The Great South American War of 1984

[Cliffy B]

*See posts 20-22 for the final compilations of the profiles*


Afternoon gentlemen.  I've been working on an alternate history for the better part of five years now, spanning WWII to present day.  In it, I have a war sparking in South America in March of 1984 between the Argentine Union of Socialist States (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Columbia) and their western backed neighbors (Brazil, Peru, and Chile). 

More story, back story, and profiles will follow, both of the aircraft and naval varieties.  Enjoy! 


Any and all comments, questions, concerns, etc... are appreciated as always.
-Mike

[arc3371]

An interesting beginning

[JP Vieira]

Very interesting

[raafif]

sounds great so far !!
               but where's Biggles & Algy et al ?

I guess they come in at the end & save the day 

[Empty Handed]

Great story! I only hope that if the Nimrod has to go, they take a MiG with them! 

[dogsbodymk1]

Good start. I'm interested.

Have you been here?  http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/

[Cliffy B]

Glad you guys like it so far.  I have more written so look for it soon.  I was about to say that I won't be able to get any artwork finished but it looks like an extension is on the table!  Last month was a roller coaster for us with multiple emergency veterinary visits culminating in us losing one of our chinchillas.  I lost almost all interest in this project and with the deadline so close I was ready to call it quits.  With the extension though I'll take another stab at it and attempt to finish a few pieces.  I'll post some next week hopefully.

[Scooterman]

It has officially be extended, SO GET ON WITH IT MAN!!

[Cliffy B]

OK gents, here's a teaser for a painting I'm working on to accompany my story.  Its still just a drawing right now but that will change this weekend.  The story will deal with the opening hours of the battle.  This painting will be posted with an exert from the end of the first week or so of battle.  See if you can figure out the scenario and catch all of the whiffs, some are more subtle than others    Oh and don't worry, you'll get to know what happens to Dagger Zero Four soon enough.

"One down, too many more to count..."






And yes, I have a profile coming for Dagger Zero Four.  I just need to shade it and tweak the markings.  I probably won't be able to get one done for Crusader but we'll see.  It all depends on how much I need to modify my Phantom drawing first.

Enjoy!

[Litvyak]

Waiting with great anticipation to see the rest of this!

[Cliffy B]

Alright gents, I present to you, Dagger Zero Four at the start of our story!  Before you ask, yes those are rearward firing AIM-9s under the wings 



Consider this a work in progress of the basic profile.  I'm not entirely happy with the shading/cast shadows yet. 

Update: the story, painting, and F-4 profile are coming along nicely.  We'll see what gets done in the next four days!

Any and all comments, questions, concerns, etc... are appreciated as always.
-Mike

[GTX_Admin]

Looking good

[Empty Handed]

Concur!  :)

[Cliffy B]

OK, unless any of you or I spot some glaring error I'm sticking a fork in ol' Dagger Zero Four.  Here she is in all of her glory 

March 1984


April 1984

After the first night's attacks and resultant attrition/damage the remaining "high-vis" Nimrods made very quick trips to the paint shop (IE hangar) while they were being repaired/turned around.  they didn't have a whole lot of paint on hand so they thinned down what they had and gave the surviving AEW birds a quick coat of Light Aircraft Gray over the upper surfaces and insignia.  A splash of blue over the white in the roundel completed the emergency "toning down" effect.  The Daggers retained this look until a "momentary lull" about a week and half into the war when sufficient time was accrued to give them a proper repainting.   More about the "momentary lull" later 

OK, profiles for Dagger are done, Crusaders are almost done, the painting will have to wait until later since this week decided to be a very busy one.  Look for some Phantoms and some more of the story on Saturday night!

Any and all comments, questions, concerns, etc... are appreciated as always.
-Mike

[GTX_Admin]

Very nice work!!! :)

[Cliffy B]

Time for the "Crusaders" of No. 111 Squadron RAF!

