Foreign upgrades that surpass original aircraft

AE220

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This thread is for a collection of foreign upgrades to aircraft that (in most aspects) exceed the most advanced version of the aircraft in the original nation.

Examples:
F-104S
Reason: better missile, better radar, better engine e.t.c.

J-7E and subsequent variants
Reason: better double deltawing, compatibility with better missiles, having a newer everything compared to other mig-21s
 
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MiG-21-2000 and MiG-29 "Sniper"

Both were operated by Romanian air force. Both however have since retired. The aircrafts introduces new EL-M-2035 Radar and new countermeasures as well as apparently expanded weapons envelope.
 
Singaporean A-4SU. The base -S model adds two more wing hardpoints, cockpit armor, spoilers, Sidewinder capability, and DEFA cannons.

The two-seater TA-4S got a 28" fuselage stretch with a stepped instructor's seat in back so they can see better. Interestingly, these kept the J65 of the original A4B/Cs (and A-4S) instead of the J52 of the Douglas built TA-4E/F, which kept the entire fleet of A-4Ss on the same engine.

The -SU adds a non-afterburning F404 engine, laser spot tracker, TACAN, radar warning receivers, and chaff/flare launchers. The new engine gave a 29% increase in thrust, which greatly reduced takeoff roll, increased usable payload due to a lighter engine, increased range, and increased maximum speed. Max speed at sea level was 610 knots(!), max cruise at 30,000ft is 446 knots.
 
MiG-21-2000 and MiG-29 "Sniper"

Both were operated by Romanian air force. Both however have since retired. The aircrafts introduces new EL-M-2035 Radar and new countermeasures as well as apparently expanded weapons envelope.
Only the MiG-21-2000 variant, named "Lancer", was actually put into service.
Upgrading the MiG-29 was too expensive for Romania, so they concentrated on upgrading the MiG-21M & MF "Lancer".
Romanian MiG-29 Sniper (67) at Constanta (June 2000).jpg Romanian MiG-21MF-75 LancerC (6207, 96006207) firing Magic 2 over his land (8 September 2009).jpg
 
The Indian MiG-21Bison, modernized in conjunction with Russia, was infinitely superior to the original MiG-21.
Its R-77 missiles made it almost a fourth-generation aircraft.

Indian MiG-21Bison (CU2813) inflight (~2023).jpg Indian MiG-21Bison (CU2813) firing R-73 (~2023).jpg
 
A whole bunch of Phantom upgrades were rolled out for foreign customers that were better than what the USAF and USN got. The EJ Kai, the F-4F ICE, the whole Kurnass line and the Greek and Turkish variants. New radar, AMRAAM capability, usually enhanced air to ground capabilities. The Super Phantom would've been even more beastly but it never got off the ground.
 
Iraqi Mirage F1.EQ (1 to 6) were far better equiped than French F1. Or even the first batch (37) Mirage 2000C , IOC July 1984.
 
D'OOOOOH !!!
If we include aircraft developed by the home country be intended and paid for by a foreign operator I’ll include

F-16 block 60. I say it’s even better then the block 70

Su-30mki, developed for India on Indian Air Force specs with HAL heavily involved. Later adapted as the Su-30sm by its home county but about a decade and a half later

F-15SA, became the EX, though it was adopted pretty quickly by the US

—-


Now to the original purpose

I’ll say the F-2 is better then most F-16 variants other then maybe the block 60. More payload, range, where beating AMRAAM armed F-16 block 50 at Misawa in BVR exercises with AIM-7. Only behind in thrust and part of that is due to carrying things like ECM internally.
 
Switzerland (6 May 1940 to 4 February 1945)


Following the Munich Agreement, in September 1938, Switzerland acquired ten Messerschmitt Bf 109 D-1 and eighty Bf 109 E-3 fighters. The first five D-1 aircraft were delivered by mid-December 1938 and the other five a month later. Everyone was armed only with a pair of 7.45 mm MG 29 machine guns fitted in the front fuselage.



On 30 April, thirty Bf 109 E-3 were delivered, followed by fifty units more on 31 August. Also in September 1938, Switzerland acquired the manufacturing license of the Morane-Saulnier M.S.406, together with two full aircraft. The export version, M.S.406H, kept the M.S.405 wings and the engine H.S.12 Y-31. It was armed with only two drum-fed MAC 34 machine guns because the French did not want to share the technology of the 20 mm H.S. 404 cannon.



Between 1940 and 1942, the State factory F+W-Emmen built a series of seventy-four fighters known as D-3800. The Swiss version of the M.S.406 was powered by an 860 hp H.S.12 Y-77 engine, licence-built by Adolph Saurer AG, driving an Escher-Wyss EW V-3 controllable pitch propeller. The armament, built by Waffenfabrik Bern, consisted of a 20 mm Oerlikon FM-K cannon and two 7.5 mm Furrer Fl.Mg.29 belt-fed machine guns. The D-3800 came into service at the beginning of 1940, with a SE-013 R/T device and Draeger oxygen equipment.



Three days before the invasion of Poland, the Swiss Air Force was mobilized with fifty-eight Dewoitine D-27 C.1 (312 kph), ten Messerschmitt Bf 109 D-1 (470 kph), thirty Bf 109 E-3 (570 kph) fighters and hundred-and-twenty-seven observation aircraft of the type Fokker C.V and EKW C-35. When the Germans began their assault to the West, on 10 May 1940, the Swiss Air Force had thirty-six D-3800 and the number of Bf 109 E-3 already amounted to seventy-eight. In May and June, the Swiss airspace was violated 3 times by the French, 10 times by the Italians and 233 times by the Germans.



The Swiss fighters entered combat for the first time on 16 May. Between that date and 4 February 1945, they managed to shoot down one Dornier Do 17, five Heinkel He 111, six Messerschmitt Bf 110, two Avro Lancaster, one Boeing B-17, one Dornier Do 217, two Consolidated B-24, one De Havilland Mosquito, one Fiat R.S.14, two Republic P-47 and one Junkers Ju 52/3m. They also faced 6,501 violations of airspace during which 198 aircraft were interned and 56 crashed.



In combat, the Bf 109 E-3 were superior in speed and manoeuvrability to the Bf 110 C of the Luftwaffe that were frequently forced to use the tactic Abwehrkreiss (Defence Circle). In April 1944 the Germans yielded twelve Bf 109 G-6 to the Swiss Air Force, in exchange for the destruction of the electronic equipment of an interned Bf 110 G-4 night fighter.



In 1942 the EKW C-35 began to be replaced by the new EKW C-3603 (470 kph) heavy fighter. Its main purpose was to patrol the border violations of Swiss neutrality to force the intruders landing for internment. A night fighter squadron was formed in 1944.

A total of hundred-and-fifty-two C-3603 were manufactured between 1942 and 1944.

German hostility forced the Swiss to depend on fighters of their own manufacture. In 1939 Saurer began the manufacture under license of the 1,020 hp H.S.12 Y-51 French engine to improve the performances of the D-3800. Between October 1939 and December 1942, the companies Doflug-Altenrhein and SWS-Schlieren manufactured 207 units of the improved version D-3801. According to some sources, it was the Swiss version of the Morane-Saulnier M.S.412 C-1.



The new fighter was 33 kph faster and was equipped with armoured windshield and dorsal plate, SE-012 R/T device and Swiss Munerelle Agm 40 oxygen equipment. At the end of 1943 the Swiss Air Force had eleven Flieger Kompagnien equipped with D-3800 and D-3801 fighters. After the June 1940 armistice the French continued improving the Morane fighters and their engines in Switzerland and Spain.



At the beginning of 1943 the drawings of M.S.460 C.1 (1939), M.S.540 C.1 (1941) and M.S.640 C.1 (1940) fighter projects and of the H.S.12 Z-17 experimental engine, were delivered to the Swiss by Morane-Saulnier personnel that collaborated with Dr. Studer, chief engineer of Doflug, in the design of the D-3802 (640 kph) the Swiss version of the M.S.540. Possibly also included were parts of the M.S.450 prototype for the study of their manufacturing techniques.



