Info EDUARD
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{"cz":"Info EDUARD"}
{"cz":"Měsíčník o historii a plastikovém modelářství.","en":"Monthly magazine about history and scale plastic modeling."}
01/2022
Page 1
Vol 21, January 2022Vol 21, January 2022ISSUE 143INFOINFOPage 2
INFOEDUARDEDUARDISSUE 143© Eduard - Model Accessories, 2022FREE FOR DOWNLOAD, FREE FOR DISTRIBUTION!This material may only be used for personal use. No part of the textor graphic presentations can be used in another publication in any other media formor otherwise distributed without the prior writtenpermission of Eduard - Model Accessories and authors involved.Editorial and Graphics - Marketing department, Eduard - Model Accessories, Ltd.Page 3
eduardeduardEDITORIALJANUARY 2022KITSHISTORYBRASSINPHOTO-ETCHED SETSBIGEDRELEASEBUILTON APPROACHJanuary 2022February 2022A6M2 Zero Type 21 ProPACK 1/48Z-126 Trenér Limited edition 1/48Spitre Mk.Ia Weekend edition 1/48MiG-21SMT Weekend edition 1/48MiG-15bis ProPACK 1/72P-51D-5 Weekend edition 1/48TORA TORA TORA! 1/48Spitre Story: The Sweeps 1/48F-4B 1/48Bf 109E-7/Trop 1/48Trenér 1/48Tempest Mk.II late version 1/48Fw 190A-5/U12 1/48CONTENTSSpitre Mk.VThe swag from the Houthulst forrestThe Colors of ZeroTempest over AntarcticaTAIL END CHARLIE410010860786111113132154Published by Eduard-Model Accessories, spol. s.r.o.Mírová 170, Obrnice 435 21support@eduard.com www.eduard.comPage 4
Good Evening, Ladies and GentlemenAllow me to introduce today’s Newsletter, onthis, the Eve of the Epiphany, marking the firstto be posted for 2022, with the belief that theyear will be a good one, will be successful, andthat all upcoming obstacles will be overcome.We can probably count on these obstacles beingmany. Last year at this time, our forecasts forthe year were not particularly rosy, and the endresult is now plain for all to see. But really, theyear didn’t end up being all that bad. Comparedto the year previous, there was an anticipateddecrease in sales, but it was not as dramatic asone would have anticipated last January. Salesdropped by somewhere in the vicinity of fivepercentile, and the most heavily hit department,kit production, fell by thirteen. At the start ofthe year, it looked significantly worse, whenkit production dropped by forty percentile rightfrom the get-go, inventory of plastic sprues wasdown to zilch, and rebuilding stock took a lot oftime and energy throughout the balance of theyear. The pre-fire range of our catalog has notyet fully recovered. Despite that, the last quar-ter of the year saw an average increase in salesof twenty percentile over the annual averageof the year before, and last year’s average wassurpassed in terms of the overall market, withNovember being the most successful month inour history with respect to overall sales. So, asfar as I am concerned, things ended up well. Or,at the very least, with room for much optimism.We are going into the new year with the goal ofexceeding last year’s output. So… How do we goabout doing that?New Kits for JanuaryThis year picks up where last year left off, withthe Zero. This time around, it’s a ProfiPACK kitof the A6M2 Type 21. The marking options aremore striking than they were with the LimitedEdition Tora Tora Tora! kit, even though there areonly five options in all. For one thing, they are-n’t monotone grey overall, although the one thatis probably the most interesting for us Czechs,Saburo Sakai’s V-128, is in that scheme. Besidesthe brief look at the marking of the aircraft of-fered in the kit, I can highly recommend a moredetailed study of the chosen pilots, their aircraft,and the stories behind them. It is certainly worththe time! You can take this ProfiPACK kit as alittle teaser for the upcoming Zero themed Li-mited Edition kit named “Zero Zero Zero!”, whichwill feature ten options of fascinating subjects tochoose from. There may even be twelve options,we are not quite sure yet. The Zero Zero Zero! isbeing prepared for the second quarter.A similar situation will hold true for January-’s Z-126 Trener Limited Edition kit. As with themajority of Limited Edition kits released on thebasis of our own sprues, this will be a DualCombo kit, meaning that two complete sets ofplastic will be included. We chose a mix of his-torical and current subjects for the marking op-tions, and these make a good impression. Truthbe told, I originally had my reservations aboutthe marking possibilities for this type, but I waswrong. In fact, there are plenty more interestingsubjects left for future ProfiPACK and Weekendkits.There were to have been two Limited Edition re-leases in January. The second was the TornadoECR in 1:48th scale, built around the Revell kit.However, we ran into a little stumbling block thatwas for us an issue, but turns out to be a bit of abonus for you. We figured on a larger sheet, app-roaching the European A4 format (roughly co-rresponding to North America’s 8.5 x 11”), alongwith a smaller sheet to cover stencil data. As itturns out, there are actually three sheets, andeach approaches A3 format (roughly 11 x 16” foryou North Americans). As if that weren’t enough,the mask sheets that are included are also con-siderably larger than originally planned. It’s notonly larger, but it’s also quite complex. So com-plex that its production had to be delayed dueto the failure of one of our cutting plotters. Thebottom line is that both of these kit componentswere delayed in production and the kit releasehas been moved to February. I would see this allas fairly good news for modelers. The bad newsis that the production cost of the kit went up, butwe raised the retail on it by the amount of theproduction cost increase only, meaning that theTornado still presents a great value.In January, we also have two new Weekend kitscoming out. These are the Spitfire Mk.Ia and theMiG-21SMT, both in 1:48th scale. We are also re-leasing a re-edition of the recently sold-out P--51D-5 Mustang Weekend kit, and the ProfiPACKMiG-15bis in 1:72nd. The latter represents a revi-val of the MiG-15 line in 72nd scale in our range.This has prompted the question as to whether ornot we plan on ever releasing the subject in 48thscale, and the answer is yes, we will. At somepoint...January AccessoriesAs a direct result of the original intention of re-leasing the 48th scale Tornado ECR this month,we have several accessory items coming outfor it first. As mentioned earlier, the actual kitis now slated for February. The correspondinglydelayed release of its accessory items too wouldhave meant absolute chaos within our system ofnotifying retailers of new items, and simply wasnot an option. It is built on the grounds of the re-lease of complete tables listing all new releasesfor retailers, a part of which also includes therelease of the Distributor Newsletter, whichmany modelers download from our site as wellto get a six week advanced notice of what’s co-ming down the pipes. At the moment when Idecided for the postponement of the release ofthe Tornado ECR kit to February, the correspon-ding changes to these tables would have createdmassive chaos and a delay of detailed informa-tion for retailers. For this reason, we avoidedchanging the release schedule of these acces-sory items, despite the resulting minor confusi-on in the release sequence of them. I believe thatour reasons are understandable.The Brassin lineup is extraordinary this month,because the majority of them, six out of theeleven, are 3D printed, while only five are castresin. This is the first time this has happened,and is set to become the norm. It will have towait till after February, though, because our 3Dprinting capacity will need to be dedicated to theprinted production of parts for the USS ArizonaEDITORIALeduard4INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 5
kit in 1:350th scale. These will be included withthe kit to the tune of 1500 units, and we will gointo more detail on its release in next month’snewsletter. It will be quite a different matter inMarch. We took delivery of another two 3D prin-ters in December, one of which is calibrated fortwice the resolution to produce much finer prints.Our range will still include resin cast parts, andthe existing catalog of them will be preserved,but over time, cast parts will decrease in num-ber while printed parts will increase. This is thefuture of accessory items. It can be said with cer-tainty that printed parts will be able to do whatcast parts cannot: to vigorously compete withphotoetched brass items. We have seen the firstexamples of this to illustrate the point in the formof 3D printed landing flaps and Remove BeforeFlight tags. Those are also 3D prints, much likeLooK and Space items, but printed on differentmachines.The printed parts for February are no tiny specks,meaning that they account for a substantialportion of production capability. Among them isan engine for the Zeke, a compact, single pieceitem that includes the cylinders and pushrods.Only the prop shaft is separate, and the plugwiring is supplied as photoetched brass. That’sthe weakest link remaining, the infamous tangleof rectangle wires, but this will change shortlyas well, because as we all know, you can’t stopprogress. We also have the cockpit for the Z-226Trener which offers a typical range of versionsassociated with the Trener line, and another en-gine for the Camel, the Gnome Monosoupape 9N.It is also a compact little print, the advantages ofwhich have already been brought to light. Verynice are the Panzerschreck 1 rocket launcherunits for the Fw 190F, as are the Martin-BakerMk.5 Ejection Seats for early versions of the F-4BPhantom II. That sixth set is the TSPJ Container,and that stands for Tornado Self Protection Ja-mmer, which makes this item pretty self expla-natory. I am under the impression that it is usedexclusively with the ECR variant of the aircraft.There are, of course, many more accessory itemsbeing released in the various lines than thosementioned above. I will only mention a few ofthem, such as the two Space sets for the MiG--21PF in 1:48th, which differ in the color of themain instrument panel and sidewalls and conso-les. Then there is the collection of photoetchedsets for Zvezda’s 1:72nd scale C-130J-30, for Re-vell’s 1:32nd scale P-51D-5, and for Hobby Boss’s1:350th scale Gato sub. I am sure you will be ableto find out more about our new products down inthis newsletter without my guidance.Other New Items for 2022As known, the situation on the battlefield is al-ways changing. For example, in last month’snewsletter, I made mention of the upcoming F--51D ProfiPACK, which has now evolved into aLimited Edition kit under the influence of thenumber of marking options included. This, inturn, is pushing another Limited Edition kit of theMustang, the Red Tails, dedicated to the USAAFin Italy, to the latter half of the year. The releaseschedule of new items is constantly evolving, soall information described here regarding the se-cond half of the year needs to be taken with theunderstanding that significant changes may, andalmost certainly will, arise. The situation was nodifferent in 2021, even though the year was espe-cially unstable if only due to the mentioned De-cember 2020 blaze.The latter half of the year will see us continueon with the Spitfire Mk.V, with the Limited EditionSpitfire Story: Per Aspera Ad Astra, dedicated tothe Spitfire Mk.Vc, to be followed by the SpitfireMk.Vc ProfiPACK. The Spitfire Mk.I and Mk.II willmake their appearance as Weekend kits, and theSpitfire Mk.VIII and Mk.IX will be re-issued as wellas come in as new kits in both 1:48th and 1:72ndscale.We will also release new Trener kits. There is Z--326/C-305 Limited Edition item planned for E--day, and we can expect at least one Weekend kitof the Trener to appear over the final two quar-ters. Also planned for its premiere at E-day isthe 1:48th scale S-199, while various versions ofthe S-199 will be released as ProfiPACK kits in1:72nd scale. There will also be more Zeros, in theform of a ProfiPACK A6M2-N Rufe float versionand versions of the A6M3 Type 22 and Type 32 infurther Limited Edition kits. The second half of theyear will see the Zeros complemented with diffe-rent versions of the Wildcat. The Limited Editionkit dubbed “Guadalcanal’ will contain sub-vari-ants of the F4F-4, and just as the F4F-4, the F4F-3 will also be released as ProfiPACK kits.We’ll also make a return to the good ol’ Messer-schmitts and Focke-Wulfs. Day versions of the Bf109F and Fw 190A-2 and A-3 will be the focus ofthe Limited Edition release called ‘Wunderschoneneue Machinen’, and at the very end of the year,we will round out the Wilde Sau trilogy with a kitdedicated to the Fw 190A.Following our experiences with the delivery ofplastic from Asia last year, we are anticipatingissues this year as well. For this reason, we arecurrently only planning one Hasegawa based Li-mited Edition release of the B-25J Mitchell, a so-lid nose strafer in 1:72nd. We are planning this onefor August, same as the aforementioned LimitedEdition Guadalcanal and Red Tails in 1:48th, andthese plans are influenced by the timing of theIPMS Nationals in Omaha. We are fully expectingto accompany these kits to the event personally!Other planned out-sourced Limited Edition kitswill originate from Europe. We are expecting a1:72nd scale Bf 109V-13/14 with plastic from Spe-cial Hobby, which will be combined with the AviaB.534 to form the Limited Edition kit dedicatedto the 1937 Zurich Air Races. This is planned forSeptember, because the Races of 1937 were held,if memory serves, in August. Not that I was the-re, mind you. It’s what I remember reading. Thelast out-sourced item is based on Zvezda’s 48thscale Mi-24V Hind, planned for E-day, and as youmight expect, it focuses on Czechoslovak andCzech Air Force Hinds. The kit will again includethe publication by Jaroslav Spacek. I am proba-bly not the only one who would dearly love to seethe release of the MiG-21F-13 in the final quarter.In 48th scale, of course. Whether or not this willoccur, it’s tough to say at the moment. There isstill much to do on it. But there is also a lot of timebetween now and the end of the year, and hope isthe last to die. And ultimately, history will conti-nue to be written after the final day of the year.Not Just Models Live On, so do Modelers…… and for this reason, we will dedicate ourselves648714Panzerschreck 1 for Fw 190F PRINT1/48 Eduardeduard5INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 6
