The Download Munkey : Tracking the Treasure Down …

Been reading a lot of old books on the Vietnam War acquired from recent book fairs and apart from than the well known UH-1 “Huey” helicopters, F-4 Phantom IIs, two other interesting aircraft appeared in the books, A-1 Skyraiders used in Sandy rescues of downed pilots and the OV-10 Broncos which served as both an observation platform for forward air controllers (FACs) to direct air strikes and as a weapons platform in direct support of troops on the ground.

The passage below from Chapter 6 Support from The Sea, Air and Land from the Kevin Dockery’s Navy SEALs – A History Part II : The Vietnam Years brought my attention to the Broncos of Light Attack Squadron Four (VAL-4) “Black Ponies” which were one of two Navy air support options for the SEALs udring the Vietnam War, the other being the “Seawolves” of Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron Three (HA(L)-3).

Flying small propeller-driven OV-10 Bronco aircraft, the handful of Black Ponies in the skies above the Mekong Delta could loiter on-site for hours. And when a target was available, the Black Ponies could swoop in with unbelievable firepower for their size. Rockets, both 2.75-inch and 5-inch Zunis, would roar out from under the wings of the Black Ponies and blast huge holes in the jungle, or in the enemy formations underneath. Cannon fire from 20mm guns and bullets from 7.62mm machine guns would rip through the ground that had been torn up by the rockets…

Photo displaying the Bronco’s impressive weapon loadout from Captain Donald J. Florko’s article To Ride A Black Pony used without permission from www.blackpony.org.

The story of the conception and development of this fascinating aircraft can be found at the website of Colonel KP Rice (USMC, Retired) who served as the Department of Defense Program Manager for the OV-10 and is now showcasing his flying car Volante as a viable form of private aviation.

Read more about the OV-10 Bronco at the unofficial association page for the men who served in VAL-4 “Black Ponies” at www.blackpony.org and Volante Aircraft.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Preview of Air Combat Manoeuvres
CIA A-12
John Wallin Liberto’s WWII Military Aviation Art
Fighting High – WWII Allied Aviation E-Magazine

© Cranberry Publishing

Even if you’re not a fan of flightsim lites like Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X, you shouldn’t miss this special Gamerzines supplement for this upcoming game because on top of the preview and interview with the developers, there’s also a chance to win a flight on a real Fouga Magister which served as the first jet trainer for the French Armee de l’Air and several other European air forces in the 1950s and were only replaced by the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jets in the Armee de l’Air from 1994.

© Cranberry Publishing

If contests aren’t your cup of tea, there’s also a free preview chapter of Air Combat Manoeuvres from Ian Allan Publishing. Six double page spreads lavishly accompanied by photos and aircraft profiles explain the evolution of modern air warfare through the introduction of technology like jet engines, air-to-air missiles like Sidewinder AIMs to Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs). Other spreads illustrate the operational histories of famous planes like the A-10 Thunderbolt II (aka “Warthog”) or the combat tactics and techniques adopted to counter the various technological advances in air warfare.

© Cranberry Publishing

More sample spreads can be found at the official Air Combat Manoeuvres site. Believe it or not, this 256 page book is actually written for both serious flight simmers and entry-level gamers as a quick primer to military aviation histrory and tactics past and present.

© Cranberry Publishing

Grab the Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X Special Supplement at the Gamerzines site.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
John Wallin Liberto’s WWII Military Aviation Art
Fighting High – WWII Allied Aviation E-Magazine
War and Game – Military History Blog
Armada International’s Complete Guides

I enjoy browsing through Corgi’s catalogues of die-cast models particularly the trucks, armoured vehicles, warplanes and cars (in that order). The PDF versions of their downloadable catalogues may be on the low-res side but it’s the only place I get to see British trailer trucks painted in colourful livery of their respective companies – brightly-painted trucks are something that we don’t get to see here in Singapore.

© Corgi

A Scania R of Eddie Stobart Ltd. (January – June 2008 Catalogue)

© Corgi

A Limited Edition model of a Coles & Sons Scania T Topline (Oct 2007 Catalog)

© Corgi

A collection of Mini Coopers in their racing livery. (Dec 2007 Catalogue)

© Corgi

A Mercedes Actros with a Volvo Excavator (2007 Catalogue).

© Corgi

Corgi doesn’t only do diecast vehicles – the 1:32 scale Forward March series includes metal miniature soldiers like this Gurkha (above) in WWI kit wielding the famous kukri.

There’s also some curios in the pages of these catalogues too. A couple of them below.

© Corgi

A experimental camouflage scheme for the A-10 Thunderbolt II (aka “Warthog”) trialled by the 57th Tactical Training Wing in the late 1970s. (January – June 2008 Catalogue)

© Corgi

A German Junkers Ju-52 (the standard transport aircraft of the WWII Luftwaffe) in the colours of the pre-WWII British Airways. (Sep 2008 Catalogue)

Download Corgi’s catalogues from the Corgi Media page.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Wallpapers for UAZ Racing 4×4 Series
Sakai Heavy Industries Papercraft
BigLorryBlog
Russ Schwenkler (dangeruss) – Vexel & 3D Cars and Motorcycle Art
John Wallin Liberto’s WWII Military Aviation Art

A look into the design, development and operational history of the Central Intelligence Agency’s A-12, Lockheed’s high-speed reconnaissance plane better known in its USAF SR-71 Blackbird variant. The designation A-12 refers to Archangel 12, the twelfth and final major iteration of the original Archangel design which sought to fulfill ambitious performance and stealth requirements – a cruise speed of over Mach 3 (thrice the speed of sound), an operational range of 3,200 miles (>5000 km) and a maximum operating altitude of 90,000 feet (~27,500 metres).

