Mike – Page 8 – Witness and Memory- A Memoir and Models of History

Gas attack rear area French sector Western Front 1918.

Boom!! A gas shell explodes. Gas, especially mustard,was used extensively in offensives towards the end of the war. It was increasingly included in the great preliminary bombardments prior to the offensives, often in shells that contained HE.

Just to the right of the soldier holding the machine gun in the foreground is a brown rat, one of several I have included in the diorama.

Note decapitated head of German Guardsman

This project has been a multi-national collaboration:

Figures and accessories by ICM (Ukraine)

Renault FT-17 and Hotchkiss machine gun by Meng (China)

Barbed wire by Fog Models Uk

Furniture by Miniart (Ukraine)

Rats and decapitated head by Jon Smith Modellbau (Germany)

Sandbags by Tamiya and Meng

Smoke effects by Eileen of St Thomas, Exeter, UK!

Chemical warfare in the First World War

Chemical and biological weapons have a long record of usage. Poisonous fumes were reportedly used by the Spartans in the Peloponnesian war (429 BC). The Mongols threw the corpses of plague victims into the besieged city of Khaffa in Crimea in 1346 and blankets infected with small pox were given by the British to hostile Indian tribes in Ohio in 1763.

Gas had been considered as a weapon before the outbreak of war in 1914, but there was a general consensus that it was wholly ‘uncivilized’ or ‘unsportsmanlike’. The use of gas had been expressly forbidden by the Hague Convention of 1907. Yet all that changed with trench warfare and chemical science, industry and military technology all combined to facilitate the first large-scale and systematic use of chemical weaponry.

The Germans were the first to employ gas as a weapon in the FWW, at Neuve-Chapelle in October 1914, and next in January 1915 near Bolimov, Poland, on the eastern front against the Tsarist Army.

The amount of gas launched (in shrapnel shells) was small and hardly noticed by the French while the xyilil bromide (tear gas) used against the Russians froze in the low temperature and so did little damage.

Nevertheless, the Germans persevered and in April 1915, they released the lethal chlorine gas, which did have a significant effect. It kills by destroying the respiratory organs in a few seconds and causes fluid to be produced in the lungs in which the victim literally drowns.

It was used to devastating effect in the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915.

During 1916 the combatants turned to the less lethal and odourless mustard gas, a blistering agent that could be fired by shell. It was a slow acting agent that causes internal and external bleeding and vomiting and frequently leads to death.

However, proponents of gas warfare concluded that lethality was neither necessary nor desirable. They reasoned that gas casualties who survived with considerable infirmity were a constant burden on enemy medical facilities and detrimental to enemy morale in the long run.

Gas was dispersed in two ways. It was released in vapour form by fixed canisters positioned in or near the front line, a technique that wholly relied on the wind blowing in the right direction and one that meant gas was effectively a short-range weapon. Artillery shells filled with an agent in liquid form that evaporated after a small explosive charge burst the shell open were widely used from 1916.

Gas was also put in HE rounds in small quantities for a ‘mixed’ effect. Artillery shells gave greater range and much better accuracy, but some problems remained.

Gas was not a truly effective weapon as it needed a long list of ideal conditions. It often failed dues to adverse weather, especially the strength and direction of the prevailing wind and the temperature. It was quite common for gas to be blown back into the attackers’ faces by contrary winds.

All sides quickly developed gas masks and these became more and more sophisticated. Early ones consisted of cotton pads soaked in bicarbonate of soda, to cover the mouth and nose, and separate goggles, but these gave way in all armies to the more familiar combined mask and respirator types. Filters were usually filled with charcoal or chemicals to neutralize the gas. Animals also needed protection from gas and the British Army began issuing horse respirators in 1916.

‘The Germans were the largest users (68,000 tons), then the French (36,000) and British (25,000). Although hundreds of thousands of soldiers were affected by gas during the war, those killed amounted to only about 3% of casualties. After-effects were, however, persistent, so that many veterans were troubled by breathing difficulties for the rest of their lives, had their lives shortened and were prone to common respiratory diseases. Gas aroused a peculiar horror among all combatants. It was not accidental that the first and universal measure of post-war arms control was the prohibition of the use of lethal gas, a ban which has remained generally effective since 1925’. (John Keegan, The First World War).