to various related support activities as well, suchas the further development of the accessory li-nes, the continued publication of our newsletterand, as far as the epidemic allows, the hosting ofmodel shows and contests, and other promotio-nal events. Our main attention will be focused onthe development of the aforementioned 3D printaccessories. At the moment, we are planning toput into service a new 3D print studio which willbe only temporary, but will suffice for at leasta year in supporting our 3D printers and supp-ort equipment. Things will largely depend on thedevelopment of our capacity requirements, andnext year’s change from predominantly cast pro-duction to 3D printing will have a loud say in thematter. This will bear different types of fruit. Asyou may know, we are developing a line of decalsencompassing raised rivets, and we would liketo use the same technology for the developmentof similar products to represent other delicatesurface features. And not just for aircraft kits.Over the course of the year, we want to dedicatea part of our production capacity to other seg-ments of the market, not just planes. 3D printswill look great on AFVs as well as on ships. Thatwe are well able to design accessories for shipkits has been demonstrated in the design of ourphotoetched sets for them, I think. New acces-sory items for the USS Arizona will also be rea-lly nice. Just wait and see.With respect to our newsletter, I am hoping that astrengthening in the editorial team is just aroundthe corner, which will lead to a higher level ofprofessionalism in our work and its results. Wehave been approached by new authors, as canbe seen in today’s issue. We are beginning tobuild up a nice stock of articles to publish. I alsohope that we can get to a printed version of thenewsletter. The last plan is to put out a printedyearbook of 2021’s newsletters as a single volu-me through the first half of the year, with a focuson the historical articles. Cross your fingers… Ifwe can do this, it will be a significant step closerto a printed newsletter.And speaking of shows and contests, it is di-fficult to promise anything, because God onlyknows what is coming down the line. I tend tobe on the optimistic side, but God may well belaughing at me. Either way, it is our plan to puton another outdoor event, the one which wewill continue to describe as an “Intimate Walk-around” at the Line airfield. The program for theevent has begun to take shape, and the timetabletoo, but as I say, it’s a tough one to predict accu-rately at this point. Either it doesn’t pan out andthere will be further lockdowns that will postpo-ne E-day yet again, and that will see the Intima-te Walkaround take its place in the fall. On theother hand, it could all reverse in the spring, andthen the event would be held somewhere at thebeginning of the summer. The plan for E-day isthe same as last year, assuming it will take pla-ce. It would see the premiere of the Czech ModelMasters competition. We already have the cupfor the overall winner... And if everything worksout for the better, the epidemic goes away, andthe Czech Police services completes their newtraining facility in Bublava, we’ll even hold ourIron Bunny event. We’ll leave the other events upto their respective organizers. Unfortunately, atthe moment, it looks as though many of the oldevents won’t be resurrected, but maybe it’s notall bad as that. As long as the events that wewere used to attending in pre-epidemic days be-gin to show up again (no pun intended), we willbe coming back as well.ArticlesImmediately on the heels of the release of theZero, there came about debates surrounding thecolors of them, first and foremost of the grey.The development of the consensus of the colori-zation of the Zeke is described in Marian Holly-’s article entitled “The Color of Zero”. If you areone to build the kit, and you know that it will begrey, just not sure of the flavor, then you shouldstart with this article. It will at least help you inthe orientation of the subject matter that is filledwith as many myths and fictions as those su-rrounding the covid vaccines.The story of the Camel from the BFC113 kit and ofhis pilot is told by Richard Plos in his article “Theswag from the Houthulst forest”. In this issue,we also have the fictional what-if read from JanBobek, “The Storm over the Antarctic”, markingthe return of the exploits of Lt. Kleinkonig anddescribing some of the origins of related Tem-pest Mk.V color schemes. This is also the newBunny Fighter Club Entry Model. The story is sodensely populated with various historical figu-res that it strongly reminds me of my favoritescience fiction novel, the First Day of the Valha-lla, which is an incredible work based on the no-tion that the Nazis win the Second World War,based on their success in opening the Gates ofValhalla and shift the earth’s axis. The remnantsof Admiral Halsey’s American forces retreatedto the Antarctic, where they re-established theUnited States and George Bush Sr. destroys aGerman submarine using a silver lighter andVaclav Havel runs a young women smugglingring that includes Marilyn Monroe from Americato the Antarctic, because naturally, there was ashortage of women there. Jan Bobek is evidentlygoing down a similar road which pleases me andI look forward to his fantastic continuation.I also put in a contribution of my own with my ar-ticle on the development of the Spitfire Mk.V andits technical development. If you plan on readingit, make yourself a big cup of coffee. It’s long andit’s not particularly easy to read. I am still reco-vering from the writing of it!I wish you all the best for the New Year withgood health. The rest, including built and stashedkits, will come on their own!Happy Modeling!Vladimir SulcIn the end of 1940, the new aircraft were arriving at the unitsin their nal weapon and equipment conguration as full-ed-ged, fully functional combat aircraft. Earlier manufacturedairplanes were continuously upgraded with the installation ofarmor and more modern equipment to meet the standards ofthe newly manufactured Spitres. However, during the sametime, the modernized Bf 109 versions were arriving at the Ger-man Luftwae ghter units. The Spitres were able to keep upthe pace with Bf 109E-7 quite successfully when they appearedin the fall 1940, but with the arrival of Bf 109F-1 and F-2 in theend of 1940 and beginning of 1941, the tables turned in favorof the Germans. In order to counter the growing German tech-nical supremacy, the Spitres’ performance had to be improvedrapidly.A traditional way to increase the aircraft performance is to in-stall the more powerful engine. The rst attempt to develop amore powerful Spitre version was the project Improved Spit-re, later renamed Superiority Spitre, launched as early as thebeginning of 1939. The prototype with the factory designationType 330 and military one as Spitre Mk.III was ready for itsmaiden ight in March 1940. It was designed by modifying thestandard Spitre Mk.I serial number N3927. The airframe wasmodied by installing a new Rolls-Royce Merlin RM 2SM engi-ne, the future Merlin XX, featuring a single-stage, two-speedcompressor with the maximum output of 1,320 hp (1,037 kW).In order to accommodate Merlin XX, the engine bearers werestrengthened and the nose lengthened by four inches.The wingspan was shortened to 9.30 meters by removing thewingtips and shortening the ailerons while the internal designremained unchanged. During the ight trials, the prototypeapparently never reached the calculated maximum airspeed of644 kph at 6,400 meters, the maximum recorded speed is saidto be 620 kph which was still an outstanding improvement incomparison to Mk.I performance. Air Ministry demanded thatthe large-scale production of Spitre Mk.III was accelerated,however there was a serious obstacle to this eort due to thecomplicated development of Merlin XX and teething troubleswith its large-scale production. In the fall 1940, the availableengines were utilized for Hurricane Mk.II and Deant Mk.II up-grades and they were also installed in Bristol Beaughter Mk.II,Avro Lancaster B Mk.I, Mk.III and Mk.IV and Handley Page Hali-fax Mk.Il and Mk.V. There were none left for Spitres and theidea of an accelerated, large-scale Spitre Mk.III productionwas silently swept under the table. The smaller series of photo--reconnaissance Spitres PR Mk.III was manufactured under thesame designation, mostly by converting Spitres Mk.I.Merlin 45Once the Merlin XX installation proved to be more and morecomplicated, in the end of 1940 Rolls-Royce company oereda feasible and fast solution in the form of parallelly developedand easier to manufacture engine Merlin RM5S later markedMerlin 45. It featured a one-stage, single-speed compressor op-timized for high altitudes, its output at 5,400 meters was 1,210hp (902 kW), some sources state rather optimistic, and to tellthe truth, less probable output of 1,440 hp (1,074 kW). Merlin45 had the same dimensions as Merlin III powering Spitres Mk.Iand its design enabled Merlin III upgrade to Merlin 45 standardby replacing the compressor. This facilitated the simple insta-llation into the current Spitre Mk.I and II airframes and theconversion of the already manufactured aircraft as well. RRcompany promised to supply 300 Merlin 45 by March 1, 1941and further 200 by April 1.The rst airframe to receive the new engine, modied fromMerlin XX, was supposedly Spitre Mk.I K9788 on December 26,1940, in Boscombe Down. It was followed by PR Mk.III X4334,converted into the photo-reconnaissance version from SpitreMk.I, which took to the air on January 13, 1941, from the RollsRoyce factory airport in Hucknall. Spitre Mk.I N3053, too tes-t-own on February 13, 1941, in Hucknall, was another conver-sion. Right after both airplanes were own over to BoscombeDown for further testing. The ight trials recorded the maxi-mum speed of 593 kph at 6,100 meters was recorded duringthe ight trials, climbing time to this altitude was 6 min and12 seconds and the operational ceiling 11,590 meters. The trialalso discovered the problems with the constant-speed propel-lers De Havilland when oil in their control system was freezingat high altitudes. There were troubles with the Mk.II oil cooleras well as it was not ecient enough for the more powerfulengine. Even though this was considered an interim solution, asthe Spitre Mk.III production was still being planned, the orderSPITFIRE Mk.V HISTORYIn the course of 1940, the Spitre Mk.I large scale production at Supermarine company has been ne-tuned so itcould meet the Air Ministry orders, supply the RAF Fighter Command combat units with the new aircraft and re-plenish the combat losses. The situation was similar at Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory in Birmingham which aftersome initial organizational problems reliably supplied the ghter squadrons with license-built, and, compared toMk.I, slightly improved Spitres Mk.II.eduard6INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 7
In the end of 1940, the new aircraft were arriving at the unitsin their nal weapon and equipment conguration as full-ed-ged, fully functional combat aircraft. Earlier manufacturedairplanes were continuously upgraded with the installation ofarmor and more modern equipment to meet the standards ofthe newly manufactured Spitres. However, during the sametime, the modernized Bf 109 versions were arriving at the Ger-man Luftwae ghter units. The Spitres were able to keep upthe pace with Bf 109E-7 quite successfully when they appearedin the fall 1940, but with the arrival of Bf 109F-1 and F-2 in theend of 1940 and beginning of 1941, the tables turned in favorof the Germans. In order to counter the growing German tech-nical supremacy, the Spitres’ performance had to be improvedrapidly.A traditional way to increase the aircraft performance is to in-stall the more powerful engine. The rst attempt to develop amore powerful Spitre version was the project Improved Spit-re, later renamed Superiority Spitre, launched as early as thebeginning of 1939. The prototype with the factory designationType 330 and military one as Spitre Mk.III was ready for itsmaiden ight in March 1940. It was designed by modifying thestandard Spitre Mk.I serial number N3927. The airframe wasmodied by installing a new Rolls-Royce Merlin RM 2SM engi-ne, the future Merlin XX, featuring a single-stage, two-speedcompressor with the maximum output of 1,320 hp (1,037 kW).In order to accommodate Merlin XX, the engine bearers werestrengthened and the nose lengthened by four inches.The wingspan was shortened to 9.30 meters by removing thewingtips and shortening the ailerons while the internal designremained unchanged. During the ight trials, the prototypeapparently never reached the calculated maximum airspeed of644 kph at 6,400 meters, the maximum recorded speed is saidto be 620 kph which was still an outstanding improvement incomparison to Mk.I performance. Air Ministry demanded thatthe large-scale production of Spitre Mk.III was accelerated,however there was a serious obstacle to this eort due to thecomplicated development of Merlin XX and teething troubleswith its large-scale production. In the fall 1940, the availableengines were utilized for Hurricane Mk.II and Deant Mk.II up-grades and they were also installed in Bristol Beaughter Mk.II,Avro Lancaster B Mk.I, Mk.III and Mk.IV and Handley Page Hali-fax Mk.Il and Mk.V. There were none left for Spitres and theidea of an accelerated, large-scale Spitre Mk.III productionwas silently swept under the table. The smaller series of photo--reconnaissance Spitres PR Mk.III was manufactured under thesame designation, mostly by converting Spitres Mk.I.Merlin 45Once the Merlin XX installation proved to be more and morecomplicated, in the end of 1940 Rolls-Royce company oereda feasible and fast solution in the form of parallelly developedand easier to manufacture engine Merlin RM5S later markedMerlin 45. It featured a one-stage, single-speed compressor op-timized for high altitudes, its output at 5,400 meters was 1,210hp (902 kW), some sources state rather optimistic, and to tellthe truth, less probable output of 1,440 hp (1,074 kW). Merlin45 had the same dimensions as Merlin III powering Spitres Mk.Iand its design enabled Merlin III upgrade to Merlin 45 standardby replacing the compressor. This facilitated the simple insta-llation into the current Spitre Mk.I and II airframes and theconversion of the already manufactured aircraft as well. RRcompany promised to supply 300 Merlin 45 by March 1, 1941and further 200 by April 1.The rst airframe to receive the new engine, modied fromMerlin XX, was supposedly Spitre Mk.I K9788 on December 26,1940, in Boscombe Down. It was followed by PR Mk.III X4334,converted into the photo-reconnaissance version from SpitreMk.I, which took to the air on January 13, 1941, from the RollsRoyce factory airport in Hucknall. Spitre Mk.I N3053, too tes-t-own on February 13, 1941, in Hucknall, was another conver-sion. Right after both airplanes were own over to BoscombeDown for further testing. The ight trials recorded the maxi-mum speed of 593 kph at 6,100 meters was recorded duringthe ight trials, climbing time to this altitude was 6 min and12 seconds and the operational ceiling 11,590 meters. The trialalso discovered the problems with the constant-speed propel-lers De Havilland when oil in their control system was freezingat high altitudes. There were troubles with the Mk.II oil cooleras well as it was not ecient enough for the more powerfulengine. Even though this was considered an interim solution, asthe Spitre Mk.III production was still being planned, the orderSPITFIRE Mk.V HISTORYIn the course of 1940, the Spitre Mk.I large scale production at Supermarine company has been ne-tuned so itcould meet the Air Ministry orders, supply the RAF Fighter Command combat units with the new aircraft and re-plenish the combat losses. The situation was similar at Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory in Birmingham which aftersome initial organizational problems reliably supplied the ghter squadrons with license-built, and, compared toMk.I, slightly improved Spitres Mk.II.eduard7INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 8
for new Spitres was placed, or better said,the program for converting Spitres Mk.Iand II into Spitres Mk.V was ordered.Spitfire Mk.Va and Mk.VbWhile the Spitres Mk.V, re-built at Rolls--Royce, were trialed, the program of con-verting Spitres Mk.I was under way atSupermarine. In the middle of March 1941,another aircraft, X4922 built in Eastleighat Spitre Mk.I assembly line, arrived atBoscombe Down. It already featured Merlin45 and was test-own on February 7. Duringthe trials it was fully armed and equippedand reached the maximum speed of 603 kphat the altitude of 6,344 meters, to whichit climbed in 7.1 minute. The operationalceiling was 11,499 meters. In Eastleigh, inthe second half of February, a total of 23Spitre Mk.I airframes, mostly cannon versi-on Mk.Ib, received Merlin 45, thus becomingthe rst Spitres Mk.Vb. Several airplaneswere also produced with eight wing machi-ne guns and became the rst Spitres Mk.Va.Besides the engine, the equipment of theseaircraft corresponded to Spitre Mk.I stan-dard including the smaller oil cooler withU-shaped intake which was the cause ofhigher oil temperature of the rst SpitresMk.V and posed a certain risk of engineoverheating. The rst unit to receive Spit-res Mk.Vb was No. 92 Squadron commandedby S/Ldr Jamie Rankin, which up until thenwas ying Spitres Mk.Ib. The rst Spit-re Mk.Vb X4257 was delivered to the uniton February 16, but since Rolls-Royce inHucknall was gradually converting currentMk.Ibs, sent over from the unit, to Mk.Vbstandards, No. 92 Squadron was fully equi-pped with “ves” only in the beginning ofApril.During March, the Supermarine assemblylines were switching to Spitre Mk.V produ-ction and by the end of the month 12 Mk.Vband 26 Mk.Va were built, with Mk.I still inproduction. In April the Mk.V productionwas at the full speed resulting in 36 Mk.Vaand 22 Mk.Vb completed. The last manu-factured Mk.I was R7257, also produced inApril. By the end of May, the RAF squadronNos. 54, 74, 603 and 611 were equippedwith new Mk.V. The production at Super-marine ran until October 1942 and its naloutput was 1,352 airframes out of which 94were versions Mk.Va, 780 Mk.Vb and 478Mk.Vc.The CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Facto-ry) launched the Spitre Mk.V productionin June 1941 while it was fullling thecontract for 1,000 Mk.IIs, signed on April12, 1939. Gradually the company receivedanother eight orders to produce SpitresMk.V, of which the last one, from May 1942,largely transitioned to the manufacture ofmodernized Spitres Mk.IX. Until the endof April 1943, the total production at CBAFreached 3,003 Spitres Mk.Vb and 1,474Spitres Mk.Vc.Since the summer 1943, the Mk.V produ-ction was under way at Westland compa-ny located in Yeovil in county of Somerset.Westland manufactured various versions ofSpitre Mk.V until November 1943 and ulti-mately delivered a total of 140 Mk.Vb and495 Mk.Vc.In the summer 1943, the Mk.V productionwas under way at Westland company loca-ted in Yeovil, in the County of Somerset.Westland manufactured various versionsLater production Spitre Mk.Vb featuring the asymmetrical lower bulges under thecannon well, tropical lter and a drop tank (photo: Simon Erland).Squadron Leader M Rook, Commanding Ocer of No. 43 Squadron RAF, and noted asthe tallest pilot serving in the RAF at the time, poses with his Supermarine SpitreMk.Vc, JK101 ‚FT-Z‘, at Jemappes, Algeria. The aircraft is tted with a Vokes tro-pical lter (photo: IWM).eduard8INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 9
of Spitre Mk.V until November 1943 and gradually delivereda total of 140 Mk.Vb and 495 Mk.Vc. Except for several initialproduction Mk.Vb all Westland-built Spitres featured the inner,integrated armor glass. Westland-built Mk.Vc featured specicwing cannon upper covers shaped as bulges with attened sidesand front not used by any other manufacturer.Spitfire Mk. V modernizationDuring the two and half years of Spitres Mk.V production, theairframe was gradually developed and improved. Already at thebeginning of manufacture they featured thicker armor in com-parison to Mk.I and Mk.II. The oil cooler was soon replaced witha larger one featuring a circular intake which was retroactivelyinstalled on the rst batch of Spitres Mk.V, converted fromMk.I and Mk.II, and became one of the features distinguishingSpitres Mk.V. At the same time the armament of eight 0.303Browning machine guns was abandoned. Only 94 Mk.Va, withsuch armament, were manufactured, while 6,370 Mk.Vb andMk.Vc, armed with two 20mm Hispano cannons and four 0.303Browning machine guns left the assembly lines.The problems with weapons freezing at the higher altitudes per-sisted on Spitres Mk.V. Therefore, the weapons compartmentheating was enhanced by introducing the heat from the engi-ne exhausts which was visually distinguishable by an additionalpipe running through the exhausts, entering the engine coverfrom the last one and running through the fuselage and wingleading edge to the cannons. The exhaust pipes were graduallychanged as well. The rst Spitres Mk.V featured the same ex-hausts as Mk.I and Mk.II. Then the various types of pipes withrectangular openings (sh tails) were introduced. In the end ofproduction and after overhaul the “ves” received six indepen-dent exhaust pipes as featured on Spitres Mk.IX.CanopyThe windshield, which originally featured the armored glassmounted on its outside, was in later “ves” modied so as thearmored glass was integrated into it in a way that it was no lon-ger sticking out. The sliding portion of the canopy was modiedas well. In the later production batches it was not only bulgingupwards but to the sides as well (Malcom hood, modication nr.461). This new canopy lacked the small hinged window. MostSpitres were equipped with laminated pilot seats.Radio equipmentThe rst Spitres Mk.V converted from Spitres Mk.I were stilltted with TR.9D shortwave radios with a wire antenna stret-ched between the antenna masts behind the cabin to the topof the rudder. The new-built production aircraft were alrea-dy equipped with the new TR.1133 and later TR.1143 VHF ra-dios, which replaced the older units from the summer of 1941.The TR.1133 and 1143 had no wire antenna, so the serialaircraft equipped with them had the antenna mast on top ofthe rudder deleted. Similarly, the rst of the converted Mk.Vshad the IFF R.3002 identication Friend or Foe device, soonreplaced by the newer IFF device ARI 5000. Both had wire an-tennas between the fuselage sides and the leading edge ofthe elevator. The IFF antenna on later Spitres was located onthe lower surface of the right wing half. From November 1941,the A.1271 radio navigation system for radio beam guidance onlanding was also gradually introduced.Engine modificationsSeveral engine versions powered Spitres Mk.V. Besides theessential Merlin 45, the high altitude Merlin 46 with a morepowerful compressor providing higher manifold pressure at highaltitudes.But the original assumption that the combats withLuftwae will move up to higher altitudes did not materializeand quite the opposite happened, many missions then took pla-ce at lower altitudes. So, the low altitude version Merlin 45Mwas developed and tuned for the optimal performance at lowaltitudes.The carburetor development is a story on its own. The origi-nal drawback of the Merlin III carburetors SU A.V.T.40, duringnegative G maneuvers an intermittent fuel supply interruptionoccurred, was partially eliminated by means of RAE restrictora.k.a. Tilly’s orice, named after its inventor, Beatrice Shilling.But it was not a perfect solution. The problem was fully resol-ved by introducing a membrane-type carburetor designed byRolls-Royce and introduced into the production in 1942. Theywere installed in Merlin 50 and 55 powering Spitres Mk.Vc.PropellerSpitres Mk.V manufactured at mother company Supermarinemostly featured De Havilland Hydromatic Type 5/29A, 5/39,45/1 and 45/4 propellers which diered primarily in a pitch.These propellers demanded careful maintenance and pitchcontrol assembly tended to freeze at high altitudes. The samepropellers were installed on Spitres Mk.V manufactured byWestland. Spitres Mk.V manufactured by CBAF were traditio-nally equipped with more reliable and popular propellers RotolRX5/14 and RX5/24 with metal blades, later with propellersRX5/10 with wooden blades Jablo of a slightly smaller diameter(3.12 meters compared to 3.28 meters of metal propeller).Spitres Mk.Vc equipped with the four-bladed propellers couldbe encountered during the second half of the conict.ExhaustsThe early Spitres Mk.V featured the exhausts with straight,oval orice same as Spitres Mk.I. These were fairly prompt-ly replaced by new exhausts with attened orice known asshtail. Several variations of this type of exhaust are known.With the introduction of 20 mm caliber Hispano cannons to Spit-re Mk.Vb equipment it was found out that the current weapons’heating system using the oil cooler hot air was insucient andthe cannons were freezing at the higher altitudes. Therefore,the heating was enhanced by the hot air from the pipe runningthrough the exhausts exiting behind the last exhaust pipe, en-tering the fuselage in front of the fuel tank, running throughthe fuselage to the wing leading edge and further to the can-nons. These pipes were a trademark of Spitres Mk.Vb. Spitres.Mk.Vc received the electrical heating of the guns thereforethe aforementioned pipe was missing from their exhaust sets.In theory because it can still be recognized in many Mk.Vc pho-tographs. These were probably Mk.Vc converted from Mk.Vbmating the new C wings with the old Mk.Vb fuselagesAileronsThere were continuing problems with the fabric-covered aile-rons on Spitres Mk.V, dating back to Spitres Mk.I and Mk.II.Even though the all-metal ailerons were designed and testedin the end of 1940, in the middle of 1941 they were still notinstalled as a standard on the aircraft leaving the assembly li-nes. Therefore, not only Mk.Vs converted from Mk.I and Mk.IIfeatured fabric-covered ailerons but the rst mass-produced“ves” as well. Only after the Air Ministry interference in June1941 the all-metal ailerons were introduced into the mass pro-duction which signicantly improved the dog-ghting abilityof the Spitres that were equipped with them. This case showsthe cumbersome process of implementing technical improve-ments into a large-scale production. The situation was so se-rious, and nonsensical, that the American units equipped withSpitres Mk.V supposedly replaced the fabric-covered aileronswith plywood-covered ones.Spitfire Mk.VcSpitre Mk.Vc represented the logical combination of all gra-dual modications of the original Spitre design. Besides themodernized bulged sliding canopy and armored glass integratedinternally into the windshield , the most important and funda-mental change was a newly-designed and strengthened wing(called the Universal wing or c type). Traditionally, the abilityto house variety of weapons installations is considered a mainadvantage. These options were eight machine guns (variant a),two cannons and four machine guns (variant b) or four cannons(variant c only possible in the new c type wing but c isn’t thedesignation of this option). In fact, out of all these, variant b,two cannons and four machine guns, was absolutely dominant.Four cannons installation was rarely used because heavy ca-nnons had signicantly negative impact on the aircraft ightcharacteristics so if the four cannons had been installed at thefactory regardless, usually two of them, mostly at inner locati-ons, were removed at the unit level. Variant a. was practicallyeduard9INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 10