Archangel-1

Archangel-12

The first test flight took place in 26 April 1962, two years before President Lyndon B. Johnson officially announced the existence of the OXCART program which funded the development of the A-12 as photographic reconnaissance platform through overflights of hostile territory (specifically the Soviet Union). In May 1967, the A-12 flew its first operational mission from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa to collect reconnaissance over North Vietnam. While successful, the A-12s would be taken out of service one year later after completing a total of 29 missions.

A marvel of engineering that was technologically way ahead of its time, the development of the A-12 led to the research and manufacture of special materials and fuels for the construction and operation of the plane that could withstand the intense heat generated from Mach 3+ flights. The pilots even wore fully-pressurized astronaut-style flight suits that came with their own oxygen supplies. (below)

An interesting offshoot of the A-12 program was the development of a YF-12A variant under project KEDLOCK to intercept Soviet supersonic bombers before they could approach the continental United States close enough to deploy their payload. On a similiar note, the Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau of the then Soviet Union did design and develop the MiG-25 ‘Foxbat’ to counter the same threat in the form of the experimental American supersonic XB-70 Valkyrie bomber. The Foxbat was successfully deployed for service while the XB-70 and YF-12A were not, both projects being scrapped in 1961 and 1968 respectively.

YF-12A

The other more well-known variant was of course, the above-mentioned SR-71 which served the USAF until 1999. The A-12 was decommissioned from service mainly due to the cost of operating both the A-12s and SR-71s concurrently with the SR-71 eventually being chosen over the A-12 for carrying a wider variety of sensors and intelligence gethering devices.

Read more about the fascinating story of the A-12 at the CIA site.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Armada International’s Complete Guides
Tiger Stripe F-16C
Act of War : Direct Action Singleplayer Demo Impressions
Command & Conquer : Red Alert 3 Units – Past and Present Inspirations
John Wallin Liberto’s WWII Military Aviation Art

This post has been lying in the Drafts section for close to a year now while awaiting permission from the artist, Mr John Wallin Liberto, to use his artwork. Seems a bit wasteful to leave a complete post lying in the drafts, so here it is

Discovered John’s work from the October 2007 Lite issue of the digital-only 2DArtist magazine where his stunning artwork of a P-51D Mustang in pursuit of a Focke Wulf Fw 190 was published on Page 7 (below).

© John Wallin Liberto / 2DArtist

While John is probably better known for his concept work on games like Gears of War and Battlefield 2142, what really interests me at his official site is the collection of his richly detailed and realistic military aviation art.

I appreciate highly detailed miltary aviation art featuring historically accurate markings and insignia as these symbols and serials on each aircraft are the key to a wealth of interesting information about that particular aircraft, its pilot and the corresponding squadron’s rich combat history.

Take for example, the artwork titled Sturmgruppe Dahl.

© John Wallin Liberto

On the surface, it simply is an illustration of four Focke Wulf Fw190s in flight. Upon googling “Sturmgruppe Dahl”, I realized that these aircraft belonged to the Strurmgruppen (obviously), an elite cadre of volunteer pilots trained to close in and attack massive swarms of Allied bombers at extremely short range (~300m) or even ram the bombers in uparmoured and upgunned Fw 190s.

The rightmost Fw 190A-8 ‘Blue 13′ was the mount of Major Walther Dahl, Kommodore of JG300. The red fuselage band on the aircraft is known as a Reichsverteidigung and denotes that this aircraft was employed in the Defence of the Reich role.

© John Wallin Liberto

Another painting of a Sturmgruppen aircraft that I like a lot is the Fw 190A-7 ‘White 14′ of Sturmstaffel 1 (above). View the cowling emblem in greater detail at Feldpost Amerika.

© John Wallin Liberto

Other historical aircraft of note are Fw 190A-8 ‘Black 8′ of IV.(Sturm)/JG3 (above) and Spitfire Mk IXc (MK432/OU-U ‘Baby Bea V’) (below) of 485 Squadron, RNZAF, the first New Zealand squadron formed in the UK during WWII.

© John Wallin Liberto

Last but not least, is the painting that attracted me to his work in the first place. Googling the “Big Beautiful Doll” and its serial “WS-I” reveals information about its pilot, Col. John D. Landers who first served in the Pacific Theatre in the 49th Fighter Group before becoming CO of the 78th Fighter Group in 1945. The Google search also throws up several post-war civilian aircraft including a Canadian Aircraft CA-18 (G-HAEC) painted to resemble this fabulously colourful aircraft as well as several artworks (down!) by other artists of ‘Big Beautiful Doll’.

Visit John Wallin Liberto’s official site for more exciting artwork.

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Sukhoi Su-37 Artwork – Stalinlasar
Tiger Striped F-16C
Kyoshi Harada’s 3D Renders of WWII Warmachines
Ukitakumuki – SG Illustrator