Hence, all upper surfaces and the fuselage were painted in a uniform “Field Blue” (Tamiya XF-50). It’s a bit dark, but I have used this unique, petrol blue tone many moons ago on a real world Kangnam Forger where it looks pretty good, and in this case the surface was furthermore shaded with Humbrol 96 and 126 after a black in wash.
For some contrast I painted the undersides of the wings and stabilizers as well as a fuselage section between the wings in a pale grey (Humbrol 167), seen on one of the Yak-38 prototypes. Not very obvious, but at least the aircraft did not end up in a boring, uniform color.
The interior was painted in blue-gray (PRU Blue, shaded with Humbrol 87) while the landing gear wells became Aluminum (Humbrol 56). The wheel discs became bright green, just in order to keep in style and as a colorful contrast, and some di-electric panels and covers became very light grey or bright green. For some color contrast, the anti-flutter weight tips on the stabilizers as well as the pylons’ front ends were painted bright red.
The markings/decals reflect the early Soviet Navy style, with simple Red Stars, large yellow tactical codes and some high contrast warning stencils, taken from the remains of a Yak-38 sheet (American Revell re-release of the Kangnam kit).
Finally, after some soot stains with graphite around the gun muzzles and the air bleed doors, the kit was sealed with a coat of semi-matt acrylic varnish and some matt accents (anti-glare panel, radomes).
A simple idea that turned out to be more complex than expected, due to the wing fence troubles. But I am happy that the Attacker nose could be so easily transplanted, it changes the MiG-19’s look considerably, as well as the wings with (much) less sweep angle.
The aircraft looks familiar, but you only recognize at second glance that it is more than just a MiG-19 with a solid nose. The thing looks pretty retro, reminds me a bit of the Supermarine Scimitar (dunno?), and IMHO it appears more Chinese than Soviet (maybe because the layout reminds a lot of the Q-5 fighter bomber)? It could even, with appropriate markings, be a Luft ’46 design?
Catalog #: 08_00928
Title: Space Shuttle Program
Date: 1981-2010
Additional Information: Space Shuttle Mock up
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive