ResKit : Royal Navy 2″ Launchers : 1/48 Scale

Description

The 2-inch RP, short for Rocket Projectile, 2-inch, Number 1 Mark 1, was an unguided rocket weapon developed by the Royal Navy in the 1950s. It is generally similar to contemporary rockets like the SNEB and FFAR, although somewhat smaller. It is sometimes known as the RP-2 or RN, but most often referred to simply as the 2-inch.

The 2-inch was mainly used by the Navy’s Fleet Air Arm (FAA) and was standard equipment on most of its aircraft during the 1950s and into the 1960s. It saw operational use on the de Havilland Sea Vixen during the Withdrawal from Aden in 1969, although it is unknown whether these were fired in combat. The Royal Air Force (RAF) did not initially use the weapon, preferring their own RP-3, but it was offered on a variety of RAF designs when being sold to foreign customers.

The RAF received the 2-inch when they took over a number for former FAA Blackburn Buccaneers in 1969, although by this time most RAF aircraft carried the SNEB instead. With the opening of the Falklands War in 1982, the RAF found the Navy unwilling to allow the SNEB on their ships due to the concern that the powerful radars might set off their electrical primers. The Buccaneer pods were quickly tested on the RAF’s Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3s that were being sent southward. The first use in combat took place on 31 May against dug-in troops on Mount Kent and then continued through the rest of the conflict.