The D-3802 was powered by a 1,230 hp H.S.12Y-89 (Saurer YS-2) driving a four-bladed Escher-Wyss EW V-8 constant-speed propeller with reverse pitch. It conserved the wing structure of the D-3801 but with the Plymax, replaced with all-aluminium covering, glycol radiators under the wings, Fowler type flaps and variable-incidence tailplane. The armament consisted of one 20 mm. H.S. 404 T.I cannon and four 7.5 mm Fl.Mg.24 machine guns.

Four aircraft were manufactured in 1944, as prototypes of the production model D-3802A, the Swiss version of the M.S.550 with squared wingtips, bulged canopy and three H.S. 404 cannons. Only eleven copies were built between 1946 and 1950.



The D-3803, described as M.S. 560 by some authors, with modified dorsal fuselage, all-round visibility canopy and 1,430 hp Saurer YS-3 engine, was built as a prototype only in 1947. Its mass production was dismissed after the acquisition of hundred-and-thirty war-surplus P-51D Mustangs.



Bibliography


Green, W., Warplanes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume One, (MacDonald 1960)

Publications

Guttman, J., “Switzerland’s two-seater soldiered through World War II”, Aviation History, July 1998.

Gunti, P., “Morane Sur l’Helvetie”, IPMS Schweiz magazine, Xe Anniversaire issue.

Gaudet, E., “A Dream Come true”, Aeroplane, June 2002.

Gunti, P., “Alpine Avenger”, Air/Enthusiast Forty-Seven.

Gunti, P., “Neutral Warriors”, Air/Enthusiast Forty-Three.

Théroz, J., “Bataille au dessus des Alpes”, Le Fanatique de l’Aviation nº 36.

Meister, J., “The Swiss Battle of Britain”, World War Investigator, July 1988.

Moulin, J., “Un project de chasseur Morane-Saulnier M.S. 640”, l’Aérophile 2010.

Moulin, J., “Un project de chasseur Morane-Saulnier M.S. 540”, l’Aérophile 2010.

Klein, B., “Morane-Saulnier M.S. 460”, Airplanes Five-View Album, 1974.

Osche, P., “Swiss Bf 109”, SAFO nº 49, January 1989.
 

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Rumania (6 September 1940 to 24 August 1944)


At the beginning of the 1920s, the aeronautical industry began to manufacture 400-500 hp engines, allowing designers to make the transition from biplane to monoplane to create a new generation of faster fighters.



Most manufacturers (Wibault, Gourdou, Morane, Nakajima, Dewoitine and P.W.S.) limited themselves to eliminate the lower wing to obtain a high-wing parasol fighter, retaining the take-off performances of biplanes. In 1928 the Polish designer Zygmunt Pulawski decided to use one strut-braced gull-wing in the P.Z.L. P.1 fighter prototype. This type of wings improved manoeuvrability during the combat turns, preventing the fighter from losing altitude thanks to the extra lift generated by the 'Vee' central section.



During the Spanish Civil War, the gull-wing made the Polikarpov I-15 superior to the Fiat C.R. 32. The formula was also used in the French Loire 46, the Yugoslavian Ikarus Ik-2 and the P.Z.L. fighters until 1941. In 1930, the P.Z.L. P.6 won the National Air Races in the USA, but something had changed in 1932 and the Hall’s Bulldog, with Pulawski wing, was overcome by the Gee Bee, with low-wing, in the Thompson Trophy race.



In January 1936 the Rumanian government acquired the manufacturing license of the P.Z.L. P.11c fighter. The I.A.R. firm built 95 units as P.11F (380 kph). In November they also acquired the manufacturing license for 25 units of the P.Z.L. P.24E (430 kph), but the model became obsolete that same month when it was learned that the Polikarpov I-16 Type 5, a low wing monoplane with retractable landing gear capable of flying at 454 kph, had entered into combat in Spain beating the Heinkel He 51 of the Legion Condor. Three months later the Messerschmitt Bf 109 B-1 (462 kph) entered service with the Luftwaffe.



At the end of 1936 the Pulawski fighters had reached the limit of their development; the drag generated by the bracing struts and the spatted landing gear prevented them from exceeding 430 kph. When knowing the performance of the Bf 109 B-1, I.A.R. started the design of a low-wing version of the P.24E called I.A.R. 80. The new fighter, powered by an I.A.R.14K radial engine, should use the fuselage and tail surfaces of the P.24, attached to a wing based on the Savoia Marchetti S.M.79B bomber wing (decreasing its dimensions by 50 per cent) containing a retractable Messier undercarriage.



One month later the annexation of Sudetenland to the Third Reich, Romania acquired twelve Hawker Hurricane Mk.IA (518 kph), after learning that the Bf 109 B-2 (462 kph) had come into service. An even faster version, called Bf 109 E-1 (574 kph) did it in February 1939.



On 15 March 1939 Germany invaded the remainder of Czechoslovakia. Nine days later Romania was forced to sign an economic treaty to supply oil to the Reich from the fields of Ploesti, in exchange for thirty fighters Heinkel 112E. In April, the prototype of the I.A.R.80 flew at 510 kph. A month later Romania signed a treaty of territorial integrity with Great Britain and France.



On 23 August 1939 the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact was signed. Five days later the Hawker Hurricanes Mk.IA and the first He 112E were delivered to the Royal Rumanian Air Force (FARR). On 1 September 1939 the Third Reich invaded Poland, followed by a Soviet attack on the day 17. At the end of that year the FARR ordered fifty Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3 and hundred I.A.R. 80 fighters.



On 28 June 1940 the U.S.S.R. annexed the Romanian regions of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. Two months later Germany and Italy forced Romania to cede northern Transylvania to Hungary and southern Dobruja to Bulgaria. On 23 November 1940, as a result of a coup, Romania signed the Axis Tripartite Pact and the FARR received the first Bf 109 E-3. Between February and May 1941 I.A.R. delivered the first batch of seventy I.A.R. 80 fighters. On 22 June, Romania was forced to participate in the invasion of the U.S.S.R. Operation Barbarossa on the pretext of recovering Bessarabia.

At that time the FARR had fifty-eight I.A.R. 80/80A, twenty-three He 112E, thirty Bf 109 E-3, ten Hawker Hurricane Mk.IA, twenty P.Z.L. P.24E, thirty-two P.Z.L. P.11F and twenty-four P.Z.L. P.11c from the Polish Air Force. In combat the P.Z.L. fighters were superior to the Soviet I-16 during the Bessarabian campaign and being used as fighter-bombers from October 1941.



The Hurricanes were soon useless, due to lack of spares, and the He 112E, fitted with 20 mm cannons, mainly used on strafing missions, suffering heavy losses because of the absence of armour. The FARR was forced to depend more and more on the I.A.R. 80, a fighter that equalled the Bf 109 E in climb and manoeuvrability, able to reach 500 kph with an engine of just 930 hp.



The I.A.R. 80 of the first production batch suffered engine problems and failures of the undercarriage retraction system. They were armed with 4 x 7.92 mm FN/Browning machine guns. The IAR 80A with 6 x 7.92 mm FN and 1,025 hp I.A.R. K14 1000A engine was delived in May 1941. The I.A.R. 80B had larger wings, a 4 x 7.92 FN armament and 2 x 13.2 FN machine guns. It was delivered in June 1942, taking part in the battle of Stalingrad.

The 13.2 mm FN were replaced by two 20 mm Ikaria cannons in the I.A.R. 80C, delivered on December 1942.



The I.A.R. 81 was built as a dive bomber, armed with 6 x 7.92 mm FN machine guns. The fighter version, called I.A.R. 81C, was armed with 2 x 7.92 FN and two 20 mm MG 151 cannons. The four-hundred-and-seventy-four I.A.R. 80/81 that had been built achieved 500 aerial victories during the Second World War. From 1942 they were gradually outclassed by the newest Soviet fighters. In 1943 all aircraft were relegated to home defence.



The I.A.R. 14K engine could not overcome the 1,025 hp and the Germans denied the license to manufacture the 1,700 hp BMW 801 radial engine. Early 1942 a 1,200 hp Jumo 211 in-line engine, from a Savoia-Marchetti S.M. 79B bomber, was installed in the I.A.R. 80 c/n 111, but during the flight tests the aircraft experienced destructive vibration problems and the continuation of the experiments was dismissed. At the end of 1943 a DB 601 Aa from a Bf 109 E-3 was installed in the I.A.R. 80 c/n 13, doing some test flights.