A personal account

During the second battle of Ypres on April 22 1915, the Germans used their secret weapon of chlorine gas:

‘The scene was more than sad; it was tragic. Everywhere were fugitives: Territorials, joyeux (‘happy ones’, French nickname for their African troops), tirailleurs, Zouaves, artillerymen-without weapons, haggard, greatcoats thrown away or wide open, running around like madmen, begging for water in loud cries, spitting blood, some even rolling on the ground making desperate efforts to breathe. I shall see for a long time, in particular, a staggering joyeux who with loud cries demanded water and noticing me, called, ‘ Colonel, those bastards have poisoned us!’ We soon gave that up. It was no longer soldiers who were escaping but poor souls who had suddenly become insane. All along the canal was the same scene: without noticing bullets or shells, a crowd of unfortunate sufferers on both banks had come to beg for water to relieve their horrible sufferings’.

Colonel Henri Mordacq, HQ, 45th Division. From ‘The Great War’. By Peter Hart.

Adolf Hitler

In mid-August 1918, the List regiment, in which Hitler served, was moved to Cambrai to help combat a British offensive. At the end of September the regiment was put under pressure from British assaults near Comines and it suffered badly. On the night of 13-14 October, Hitler himself fell victim to mustard gas and he and several comrades, retreating from their dug-out during a gas attack, were partially blinded and only found their way to safety by clinging to each other. For Hitler, the war was now over and it was in hospital at Pasewalk, recovering from his temporary blindness, that Hitler was to learn the shattering news of defeat and revolution, an experience that left him traumatised or hysterical, The gas attack and the damage to his lungs possibly accounts for his rasping and harsh voice.

Soviet WWII Shchuka (SHCH) Class Submarine.Советская подводная лодка “Щука”. Zvezda 1:44.

Looking very shark-like, the Shchuka is wonderfully streamlined. This is Shch-402 of the Northern Fleet 2nd Division 1937. The background is my own artistic creation! It is supposed to depict somewhere in the far frozen North of Russia or off the Norwegian coast where this submarine operated during WW2.

This is a very rare venture for me into the world of nautical modelling but when I saw this recent release by Zvezda, I knew straightaway I wanted to make it! Besides, it makes for a refreshing change from the usual aircraft and tanks and a chance to try out a different style of weathering. Overall, I was very impressed with the fine detail and quality of this offering by Zvezda.

According to Zvezda:’ The Shch-402 was part of the most numerous class of medium sized Soviet X-type submarines during WW2 called ‘Schuka’ (‘Pike’ the name of the fish in Russian). With a length of 57m, it featured improved underwater streaming and increased surface speed. Built in Leningrad, after crossing the White-Sea Baltic canal in 1937, it joined the submarine division of the Northern Fleet. During WW2 it participated in 16 raids, commanded by the captains N.G. Stolbov and A.M. Kautsky. In 1942 it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Battle, and in 1943 the rank of Guards. Shch 402 disappeared without trace in a military campaign, presumably sunk in a minefield off the coast of Norway at the end of September 1944′.

However, according to one Russian source I came across on the net, it is believed she was sunk by one of their own Soviet aircraft!

The build was quite straightforward with very little in the way of interior detail apart from some bulkheads. However, there were quite a lot of tiny parts on the exterior which required a lot of concentration and patience to affix. I noticed that the submarine depicted on the box top has certain details lacking in the model such as hand rails and a railing around the forward gun. I decided to add these details myself using ultra fine photo-etch wire and thin elastic thread. The kit comes with a long piece of ‘string’ to make the rigging but its well out of scale and not much use so into the spares box it goes!

The tiny parts under the deck of the conning tower

As this is a full hull model, it wouldn’t really be possible to set it in a seascape. Besides, I have her with the periscopes in the raised position which a sub on the surface would be unlikely to do! However, see below for my ‘artistic’ effects!

There are four attractive schemes for this sub and I have to be honest I was rather torn between all of them! The Black Sea boat with green hull looked very appealing but in the end I opted for the red hull instead.