never installed on Spitres Mk.Vc. An important change was theintroduction of the belt-fed Hispano II cannons allowing for lar-ger ammunition load (120 bullets per cannon as opposed to 60bullets with the older, drum-fed Hispano Mk.I (as on the earlierb type wing). These cannons were also less prone to jamming.The visual indication of their installation was a missing bulgeunder the cannon well which on Spitre Mk.Vb appeared in twoforms, straight, symmetrical on the older airframes and kid-ney-shaped, asymmetrical on the newer aircraft. In comparison,the upper bulge above the cannon well on Mk.Vc appeared in atleast three dierent shapes based on the anticipated armamentvariant and was also subject to a certain improvisation at theunit level. Another fundamental change was the landing gearre-design, featuring strengthened gear legs’ attachments andincreased rake, moving the wheels 5 cm forward in compari-son to the older Spitre versions. This solution improved theaircraft stability during taxiing and ground maneuvers andwas visually recognizable by a new, elliptical wheel well shape.Undercarriage retraction was already standard on all Mk.V Spit-res with a hydraulic pump driven by the engine. The wings andfuselage design were strengthened by the application of thickersheet metal skin and later Mk.Vc batches featured ush rivetson the rear fuselage. The later aircraft also featured the hori-zontal tail surfaces with modied weight balance, pressurizedfuel tanks, submersible fuel pump in the bottom tank and sixsingle exhaust pipes on each side of the engine. Later SpitresMk.Vc batches were almost exclusively powered by Merlin en-gines series 50 and 55/56 with membrane-type carburetor. Mo-reover, Merlin 55/56 featured the separate piston blocks. Theirspecic versions were distinguished by compressors tuned forthe optimal output at various operational altitudes.Short wing/low levelSpitfires LF Mk.VIn the course of 1942, the number of both defensive and oen-sive, low altitude missions increased. It led to the requirementto modify Spitre Mk.V design in order to optimize their low al-titude performance. Low level Spitres LF Mk.Vb and LF Mk.Vcreceived Merlin engines series M (Merlin 45M, 50M and 55M)with smaller compressor diameter which gave the engine thehighest output at low altitudes. In case of Merlin 45M it was1,585 hp (1,182 kW) at 838 meters altitude. Another modicati-on was the wing’s strengthening design by means of two stripson the wing upper surfaces above wheel wells area. Some ofthe Spitres LF Mk.V received “clipped wings”, in fact shorterwingtips reducing the wingspan to 9.8 meters. This modi-cation improved the rate-of-roll and moderately increased themaximum speed. The wingtips varied, both short and long onescould be installed. Therefore, the short wingtips do not deci-dedly identify the LF version.Auxiliary fuel tanksThere were several types of auxiliary tanks of dierent ca-pacity developed in order to extend Spitre Mk.V range. Thesmallest one was 30gal (136 liters) tank introduced into servicein September 1941 extending the range to 1167 km. It was fo-llowed by a larger, 45gal tank (204.5 liters). Both tanks wereof so-called blister-type (also known as slipper-type) referringto the tank’s curved outline on the bottom and upper at sur-face mating with fuselage and wing’s center-plane. Both weredroppable. The cylinder-shaped 45gal tanks were also used. InMalta, 44gal (200 l) cylindrical tanks from Hurricanes Mk.II wereused, attached in pairs, next to each other under the fuselages.In the end of 1941, 90gal (409 l) non-droppable y-over tankwas introduced extending the range to 1,988 km. In 1942 even170gal (773 l) y-over tank arrived extending the range to 2,334km, however at the cost of signicantly worse ight characte-ristics. Both of these tanks were of the blister-type, there wasalso a cylindrical 170gal y-over tank. In the actual operations,since the middle of 1942, the combination of 29gal (132 l) tankmounted in the fuselage behind the cockpit and a 170gal droptank was used. This combination allowed an extended range to2,615 km at the maximum altitude of 4,575 m.Tropical filtersIn the dusty tropical and sub-tropical environments, the engi-ne was subject to potential damages caused by sucked-in dust.To lower this risk Vokes company designed a voluminous, fullycovered lter which formed a typical chin under the aircraftnose. The worsened aerodynamics together with the lowerpressure of the entering air on such modied aircraft resultedin the maximum speed drop by approximately 12 kph, whichwas actually better value than the anticipated drop by 37 kph.These tropicalized versions were quite widely used in both Me-diterranean and Far East theaters of operations. TropicalizedEarly production Spitre Mk.V manufactured in October 1941 with symmetrical lower bulges under the cannon well, enlargedcooler, older canopy style with exterior armor and hinged window hatch. The aircraft still lacks the armament, it’s equipped withthe De Havilland propeller and newer type of radio Tr.1133 (photo: Simon Erland).eduard10INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 11
airplanes undergoing maintenance at No. 103 Maintenance Unitin Egyptian Aboukir, received the Aboukir type lter manufactu-red by this unit. They were better aerodynamically shaped andfeatured a louver which opened the lter on the intake onlyat critical ight stages when larger dust volume could be suc-ked in. Two versions of this lter are known. The majority ofaircraft equipped with Aboukir lter were of Mk.Vc version andin the course of modications at No. 103 MU usually receivedthe clipped wingtips and Rotol propellers as well.The shortened wingtips tted in Aboukir had a dierent shapeto the conventional shortened wingtips of the LF Mk.Vb andMk.Vc versions and did not have position lights tted. Someaircraft retained the original wing design with classic wingtips,and aircraft with extended wingtips for high altitude operati-ons, later used on the Spitres HF Mk.VIII, are also known..In combatSpitres Mk.V of all versions served in all combat areas prac-tically until the end of WWII. They bore the brunt of the RAFghter oensive in 1941-1942 and became the main ghtertype which in 1942 defended Malta against the intense GermanLuftwae as well as Italian Regia Aeronautica raids. Apparently,they were the most powerful ghters deployed during the Alliedlanding in North Africa and were of essential importance forthe RAAF to modernize their equipment in the Far East. Theydid well during the build-up of the rst USAAF ghter groups inEurope and Mediterranean where two American ghter groups,31st FG and 52nd FG ew them until the end of 1944. Theywere own by pilots of many nations serving in RAF: Canadians,South Africans, French, Czechoslovaks, Polish pilots, Norwegi-ans, Belgium pilots and others. They were supplied to the SovietUnion under the Lend-Lease program, became the backboneof the Italian Air Force ghting on the Allied side after Italy’ssurrender in 1943 and served in the air forces of many neutralcountries such as Turkey or Ireland.Some hard truth in the endFrom the preceding outline of Spitre Mk.V development youmay get the feeling that it was pretty logical, one preciselyspecied version replaced another one on the assembly lines,the performance and characteristics were gradually increased.In short a text-book step by step evolution. Unfortunately notso. As usual, reality is much more diverse than the best thou-ght out theory. The characteristics of the Spitre versions wereintertwining. The development was not straightforward, on thecontrary, it was rather turbulent. The airframes were graduallyupgraded during the overhauls or regular maintenance. So weencounter the aforementioned Mk.Vc with the exhaust pipesfor the weapons’ heating which were not supposed to be thereor Mk.Vb with smooth leading edge featuring only the Hispanocannon barrel which is typical for Mk.Vc. Spitre Mk.Vb catego-rization into Early, Mid and Late is neither precise nor clear. Infact many airframes with the integrated armor glass, conside-red as Mk.Vb late, were manufactured earlier than the seriesof aircraft with the outer armor glass designated as Mk.Vb mid.Similarly if the airframe features the integrated armor glass itdoes not automatically mean it also features the bulged Mal-colm Hood sliding canopy. There were airplanes with the com-bination of the integrated armor glass and older sliding canopywith the attened sides and ventilation opening. And then wehave tropical Spitres. Theoretically the vast majority of Spit-res Mk.Vb and Vc modied at No.103 OU in Aboukir were con-verted to LF Mk.Vb/c with the shortened wings. In fact many ofthese aircraft retained the standard non-clipped wing and weknow about the aircraft with lengthened wings for high altitudeoperations typical for later versions HF Mk.VIII and IX. Muchconfusion still exists around the wing skin strengthening stripsabove the wheel wells. These were installed on the war-wearyairframes when the skin degradation and fatigue cracks startedto appear. These aircraft are typically the well-preserved muse-um exhibits. For that reason these strengthening elements areconsidered the integral parts of Spitre Mk.V design as well asMk.I and Mk.II. Not true again. Actually it is very dicult, may-be even impossible to nd these strips on the wartime Spitresoperational at the combat units. We could continue namingthese types of anomalies indenitely. Let’s conclude this chap-ter on Spitre Mk.V development with the statement that asfar as this aircraft is concerned nothing is impossible, featuresthat are not supposed to be there are found and vice versa. Butthat’s the life I guess. Well, it’s not only a matter of life, it’sa matter of war as well. War is the true reason for this apparentchaos. However, it’s the chaos from today‘s point of view, pointof view of the people in whose world the technical progress isfast but contained by certain conditions and norms or let’s sayby the letter of law. This was completely dierent at the timeof war. The whole life in the society, all manufacturing andthe individual lives were subject to one single goal: the victory.Spitre Mk.Vc armed with four Hispano Mk.II cannons. Propeller is De Havilland, new canopy style with interior glass armor onthe windshield and bulged sides of the canopy sliding portion. The aircraft supposedly carries an older type of radio Tr.9D (photo:Simon Erland).eduard11INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 12
It was the goal cherished by the victorious nations decades afterthe end of hostilities and up until these days. Since the outbre-ak of the war, which some people naively expected to be shortand easy, it was clear that the victor will be the tougher, morepowerful and more creative one. It has been like that in everywar as far as we can remember just due to some mysteriousreasons people, including their top leaders, kept forgetting itto only re-learn those facts when the new conicts occured.The Second World War was no dierent in this aspect; it washowever unique in its scale, persistence, damages and horrorsit caused. Everyone involved was determined, tough and persi-stent, all nations that took part in it reached to the bottom oftheir resources despite dierent levels in casualties, sueringof the soldiers and civilian population as well. As we know itwas getting worse going further to the East. The aviation in-dustry reects the given period of time and this was identicalon both sides of the front. You will nd the Spitre’s develop-ment mirror image in Messerschmitt Bf 109 development. Thesame motivations, same goals, same problems and same results.The greatest eort was made to produce as many aircraft aspossible, with the best performance possible and surpass theenemy both in numbers and quality. There was the same eorton both sides resulting in the deadly race. Every innovation onone side triggered the innovation on the opponent‘s side, everyincrease in performance almost immediately caused the rapidreaction in the enemy’s camp. If we apply this principle to thecompetition between Spitre and Bf 109 it will be crystal clear.Just the scale of troubles experienced during manufacturingwill be opposite on the timeline. With a fair amount of simpli-cation we can say that while in Britain, or the Allied side, themost serious problems were encountered at the beginning ofthe war, culminating during 1940-1942, things got streamlinedtowards the end of the conict when the material supremacyof the Allies was absolute. Of course the economical potentialof the United States played a crucial role but we cannot unde-restimate the importance of the British industry and its sharein the Allied manufacturing achievements. It was the oppositeon the Axis side. Out of all countries Germany was best pre-pared for war and in 1940 lived in euphoria that its industriescould supply the armed forces without problems until the victo-rious end. The breakpoint was reached however in the secondhalf of 1942 with the opposite trend than in Allied countries.Even though the productivity of the German industry continuedgrowing it was consistently falling behind the Allied industriesand the supplies to the armies at the fronts were getting worseproportionally to improving supplies to the Allied armies.From this aspect some apparently illogical facts start to emergein a dierent light. As an example, the aforementioned fabric--covered ailerons on Spitres Mk.I and Mk.V remained in produ-ction long after the new, more eective all-metal ailerons weredeveloped. They were approved for large-scale production inDecember 1940 but almost the whole rst half of 1941 Spitreswere leaving the assembly lines with the fabric-covered aile-rons and in some combat units a large number of aircraft stillfeatured these ailerons in late summer and fall 1941. Duringthis time, typically pragmatic Americans, without any lengthyapproval process, started to cover the ailerons on their Spit-res with the plywood. So this was happening almost a year afterthe all-metal ailerons were to undisputedly replace the fabric--covered ones on manufacturing lines (one can hardly imaginethe situation like this nowadays). If we however factor in allother facts of that period of time we will get another picture.What was happening then? The winter 1940/41 German bombingraids on Britain continued until the spring. The Spitres produ-ction however was seriously aected by the raid on September26, 1941 when the Supermarine plants in Wolston and Itchenwere heavily damaged. This resulted in the production reorga-nization, component manufacturing had to be spread amongthe number of subcontractors and the aircraft nal assemblywas being transferred to new locations. This of course causeda number of problems not only in manufacturing but also in thelogistics which had to be dealt with promptly. Restarting theSpitre Mk.I manufacturing before the end of 1940 is from thispoint of view a miracle enhanced by a fact that the aircraft ma-nufactured were continuously improved. After New Year’s 1941Spitre Mk.V production was being launched. The goal was toimprove Spitre performance to the level of the most powerfulRAF ghter before Bf 109F started to appear at the front andsoon even better and more dangerous FW 190A made their debut.At the same time RAF losses were mounting after commencingthe permanent oensive in the spring of 1941 which created anenormous pressure on their replenishment. In such a situationthe quantity beats quality and the manufacturer under pressureprioritizes fullling the orders at all cost. The requirement wasto deliver the aircraft with a more powerful engine and morepowerful weapons in sucient numbers to meet combat needs.The production met