On 29 June 1943 the I.A.R. 81C c/n 326 was experimentally equipped with a 1,475 hp DB 605A engine.



On 24 August 1944, before the Soviet advance, Romania changed sides carrying out operations of combat against the Third Reich until the end of the Second World War in Europe.



Bibliography​

Books

Green, W., Warplanes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume Three, MacDonald 1961.

Bernád, D., Rumanian Air Force, The Prime Decade 1938-1947, Squadron/Signal, 1999.

Morosanu, T., Rumanian Fighter Colours 1941-1945, MMP Books, Redbourn.

Robanescu, M., L’Aviation Roumaine pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, Editions TMA.

Bernád, D., Heinkel He 112 in action, Squadron/Signal Aircraft Number 159, 1996.

Dabrowski, H., Heinkel He 112, Schiffer 1998.



Publications

Craciunoiu, C., “Rumanian Aeronautics in the Second World War”, Modelism 2004

Green, W., “The Polygenetic Rumanian”, Air International, July 1976.

Axworthy, M., “On three fronts”, Air Enthusiast Nº56, winter 1994.

Bernád, D., “Rumanian Round-Out”, Air Enthusiast Nº 59, September/October 1995.

Cortet, P., Les Chasserus Roumains I.A.R.80. Le Fanatique de l’Aviation Nº 244.
 

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- Hungary (4 April 1941 to 16 April 1945)​

The annexation of Austria to the Third Reich, the loss of credibility of France and Great Britain after the Munich Agreement and the disintegration of Czechoslovakia, contributed to the breaking of the fragile balance between the countries of Eastern Europe since the end of the First World War.

Hungary claimed to Romania the northern Transylvania and the tension between the two countries led them to enact the total mobilisation on 23 August 1940. At that moment Germany intervened to prevent the war between its two main suppliers of oil, including them in its area of influence. The pressure on Hungary forced its adhesion to the Axis on 20 November 1940 and five months later a crisis of government allowed the Werhmatch to cross its territory to invade Yugoslavia.

Following the bombing of Kassa, carried out by Soviet aircraft in 1941, Hungary was forced to participate in the invasion of the U.R.S.S. during Operation Barbarossa.

On March 1944, before the advance of the Red Army, Hungary began peace negotiations with the Allies and the Werhmatch occupied the country to keep its oil supply, resisting until April 1945.

The peace treaty of Trianon, signed in 1920, banned the possession of military aircraft to Hungary. After the Austria Anschluss the Royal Hungary Air Force (MKHL) was started with the acquisition of fifty-two Fiat C.R. 32 and sixty-eight Fiat C.R. 42 Italian fighters in 1938. Both models were obsolete in 1941 and were too slow to intercept the Yugoslavian Bristol Blenheim, but in combat against the Soviet Polikarpov I-16 the C.R. 42 were superior in manoeuvrability.

The MKHL needed modern fighters but in 1939 its acquisition was already difficult. Finally, seventy Reggiane Re.2000 were ordered in December of that year, as well as the licence to build the fighter. The aircraft were delivered between December 1940 and February 1941, equipped with an unreliable Piaggio P.XI engine and only two machine guns. They also lacked armour. Some aircraft had fuel leaks that made them useless for combat.

All should be modified as Hejja I, (520 kph) installing them a new 1,000 hp Manfred Weiss WM K-14 B radial engine driving a Hamilton-Standard three-bladed, constant-speed propeller. Armor plates and one fuselage additional fuel tank were installed, and the Italian machine guns were replaced by two 12.7 mm Danubia/Gebauer GKM.

On 11 August 1941, Hejja I entered for the first time in combat, surpassing to the Polikarpov I-16 in speed and manoeuvrability. In 1942 they were overcome by the new Soviet fighters and in 1943 they were used for home defence duties. Other 203 units of the Hungarian version Hejja II were manufactured under license by MAVAG between 1942 and 1944.

On September 1938 the Hungarian Ministry of War Affairs ordered thirty-six Heinkel He 112B fighters, but the Germans deliberately delayed the fulfilment of the order, for political reasons, and refused to hand over the license for the Jumo 211 engine. Hungary only received two He 112 B-1/U2 demonstrators in 1939 and one He 112 B-1 in 1940.

By the end of 1939 the Hungarian Government took the decision to produce a simplified version of the He 112 adapted to the possibilities of the local aviation industry. The new aircraft, called Weiss Manfréd WM 23 Ezüst Nyil, would be propelled by a 1,000 hp Gnôme & Rhône 14 Kfrs radial engine driving a Hamilton-Standard propeller.

The wings, with Fowler flaps, would have been built in wood/plywood and the fuselage in welded-steel tube with plywood skinning. The armament, installed in the fuselage, would consist of two 8 mm Gebauer machine guns and two 20 mm synchronised Mauser MG 151 cannons. It was just built a prototype (530 kph) that demonstrated good flying characteristics during its first flight on September 1941. It was destroyed in 1942 due to malfunction of the starboard aileron.

The improved version Ezüst Nyil II, with all-metal monocoque fuselage and 1,475 hp DB 605 engine (planned for 1943) was discontinued when the Germans allowed the manufacture under license of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 G. The availability of the DB 605 engine induced engineer Dezső Marton of the Aviation Technological Institute to design a twin-boom push-pull heavy fighter based on the Fokker D.XXIII. The construction of the prototype, called Marton RMI-8 XV-01, with wooden wings and metal fuselage, started in 1943 but was destroyed by a bombing on 13 April 1944. It was expected to have reached a maximum speed of 580 kph and a ceiling of 11,500 m.

The armament would have consisted of a 30 mm Rheinmetall-Borsig MK 108 cannon, firing through the propeller hub, two 20 mm Mauser MG 151 installed in the boom leading edges and two 8 mm Gebauer machine guns fitted in the front fuselage. The aircraft was to have an ejection seat powered by a spring.

Bibliography


Punka, G., Hungarian Air Force, Squadron/Signal 1994.

Bonhardt, A., A Magyar Királyi Honvédség Fegyverzete, Zrínyi Kiadó Publications.

Sárhidai, G., Hungarian Eagles, Hikoki Publications, 1996.

Baczkowski, W., Sojusznicy Luftwaffe, Books International, 1998.

Winkles, L., A Magyar Repűlés Története, Müszaki Könyvhiadó, 1977.

Bernád, D., Heinkel He 112 in action, Aircraft nº 159, Squadron/Signal, 1996.

Di Terlizi, M., Reggiane Re 2000 Falco, Hejja, J.20, Aerolibri Special nº6, IBN editore 2002.

Cattaneo, G., The Reggiane Re 2000, Profile Nº 123.

Punka, G., Reggiane Fighters in Action, Aircraft nº 177, Squadron/Signal 2000.
 

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- Finland (30 November 1939 to 4 September 1944)


After obtaining its independence in 1917, the new State created the Ilmailuvoimat (Aviation Force) with Russian and French war surplus airplanes. In 1920 Finland signed the Dorpat peace treaty with Russia and in January 1930 the Aviation Force was re-named Ilmavoimat (Air Force).



Between 1929 and 1934 the Finnish Air Force was strengthened with the acquisition of twenty Gourdou-Lesseurre GL-22C fighters, twelve Koolhoven FK.31 two-seat fighters, sixteen Aero A.32 light bombers, twenty-five Blackburn Ripon IIF bombers, seventeen Bristol Bulldog Mk.IVA fighters, six Junkers K-43 bombers and eighteen de Havilland D. H. 60 Moth elementary trainers

In 1935, thirteen Fokker C.VE reconnaissance airplanes were acquired. A year later, the Finns launched urgent aircraft modernisation programme, by acquiring three Avro Anson Mk.I transports, four Fokker C.X light bombers (along with the license to manufacture another thirty units), seven Fokker D.XXI fighters (along with the license to manufacture thirty-five units more) and eighteen Bristol Blenheim Mk.I bombers (along with the license to manufacture 45 additional units).



In 1937 a Five-Year development Plan for the Ilmavoimat started. It consisted of the creation of four Army-cooperation squadrons, three Bomber squadrons, three Fighter squadrons and one Maritime squadron.