The version below is for the 2nd Division Northern Fleet 1940

Top: Shch-209-3rd Division, Ist Submarine Brigade Black Sea Fleet, 1936. Below: Shch-209-3rd Division, 1st Submarine Brigade, Black Sea Fleet, 1940

In its naval aspects, Stalin’s Five-year plans during the 1920s and 1930s laid the foundations for a modern shipbuilding industry and also envisioned a new navy, to be created as rapidly as the expanding industrial base would permit:

‘By far the greatest attention was given to submarines. As late as 1933 League of Nations sources credited the Red Navy with no more than 16 submarines. This number may have been too small. It is certain that thereafter the undersea fleet increased in numbers very rapidly, to the point where the Red Navy with an estimated 175 submarines in 1940 was regarded as numerically the strongest in the world.

As to quality of construction, the Soviet Union could make no such impressive claims to progress. The first new submarines were coastal-defence craft of about 215 tons, with very limited cruising radius and offensive capability. Further, they failed to give good service within these limitations. The next group of boats, built from 1934 to 1940 and intended for somewhat wider activities, were of the Shch class-about 500 tons with six 21-inch torpedo tubes and 13 knots surface speed. There was also a larger (800 to 1000-ton) class which resembled British submarines of the same size, in addition to World War 1 vintage boats ranging from 350 to 650 tons and a few of miscellaneous types. The latter included a small number of 1,200 boats of the Pravda class, and some of the 650-ton Nelim class, laid down in 1937′.

From: ‘A History of Russian and Soviet sea power’ by Donald W. Mitchell 1974.

During the war, the Soviet subs sustained very heavy losses, especially to mines.

The naval campaign was very closely related to the one on land and the Soviets conducted a very active war of attrition both in the Baltic and Black seas (the Pacific region was relatively quiescent due to the treaty with Japan).

https://youtu.be/lHwGyFPDqwg

A bit of computer magic!

The lovely box art which first caught my eye

http://xn--80acamdb4alxekh1mf.xn--p1ai/ships/142/

https://imgtest.mir24.tv/uploaded/images/2020/March/af8f0f066872ab8e43ec43129634b8c53d18535786990b1c9ac025c63287a428.jpg

Fokker E.III Eindecker. Airfix 1:72

The first half of 1916 had led to the development of the Fokker *Eindecker* (‘monoplane’) and during the second half of 1916, it became the dominant factor in aerial warfare. This was the time of the ‘Fokker Scourge’ as the propagandists on both sides called it.

Although this is a tiny model (just 5 1/2 inches across), it represents one of the most famous and influential aircraft of all time, the Fokker Eindecker (‘monoplane’) of the First World War.

Only my second venture into First World War aircraft in about thirty years of modelling and if you know anything about rigging model aircraft, you’ll understand why! It is a very fiddly and time-consuming operation but I believe worth the effort. I used a stretchy clear nylon thread (which looks like metal) and fine wire attached with superglue to represent the bracing wires. The major attraction in my opinion of the Great War aircraft are all the wonderful and exotic colour schemes, especially on the German side, the most famous of course being the all-red scheme of Baron von Richthofen’s Fokker Tri-plane.

This is a new tooling by Airfix and I have to say they have done a very good job. Everything fit well and despite its fragility, the model is quite sturdy when everything is glued in place.

Flown by the famous ace Ernst Udet, Kampfeinsitzerkommando, Habsheim, France, March 1916. The pilot figure appears to be wearing a standard blue uniform. The choice of flying clothing was conditioned by time of year and the altitude at which the pilot expected to fly. In winter or at height the cold is intense, and privately purchased fur lined clothing was warmer.

The period of the ‘Fokker Scourge’ lasted six months during the winter of 1915/1916 when an inferior pre-war, underpowered aircraft, the Fokker Monoplane, dominated the skies over the Western Front solely because it was armed with the most famous of German ‘secret weapons’-a machine gun (7.92mm LMG 08/15 ‘Spandau’) synchronised to fire between the blades of a revolving (wooden) propeller. However, the interrupter gear gave perpetual trouble and instances of pilots shooting away their own airscrews were very frequent. Remember also pilots didn’t wear parachutes in those times!

The original Fokker E1, 80hp monoplane underwent several changes. With clipped wings and a 100-hp Oberursel it was known as the EII; redesigned with 31′ 2 3/4″ wings this became the most famous Eindekker of all, the Fokker E.III.