the goals however at the cost of the enor-mous problems. There was a shortage of everything, from laborforce to material to means of daily consumption but time wasin the shortest supply. In such a situation the fabric-coveredailerons were a minor problem for the manufacturers. Theirproduction was going smoothly, it was well established, fabricwas applied by highly skilled female workers and as such it wasnot a burden for the overall plant tasks. All-metal ailerons werea dierent cup of tea. Their immediate implementation wouldtake away some capacity from the airframe production. Whilethe responsible department would train for the new techno-logy it would result in the short supplies of the ailerons andfor some time no deliveries at all. The personnel enthusiasmfor technology change has never been great either. It’s beena problem since the Industrial Revolution and it remains theissue nowadays. People don’t like to change something thatworks and can put up a persistent and sophisticated resistanceagainst the change. If you are a manager you are under thecustomer’s pressure and if you don’t want to get a heart attackyou need to minimize the problems resolving the major onesrst addressing minor ones later. Big problem was new enginesand heavier weapons installation. That had to be solved, it wasa fundamental problem. The ailerons were a minor problem,the manufacturing was going smoothly, the airplanes wereying with them just ne so the problem was put on the backburner. The air force got their share of trouble while introdu-cing Mk.V into the operations such as engine overheating, gunsfreezing etc. therefore the ailerons and their limits were notreally on the radar screen. Once these initial problems wereresolved in the summer of 1941 the damned ailerons came backon the agenda and the air force demanded the thorough repla-cement of the fabric-covered ailerons for all-metal ones on allSpitres in service. So nally the manufacturers had to yieldand implement the change. Does it make sense to you? It doesto me, it sounds all too familiar. It is exactly the same with newtechnologies introduction in our company, with one exception,no one is dropping bombs on our heads and instead of RAF themodellers are yelling at us when something does not work atthe rst shot. And nothing works satisfactorily for the rst time.We can go case by case and it will be the same story. Ridiculingit, talking about chaos and inability is not fair. Only us, peoplefrom the future, from our perspective of the over-educated andover-regulated smart heads living in comfort who have rathervague and Hollywood-distorted visions about the conditions ourancestors lived in and problems they dealt with. Once we getin-depth familiar with these conditions and put the historicprocesses and facts into the perspective, which we otherwisetend to judge separately, we will change our opinion. We willappreciate what our ancestors achieved and have to bow tothem very low. And regardless of the nation we belong to. It do-esn’t matter if we speak about the British, Americans, Germans,Japanese, Czechs or Russians. In principle the stories are thesame. Let’s respect and honour our ancestors and let’s make aneort not to lose the well-being, achieved thanks to their workand sacrices, because of our ignorance and arrogance.The following 47 gures will lead you through the Spitre Mk.Vdevelopment depicting the details peculiar to each version.The focus is on the changes made in comparison to the pre-vious version. The common features are usually not describedand commented on, however exceptions can be found in somegures.Enjoy studying the following references.eduard12INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 13
SPITFIRE Mk.V DEVELOPMENTFigure 1:1. De Havilland Hydromatic Type 5/39 constant speed propeller2. Exhausts feature straight tubes of the same type as on Mk.Iand Mk.II3. 2 in thick outer armor glass mounted on the windshield4. Rear mirror5 Convex canopy with a ventilation opening6. Transformer located on the fuselage bulkhead behind theheadrestFigure 2:This view pictures Spitre Mk.V converted from Spitre Mk.Ia by Merlin 45 engine installation into the Spitre Mk.Ia airframe.10. Merlin 45 engines already lacked the Cowman pyro starter,engine cowling is missing the starter’s cover bulge7. TR.9D radio antenna masts for antenna wires. Some airframeswere still equipped with these radios, some were already fur-nished with new TR.1133 radios without antenna wires8. 12V electrical socket9. The original smaller oil cooler with U-shaped air intakeSpitfire Mk.VaSpitre Mk.VaSpitre Mk.Vaeduard13INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 14
Figure 3:11. The fabric covered ailerons. Large number of Mk.Va and Mk.VbSpitres still featured the fabric covered ailerons. Signicantportion of Spitres Mk.V, converted from Spitres Mk.I, featu-red them as well.14. Eight 7.7 mm caliber Browning machine gunsSpitre Mk.Va,conversionfrom Mk.IaSpitre Mk.Va(photo: Simon Erland)eduard14INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 15
Spitre Mk.Va,conversionfrom Mk.IaFigure 4:9. The original smaller oil cooler with U-shaped air intake11. Fabric covered ailerons12. Exhausts for the weapons hot air heatingSpitre Mk.Va with tropical lter Vokes(photo: Simon Erland)eduard15INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 16
Figure 5:13. All-metal aileronsSpitfire Mk.Vb early14. Eight 7.7 mm caliber Browning machine guns15. Larger oil cooler with the circular air intakeFigure 6:1. Rotol RX5/24 constant speed propeller2. Straight exhausts3. 2 in thick outer armor glass mounted on the windshield4. Convex sliding canopy with a ventilation opening5. TR.1133 radio antenna mast without antenna wires6. Rudder missing antenna mast7. 20 mm caliber Hispano Mk.1 cannons8. Older, smaller oil cooler with the U-shaped air intake. Thesecoolers were replaced on the assembly lines with new, largeroil coolers with a circular air intake and were retro-tted tothe airframes initially manufactured with smaller coolersSpitre Mk.Va,new productionSpitre Mk.Vb early,conversion from Mk.Iaeduard16INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 17
Figure 7:7. 20 mm caliber Hispano cannons8. Older, smaller oil cooler with the U-shaped air intake9. Fabric covered ailerons10. Longer, narrow, symmetrical bulges on the guns well lowercover11. 7.7 mm caliber Vickers machine gunsSpitre Mk.Vb early,conversion from Mk.IaSpitre Mk.Vb early(photo: Simon Erland)eduard17INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 18
Figure 812. All-metal ailerons13. Larger oil cooler with the circular air intakeFigure 914. Bulges on the cannon well upper coverSpitre Mk.Vb early- new productionSpitre Mk.Vb early- new productioneduard18INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 19
Spitfire Mk.Vb mid versionFigure 101. Rotol RX5/24 constant speed propeller2. Fishtail exhausts3. 2 in thick outer armor glass mounted on the windshield4. Convex sliding canopy with the ventilation opening5. TR.1133 radio antenna mast without antenna wires6. Rudder missing the antenna mast7. 20 mm caliber Hispano cannons8. Larger oil cooler with the circular air intakeFigure 119. All-metall ailerons10. Bulges on the cannons well upper coverSpitre Mk.Vb,mid versionSpitre Mk.Vb,mid versioneduard19INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 20
Figure 12:8. Larger oil cooler with the circular air intake11. Asymmetrical bulges on the guns well lower coverSpitre Mk.Vb,mid versionSpitre Mk.Vb mid(photo: Simon Erland)eduard20INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 21
Figure 1312. Shortened wing tips (LF Mk.Vb). They were used on all Spitreversions.Spitfire Mk.Vb lateFigure 141. Rotol RX5/24 constant speed propeller. Various types of propel-lers were used.2. Fishtail exhausts with a pipe for hot air guns heating3. Inner (integrated) armor glass on the windshield4. Larger rear mirror. Various types of mirrors were used.5. Bulged sliding canopy missing the ventilation opening6. TR.1133 radio antenna mast without antenna wires8. 20 mm caliber Hispano cannons9. Larger oil cooler with the circular air intakeSpitre LF Mk.Vb,mid versionSpitre Mk.Vb lateeduard21INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 22
Figure 15:9. Larger oil cooler with the circular air intake10. Asymmetrical bulges on the gun well lower coverSpitfire Mk.Vb Trop late with Vokes dust filterFigure 16:1. Vokes dust lter. Vokes lters were used on all Spitre Mk.Vband Mk.Vc versions2. Large tropical oil cooler.Spitre Mk.Vb lateSpitre Mk.Vb Trop late withVokes dust lter (late)eduard22INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 23
Figure 17:11. Vokes type dust lter2. Large tropical oil cooler (it is not the same as the „Larger oilcooler with the circular air intake“, see 9. on g.14)Spitfire Mk.Vb Trop late with Aboukir type 1 dust filterFigure 18:1. Type 1 (older) Aboukir dust lter2. Unchanged front lower engine cowling3. Large tropical oil coolerSpitre Mk.Vb Trop latewith Vokes dust lterSpitre Mk.Vb Trop latewith Aboukir type 1 dustltereduard23INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 24
Figure 19:1. Type 1 (older) Aboukir dust lter2. Unchanged front lower engine cowling3. Large tropical oil coolerFigure 201. Lengthened wing tips for high altitude operations (HF.Mk.Vb)Spitre Mk.Vb Trop late withAboukir type 1 dust lterSpitre HF Mk.Vb Trop,late with Aboukirtype 1 dust ltereduard24INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 25
Figure 21:1. Lengthened wing tips for high altitude operations (HF.Mk.Vb)Spitfire Mk.Vb Trop late with type 2 Aboukir dust filterFigure 22:1. Type 2 (later) Aboukir dust lter2. Modied lower engine cowling3. Shortened wing tips for the low level operations (LF.MK.Vb)4. Large tropical oil coolerSpitre Mk.Vb Trop latewith type 2 Aboukir dustlter and shortenedwing tipsSpitre HF Mk.Vb Trop,late with Aboukirtype 1 dust ltereduard25INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 26
Figure 23:1. Aboukir type 2 (later) dust lter3. Shortened wing tips for the low level operations (LF.MK.Vb).Wing tips manufactured in Aboukir depot featured a specicshape and were not equipped with the position lights.4. Large tropical oil coolerSpitre LF Mk.Vb with tropical lter and shortened wingtips Aboukir (photo: IWM via Wikimedia Commons)Spitre LF Mk.Vb Trop latewith type 2 Aboukir dustlter and shortenedwing tipseduard26INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 27
Figure 24Spitfire Mk.Vc3 . Aboukir type Spitre Mk.Vb shortened wing tips for the lowlevel operations (LF.MK.Vb)Figure 251. New C type wing2. New landing gear with increased rake11. Exhausts missing the pipe of the guns hot air heating systemSpitre Mk.VcSpitre LF Mk.Vb Trop latewith type 2 Aboukir dustlter and shortenedwing tipseduard27INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 28
Figure 26:1. New C type wing3. 7.7 mm caliber Browning machine guns4. Design to accommodate either 20 mm cannon or 12.7 mmmachine gun5. 20 mm caliber Hispano belt-fed cannons6. Two piece gun well cover with narrow bulge on the inner part7. Flat upper wing skin missing the bulge above wheel wellSpitre Mk.VcSpitre Mk.Vc. This aircraft was manufactu-red by Westland factory in September 1942.(photo: Simon Erland)eduard28INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 29
Figure 27:8. Hot air weapons heating system replaced with the electrical one9. Cannon wells covers missing the large bulge10. New wheel well with slanted side walls and elliptical outlineSpitre Mk.VcSpitre Mk.Vc(photo: Simon Erland)eduard29INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 30
Spitfire Mk.Vb and Mk.Vc landing gear and wheel wells comparisonFigure 28:1. Spitre Mk.Vb landing gear2. Spitre Mk.Vc landing gear. The change in rake resulted in thewheel location 5 cm forward of the wing span axis compared toSpitre Mk.Vb and dierent wheel well outline.Figure 29:1. Spitre Mk.Vb circular outline wheel well2. Spitre Mk.Vc oval outline wheel wellSpitre Mk.VbSpitre Mk.VcSpitre Mk.VcSpitre Mk.Vbeduard30INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 31
Spitfire Mk.Vc (Westland)Figure 30:1. Dierent versions of Rotol propeller usedSpitre Mk.Vc Westland12. Large pentagonal bulge over the gun well, typical for West-land, license-built SpitresA Westland built Spitre Mk.Vc with large large West-land type bulges and two smal Malta type bulges on thewing upper surfaces. Note the heating pipes back to theexhaust (photo: Simon Erland).eduard31INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 32
Spitfire Mk.Vc with four 20 mm Hispano cannonsFigure 31:1. 7.7 mm caliber Browning machine guns were not installedSpitre Mk.Vc, 4 cannons2. Four Hispano Mk.2 cannons in the weapon wells3. Weapon wells upper covers feature large oval bulgeSpitre Mk.Vc with fourHispano Mk.II cannons(photo: Simon Erland)eduard32INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 33
Figure 32:4. Weapon wells lower covers missing little bulges and shell ejec-tion openingsSpitre Mk.Vc, 4 cannonsSpitre Mk.Vc with fourHispano Mk.II cannons(photo: Simon Erland)5. Weapon wells covers featuring two shell ejection openingseduard33INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 34
Spitfire LF Mk.VcFigura 33:1. Standard LF Mk.V shortened wing tipsDrop tanksFigure 34:1. 30 gallon drop tank. All later Spitre versions were equippedwith these tanks. Spitre Mk.Vc in the picture features Vokesdust lter and four 20 mm Hispano Mk.2 cannonsSpitre LF Mk.VcSpitre Mk.Vc Trop (Vokes) with 30 gal drop tankeduard34INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 35
Figure 35:1. The same aircraft with 90 gallon drop tank attachedFigure 361. 90 gallons drop tankSpitre Mk.Vc Trop (Vokes) with 90 gal. drop tankSpitre Mk.Vc Trop (Vokes)with 90 gal. drop tankeduard35INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 36
Spitfire Mk.Vc MaltaFigure 37:1. Four Hispano Mk.2 cannons. Many MK.Vc Spitres delivered toMalta were equipped with four cannons. During the combatdeployment two cannons were usually fairly quickly removedand the aircraft operated with two cannons only. If two 7.7 mmcaliber Browning machine guns were added at the same timecannot be conrmed from the available records.2. Vokes dust lter3. Large tropical oil cooler (not all aircraft featured it)Figure 38:4. A bulge on the upper wing skin. It was documented on severalMalta deployed airframes. Their purpose remains unknownSpitre Mk.Vc MaltaSpitre Mk.Vc Maltaeduard36INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 37