On 30 November 1939, the Soviets attacked the Finland eastern border with 450,000 men (20 divisions), 2,000 tanks, 2,050 cannons and 3,250 aircraft from types Polikarpov I-152, I-153, I-16, R-5, R-Z and U-2, Tupolev SB-2M103 and TB-3, Ilyushin DB-3 M and Beriev MBR-2.



The Finnish Armed Forces had 327,000 men (5 divisions), 20 tanks, 425 cannons, 2 armored ships and 5 submarines. The Ilmavoimat strength was 135 aircrafts: thirty-six Fokker D.XXI, ten Bristol Bulldog Mk.IVA, seventeen Bristol Blenheim Mk.I, thirty-two Fokker C.X, seven Fokker C.VE, fourteen Blackburn Ripon IIF, four Junkers F.13, three de Havilland Moth, three V.L. Saaski and one V.L. Kotka.

The Finns fought fiercely, causing so many losses to the Soviets that they were forced to sign an armistice on 13 March 1940. The international community condemned the aggression by expelling the Soviet Union from the League of Nations on 14 December 1939 and offering military aid to Finland.



The Ilmavoimat received two-hundred-and-ten new planes: thirty Gloster Gladiator Mk.II, twenty-two Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV, thirty Morane-Saulnier M.S.406, thirty-two Fiat G.50, forty-four Brewster B-239, twenty-five Gloster Gauntlet Mk.II, ten Hawker Hurricane Mk.I, one Douglas DC-2, twelve Westland Lysander Mk.I, three Fokker C.V and one Fokker F.VIIa. Many of these models were technologically superior to the Soviets, as were the tactics used by the Finnish pilots, as proved in combat.



In December 1939 the Finnish fighters shot down 60 Soviet airplanes and the Ilmavoimat lost 14. In January 1940, the Soviets lost 53 aircraft in air-combat against10 Finnish loses. In February, the Soviets changed their aerial tactics, using formations of up to 350 bombers and fighter escorts, to air support the land forces and bomb the population centres.



The Finnish fighters carried out 2,000 sorties and 300 aerial combats, shooting down 71 Soviet aircrafts. Nine others were shot down by Flygflottilj 19, Swedish volunteer air unit that operated in Northern Finland with twelve Gloster Gladiator Mk.I and five Hawker Hart. In March, the Ilmavoimat destroyed 20 more Soviet aircraft, losing 8 aircraft of their own.



The period between 30 November 1939 and 13 March 1940, known as Winter War, cost 579 aircraft to the Soviets and 74 to the Finns. The loss of prestige inflicted to the USSR during the unequal fight, convinced the Germans that its advanced technology could easily neutralize the numerical superiority of the Red Army in a future Blitzkrieg.



The German-Soviet war, launched on 22 June 1941, also signaled the end of peace for Finland. The bombing carried out by the Red Air Force against several Finnish cities, on the 25 of the month, was considered an act of war and the combats continued. The new period of clashes lasted until September 1944 and was named Continuation War by historians.



At this stage, the Finns also got local air superiority using fighters Brewster, Hawk and Messerschmitt against the Soviet MiG-3, LaGG-3, Yak-7, La-5, Il-2 and Pe-2, who were joined by 10,377 Lend-Lease Hurricane, Airacobra and Tomahawk fighters. The expected defeat of the Werhmatch, led the Finns to initiated efforts to reach a peace settlement with the Soviets.



On 4 September 1944, a peace treaty was signed by which Finland retained its independence in exchange for losing some territories. During the Continuation War, 3,313 Soviet planes were shot down by Finns fighters and 1,345 by the anti-aircraft artillery. The Ilmavoimat lost 257 aircraft in combat, 100 in training and 215 due to other causes.



Finnish Fighters



Bristol Bulldog Mk.IIA (286 kph)


Two aircraft were supplied by Sweden on 15 December 1939.

They crashed in accidents in 1940 and 1942.

Engine: one 440 hp Bristol Jupiter VIIF. Armament: two 0.303 in Browning machine guns.



Bristol Bulldog Mk.IVA (362 kph)


On April 1934 Finland ordered 17 units.

During the Winter War they shot down two I-16 and two SB-2M103.

Engine: one 654 hp Bristol Mercury VI S.2. Armament: two 0.303 in Browning machine guns.



Gloster Gauntlet Mk.II (370 kph)


On February 1940, 25 aircraft were supplied by the South African Government as support to Finland. They were used as advanced trainers.

Engine: one 645 hp Bristol Mercury VI S.2. Armament: two 0.303 in Vickers machine guns.



Gloster Gladiator Mk.I (407 kph)


On 10 January 1940, the Swedish Fligflottilj 19 arrived in Finland with 12 aircraft who managed to shoot down four SB-2M103, one TB-3, one DB-3M and three I-152. One Gladiator was lost in combat and two in accidents.

Engine: one 830 hp Bristol Mercury IX. Armament: four 0.303 in Browning machine guns.



Gloster Gladiator Mk.II (414 kph)​

Thirty aircraft were delivered to Finland between January and February 1940.

During the Winter War three I-152, two I-153, seven I-16, nine SB-2M103, one DB-3, one R-5 and four R-Z were shot down. During the Continuation War they shot down one MiG-3, two U-2 and one R-5, losing eleven Gladiators in combat and two in crashes.

Engine: one 830 hp Bristol Mercury VIIA. Armament: four 0.303 in Browning machine guns.









Fokker D.XXI Mercury (418 kph)


Seven aircraft with 840 hp Bristol Mercury VII engines were acquired on 18 November 1937. Another fourteen were built under license by Valtion Lentokonetehdas (V.L.) in Tampere-Härmälä, powered by Bristol Mercury engines manufactured by P. Z. L. in Poland and delivered between November 1938 and March 1939. A second batch of 21 aircraft with Mercury engines, built in Tampere-Tampella, was delivered between March and July 1939.

Armament: a pair of 7.7 mm Vickers machine guns fitted in the front fuselage and two wing-mounted 7.7 mm Vickers.



Fokker D.XXI Wasp (434 kph)


On May 1939, fifty plans with 825 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1535-SB4-C Twin Wasp Junior American engines, were ordered to V.L.-Kuorevesi. They did not arrive in time to participate in the Winter War as they were delivered between January and June 1941. Less maneuverable than the Polikarpov fighters, the Fokker flew in 'finger four' formations and used 'zoom-and-climb' combat tactics. During the Winter War they shot down seventy-three SB-2M103, twenty-two DB-3M, two R-5, twelve I-16 and three I-152, losing twenty-three aircraft that were shot down in combat, one that was rammed by I-153, one by friendly antiaircraft artillery and forty-two due to crashes, sabotage and strafing.

Armament: four wing-mounted 7.7 mm Vickers machine guns.





Hawker Hurricane Mk. I (518 kph)


In the second week of March 1940, twelve aircraft were donated by Great Britain.

Two planes were destroyed in transit. Ten were delivered too late to see action in the Winter War. Due to scarcity of replacement parts, only five-and-a-half kills were achieved with these planes. Five Hurricanes were destroyed in battle during Continuation War and two from anti-aircraft fire. Engine: one 1,030 hp Rolls-Royce Merlin II.

Armament: eight wing-mounted 0.303 in Browning machine guns.



Morane-Saulnier M.S. 406 C1 (486 kph)


Thirty units were donated by French government on February 1940. Twenty five ex-Armée de l'Air fighters were supplied by Germans on October 1940 and two more on October 1942. Between July and September 1942, another 30 aircraft were purchased from the Vichy government. The aircraft were delivered without the engine mounted cannon H.S. 404 and the Finns instead installed a 12.7 mm Berezin UB or a Colt M-2 heavy machine guns. They also replaced the two-wing mounted 7.5 mm MAC 34 A (drum feed) machine guns by two 7.7 mm (belt feed) Brownings and the Chauvière airscrew by a Hamilton Standard.

The engine was an 860 hp Hispano-Suiza H.S.12 Y-31.

Between 17 February 1940 and 12 July 1944, the Moranes shot down twenty SB-2M 103, fourteen I-153, twelve I-16, fourteen MiG-3, ten I-152, six Hurricane, five DB-3M, six Tomahawk, four Airacobra, five IL-2, four MBR-2, two LaGG-3, one La-5, three Pe-2, two R-5, one R-Z, one Boston, one Yak-9 and one U-2, fourteen of them during the Winter War.



