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British Secret Projects - Late 40’s

For this set I made a slight return to more familiar ground and took a leaf out of the Luft 46 book, exploring British secret projects from immediately after WW2 to the early 50’s.

Britain had already made considerable progress in the development of the jet engine and fighter design, and with the addition of German data being available this progress continued to advance unabated.

All markings and camouflage schemes are fictitious.

The Aircraft

Blackburn B.67 In answer to the Air Ministry’s N.40/46 requirement of September 1946 requesting design studies for a twin jet engined naval fighter, Blackburn produced the B.67 design in 1947. This featured a swept main wing and swept “V” tail.

Gloster P231 This was Gloster’s submission to the same Ministry requirement as the Blackburn B.67. The P231 was a development of the Meteor, which spawned many numerous designs. The P231 was itself a close relative to the P228 concept which differed mainly in having a conventional tail. The P231 featured a swept wing and swept “V” tail.

Hawker P1063 There is some mystery surrounding this design. The illustrated design is thought to be the P1063, but this is unconfirmed. The concept featured twin engines stacked in tandem configuration with the front engine placed low under the cockpit and the rear power plant in the upper rear fuselage.

I have done two camouflage schemes for the P1063. The first one being a straight adaptation of the late/post war scheme of dark green and ocean grey upper surfaces with medium grey underside.

For the second scheme I based it on a Luft 46 scenario that saw a further theatre open in areas of Equatorial Rainforest such as found in South America and Central Africa. For this I retained the dark green but swapped the Ocean grey for a “new” jungle green for the upper surfaces. For the under side I borrowed the azure blue from the tropical desert scheme of WW2. The new jungle green is a shade taken from “cockpit” green.

Hawker P1067 This was one of the early series of designs that eventually led to the Hawker Hunter. A swept wing design, it featured a circular fuselage with a nose intake, feeding the single Avon jet engine. The proposed “T” tail while offering aerodynamic advantages, was replaced in later designs with a lower tail for structural reasons. Here too I have done two schemes. One in a late war livery and the other adapting typical tropical desert scheme colours.

Supermarine Type 508 (swept) The 508 design was a development of the company’s naval fighter design. The Type 508 here features swept wing and swept “V” tail.

Acknowledgments

All data and references from the book: British Secret Projects. Fighters since 1950, by Tony Buttler.

Recommended.

Until next time...