Spitfire Mk.Vc lateFigure 39:1. Exhausts feature the individual pipes, typical for later SpitresMk.IXc2. A number of Westland-built airframes featured the ush-rivetedrear fuselage as opposed to the standard raised rivets usedFigure 40:1. Skin reinforcement above the wheel well. These reinforcementswere not only installed on Spitres Mk.V but on the other Spit-re versions as well, typically after their overhaul having accu-mulated a certain number of ight hours. The skin reinforce-ment prevented the skin damage in the wheel well area whereit was extremely stressed during the takeos and landings andthere was a risk of its collapse due to the fatigueSpitre Mk.Vc lateSpitre Mk.Vb with skin reinfor-cement above the wheel welleduard37INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 38
Spitfire Mk.Vc with bomb attachmentsFigure 41:1. Underwing bomb attachments with 113 kilos bombs. Under thefuselage attachment for 226 kilos bomb was also used.Figure 42:1. Underwing bomb attachments with 113 kilos bombsSpitre Mk.Vc withbomb attachmentsSpitre Mk.Vc s pumovýmizávěsníky (FB Mk.Vc)eduard38INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 39
Spitfire Mk.Vc late with bomb attachmentsFigure 43:1. Underwing bomb attachments with 113 kilos bombsSpitfire Mk.Vc Trop with Aboukir type 2 dust filterFigure 441. Rotol propeller2. Lower engine cowling modied3. Shortened wing tips for the low level operations (LF.Mk.Vb)4. Aboukir type 2 (later design) dust lter5. Large tropical oil coolerSpitre Mk.Vc late withbomb attachmentsSpitre Mk.Vc Tropwith Aboukir type2 dust ltereduard39INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 40
Figure 45:1. Rotol propeller2. Lower engine cowling modied3. Shortened wing tips for the low level operations (LF.Mk.Vb)4. Aboukir type 2 (later design) dust lter5. Large tropical oil coolerThe Spitre Mk.Vb ER622 of No. 40 Squadron SAAF was manufactured at theCBAF factory in September 1942. It served in North Africa sporting shortenedwingspan tted with Aboukir-type wingtips and Aboukir-type tropical lter.It was decommissioned from the RAF on 30 April, 1943, and was sold to Turkeyin February 1945. Note the gun heating pipe behind the rear exhaust pipe, typi-cal for the late Spitres Mk.Vb (phto: IWM via Wikimedia Commons).TO BE CONTINUED...Spitre Mk.Vc Tropwith Aboukir type2 dust ltereduard40INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 41
Spitfire Mk.VSPITFIRE STORY:Southern Star1/48 Cat. No.11157Release 02/2022Cat. No. 11153Cat. No. 11149eduard41INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 42
January 23, 1918, was quite an important dayfor the 3rd RNAS. Raymond Collishaw, alreadya well-known ace, assumed command of theunit replacing Lloyd Breader. Collishaw on thatday seemed to be too busy with the commandtransfer to personally lead the unit on its missi-on. This task was assumed by Ft.Com. Armstrongflying the Camel B7193. Flying with him were F.Lt.Anderson (B6241), F.Lt. Hayne (B3785), F.lt. Ire-land (B6242), F.S.Lt. Britnell (B3809), F.Lt. Pierce(B3858), F.S.Lt. Youens (B7184) and F.S.Lt. Bawlf(B6417). Their mission was to patrol the line Os-tende, Thorout and Roulers which was some ei-ght minutes of flight away from their base in BrayDunes (five kilometers East of Dunkirk). They en-countered the German formation at approximate-ly four pm right over Houthulst forest.RNAS Headquarters report later stated that: “Ei-ght (Sopwith) Camels from No.3 Squadron (RNAS)were conducting the offensive sweep south of theline Ostende, Thorout and Roulers. Over the Hou-thulst forest our formation encountered sevenenemy airplanes. Four D.F.W. (two-seaters) andthree fighters (new type)”. This mention of a “newtype” may have caused a frequently repeatederror. Various articles and books started to pub-lish the information that on that day the British fi-ghters clashed with new Fokkers D.VII. It was notpossible though. At that time only prototype testflights commenced at Adlershof as a part of thefirst contest for the new German fighter and D.VII,the ultimate winner, did not even exist in its finalconfiguration, only as V.11 prototype. The deploy-ment of its successor, D.VII, took place almostfour months later…As a matter of fact, on that day the German fi-ghters took off in their old Albatros D.Vs andnewer, but not-so-new Pfalz D.IIIs and engagedin combat with Camels. The formations brokedown to the individual duels. F.Lt. George B. An-derson later stated in his combat report that hehad shot down one D.F.W., which was confirmed,but also that all three German fighters had beenshot down. That was inaccurate since all of themreturned to the base. Things were different as faras the British were concerned. One Camel wasmissing, and Armstrong had omitted this fact inhis report… The missing aircraft, Camel serialB7184 was flown by a young, rather inexperien-ced F.S.Lt. Hubert St. John Edgerley Youens.An unlucky pilotAt the time of these events Jasta 7 was withoutits commander. Not that he was killed. Josef CarlPeter Jacobs was one of the experienced combatfighters, and leaders who were invited to Adler-shof to participate in the aforementioned contestfor a new fighter aircraft which commenced onJanuary 20 and was scheduled until Februa-ry 12. In the middle of January Jacobs traveledto Adlershof then. He entrusted the leadershipto his deputy and Carl Degelow was among hispilots. At that time a fairly experienced flier whojoined the unit in August 1917 he could not claima single confirmed kill to his credit as a fighterpilot. It seems he had a hard luck since he clai-med several unconfirmed victories. On January23 over Houthulst forest however he claimeda victory which he believed could not be doub-ted. What could be possibly a better proof than anenemy aircraft grounded behind the frontline andits captured pilot?It was a dreary, cloudy Wednesday on January 23, 1918,and a trio of Jasta 7 Pfalzs took off from the airport inBelgium Aertrycke for another of countless sorties to thenearby Houthulst forest, witness to many air brawls. EightCamels from the 3rd Navy Squadron headed in the samedirection. The German ghters were escorting four D.F.W.bombers and Brits having spotted them intended to stoptheir mission.TEXT: RICHARD PLOSPhoto: sbírka Jörna LeckscheidaHISTORYThe swag from The swag fromthe Houthulst the Houthulstforrestforresteduard42INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 43
Degelow did have one kill to his credit from thetime of his service with FA(A) 216 which was a re-connaissance unit. Many historical sources statethat this claim with FA(A) 216 was not confirmedbut according to Degelow’s memoirs it was sli-ghtly different. Let's make a little detour at thispoint…Detour nr.1: One whole out of two halvesAfter twenty months spent in the trenches andsix months in the pilot training, on December 31,1916, the young reserve Lieutenant (Lieutenantder Reserve) Carl Degelow was in the officers’car of the military train traveling from the trainingand replacement unit Flieger-Ersatz-Abteilung6 (FEA 6) located nearby Dresden to the frontalcombat unit Flieger-Abteilung (A) 216 which wasthe Royal Wurttemberg reconnaissance flightoperating the Albatros C.V scouts in the FrenchSomme sector. After several months of the routi-ne flying the reconnaissance missions started tobe boring for Degelow. When he was conductinganother photo reconnaissance with his observerKurten on May 22, he spotted the French twin--engine Caudron G.IV doing the same over Laonon the German side of the front. The observer ho-wever pointed his hand towards the home base.“Again, I pointed to the French plane and, thrott-ling back on the engine, I shouted to my comrade:“Let’s go after him!” Generally, two-seater pilotswere enlisted men and the observers were offi-cers, thereby establishing a relationship in whichthe pilot was a “driver”, while the observer was incharge of the airplane and made all major deci-sions on the mission. But Kürten and I were bothreserve officers of equal rank, so there was littlehe could say if I wanted to delay going home longenough to have a look at the Caudron,”recalls Carl Degelow in his autobiography “BlackFokker Leader”.After the observers exchanged several machinegun bursts and the French turned home, Dege-low decided to engage his forward firing gun andheavily damaged the Caudron with its bullets. Thefinal hit was delivered by Kurten’s fire. The airpla-ne crashed near the small town of Berrieux, rightbehind the front lines on the French side. Threedays later the situation repeated itself. Again, theyencountered a Caudron above the front althoughthis time, together with Kurten, they were eagerto fight. The enemy however was not looking forconfrontation and fled immediately. Kurten didnot get to fire his gun. As a true fighter pilot De-gelow on the other hand pursued the enemy andshot it down with his forward firing gun. FA(A) 216commander, Oblt. Creydt told Degelow that bothhimself and Kurten will be credited with two kills,which Degelow opposed because mathematicallyit would mean he destroyed four enemy aircraft.In the end each crew member was credited withtwo half kills i.e., one full victory.Barely two weeks later Degelow and Kurten cha-llenged the French scout again but this time theduel was a tie and the German crew returnedhome with badly damaged aircraft. This was toomuch for the unit’s commander and strongly “re-commended” they stick to their mission and notrisk the loss of the precious photographic mate-rial due to the similar adventures. In the comingdays Degelow did not keep his dissatisfactionwith such an order for himself which resultedin another reprimand from the commander. Thistime he learned about the “punishment” in theform of transfer to a fighter unit. He was expectedthough that during the period of processing allformalities he will be a “good boy” and not engagein any further antics. “To ensure the latter, I waspaired with another observer, a Regular ArmyOberleutnant who was quick to inform me that hewas my superior officer and, as such, definitely incharge of the airplane at all times,” recalled De-gelow later.Detour nr.2 : TroublesOn a rainy Monday of June 31, 1917, Ltn.d.Res CarlDegelow boarded the open truck and wrappedin a raincoat set on the journey to Valenciennes,home of the Jagdstaffelschule I i.e., a trainingJasta for the future fighter pilots. He arrived asa participant in two air victories however witha single kill to his credit…Pilots with the prior combat experience under-took only two weeks of the fighter training so inmid-August Degelow already headed to Jasta 36commanded by Walter von Bulow. He was on va-cation at that time and his deputy Ltn.d.Res HansHoyer was in charge, whom Degelow describedas a prototype of a stiff, cold Prussian. After onlyfour days he kicked Degelow out of the unit… Whi-le practicing the shooting at the ground targetsDegelow wounded another pilot who was at thattime on the ground fixing the targets. Degelow didnot perform the prescribed inspection flight overthe target area as ordered (supposedly he didnot hear the instructions while starting the engi-ne) and eager to prove himself he attacked rightaway. The wounded pilot survived however De-gelow had to pack and leave and no one from thewhole flight came to say goodbye… An Ingloriousreturn to Valenciennes awaited him. He thoughthis aviator’s career was over but as it turned outhe was only to wait there for a new assignmentwhich was with Jasta 7 “ruled” by Josef Jacobs.Degelow reported to him on August 21 and hisnew commander was interested in his Caudronkills as well as a Jasta 36 incident. “We will gothrough this only once and will never speak aboutit afterwards, agreed?” Jacobs supposedly pro-posed to the newcomer who, much relieved, na-turally agreed. According to his memoirs he wasvery impressed by the new commander.A deer against the oddsDegelow’s first sortie took place on the followingday but success in shooting down the enemy keptescaping him. When eight Jasta 7 Albatros D.IIItook off for a reconnaissance mission on Sep-tember 3 Degelow was among the pilots. Theirformation encountered the enemy group of Bris-tol F.2B Fighters, Camels and Spads. Germansclaimed five kills in total, one was to be creditedto Degelow whose victim, Sopwith Camel, supp-osedly made an emergency landing West of Di-xmude. Ultimately this victory was not creditedto him, nor Sopwith 11/2 Strutter on December8 which he chased together with Jacobs whoclaimed one Camel. Both supposedly shot downaircraft disappeared from German fighters’ sightbehind the front lines where they may have madean emergency landings, but they did not appearin the loss reports and so Degelow had to waitfor his second kill (first as a fighter pilot) fur-ther. Only four days after Jacobs led a patrol overHouthulst forest. The Germans were outnumbe-red by 10 Squadron RNAS Camels and accordingto Jacobs' report Degelow shot down one enemyplane. “A lucky day for Jasta 7 because we shotdown three enemy aircraft one of which landedundamaged in our territory. Camel pilot, FlightSub-Lieutenant Clark, a 20 years old Canadian,was our guest that night and left a strong im-pression on us,” wrote Jacobs in his diary. Twoout of three claims were finally confirmed by 4thArmy Headquarters. They were credited to Horstand Bilik. Degelow came short again and it wasno surprise he was rather frustrated by this rowof unconfirmed kills. To boost his confidence,and maybe to help his comrades to identify hisairplane in the air as well, he had the fuselage ofhis new Pfalz painted black and per his requestone very talented mechanic from his flight pain-ted a white deer on both sides of the fuselage, anemblem of Weisser Hirsch quarters in Dresdenwhere, in the local hospital, Degelow was reco-vering from his wounds he suffered in trenchesin 1915. He flew this aircraft on January 23, 1918,when around four o’clock in the afternoon he andhis comrades encountered the superior numberof British Camels.Photo: RNASPhoto: sbírka Jörna LeckscheidaHubert St. John Edgerley Youens as a young and “green”RNAS pilot.Carl Degelow after being awarded Knight’s Cross withSwords of the Hohenzollern House Order (KöniglicherHausorden von Hohenzollern) on August 9, 1918. It is theone on the top of Degelow’s chest.HISTORYeduard43INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 44