Morane-Saulnier M.S. 410 C1 (509 kph)


Fifteen ex-Armée de l'Air units were supplied by Germany between July and November 1941.

Engine: one 860 hp Hispano-Suiza H.S.12 Y-31 driving one Ratier airscrew. Armament: five 7.5 mm (belt feed) MAC 34 M39 machine guns



Mörkö Moraani (525 kph)


Starting from June 1944, forty-one Moranes were re-engined with one 1,100 hp Klimov (Hispano-Suiza) M-105 P driving one VISh-61P constant speed airscrew.

Only three modified aircraft entered combat during the Continuation War, shooting down one La-5 and two Airacobra.

Armament: one engine mounted 20 mm MG 151 cannon and two wing-mounted 7.7 mm (belt feed) Browning machine guns.







Fiat G.50 (472 kph)


Thirty-two aircraft were donated by Italy between 18 December 1939 and 19 June 1940. Two were lost in transit, one in combat, another by the anti-aircraft artillery and six in crashes.

Engine: one 840 hp Fiat A74 R1 C38 engine, driving one Fiat 3D 41-1 airscrew. Forty-two ex-C.R.42 Swedish-made spinners were installed to protect the variable-pitch mechanism from frost damage.

During the Winter War the Fiat fighters shot down one I-16, four DB-3M, one SB-2M103 and two I-153. During the Continuation War, twenty-two SB-2M103, two MiG-3, fifteen I-153, two MBR-2 , two I-16, three I-152 and one DB-3M.

Armament: two 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT MC machine guns.







Brewster Model 239 (484 kph)


Out of the 44 aircraft purchased on 16 December 1939, six arrived in Finland before the Winter War ended and the rest continued arriving until 1 May 1940.

During the Continuation War the Brewsters shot down sixty-two I-153, thirty-five MiG-3, thirty-nine Hurricane, twenty-three SB-2M103, fifteen I-16, nine LaGG-3, eight R-5, five Pe-2, four MBR-2, three I-152, three DB-3M and one Airacobra. They lost 19 aircraft of their own.

Engine: one 950 hp Wright R-1820 G-5. Armament: one .30 cal MG 40 and three .50 cal MG 53-2 machine guns. The Finns installed new Revi 3/c reflector gunsights, armored headrest and seat back plates.

Six aircraft were equipped with captured Russian M-63 engines.





Curtiss Hawk 75 (500 kph)


Nine H.75 A-2 and seven H.75 A-4 ex-Armée de l'Air fighters were supplied by Germany in June 1941 and another fifteen H.75 A-4 between June 1943 and January 1944.

Eleven ex-Norwegian H.75 A-6 were additionally supplied between July and August 1941.

During the Continuation War, the Hawks managed to shoot down twenty-one I-153, eleven I-16, three DB-3F, fifteen MiG-3, sixteen LaGG-3, two Yak-1, nine Pe-2, three MBR-2, two U-2, one Boston and two La-5. They lost 8 aircraft of their own.

The A-2 and A-6 models were powered by a 1,200 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-SC3-G engine and A-4 models by a 1,200 hp Wright Cyclone R-1820-95. Armament: six 7.5 mm FN / Browning Mle 38 machine guns.

Caudron C-714 (465 kph)


Six aircraft were donated by France on 12 March 1940, being delivered in May.

Assigned to the LeLv 60 reconnaissance squadron, after a few crashes, due to the fragility of the landing gear, flying them was prohibited in September 1941.

Engine: one 500 hp Renault 12 R-03. Armament: four 7.5 mm MAC M39 (drum feed) machine guns.



Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-2 (522 kph)


On 1 February 1943, forty-eight ex-Luftwaffe fighters were ordered and delivered between March and May. Engine: one 1,475 hp Daimler-Benz DB 605 A-1. Armament: one 20 mm MG 151 cannon and two 7.9 mm MG 15 machine guns.



Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 (621 kph)


Between May and August 1944, 109 aircraft were delivered, along with two G-8 reconnaissance fighters. Between 24 March 1943 and 4 September 1944, the Bf 109 Finns shot down 663 Soviets aircraft, losing 13 in combat of their own, 5 shoot down by anti-aircraft fire, 7 in crashes and 5 due to technical failures. Engine: one 1,475 hp DB 605 AM. Armament: one 30 mm MK 108 cannon and two 13 mm MG 131 machine guns.



Indigenous Designs


Ilmailuvoimain Lentokonethdas - IVL (Aviation Force Aircraft Factory) made under license, between 1922 and 1925, hundred-and-twenty Hansa-Brandenburg W.33 floatplanes, thirty-four Caudron C.60 and six Morane-Saulnier M.S.50c



The first indigenous fighter, the prototype IVL C.24, with parasol wing inspired by Morane designs, was flown on 16 April 1924 and the C.25, an improved version with narrower-chord wing, was flown on June1925. Both models suffered longitudinal stability problems caused by the excessive weight of the Siemens Sh 3A engine. Its serial production was dismissed after an accident suffered by the C-25



The next attempt to provide the Ilmailuvoimat with an indigenous fighter was the IVL D-26 Haukka. The biplane prototype was flown on 17 March 1927, manifesting structural faults and flat spin tendence. Both problems were not fully resolved in its successor D-27 Haukka II and its production was again dismissed in favor of licence-built Gloster Gamecock Mk.II.



In 1928 the IVL became Valtion Lentokonetehdas-V.L. (State Aircraft Factory). Before the war, V.L. had built some self-designed trainers and second line aircrafts: it produced thirty-three units of the Saaski reconnaissance airplanes in 1928, seven Kotka light bombers in 1930, thirty-one Tuisku advanced trainers in 1933, twenty-four Viima elementary trainers in 1935 and forty-one Pyry advanced monoplane trainers in 1939, but no fighters.



V.L. Myrsky (470 kph)


On 8 June 1939, the Ministry of Defence instructed V.L. to design a new single-seat fighter powered by a Bristol Taurus III engine.



V.L. just didn't have experience with high speed aircraft, there wasn't any duraluminium production in Finland and nobody would sell aluminium in 1939. The Taurus engine was not available due to war and a 1,065 hp (with 87 octane fuel) Swedish-built civilian version of the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 was chosen. V.L. then decided to use the same construction system of the Fokker D.XXI. The wings and tail surfaces were made of wood/plywood and the fuselage structure was welded chrome-molybdenum steel tube with fabric and plywood coating.

The prototype was flown on 23 December 1941, manifesting serious yaw to port, excessive wing loading and engine problems. On 30 May 1942, the Department of War Supplies had placed an order for three pre-production aircraft called Myrsky I.

Built between April and June 1943, the three planes suffered accidents and two of them were destroyed, during diving tests, for fractures of the wing attachement bolts and plywood skinning under stress, due to defective bonding.



The investigation board confirmed that flutter had caused the wings to break up and recommended that they be strengthened in the forty-seven Myrsky II (525 kph) that began to be manufactured in July 1944. The fuselage fabric covering was replaced in these aircraft with plywood sheeting, the elevators and the landing gear were strengthened and a VLS 8002 constant-speed propeller (with wooden blades and cooling fan) was installed. The construction of the Myrsky II complicated when the availability of the German Tego-film glue ended, after the destruction of its manufacturing plant in 1943. It was replaced by bad Finnish glues based on casein.

Maximum permissible diving speed was raised to 650 kph and maximum engine revolutions were restricted to 3,060 r.p.m. The armament consisted of four 12.7 mm VKT LKk/42 machine guns.



The Myrsky II entered service with Ilmavoimat in July 1944, being used mainly in reconnaissance missions.

In August and September, the Myrsky II fought against two Yak-7, three Yak-9 and two La-5 of the 195 IAP, damaging several of them but without achieving any victory before ceasefire. Until being retired from service, on February 1948, the Myrsky fighters had suffered a total of 51 accidents, with the loss of 21 aircrafts and four pilots.



V.L. Pyörremyrsky (522 kph).


At the end of 1942, the V.L. tried to negotiate a full reparation license for the Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-2, but complete sets of drawings and tools were never delivered.