The yellowish area just aft of the engine represents leaking oil! The usual Fokker method of attack was in a dive; it is uncertain whether the famous ‘Immelmann turn’ (see below), in which the pilot pulls up into the first half of a loop to gain height then stall turns to face his adversary again, was Immelmann’s own invention or that of the Bristol Scout pilot Gordon Bell.

The introduction of this new weapon naturally led to counter tactics on the part of the Allies. These were the beginnings of the ‘dogfighting’ techniques and its protagonists, the ‘aces’. Meanwhile the less glamourous but basically more important tasks of spotting for the artillery and reconnaissance were developing rapidly, as were the embryonic bombing forces of the belligerent powers.

Internal construction. 1. Oberursel U 1 100hp rotary engine. 2. Wooden prop. 3. Forward fuel tank. 4. Undercarriage ‘Bungee’ rubber cord suspension bar. 5. Prime pump. 8. Built-up ribs 16. Welded steel tube fuselage structure. 17. Doped linen covering.18. Rear fuel tank.

Until January 1916 air warfare was a very personal matter, not only in the dropping of messages over the lines but in some of the quirky and colourful incidents: Guynemer, the famous French ace, one Sunday morning after shooting down a German over Compiègne , where he lived, spotted his father coming out of church, landed beside the road and asked Papa to ‘please find my Boche’!

Classic account really gives you an idea of what it was like to fly and fight in the Great War

Hawker Hurricane Mk.I Tropical. Airfix 1:48.

The ‘Hurrie’ ready for take off from Sidi Barani, Egypt, 1941.

The Hurricane was getting towards obsolescence by the start of WW2, but this tough, partly fabric covered aircraft played a crucial role in the early part of the war and went with the BEF to France in early 1940. We all remember the scene of them getting shot up at the start of the movie ‘Battle of Britain‘, shown elsewhere on my site.

Quite a bit of work went into the construction of this kit although most of it you can’t see as it’s inside the fuselage! Airfix have taken to adding a lot of interior details to their models of late, no bad thing in my opinion.

There were one or two oddities with this kit, one of which was having to cut out a sizeable piece of plastic under the nose.

I used my modelling saw to hack out the indicated piece

The removed piece. Why didn’t they just mould it that way!?

Some of the interior frames. There was an option to expose the breeches of the Browning machine guns, which is a nice touch, but having already done that on a previous Mk.I Hurricane, I elected to leave them covered. The paint scheme was going to be tricky enough!

Masking off the wings before spraying the aluminium leading edge

The Hurricane always looks like she means the business from head on. Overshadowed by the Supermarine Spitfire of course but still a lovely looking kite in my opinion and the vital work horse of the Battle of Britain. They were more numerous than the Spitfires, and being slower, were mainly tasked with attacking the Luftwaffe bombers.

Despite its fiddly nature, this scheme was irresistible. Flown by Sergeant Pilot F.H.Dean, No. 274 Squadron.

A fair bit of weathering-the trick is knowing when to stop!

I read this short memoir by Roald Dahl during lockdown, which partly inspired me to make this model. As I recall, he joined the RAF in Kenya and trained in a Tiger Moth, then progressed to a Gladiator in Iraq and finally flew combat missions in the Western Desert and Greece. He crashed in Libya and for a time lost his sight. After recovering, he was sent on the futile mission to Greece where he took part in dog fights. He was forced to give up the service from a black out he suffered during an aerial duel if I remember correctly, probably as a result of his crash in the desert. It’s a great story.

Henschel Hs 129. Hasegawa 1:48

This is a 1:48 Hasegawa kit which I made many years ago. This small twin-engine ground attack aircraft has always been one of my favourites and deserves a place on any aircraft modeller’s bench. Besides, my Luftwaffe collection needs building up! I wanted to make it look more weather beaten and worn than it was when I originally made it. I am not 100% sure but I believe this is the B-2 version. The aircraft has the most unusual triangular shape, rather like a Toblerone bar! I believe the technical term is ‘trapezoidal’. This was to help deflect shells or bullets but it made for a very restricted space inside the aircraft and there was hardly room for the pilot’s instrument panel some of which was located outside the cockpit! Even the gunsight is mounted outside on the nose. The cockpit was encased in a heavily armoured ‘bathtub’ to protect from ground attack fire.