Victory! Or not?“We were patrolling the area over Houthulst Fo-rest, the scene of many, many aerial combats.On this day, however, the weather was not verywelcoming as clouds and haze lowered the vi-sibility. For this reason, the watchword from ourflight leader was: ‘Keep a sharp look out!’ We hadalready cruised over the ‘required’ sector of theFront and were on our way home when, from outof the sun, a flight of British Sopwith Camels sud-denly pounced on us. A number of individual du-els soon developed, and I found myself engagedwith a fellow who had caught me by surprise. Thispilot, who did not seem too well acquainted withthe location of the frontlines, belonged, as we la-ter learned, to a group of Dunkirk-based fighterpilots whom we called the ‘Armstrong BoardingSchool’. The fellows were all young and inex-perienced, having just arrived from England. Togain frontline experience, they were assigned tovarious sectors of the Front and indoctrinated inthe manner of an English boarding school, hencethe name we gave the group. They were alwayswelcome adversaries, as their lack of experienceallowed us to trick them into situations that madethem easy prey for us,” recalls Degelow in hismemoirs as he, according to his own words, fina-lly forced his inexperienced opponent to land onthe German side of the frontline. So the situationfrom December 12th repeated itself.“As was our custom, we sent a car to pick him upand bring him to our airfield, where, in courteousfashion, he could spend the day with us as an ho-nored guest.”It turned out that the pilot was the aforementio-ned, twenty years old Sub-Lieutenant Hubert St.John Edgerley Youens. His youthful look was a bitspoiled by the bloodied nose and black eyes su-ffered during the hard landing. Degelow went topick his victim up personally and as he recalledduring the ride to the German airfield, and thento the castle Wijnendale, the pilots’ lodging, theBritish young man was rather depressed. Ho-wever, in the castle’s colorful environment andafter hot soup and glass of wine he relaxed andwith more glasses of wine the lively conversationdeveloped.“My knowledge of English, which I had improvedwhile in America a few years before the war, anda frequent Pröstichen! (Cheers!) appeared to helphim forget the sorrow of defeat. The candles werelit and soon no one could tell whether we werein a German Kasino or an English club. After themeal, our guest seemed at ease and a few shotsof whisky completed the task of loosening histongue. Mr. Youens then declared to us that hewas musically inclined and performed fairly wellon the violin. So, we had a violinist – but no violin.Just then, the cook, who had been following theconversation through the half open door, sud-denly shouted that Monteur (mechanic) Schmitzhad brought back a violin when he returned fromleave. ‘Let’s have it,’ I said and this ‘Stradivarius’was brought forth. It was in relatively good con-dition, except that it lacked an A string. ‘Nevermind,’ said Tommy. ‘I have one right here.’ Withthat, he drew from his wallet at least two com-plete sets of strings for his favorite instrument.It seems that before taking off the Englishmanhad put these necessary parts into his pocket tobe prepared for any eventuality. Mr. Youens busiedhimself stringing his fiddle and I took my place atthe piano to assist him in tuning the instrument.Within ten minutes the international orchestrawas ready to begin and as the opening piece weplayed the German national anthem, ‘Deutsch-land über Alles’. To the delight of all present, mypartner played the song with as much intensity offeeling as if it were ‘God Save the King’. Our guestgave us pleasure the entire evening and helpedus pass the time with his musical entertainment.Eventually, we did play the British national an-them and every German in the room stood atrespectful attention as a sign of comradeship be-yond the bounds of national or political affiliation.Thus, a battlefield defeat was transformed intoa human victory.”When the party was over Youens was escortedto his bedroom with nailed windows and in addi-tion he was asked to surrender his suspendersand boots. To escape without boots holding yourpants at the same time doesn’t sound feasible… Inthe morning Youens had breakfast with Jasta 7pilots and then he was picked up by a car from theArmy Interrogation Unit. His visit was recordedin Jasta 7 chronicle as follows: “A double victory.On the one hand the hard-fought air battle thatended victoriously; and, on the other hand, themusical pleasure that the loser so bountifully andcordially provided us.”For Degelow however the whole event ultimatelycame to a bitter end. Not even the victory overYouens was credited to him because there wasWijnendale (Wynendaele) castle which at the beginning of 1918 served as comfortable accommodation for Jasta 7 pilots.Holzminden POW camp in which Hubert Youens was kept until the end of the war.A group of British POWs in Holzminden’s camp. Youens is standingat the extreme right.Photo: archiv autoraPhoto: archiv Simona YouensePhoto: archiv Simona YouenseHISTORYeduard44INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 45
no sufficient proof it was his fire which forceda British pilot to make an emergency landing. It’squite possible that the verdict was correct. Why?Because Hubert Youens himself recounted thewhole event to his son. And he told this father´sstory to his son Simon. “Grandpa supposedly saidthat he had landed due to the engine failure notbecause he had been shot down,” claimed thegrandson of the former fighter pilot…In the end Degelow made up for his bad luckmore than enough. Only two days later he wascredited with one Bristol F.2b from 20th Squadronand till the end of hostilities the later Jasta 40 co-mmander (since July 11, 1918) accumulated thirtyvictories in total.Missing for three monthsAfter his departure from Jasta 7 and interroga-tion that followed, Hubert Youens went throughseveral POW camps until he settled at Lower Sa-xony camp Holzminden. His family had no infor-mation about him for three months and on April 8they received a letter from Admiralty confirminghe was alive and German POW. He returned backhome in December 1918 and died in 1942 froma heart attack. His son was 19 years old at thattime and only in the 1980s learned about Dege-low’s autobiography where one whole chapterwas dedicated to his father. His grandson SimonYouens recalls: “My father was slightly irritatedthat Degelow referred to my grandfather as Ca-nadian. I recently discovered why this may haveoccurred. Flight Commander Armstrong referredto in the combat report was the Canadian Ace F.C.Armstrong and perhaps Degelow, knowing thisfact, assumed that all the pilots of the ‘ArmstrongBoarding School’ were Canadian.”Actually, Armstrong was only a C flight leader, butthe fact is that during that period of time ten outof eighteen squadron pilots were Canadian natio-nals. Degelow’s error doesn’t come as a surprise,the whole No.3 Squadron RNAS was consideredCanadian by Germans. Credit goes to the author,publisher or translator to English, Peter Kilduffthat in later editions of Degelow’s memoirs thiserror was corrected and Youens is simply refe-rred to as “Tommy” which was a general term fora British Empire soldier. The Youens family hailsfrom High Wycombe (London’s North-West out-skirts) so they are English. Let’s mention that youcan find Youens Road in this neighborhood. Ho-wever, it’s not named after Hubert Youens, an avi-ator, but after Frederick Youens, an infantryman…Detour nr.3, last one: A heroHubert Youens was not the only family memberfighting in the Great War. His cousin, FrederickYouens served with the 13th company of the Dur-ham light infantry regiment. He held a tempora-ry rank of Sub-Lieutenant and was short of onemonth of his twenty-fifth birthday when he waskilled on July 7, 1917. On that day, wounded him-self, in the chaos following the German attack, heorganized a Lewis machine gun team defensewhen close to firing post with crew ready to firea German bomb (or grenade) landed. Quick wi-tted and without hesitation Youens grabbed it andthrew it over the wall where it exploded harmle-ssly. In a while another one landed. Youens jum-ped after it again and tried to throw it away toa safe distance to save his comrades. He was notlucky this time. The bomb exploded in his handsand shortly after Frederick succumbed to hiswounds. For his bravery he was posthumouslyawarded the British highest military decoration,Victoria Cross.Youens Road in High Wycombe is named after Frederick Youens.Frederick Youens, Hubert’s cousin who perishedin Belgium trenches.Photo: Google MapsThe notice dated April 8, 1918, informing the family thatHubert Youens was captured and is alive.A telegram announcing the home coming of the lost son.Photo: archiv Simona YouensePhoto: archiv Simona YouensePhoto: archiv Simona YouenseHISTORYeduard45INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 46
Unexpected (and undelivered) invitationOn December 12, 1970, in Hamburg Johannes CarlGamm sat down at the typewriter. He was wri-ting to Major A. A. Waterhouse who at that timewas an officer in charge of the public relations atthe British Ministry of Defense. “Dear sir, (...) I amapproaching You with a request to you, which mayseem rather extraordinary, but in my opinion notimpossible to fulfill. The problem is as follows: I’dlike to find out a whereabouts of a British FirstWorld War pilot named Youens whom a friend ofmine, Herr Carl Degelow, would like to invite tohis 80th birthday (...)” The celebration was to takeplace on January 5, 1971 in Hamburg but HubertYouens, whom the invitation was addressed towas already deceased and the letter reached hisson only in the 1980s. “Father said had he recei-ved the letter he would have attended the cele-bration in place of his father,” said Simon Youens.In the end the celebration did not take place, CarlDegelow died on November 9, 1970, two monthsbefore his eightieth birthday… It would have beenan interesting meeting for sure had it taken pla-ce. Two veterans of harsh fights who one eveningforgot they were enemies with whiskey, musicand candles light might repeat it again. And thistime as real friends.The fate awaiting the Youen’s captured CamelB7184 was the same as that of many othercaptured Camels. In the beginning of 1918 thisaircraft was no longer a secret for IdFlieg ho-wever the Germans would not miss the oppor-tunity to test an almost intact aircraft poweredby the potent BR.1 engine. The original markingwas partially left intact, partially alternated. Thecockades on the wings were replaced with cro-sses, on the top in the white square covering thecockade. On the bottom the parts of the cocka-des still visible after overpainting with crosseswere deleted. The fuselage cockade disappearedunder the coat of white paint, same as the cro-sses on the top wings. The rear fuselage sideswere painted black. The horizontal stabilizer wasmarked with black and white stripes which wasJasta 23b airplanes’ marking. The engine cowlingand wheel discs were left in blue color, quite po-ssibly because this was a Bavarian unit and blueis the main color of Bavaria's emblem. The thirdsquadron insignia, a white eagle painted on thefuselage sides right after the cockpit was pre-served too. This resulted in a fairly colorful andunusual Camel appearance.No details of this aircraft's fate shortly after thecapture are available, it reappears at Jasta 23bthough. When and under what circumstancesthis airplane showed up at this unit remains unk-nown as well. Many sources however state thatthe unit’s commander, Lt.Otto Kissenberth sco-red one victory in it on May 16, 1918. Among manyinteresting facts about this important personalityof the German WWI aviation the most frequent-ly mentioned are his reading glasses which hewore while flying. He was not the only Germanace to do so, the others were for example Wal-ter Kypke, Kurt Wintgens or Fritz Otto Bernert.More interesting, and even more relevant to ourstory is that Kissenberth was a college-educa-ted technician. He studied mechanical enginee-ring first at university in Grenoble graduating atthe technical university in Munich. He was veryinterested in aircraft design and joined aviati-on already in 1914. He was one of few Germanaces who fought from the very beginning tillthe very end of war and survived. Similar to Ja-cobs and Degelow he had his aircraft fuselagepainted black and, in his case, decorated witha large alpine edelweiss. Kissenberth startedhis fighter pilot career in a quite impressive waywhen still being a member of KEK Ensisheimshot down three enemy aircraft on October 12,1916 (two Farmans and one Breguet V). Until May16, 1918, when he allegedly scored a victory inCamel B7184, he accumulated 18 (according tosome sources 19) aerial victories. By the way, toclarify some facts let’s mention the Trevor Hen-shaw book which claims he flew another Camel(B7230) captured on March 10, 1918.Regardless which Camel it was, there are se-veral reasons that make its combat deploymentdoubtful. The Germans had quite a lot of captu-red enemy aircraft in their fighter units’ inventorynevertheless they were not used in combat. Theywere at pilots’ disposal to test the enemy’s air-craft flight characteristics or to develop the righttactics in the mock dogfight.Every such flight however had to be approvedA captured Camel in hands of German personnel.Photo: sbírka Jörna LeckscheidaOtto Kissenberth, Jasta 23b commander, was a collegeeducated technician and a successful fighter pilot despitehis eyesight deficiency. It’s highly improbable that he evershot down any S.E.5a flying a captured Camel.HISTORYIn the foreign serviceIn the foreign serviceeduard46INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 47