The Ilmavoimat had been particularly concerned with the debut in some numbers of the Lavockin La-5 Soviet fighter and the possibility of the Germans to suspend the supply of fighters. The Pyörremyrsky programme began when the Ilmavoimat ordered two new Finnish fighters into design phase: Pyörremyrsky and Puuska.



The design was given the following basic parameters:

At least 50 km/h faster of the fastest enemy bomber
If faster than enemy fighters, it may be less agile and worse climber
If slower than enemy fighters, it must be better climber and more agile



By early 1943, V.L. was instructed to design a single-seat fighter powered by one 1,475 hp Daimler-Benz DB 605 AC engine driving a VDM three-bladed airscrew. Since it was impossible to import aluminium due to the war, the Pyörremyrsky should be built using only domestic materials, incorporating the lessons learned from the construction of the Myrsky.



The single-spar wing was built in wood/plywood, with metal-framed, fabric-covered ailerons and electrically-operated metallic flaps. The tail assembly was also built in a similar way with metal-framed movable surfaces. The forward fuselage structure was welded chrome-molybdenum steel tube, and the aft fuselage was a Soviet-style wooden monocoque structure. The armament consisted of one engine-mounted 20 mm MG 151 cannon and two 12.7 mm LKk / 42 machine guns in the nose.



Prototype construction was low, affected by the unavailability of the German Tego-film glue and the airplane was still not completed in September 1944, when the peace treaty was signed. On 21 November 1945 during their flight testings the new fighter proved to be more manoeuvrable than the Bf 109 G-6, with an outstanding climb rate and few teething troubles.

Unfortunately, the series production was dismissed because of the difficulty in obtaining a supply of Daimler-Benz engines.



V.L. Puuska (650 kph)


In the fall of 1943, V.L. was instructed to design a single-seat lightweight fighter, with narrow-track undercarriage, powered by one 1,475 hp Daimler-Benz DB 605 AC engine driving three-bladed VDM airscrew.



The design should adapt to the new fighter tactics of the Ilmavoimat, which was considered outdated the dog fight, preferring the ‘zoom and climb’ to either repeat the attack, or break off the contact with an advantage in speed and climb. To meet the specification, it was necessary to design a light airframe to take full advantage of the 1,475 hp of the available engine.



The result was the Puuska, an 80 per cent smaller and light version of Pyörremyrsky that V.L. offered to the Ilmavoimat at the end of 1943. Out of the five proposed designs, the Finnish Air Force Material and Procurement staff selected two on 24 January 1944, called PM-3 and PM-5, to be built as prototypes that were to be ready on 1 July 1945. The PM-3 should use the under nose oil cooler and two radiators from Bf 109 G-2 under the wings, local manufacture Sperry artificial horizon, Hollsman compass and Vaisala reflector gunsight.



The double-joint undercarriage retraction system would use Siemens and Stromberg electrical motors and two 660 x 160 mm wheels from Bf 109 G-2. The proposed armament was one engine-mounted 20 mm MG 151 cannon, with 300 rounds, and two 12.7 VKT LKk/42 mm nose-mounted machine guns.

Wingspan: 9.2 m, length: 7.5 m, wing area: 13.5 sq.m, maximum weight: 3,200 kg, maximum speed: 620 kph, climb rate: 6.2 min to 6,000 m., service ceiling: 12,000 m.



The PM-5 was designed as a point-defence interceptor, very fast and with amazing climb rate. To save weight they decided not to install armour and the armament was reduced to a MG 151 with 210 rounds. The internal fuel was also reduced to only 400 litres, with the possibility of carrying two drop tanks of 140 litres each under the wings.



Oil and glycol radiators were grouped in a ventral nacelle to save drag.

It was expected that series aircraft were equipped with a Telefunken FuG-7a R/T device and used the main wheels from Soviet LaGG-3 and the retractable tail wheel from DB-2 bomber. The building system should be the same used in the Pyörremyrsky, but the project was cancelled on March 1944 due the low availability of DB engines.

Maximum weight: 2,650 kg, maximum speed: 682 kph, climb rate: 4.7 min to 6,000 m, service ceiling: 14,000 m.



V.L. Humu (430 kph)


In October 1942, the Ilmavoimat placed an order with the V.L. for four prototypes of the Humu, a copy of the Brewster 239 fighter that should be built in wood/plywood/steel with the same technique used in the Fokker D.XXI. It was expected to build a series of 55 aircraft, using instrument and M-63 engines from captured Soviet airplanes.



On 8 August 1944, the prototype was flown, powered by a 930 hp Shvetsov M-63, reaching the 420 kph. A surplus Brewster fuselage and new wings built in wood/plywood by V.L. had been used for its construction. It turned out to be too heavy (2,895 kg) manifesting problems of longitudinal stability, and the initiation of series production was delayed pending results of flying tests. The proposed armament were three 12.7 mm LKk / 72 machine guns.

The project was cancelled in the summer of 1944.



Fokker D.XXI modified


Earlier, in 1939, the Finns had experimentally fitted two underwing 20 mm Oerlikon cannons in the Fokker FR-76.

On 29 January 1940 the FR-76 shoot down a Soviet DB-3M bomber with just 18 rounds, but the excessive weight limited its performances and the experiment was discontinued.



Another attempt to improve the outdated fighter consisted in installing a modified wing (the so-called E-wing) in the FR-121. It had more dihedral and was more tapered that the standard wing.

During flight tests it was found that the gun access panel blew off as a result of the air pressure in the gun bay.



Finally, two Fokkers were modified with a retractable landing gear: the FR-117 (Mercury) on 27 April 1941, and the FR-167 (Twin Wasp) on 2 March 1942. Both aircraft were later equipped with a fixed gear, and the whole idea was dropped because the speed improvement was only 15-37 kph, depending of altitude.



V.L. Vihuri


In 1943 the Finns were waiting to receive two crashed British de Havilland Mosquito, requested from Germany to serve as models for planned production. One would be repaired and another one would be teared into parts to make blueprints. The Finns are great wood workers and probably would have been able to circumvent the unavailability of balsa and Tego-film, with the technique used by the Soviets in the construction of the Polikarpov I-16, which already had been tested in the Pyörremyrsky. The Polikarpov fuselage was built in two halves, like the Mosquito, and each half comprised pine frames and longerons. The monocoque skin was produced from layers of birch strips glued cross-grained and molded on a former.



The new aircraft, called Vihuri, would have possibly been used as fighter-bomber with nose-mounted machine guns. It would have been powered by two 1,475 hp German Daimler-Benz DB 605 AC engines and used the landing gear of the Bristol Blenheim. It was estimated that its performances would have been inferior to those of the Mosquito because of its greater structural weight. Production plans would have delivered between mid of 1946 and December 1947, due to the overload of work that represented for V.L. the repair of fighters in service, the production of the Myrsky and the Mörkö-Moraani conversion.



Bibliography​

Books

Keskinen, K., Suomen Ilmavoimien Historia LeR2, Edita OYJ, 2001.

Keskinen, K., Finnish Air Force 1939-1945, Squadron/Signal Publications, 1998.

Geust, K., Baltic Fleet Air Force in Winter War, Red Stars 5, Apali, 2004.

Geust, K., The Winter War in the Air, Red Stars 7, Apali, 2011.

Cuny, J., Curtiss Hawk 75, DOCAVIA nº 22, Editions Lariviere, 1985.

Green, W., Warplanes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume Four, MacDonald, 1961.

Bowers, P., The Curtiss Hawk 75, Profile Number 80.

Keskinen, K., Curtiss Hawk 75, Tietoteos, 1984.

Luukkanen, E., Fighters Over Finland, MacDonald, 1963.

Keskinen, K., Suomalaiset Hävittäjät, Suomen Ilmavoimient Historia Nº14, 1990.

Jong, P., Le Fokker D.21, Collection Profils Avions Nº9, Lela Presse, 2005.

Comas, M., Le Morane-Saulnier M.S.406, Histoire de l’Aviation Nº5, Lela Presse, 1998. Vergnano, P., Fiat G.50, Ali d’Italia, La Bancarella Aeronautica, 1997.

Maas, J., F2A Buffalo in Action, Squadron/Signal Publications Nº81, 1987.