The aircraft was progressively upgraded to mount heavier ordnance including a cannon under the belly. Although it was not a very successful design with poor performance it was used to great effect as a tank buster on the eastern front.

This is what I want to own one day. The Zoukei-Mura Henschel Hs 129 B-2 in 1/32. The ultimate in injection moulded scale modelling. A snip at 22, 472 yen or £150 sterling. One can but dream!

Doing what it did best as a ‘Panzerknacker’ destroying Soviet tanks. 1 minute and 29 seconds of pure joy this video!

Blackburn Buccaneer S.2C. No. 800 Naval Air Squadron, HMS Eagle, June, 1971. Airfix 1:72

Another one of my ventures into classic British post-war jets, this time the famous Blackburn Buccaneer which entered RN service in 1962 ‘to counter the significant threat of a massive Soviet naval expansion programme’ (Airfix).

This was quite a challenging kit as most jet models are and needed a bit of forethought before actual construction. There is an option for folded wings as it is a carrier aircraft but I decided to keep mine down as I like the lines of this aircraft so much. As you can see, I have also deployed the airbrake at the back of the aircraft although initially I had left it closed which required a bit of delicate surgery to remove it!

The model has been primed with grey primer. The pilots came with the kit. A lot of modellers leave the pilots out which I think is a pity as it adds a bit of interest. Besides, I like to get my money’s worth! A little filler was needed round the nose cone and engine air intakes but nothing too drastic!

The markings underneath had to be applied before the underwing stores and fuel tanks were added. Some careful masking was needed as well, as can be seen. The jet pipes can be seen in the undercarriage bays which I gave a burnished look to replicate heat. Have no idea if its realistic but it looks nice! The key to these modern complicated aircraft is patience!

The fuel tanks and Matra rocket pods had to be assembled and painted separately

And here she is in all her glory sitting on the deck of HMS Eagle. The other option was an Ark Royal aircraft. The slight sheen of the satin dark sea grey comes through but not too much as I wanted an aircraft that looked slightly weather beaten and faded, perhaps having seen a few Atlantic gales!

I enhanced the panel lines slightly using a black wash and airbrushed Tamiya ‘smoke’, which is ideal for this type of weathering. It is very subtle and you can add or subtract with thinner as much as you like according to taste. There are a few stains towards the rear of the jet where the exhaust fumes would have exited.

The Buccaneer was a very rugged design for obvious reasons and has a curious ‘coke bottle’ shape which apparently enhances the aerodynamics, but don’t ask me why!

I left off quite a few of the tiny stencils underneath as I could barely see them and they were just too fiddly for this old dog to bother with! Unfortunately the code letters ‘silvered’ slightly, probably due to lack of gloss so good thing they are underneath and out of sight! One tiny detail was missing from sprue D, part D15, which I believe is an air intake device? I refashioned another one from scrap and am quite proud of the result. It is the elongated thing to the right of the starboard intake, which is the left one in the pic, oh heck, you know what I mean!

I went to a lot of trouble to get the canopy to close and then later decided to leave it open dohhh. Incidentally, I had to hand paint the desert yellow lines on the canopy frame, not the most pleasurable of jobs but had to be done as masking would have been virtually impossible in this scale. Overall I am pleased with the look and I shall never say grey jets are boring ever again!

The box cover depicting the Ark Royal version. Both are attractive schemes.

History

Just a note about the Buccaneer from James Hamilton-Paterson’s book ‘Empire of the Clouds’. Apparently, the Navy had been against the TSR.2 (the eventually aborted ‘Tactical Strike Reconnaissance’ aircraft ed. )because they had been promised a carrier-borne strike aircraft for their own use, the Blackburn Buccaneer, and they worried that the TSR.2 project would consume all available funds before the Buccaneer became airborne. The RAF wanted an aircraft which was to be supersonic, which the Buccaneer unfortunately was not, and after the Lightning anything else was considered a retrograde step. As he puts it, ‘Additional heat was supplied to this argument by the ancient inter-service rivalry in which the RAF and the Fleet Air Arm each pretended the other hardly existed, let alone was competent to fly an aeroplane’ (!).

