After much faffing around, swearing and crashing to desktop (or what ever smartphones have these days) I have completed what I consider to be my best model to date;
Introducing the BAE Nimrod MRA.4
A bit of a sad one, this - after 4bn £ investment, hundreds of thousands of hours in development and with the first air frame ready for delivery to the RAF, the MOD, in their infinite wisdom, decided that maybe upgrading a 1950s era airliner was not the most efficient use of cash, the project was going to cost too much money to continue, there wasn't going to be enough budget to operate the Nimrods and even if they were finished on time, some slimy git at the MOD procurement office had decided that the Boeing P-8 was a better option anyway and had ordered a box load of them instead... The final old aged Nimrod MR.2s were decommissioned in 2010 / 11 and that was the end of the "Great Hunter".
Which is a real shame, because even though the Nimrod MRA.4 was based on the DeHavilland Comet (the worlds first jet airliner) and has been continually re purposed and modified throughout its career, it has something that many Great British white elephants (Think of the TSR2, the Bristol Brabazon, The SaRoe Princess etc...) have in abundance - a soul. She was also ugly, chiseled and purposeful, muscular too, whilst also being quite beautiful.
Anyway - enough of the reminiscing - the controls!
AG1 + VTOL down opens the bay doors, it also drops the AGM cradle
AG2 + VTOL down drops flaps. I have duly noted that flaps in SP seem to do the opposite of flaps in the real world. Funny that... Only to be used during landing, as big barn door type air brakes...
AG3 - Drop Sonobuoy 1 - press again to detach parachute once it was splashed down.
AG4 - Same as AG3, but for Sonobuoy 2.
AG5 - Lights
AG6 ,7 and 8 are unused. Maybe a future version with cruise missiles...
Camera 1 - Port Wing SAR camera
Camera 2 - Sonobuoy 1 view
Camera 3 - Sonobuoy 2 view
Camera 4 - Ventral SAR camera / ventral inspection camera
Camera 5 - Weapons Bay Inspection Camera
She is armed with various free fall bombs and Inferno AGMs. Always, ALWAYS open the weapons bay before engaging anything, and never, NEVER VTOL up.
Have fun and many thanks for gold, guys.
Specifications
General Characteristics
- Successors 2 airplane(s)
- Created On iOS
- Wingspan 111.6ft (34.0m)
- Length 117.3ft (35.8m)
- Height 21.8ft (6.6m)
- Empty Weight 54,563lbs (24,749kg)
- Loaded Weight 110,673lbs (50,200kg)
Performance
- Power/Weight Ratio 0.812
- Wing Loading 27.9lbs/ft2 (136.5kg/m2)
- Wing Area 3,960.1ft2 (367.9m2)
- Drag Points 23345
Parts
- Number of Parts 376
- Control Surfaces 18
- Performance Cost 1,769
Yeah, the Hawker Nimrod was a biplane. The BAE Nimrod was a later monoplane. Apparently Nimrod was a biblical character... @Skyfalcon
Thanks @Tang0five ! Yeah, the scrapping of the almost completed air frames has got to be one of the biggest eff ups in MoD history. Right up there with the TSR2.
@JoddyFubuki788 The FSX model of this is really good. I looked at it as reference material.
Wow can't wait to take this for a spin! Also scrapping nimrod left a huge ASW gap in defence. Another MOD oversight....
@GhostHTX i have it on FSX ya know? I respect how BAE Systems did in past years... Aces of the seas... Like how Swordfishes and Beaufighters did in the past... And now... We have to think of F-35's... Are they succeed and made Nimrod and others proud? Or... Is it going to be... Biggest mistake?
@JoddyFubuki788 Thanks!
This is meant to represent the last one - the MRA.4. At thedate of cancellation there were several nearly complete examples and one ready to deliver. I still remember the uproar in the UK when BAE were ordered by the MOD to break up and scrap the 90% complete air frames. Perfectly good aeroplanes broken up for scrap. What a waste!
There was actually an AWACS Nimrod - the Nimrod AEW.3.
It was ugly. Not in a good way. It was also an unmitigated failure and resulted in the MOD / RAF purchasing the Boeing E-3 Sentry... Wikipedia has a good page on it.
This design reminds me of the last Nimrod ever made... Too bad it wasn't produced anymore... It could be gr8 for AWACS or even transport
@Liquidfox
Many thanks!