Stenman, K., Mersu Messerschmitt Bf 109G in Finnish Service, Koala-Kustannus, 2017.

Stenman, K., Finnish Air Aces of World War II, Osprey Aircraft Aces Nº23, 1988.

Keskinen, K., Suomen Ilmavoimien Historia 18 LeR3, Uudenmaan Paino, 2001.



Publications

Partonen, K., “Mörkö-Moraani”, IPMS Mallari, 1984.

Good, M., “Un Fantôme Venu du Froid”, Wingmaster Magazine, Janvier 2000.

Stenman, K., “Le Morane Sort ses Griffes”, Le Fanatique de l’Aviation Nº 554, Janvier 2016.

Gréciet, V., “Morane-Saulnier M.S. 406 C1”, Aèrojournal Nº20.

Hazewinkel, H., “Fokker C.X”, Le Fanatique de l’Aviation Nº 50.

Stenman, K., “38 to 1 the Brewster 234 in Finnish service”, Air Enthusiast/Forty-Six.

Millot, B.,”Brewster Buffalo”, Le Fanatique de l’Aviation Nº 92 to 95.

Keskinen, K., “The Finnish Air Force in the Winter War”, SAFO, April 1990, Vol.14, Nº2.

Hurme, M., “Flygflottilj 19, the Swedish Volunteer Air Unit” SAFO Nº53, January 1990.

Stenman, K., “Finland’s Fighter Finale”, Air Enthusiast/Twenty-Three.

Stenman, K., “A violent Finnish Wind”, Air Enthusiast/October 1971.

Heinonen, T., “V.L. Pyörremyrsky”, Ilmailu Magazin Nº4 and 10, 1948.

Timonen, J.,”Pyörremyrsky osa 2”, IPMS Mallari Nº115, 5/1996.

Valtonen, H., “Guidebook”, Keski-Suomen Ilmailmuseo, 1999.

Guttman, J., “Aerial Oddities”, Aviation History, May 1998.

Uolamo, S.,”Pyörremyrsky Entisöinti osa 1”, Suomen Siivet Nº1 and 2, 1973.

Muikku, E., “Pyörremyrsky”, IPMS Mallari Nº16, 1975.

Raunio, J.,”Pyörremyrsky”, Lentäjän Nákökulma, 1991.

Raunio, J., “V.L. Puuska”, Suomen Ilmailuhistoriallinen, Lehti 2/1998.

Correspondence with Hannu Valtonen, 1999.
 

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I’m actually gunna go further on the MKI and say it meets the requirements of this topic. Overscans article on bars shows how substantial India engineers contributed to the project and HAL handled most of the production.
 
back to topic
had Martin dit any improvement on B-57 compare to English Electric Canberra ?

Certainly in terms of crew visibility and co-operation with the tandem cockpit. And very much so with the night / all-weather sensors and PGMs of the B-57G.

The RBs were very fragile and lacked the low-altitude capability of the PR.9, but had considerably higher ceilings.
 
Certainly in terms of crew visibility and co-operation with the tandem cockpit. And very much so with the night / all-weather sensors and PGMs of the B-57G.

The RBs were very fragile and lacked the low-altitude capability of the PR.9, but had considerably higher ceilings.
A quick and less draggy rotary bomb-bay as well, though I believe it ate into volume for the bay. Four M39 20mm cannon. No start cart needed. More pylons for external stores.
Made it better for the war being fought in SE Asia, certainly.
 
HAL Ajeet - better than its Folland Gnat progenitor by far.

While the engine is just a little behind the RAF ones were, India's Jaguars are better-equipped than the British or French ones ever were - mainly due to the installation of attack radar (Agave) in their Maritime Strike versions and AESA radar (Elta EL/M-2052) in the DARIN III+ upgrade.
 
Need to add the A-4AR Fighting Hawk.

Argentine A-4M, refitted with most of an F-16's avionics! The A-4SU is a little better due to the new engine, the Fighting Hawk keeps the old J52. The "ultimate Skyhawk" would be the -AR avionics with the F404 out of the -SU.

Upgrades included:
 
Westland Wessex variant of the S-58.

A good point.

Westland have a few examples.

Westland Whirlwind (S-57)
Westland Wessex (S-58)
Westland Sea King (SH-3)
Westland Apache AH.1 - WAH-64D (AH-64D) Better power, full self protection suite inc ECM) and (marginally) weapons (CRV-7>Hydra 70)... You could add overwater capability if the flotation kit was added....doesn't help with looks when inflated though...
 
Westland Apache AH.1 - WAH-64D (AH-64D) Better power, full self protection suite inc ECM) and (marginally) weapons (CRV-7>Hydra 70)... You could add overwater capability if the flotation kit was added....doesn't help with looks when inflated though...
I'm not entirely sure about the CRV7 being all that much better than Hydra 70s. Yes, CRV7s are faster, but the rocket burns out a lot quicker so it doesn't have anywhere near as long a range. Tradeoffs. And the short range of CRV7s gets you well into Tunguska/Pantsir range, while the Hydras are right at the outer edge of the engagement range.

I will grant the better power and full self protection suite, though I suspect the Westland Apache needs the extra power to carry the self protection suite.
 
Atlas Cheetah and IAI Kfir.
Much improved over the Mirage III/5.
Plus theres the mirage F1,with the modified RD33 engine and the R-73 missile.
Not something that went into service sadly,but still a "foreign upgrade".
Personally I wish the IRIAF would do this with their F1 fleet,oh well.... :rolleyes:
 
I'm not entirely sure about the CRV7 being all that much better than Hydra 70s. Yes, CRV7s are faster, but the rocket burns out a lot quicker so it doesn't have anywhere near as long a range. Tradeoffs. And the short range of CRV7s gets you well into Tunguska/Pantsir range, while the Hydras are right at the outer edge of the engagement range.

I will grant the better power and full self protection suite, though I suspect the Westland Apache needs the extra power to carry the self protection suite.

Everything I've ever seen had CRV-7 having a substantially longer effective range than Hydra 70. And was more accurate as well.

The issue of additional power from the RTM322 didn't really make a huge difference as the gearbox remained the same so couldn't handle the full power of RTM322 (probably except in emergency situations, with gearbox inspection/replacement required afterwards). But...it did make a big difference in Afghanistan. US AH-64D had to ditch the Longbow radar in order to get off the ground with fuel and weapons due to the Hot and High conditions. UK WAH-64D didn't suffer from the same issue as their engines, even under the same conditions, could 'close the gap' up to the gearboxes maximum rate. Surprisingly the Longbow radar proved to be really useful, particularly over the southern desert areas and acting as a mini-awacs controlling/being aware of other air assets when contacts were underway.
 
The New Zealand A-4Ks were upgraded in the mid 1980s with the AN/APG-66NZ radar and the Litton LN-93 INAS, the Ferranti 4510 wide angle heads up display, the Vinten airborne video recording system the General Instruments ALR-66 radar warning receiver, and a Tracor ALR-39 chaff/flare dispenser were all installed.
 
The Xian H-6,the chinese built version of the old soviet tu-16 bomber with all of its later modernisations,new nose section,new weapons,new engines+intakes,avionics,etc...
H-6K_20211_20151127.jpg

the-60-year-evolution-of-the-xian-h-6-chinese-badger-bomber-v0-244904lisgob1.jpg
 
Switzerland (6 May 1940 to 4 February 1945)


Following the Munich Agreement, in September 1938, Switzerland acquired ten Messerschmitt Bf 109 D-1 and eighty Bf 109 E-3 fighters. The first five D-1 aircraft were delivered by mid-December 1938 and the other five a month later. Everyone was armed only with a pair of 7.45 mm MG 29 machine guns fitted in the front fuselage.



On 30 April, thirty Bf 109 E-3 were delivered, followed by fifty units more on 31 August. Also in September 1938, Switzerland acquired the manufacturing license of the Morane-Saulnier M.S.406, together with two full aircraft. The export version, M.S.406H, kept the M.S.405 wings and the engine H.S.12 Y-31. It was armed with only two drum-fed MAC 34 machine guns because the French did not want to share the technology of the 20 mm H.S. 404 cannon.