In the end, Blackburn came up with a proposal for the P.150 supersonic version of the Buccaneer.

Airfix states:

‘British thinking at the time was to use their new strike jet to destroy the Soviet ships with a combination of conventional and nuclear weapons. Capable of extremely high speeds at low level, the Buccaneer proved to be ideal even though the performance of the first Buccaneers to enter service was affected by a lack of power from their two de Havilland Gyron junior engines. Addressing most of the issues which prevented the early aircraft from realizing their full potential, the Buccaneer S.2 was a much improved platform, boasting a modified wing, increased fuel capacity and a pair of powerful Rolls Royce Spey engines. This new variant provided the Fleet Air Arm with a truly exceptional strike aircraft, which excelled in the low-level environment. As the Royal Navy retired their larger carriers in 1978, their much-loved Buccaneers were transferred to the care of the Royal Air Force (along with their pilots I might add), who were already admirers of the many qualities possessed by the aircraft and grateful for this increase in their inventory. At its peak strength in the early 1970s, the Buccaneer equipped no fewer than six Royal Air Force squadrons.’

Specifications:

Max speed: 667 mph

Armament: various combinations of unguided bombs, laser-guided bombs and the Red Beard tactical nuclear bombs. 4 Matra rocket pods, 2 x AIM-9 sidewinder or 2 x AS-37 Martel missiles, or 4 x Sea Eagle missiles.

An interesting video showing how the Buccaneer used a feature called ‘boundary layer control’ to be able to fly at extremely low level. The Desert Storm version is one I hope to make one day!

Exeter WW2 bomb detonated

I live in Exeter and this is about the most exciting thing to happen here since World War 2!! It certainly put the city on the map from all the publicity. Who knows, maybe they will find some more!? It was thought to be an SC 1,000 (Sprengbombe Cylindrisch 1000) or 1,000kg ‘Hermann bomb’ and was found on a waste site near the University campus. Exeter was badly damaged during the so-called Baedeker raids in April-May 1942. I live about a mile or so from the site and the boom was very loud but luckily no damage done to the house! When my parents first came to Exeter in the early 1950s, the whole of the city centre was practically in ruins. There used to be a common saying here that what the Luftwaffe started the City Council finished off when it redeveloped the city in the post-war period!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SC1000_bomb

Ju-87B-1 Stuka. Airfix 1:48. Battle of Britain.

The unmistakeable Stuka preparing for action

One of the most famous and easily recognizable aircraft of World War II, the Stuka needs no introduction. I made this model a few years back and decided it definitely needed a place on my site! It was a fairly straightforward build as I recall with not too many parts. I decided to liven it up a bit with a yellow-nose version and this 6./St.G 77 sports a RLM 04 yellow cowling and spinner cap.

By the time of the Battle of Britain in 1940, tactical coloured markings accompanied the revised sizes of Balkenkreuz to make aircraft recognition easier in the busy skies of the Channel and South coast of England.

The famous gull-winged Stuka was the main weapon which Göring turned against the RAF fighter bases. But the easy victories of the past campaigns had been won in the absence of adequate fighter opposition, and RAF pilots found the Stuka an easy prey (see clip at end from Battle of Britain movie). Severe losses in operations throughout August destroyed its reputation as the all-conquering weapon of the Luftwaffe, and the Ju-87 was withdrawn from the spearhead of the attack.

The ‘Trumpet of Jericho’ sirens are clearly visible on this particular aircraft, usually they were not installed or capped off to reduce drag by about 20mph. The aircraft is in the standard RLM 70/71 over 65.

Well Manfred, how about another bombing mission on Exeter!?

Battle of Britain ‘Stukas v Spitfires’

English Electric Lightning F.2A. Airfix 1:72

She is quite a beast even in 1:72 scale! No. 92 Squadron, Royal Air Force Germany, **RAF Gütersloh**, 1974. Lightnings were used as all-weather interceptors to interdict Soviet bombers in case of nuclear attack. This was known as QRA ‘Quick Reaction Alert’ and they were on standby 24/7, 365 days a year, ready to scramble in seconds.

