I have decided that the Royal Navy needs to be involved in my Target Locked On! and Air War:C21 ‚Flashpoint‘ projects somehow. The tenuous excuse for this is that the Chinese are sabre rattling in the South China Sea and, in particular, are involved in aggressive overflights of Hong Kong and the New Territories in the late 1960’s. A bit far fetched?

According to recently declassified reports, Chinese leaders were so opposed to the prospect of a democratic Hong Kong that they threatened to invade should London attempt to change the status quo. “We shall not hesitate to take positive action to have Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories liberated,” Liao Chengzhi, a senior Chinese official was reported to have said in 1960.

The Royal Navy has dispatched a carrier task force to the region as a demonstration of force, leading to an incident in which Fleet Air Arm aircraft could clash with the PLAAF and PLANAF. This means that I have an excuse, if one is needed, to add some of those iconic 1960’s British naval aircraft including Sea Vixens, Buccaneers, Scimitars and Gannets.

I have already unpacked my latest order from Tumbling Dice and, as a result, have a big smile all over my face in anticipation of painting them up. Paul even added an extra couple of packs of Scimitars as he packed them together with another order so saving me postage. What a nice chap he is and the models are absolutely cracking too!