Crusader Lead - RAF Temperate Green (Lt. Aircraft Gray, Dk. Sea Gray, Dk. Green)


Crusader One One - Locally applied Low-vis Temperate Gray (Lt. Aircraft Gray, Med. Sea Gray Dk. Sea Gray)


Crusader Zero Six - Locally applied "Night" Camo (Royal Blue and Night Black)


I have local squadrons experimenting with several different camouflage schemes in the months before the war begins.  With the adoption of the around the clock AEW and ASW patrols some of the escorting pilots decided to try out a night scheme.  One of the pilots' grandfathers was an RAF Spitfire pilot in WWII and experienced the fall and liberation of the British Isles.  He had a photo of his grandfather in front of an oddly painted USAAF Mustang and remembered a story about the night fighters on Greenland during the dark days of 1946.  The camo had worked extraordinarily well back then so he figured why not now?  He got permission from his CO and they went to work repainting half of the squadron's FGR.2's in the new "Blue Night" scheme. 

Note: If anyone remembers my string of Night-fighters from 1947's Greenland I posted on the Whiff Boards a while back you'll get the tie in to this story 

Background on the Phantom itself:  In real life politics, money, and several other things lead to the RAF having to adopt the same model of Phantom a the FAA had even though they wished their own, very different version.  The Speys may have benefited the FAA crews but the RAF wanted to keep the J79s.  In my timeline, the FAA still get their Spey powered birds but the RAF opts for modified "Echo" model Phantoms with J79s.  Standard load for the Nimrod escort missions were 4 Sky Flash, 4 AIM-9L Sidewinders, 2 370-gallon drop tanks under the wings, and 640 rounds of 20mm.


OK, all profiles are now done!  I'll finish up the story for tomorrow night.

Any and all comments, questions, concerns, etc... are appreciated as always.
-Mike

[Empty Handed]

Great story and I love the camos on the Phantoms!!!

[Litvyak]

I'm really enjoying this read!

You should flesh it out deeper and put it out as a book!

[Cliffy B]

I'm really enjoying this read!

You should flesh it out deeper and put it out as a book!

All in due time, all in due time    Glad you guys like it!  I'm polishing off the rest of the entry now, look for it an hour or so.

[Cliffy B]

Profiles:

Hawker-Siddeley Nimrod AEW.4

March 1984


April 1984

After the first night's attacks and resultant attrition/damage the remaining "high-vis" Nimrods made very quick trips to the paint shop (IE hangar) while they were being repaired/turned around.  they didn't have a whole lot of paint on hand so they thinned down what they had and gave the surviving AEW birds a quick coat of Light Aircraft Gray over the upper surfaces and insignia.  A splash of blue over the white in the roundel completed the emergency "toning down" effect.  The Daggers retained this look until a "momentary lull" about a week and half into the war when sufficient time was accrued to give them a proper repainting.


The "Crusaders" of No. 111 Squadron RAF

Crusader Lead - RAF Temperate Green (Lt. Aircraft Gray, Dk. Sea Gray, Dk. Green)


Crusader One One - Locally applied Low-vis Temperate Gray (Lt. Aircraft Gray, Med. Sea Gray Dk. Sea Gray)


Crusader Zero Six - Locally applied "Night" Camo (Royal Blue and Night Black)


I have local squadrons experimenting with several different camouflage schemes in the months before the war begins.  With the adoption of the around the clock AEW and ASW patrols some of the escorting pilots decided to try out a night scheme.  One of the pilots' grandfathers was an RAF Spitfire pilot in WWII and experienced the fall and liberation of the British Isles.  He had a photo of his grandfather in front of an oddly painted USAAF Mustang and remembered a story about the night fighters on Greenland during the dark days of 1946.  The camo had worked extraordinarily well back then so he figured why not now?  He got permission from his CO and they went to work repainting half of the squadron's FGR.2's in the new "Blue Night" scheme. 

Background on the Phantom itself:  In real life politics, money, and several other things lead to the RAF having to adopt the same model of Phantom a the FAA had even though they wished their own, very different version.  The Speys may have benefited the FAA crews but the RAF wanted to keep the J79s.  In my timeline, the FAA still get their Spey powered birds but the RAF opts for modified "Echo" model Phantoms with J79s.  Standard load for the Nimrod escort missions were 4 Sky Flash, 4 AIM-9L Sidewinders, 2 370-gallon drop tanks under the wings, and 640 rounds of 20mm.

Any and all comments, questions, concerns, etc... are appreciated as always.
-Mike

[Empty Handed]

Epic! Hope to hear some more from the Cobras in particular! The Argentines are in for a rough night!

[Brian da Basher]

That Crusader Zero-Six is just fantastic!

Excellent work!

Brian da Basher