Despite this being a relatively new tooling by Airfix, it had a number of issues. I found it impossible to get the fuselage halves to join near the nose without major surgery inside to the jet intake, fortunately none of which can be seen when complete. It also needed liberal amounts of superglue. Even then I still had to sand the sides to get the canopy to fit better but still not 100%. The missiles were a nightmare to attach and I should have done that at the start and not at the end when the model was already painted! Still, as an experienced modeller, you get used to these problems and overall I am fairly pleased with the final result. This was only my second Lightning model. I built the Frog/Novo version many years ago which I painted all silver from a spray can! Needless to say, I have come a long way since those days!

The iconic Lightning has to rank as one of my all-time favourite jets and I should imagine every young boy who saw one flying dreamed of being a Lightning pilot. I remember seeing one at Exeter airport air display as a child. It was deafeningly noisy at low level and after streaking past the crowd just above the runway it went straight up like a rocket almost vertically and disappeared into the blue in seconds. Unforgettable!

Armament: 2 x Firestreak or Red Top AAM and 2 x 30mm cannon

The large belly for fuel. The Lightning was a gas guzzler with limited range unless it could be re-fueled mid-air. It is said pilots would have to check their fuel gauges about every 3 seconds!

Capturing the sleek lines. The Lightning was built for speed and could achieve Mach 2+, the only UK-designed-and-built fighter ever to do so. It also had a phenomenal rate of climb and could reach a ceiling of 60,000ft!

I used Vallejo Duralumin acrylic metallic paint for the bare metal finish. I lifted some after masking as it is so thin so needed a bit of touch up. A quirk of the Lightning was the fact that its nose wheel retracted forwards into the undercarriage bay instead of backwards. As the take-off was so fast, if a pilot didn’t retract it in time, the wheel would be impossible to raise due to the power of the air flow. Scary!

A unique feature of the Lightning was the engines within the fuselage, one on top of the other. These were Rolls-Royce Avon turbojets, which could use afterburner or reheat especially on take off.

From the front it’s hard to tell if it’s a Lightning or Soviet Mig-21! Note the cambered wing.

The Lightning was an incredibly complicated piece of engineering and it took about 1,000 hours of maintenance for each hour of flight. This fact together with its ‘short legs’ or restricted range, meant that it was not a great export success although some were bought by the Kuwaiti and Saudi air forces. It was later developed by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) and equipped 9 squadrons which were the backbone of British air defence for a quarter of a century. The Lightning was eventually superseded by the Tornado, a far more boring plane in comparison in my opinion!

Box. This was a gift set and came with the basic colours in the usual pots, which were pretty much useless! I used Vallejo Green Olive instead for the main camouflage colour.

https://youtu.be/dTr2UvLqfkQ

Curtiss Hawk 81-A-2 1:72 Airfix. American Volunteer Group, Kumming, China, 1942.美国志愿者组织，中国昆明。

Flown by Flight Leader Charles H. Older, Third Squadron. A very colourful bird as you can see, which is what attracted me to this build.

This is my rendition of the Curtiss Hawk by Airfix. I have displayed a 1:48 Warhawk on my site elsewhere so wont go into too much detail here.

However, this is the information that came with the kit from Airfix:

The P-40B, in its various incarnations, served the United States Army Air Force throughout the Second World War, fighting in Europe, across Asia and in the deserts of North Africa. The first model to see active service, the P-40B proved to be an effective and tough low level fighter. While not as manoeuvrable as the Japanese Mitsubishi Zero, or as fast as the German Messerschmitt Bf109, the P-40B still proved to be a tough opponent. Pilots liked the fact it could often get them home after sustaining heavy damage, as well as being able to inflict it with its armament of six machine guns. The P-40B became synonymous with the shark mouth motif, due to both its use with 112 Squadron and the American Volunteer Group i China. Today the P-40B continues to fly in the UK as well as its homeland of the United States of America.

Speed: 350mph

Armament: 4x.30 cal Browning machine guns, 2 x .50 cal Browning machine guns: range 730 miles

For this scheme, I used Vallejo acrylics: Tan Earth, US Dark Green and Gull Grey. I highlighted a few of the panel lines and rivets to show all the fine detail of this superlative kit.

Don’t make movies like this anymore!