Between 1940 and 1942, the State factory F+W-Emmen built a series of seventy-four fighters known as D-3800. The Swiss version of the M.S.406 was powered by an 860 hp H.S.12 Y-77 engine, licence-built by Adolph Saurer AG, driving an Escher-Wyss EW V-3 controllable pitch propeller. The armament, built by Waffenfabrik Bern, consisted of a 20 mm Oerlikon FM-K cannon and two 7.5 mm Furrer Fl.Mg.29 belt-fed machine guns. The D-3800 came into service at the beginning of 1940, with a SE-013 R/T device and Draeger oxygen equipment.



Three days before the invasion of Poland, the Swiss Air Force was mobilized with fifty-eight Dewoitine D-27 C.1 (312 kph), ten Messerschmitt Bf 109 D-1 (470 kph), thirty Bf 109 E-3 (570 kph) fighters and hundred-and-twenty-seven observation aircraft of the type Fokker C.V and EKW C-35. When the Germans began their assault to the West, on 10 May 1940, the Swiss Air Force had thirty-six D-3800 and the number of Bf 109 E-3 already amounted to seventy-eight. In May and June, the Swiss airspace was violated 3 times by the French, 10 times by the Italians and 233 times by the Germans.



The Swiss fighters entered combat for the first time on 16 May. Between that date and 4 February 1945, they managed to shoot down one Dornier Do 17, five Heinkel He 111, six Messerschmitt Bf 110, two Avro Lancaster, one Boeing B-17, one Dornier Do 217, two Consolidated B-24, one De Havilland Mosquito, one Fiat R.S.14, two Republic P-47 and one Junkers Ju 52/3m. They also faced 6,501 violations of airspace during which 198 aircraft were interned and 56 crashed.



In combat, the Bf 109 E-3 were superior in speed and manoeuvrability to the Bf 110 C of the Luftwaffe that were frequently forced to use the tactic Abwehrkreiss (Defence Circle). In April 1944 the Germans yielded twelve Bf 109 G-6 to the Swiss Air Force, in exchange for the destruction of the electronic equipment of an interned Bf 110 G-4 night fighter.



In 1942 the EKW C-35 began to be replaced by the new EKW C-3603 (470 kph) heavy fighter. Its main purpose was to patrol the border violations of Swiss neutrality to force the intruders landing for internment. A night fighter squadron was formed in 1944.

A total of hundred-and-fifty-two C-3603 were manufactured between 1942 and 1944.

German hostility forced the Swiss to depend on fighters of their own manufacture. In 1939 Saurer began the manufacture under license of the 1,020 hp H.S.12 Y-51 French engine to improve the performances of the D-3800. Between October 1939 and December 1942, the companies Doflug-Altenrhein and SWS-Schlieren manufactured 207 units of the improved version D-3801. According to some sources, it was the Swiss version of the Morane-Saulnier M.S.412 C-1.



The new fighter was 33 kph faster and was equipped with armoured windshield and dorsal plate, SE-012 R/T device and Swiss Munerelle Agm 40 oxygen equipment. At the end of 1943 the Swiss Air Force had eleven Flieger Kompagnien equipped with D-3800 and D-3801 fighters. After the June 1940 armistice the French continued improving the Morane fighters and their engines in Switzerland and Spain.



At the beginning of 1943 the drawings of M.S.460 C.1 (1939), M.S.540 C.1 (1941) and M.S.640 C.1 (1940) fighter projects and of the H.S.12 Z-17 experimental engine, were delivered to the Swiss by Morane-Saulnier personnel that collaborated with Dr. Studer, chief engineer of Doflug, in the design of the D-3802 (640 kph) the Swiss version of the M.S.540. Possibly also included were parts of the M.S.450 prototype for the study of their manufacturing techniques.



The D-3802 was powered by a 1,230 hp H.S.12Y-89 (Saurer YS-2) driving a four-bladed Escher-Wyss EW V-8 constant-speed propeller with reverse pitch. It conserved the wing structure of the D-3801 but with the Plymax, replaced with all-aluminium covering, glycol radiators under the wings, Fowler type flaps and variable-incidence tailplane. The armament consisted of one 20 mm. H.S. 404 T.I cannon and four 7.5 mm Fl.Mg.24 machine guns.

Four aircraft were manufactured in 1944, as prototypes of the production model D-3802A, the Swiss version of the M.S.550 with squared wingtips, bulged canopy and three H.S. 404 cannons. Only eleven copies were built between 1946 and 1950.



The D-3803, described as M.S. 560 by some authors, with modified dorsal fuselage, all-round visibility canopy and 1,430 hp Saurer YS-3 engine, was built as a prototype only in 1947. Its mass production was dismissed after the acquisition of hundred-and-thirty war-surplus P-51D Mustangs.



Bibliography


Green, W., Warplanes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume One, (MacDonald 1960)

Publications

Guttman, J., “Switzerland’s two-seater soldiered through World War II”, Aviation History, July 1998.

Gunti, P., “Morane Sur l’Helvetie”, IPMS Schweiz magazine, Xe Anniversaire issue.

Gaudet, E., “A Dream Come true”, Aeroplane, June 2002.

Gunti, P., “Alpine Avenger”, Air/Enthusiast Forty-Seven.

Gunti, P., “Neutral Warriors”, Air/Enthusiast Forty-Three.

Théroz, J., “Bataille au dessus des Alpes”, Le Fanatique de l’Aviation nº 36.

Meister, J., “The Swiss Battle of Britain”, World War Investigator, July 1988.

Moulin, J., “Un project de chasseur Morane-Saulnier M.S. 640”, l’Aérophile 2010.

Moulin, J., “Un project de chasseur Morane-Saulnier M.S. 540”, l’Aérophile 2010.

Klein, B., “Morane-Saulnier M.S. 460”, Airplanes Five-View Album, 1974.

Osche, P., “Swiss Bf 109”, SAFO nº 49, January 1989.
This reminds me of the spanish assembled/reengined BF-109s,the Hispano Aviación,the HA-1109 and HA-1112
The 109s using the hispano suiza 12z engines and later using the rr merlin
spanish-af_tripala_900_3.jpg

spanish-af-buchon_900_3.jpg

I dont think these could be considered as surpassing the originals tho,nonetheless they are interesting machines if only because of the unusual hybrid of ww2 nazi and allied components
Theres some more pics at
https://acesflyinghigh.wordpress.com/2019/02/02/spains-messerschmitt-bf-109-hybrids-the-hispano-aviacion-ha-1112-tripala-and-buchon/
 
This reminds me of the spanish assembled/reengined BF-109s,the Hispano Aviación,the HA-1109 and HA-1112
The 109s using the hispano suiza 12z engines and later using the rr merlin
spanish-af_tripala_900_3.jpg

spanish-af-buchon_900_3.jpg

I dont think these could be considered as surpassing the originals tho,nonetheless they are interesting machines if only because of the unusual hybrid of ww2 nazi and allied components
Theres some more pics at
https://acesflyinghigh.wordpress.com/2019/02/02/spains-messerschmitt-bf-109-hybrids-the-hispano-aviacion-ha-1112-tripala-and-buchon/
In 1942 the Spanish Government ordered the modification of the Bf 109 E-3 (6-119), replacing the engine by one 1,300 hp. Hispano Suiza H.S.12-Z89. The prototype, named H.A.1109 J1, was flight tested in Muntadas-Barcelona by Lt. Lacour in October 1942, revealing problems of overheating. By the beginning of 1945, one H.S.12-Z89 was installed in the Bf 109 G-2 airframe imported from Germany. The new model was named H.A.1109 J1L, flying for the first time with a three-bladed Hamilton Standard propeller on March 2, 1945, without solving the engine overheating problem.

In 1951, it was decided to replace the engine by the H.S.12-Z17 variant, considered more secure. The new H.A.1109 K version was equipped with a three-bladed de Havilland PD-63 propeller and went into service for the Ejercito del Aire in a number of 30 units. Other Bf 109 G-2 were converted into the H.A.1112 M by installing the British R.R. Merlin 500/45 engines with four-bladed Rotol R-116 propellers from the summer of 1953.

None of these transformations produced any satisfactory result.
 

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Why has no country that used F4 Phantoms ever created their own electronic warfare G version?
 

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