by the superior command first and also the lo-cal AA gunners had to be informed because bythen they would have proved their rather inti-midating efficiency. The AA batteries crew reco-gnized the aircraft by their silhouette since thenational markings were often invisible due to thesunlight. Therefore, it was really important thatthe AA gunners were informed about the flightactivity of a “friendly” Camel. The aircraft silhou-ette was crucial for the fighter pilots as well.At some flight attitudes or against the sunlightthey were unable to recognize the national mar-kings either. Every flight with a captured airplanefrom the unit close to the frontlines was ratherrisky and the idea of flying combat missions,even leading them in a captured Camel looks ra-ther improbable.Not a single combat report of the British pi-lots who participated in the dogfight on May 16mentioned any Camel with German crosses.Such an aircraft would not have escaped theirattention for sure. In total eight pilots from Jasta23b engaged in combat with fifteen opponentsfrom 64 Squadron which was by the way all thisJasta could muster at that time. Both formati-ons clashed between Arras and Douai at 10:30and the fight lasted approximately half an hour.It was a typical melee with many isolated du-els when it was difficult or rather impossible tomaintain the situational awareness. The Britishreported combat with twelve instead of eight Al-batrosses and claimed nine (!) kills. The Britishreports are abundant with testimonies about theenemies in uncontrollable spins, smoking andcrashing; in fact, on that day Jasta 23b lost onlyone pilot, Heinrich Kullmer. He crashed afterhis wing collapsed and it was unclear if it wasdue to enemy fire or excessive load during thecombat maneuvers. Kullmer’s Albatros crashedon the German side of the front line, near Sailly--en-Ostrevent and after the enemy aircraft wi-thdrew Kissenberth landed at the wreck to findout if Kullmer, one of the most popular Jasta 23bmembers, survived. Sadly, he was dead.Kissenberth himself claimed one S.E.5a shotdown. It was Lt. S.B. Reece aircraft who man-aged to perform the emergency landing with hisS.E.5a (C1859) on the friendly side of the the frontbetween Tilloy and Neuville Vitasse. As mentio-ned above, it is highly doubtful that Kissenberthachieved this victory flying the captured Camel.What is certain though is that two weeks later, onMay 29 Kissenberth had a serious accident.Shortly after the take off the Camel’s engine fai-led and Kissenberth suffered the wounds whichdid not allow him to return to combat flying.He continued to serve though as a commander ofSchleissheim Pilot School. He did not enjoy pe-acetime for long, on August 3, 1919, he was killedin a mountain climbing accident in Bavarian Alps.The crashed Camel B7184, manufactured by Cla-yton & Shuttleworth company and delivered onDecember 12, 1917, was completely destroyedand its career of serving two masters ended.By the way, it was in the inventory of his originalunit, No.3 (N) Squadron RNAS, for nine days onlyand served much longer with the enemy.CreditsMy thanks to Simon Youens, Jorn Leckscheidand Jan Bobek for their advice, opinion, and re-ference to the relevant sources.Peter Kilduff: Black Fokker Leader; Carl Degelow, The FirstWorld War´z Last Airfighter Knight, Grub Street PublishingISBN-13: 978-1906502287Roger Gunn: Raymond Collishaw and the Black Flight;Dundurn Toronto, ISBN-13:9781459706606Bruno Schmäling, Winfried Bock: Royal Bavarian Jagdstaffel23, Aeronaut Books, ISBN-13:978-1935881636Trevor Henshaw: The Sky Their Battlefield II, Expanded Editi-on, Grub Street Publishing, ISBN-13: 978-1898697305www.theaerodrome.comwww.pprune.orgSopwith Camel B7184 as it appeared during its “service” withJasta 23b. The Bavarians seem to have liked the blue decorati-ons, so they decided to keep them. The cockades on the upperwings were overpainted with white paint and completely deletedfrom the doped linen of the lower surfaces.HISTORYeduard47INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 48
HISTORYSo, was it a very light grey as featured in a me-morable profile by Mr. Balous in “Letectví a Kos-monautika” (Aviation and Cosmonautics) magazinein 1968? By the way, a series of articles publishedin L+K, “Zeros over Pacific” (adopted from the bookSamurai! by Martin Caidin and Fred Saito) for thenext fifty years got me deeply interested in Japa-nese aviation and the air war in the Pacific and FarEast. I am sure there were quite a few of us fromthat generation. At that time, and political system,the access to the information about such topicswas rather restricted. Regardless, “pirate” copiesof Maru Mechanics, Koku-Fans or Thorpe’s bookswere made on xerox copiers with their stinkingpaper. By the way, late Donald W. Thorpe was pro-bably the key figure in the Japanese WWII aircraftcoloration and markings research in the world out-side of Japan. Freelance writer, illustrator, compu-ter engineer and an avid member of IPMS residingin California was the first in late 60s to mid-70s tointroduce the system into Japanese colors and ca-mouflage schemes Even though largely superse-ded nowadays, its many schemes and camouflagecolors stood the test of time until today. Thorpe’snomenclature was used by other researchers, na-mely Robert C.Mikesh, at that time curator of Nati-onal Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. Se-emingly I deviated from grey Zero. What did Thorpeconclude in this particular case then? He designa-ted the camouflage scheme as O5 (O for overall)and color as N10 (N for Navy) light grey which isslightly “cooler” than FS 26493 and in RGB it isa perfectly neutral grey! This was not a departurefrom all-grey Zero image held by the modelling co-mmunity, cinema industry (movies such Tora! Tora!Tora!, Final Countdown or Midway) or the generalpublic.What did the Pacific war veterans, many of whomwere still around and eye-witnessed Zero appea-With the surprise release of Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero plastic mo-del in 1/48 scale by Eduard the interest in this airplane, and itcan be said in Japanese WWII aviation as well, skyrocketed.One of the most frequent inquiries by the modeling commu-nity, and I dare to say worldwide, is what those correct colorsapplied to Zero actually were. Easy answer, isn’t it? Overallgrey of course! Well, yes, but there are at least hundreds ofshades of grey.TEXT: MARIAN HOLLYThe Colors of The Colors of ZeroZeroeduard48INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 49
HISTORYrance, have to say to it? Both written reports andoral accounts varied quite a bit, ranging from grey,through white to even silver colors. In fact, sigh-tings of Zero in “mustard”, “clay” or “khaki” colorswere recorded. No particular attention to this se-ems to have been paid. Of course, there were Zerorelics in US and other countries museums and inprivate collections. It seems however that the timefor their detailed examination has not arrived. Howwere the things on the other side of the globe, in thebirthplace of the famous Zero, Japan? I confess, inthose years I did not have access to the actual, reli-able information. I dare to make a rather wild guessthat the consensus was very similar to that one inthe West - grey, relatively light, maybe slightly blu-ish color. What leads me to this opinion are the co-lor profiles in the Koku-fan, Aireview or Maru-Me-chanic magazines and special issues which I couldrarely put my hands on and which rather invariablyrepresented Zero in overall grey color. I was par-ticularly impressed by Rikyu Watanabe’s artwork.As I learned much later, he was one of few very in-terested in the Japanese WWII aircraft colorarion.When I arrived in the USA on business in 1991, I hadmuch improved access to the relevant informationand found out that there was no ground-breakingchange in the perception of Zero color i.e., grey, orwhitish grey, almost white.“Two Japanese Air Forces” and their color stan-dardsWhy was Zero, and other military aircraft for thatmatter, painted at all? Well, not because of the nicelooks, that’s for sure, military organizations are notin that business. The first reason was anticorro-sive protection. After large-scale introduction ofthe light metal alloys into the aircraft design in the1930s it was initially believed that they will resistthe elements far better than wood and fabric de-signs of the recent years. However, the aggressivesalty air on the board of the air carriers, extremeheat and air moisture in Asia proved it all wrong.Japan was seeking solutions which took the formof various special coatings utilizing the experien-ces of the aeronautical industries of the leadingindustrialized countries including Germany. Thesecond purpose of painting the aircraft is its ca-mouflage i.e., lowering its visibility both in the airand on the ground. For this purpose, the air forcesof the developed industrial countries developeda range of preferred colors which, once approved,had to match the standard (etalon) within certaintolerances. It was ANA in the USA for example, orRAL in Germany, Tavola 10 in Italy or even “AlbomNakrasok” (color catalogue) in the Soviet Union.In the 1930s Japan already belonged to the groupof industrialized countries and its approach to co-lor standards was no different. It developed colorstandards for both of her military air forces. Yes,both, similar to the USA, Japan created the navalair force (IJNAF-Imperial Japanese Naval Air For-ce) and army air force (Imperial Japanese Army AirForce) as totally independent entities. Since Zerowas ordered, and exclusively used by IJNAF let’stake a closer look at “Kaigunkōkūkiyo Toryō Shiki-betsu Hyōjun, Kariki 117 Bessatsu” i.e., Paint Iden-tification Standard for Naval Aircraft, Supplementto Provisional Regulation 117, further kariki 117 only.By the way, IJAAF standard was named Ko-kaku39 and colors were assigned numbers from 1 to 43.I may revisit this matter in another article. I hopefor the occasion of the new 1/48 Eduard model ofNakajima Ki-43! A proposal designated 8609 wascreated merging both standards (similar to ANA inthe USA) effective February 1945. How it was actu-ally applied remains uncertain.Kariki 117 is in fact a catalogue of colors groupedalphabetically, for example group B are reds, C ye-llows, D greens, H browns, J greys. How it actuallylooks you can see here.The specific shade has its number therefore thecode for “ash grey” (hai iro) for example is J3. Wewill talk more about this color later. If you go backto the first paragraph I wrote about the “consensus”that Zero was grey. No mention of any standards.Why? Nobody knew about them? Well, it depends,who we are talking about. Several copies had beenfound in Japan and some people had access tothem however due to “various reasons” they did notshare the discovery with the “West”. Until the begi-nning of the 1990s the aviation enthusiast and lateresearcher Katsushi Owaki “revealed the secret”to fellow enthusiasts in America. Because of it hebecame an “outcast” in the community of the Japa-nese researchers. Another big problem with karikiis that up until now we don't know how exactly theIJNAF Headquarters chose the particular shades.No sufficient documentation nor corresponden-ce have been found so far. Or we still don’t knowabout it in our hemisphere (see “case kariki 117”).Our contemporary knowledge has to rely on the re-verse approach then - after analyzing the artifacts,wrecks, secondary correspondence etc. assign theparticular color from catalogue to them.“The Great Ame-Iro Wars”In the beginning of 1990s, the information and opini-ons started to appear challenging the fact that theZero color was just ordinary “neutral” grey i.e., fromblack and white pigments only. In 1993 Dai NipponKaiga in their Aero Detail series published the mo-nograph nr.7 on Zero fighter. The author was Shige-ru Nohara, another aviation enthusiast and writerof Japanese aviation books published mostly byModel Art company. In this book, in the camouflageand markings section perhaps for the first timethe kariki 117 nomenclature was used (J3 hai-iroand D1 green) but even more importantly the term“ame-iro” i.e., caramel color was used which wassupposedly the result of the original J3 grey beingoverpainted with clear, slightly brownish varnish(caramel) for better anticorrosive protection. Sin-ce then the theory has been discarded. It doesn’tmake sense. Why put another protective layer overthe already existing, apparently anticorrosive coatof J3?But “the cat was out of the bag”, as we will see la-ter. Sometime in 1994, during the period of internetand personal computers explosion, a gentleman bythe name Dave Pluth founded the website www.j--aircraft.com. It was a “golden age” of Japaneseaviation studies. It was frequented by personalitiessuch as James Long, Don Thorpe, Osamu Tagaya,Ryan Toews, Henry Sakaida and others. I couldnot wait to come back home from work to read allthat information I could only dream about for thepast thirty years. Among visiting researchers werealso late James Lansdale, who later acquired thewebsite, late David Aiken and Nicholas Millman.Lansdale, an avid Japanese aircraft relics collector,retired teacher living in Florida, left a strong markon the Zero coloration research. After polishingthe surface of one of the Zero skin fragments withtoothpaste the color changed to darker, olive grey,“ame-iro” which led to the conclusion it had beenthe original paint color applied by the manufactu-rer. The top color of the relict was an “oxidizedame-iro”, mainly severely ‘chalked’ top layer dueto greater proportion of titanium dioxide pigment.The underlying colour, protected from UV exposu-re by the chalked layer is invariably slightly darkerand yellower/browner than the original paint co-lor. Lansdale contacts in Japan included Nohara.In 1998, in Model Art nr.510 he published that theoriginal Zero color had been “ame-iro” and supp-orted it with various photographs of the relics. Healso presented a hand-brushed 1/72 Hasegawaplastic model of A6M2 painted in this color. ThatThe first Zero the Allies were able to test, was DI-108 which belonged to Fighter Squadron of aircraft carrier Ryūjō. It was manufactured on February 19, 1942, and its serial number was4593. Its pilot, Tadayoshi Koga, was killed in crash on June 4, 1942, during the attack on Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands. It was a relatively new aircraft carefully maintained andstored in the lower deck of the aircraft carrier. The American report A.I.2(g) nr. 2103, describing the captured aircraft, states that its color was "glossy grey-green".Photo: San Diego Air & Space Museumeduard49INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 50
HISTORY“stirred the pot” in Japan where, as it seems, themajority of people very much preferred the imageof the light grey Zero.“The Wars” were fought over the actual colorappearance and, as I said in the second paragra-ph, its accurate identification in kariki 117. At thisplace I just must mention David Aiken, the formerdirector of the Pearl Harbor aviation museum, gre-at Japanese aviation enthusiast for which he wasgiven the nickname “Captain Kamikaze” by his Te-xas IPMS chapter fellows. For some reason Davidfocused on Zero color description by its designerJiro Horikoshi - hairyokushoku, literally grey--green. David fell in love with the word green. In the“wars” he claimed it was M1 from kariki 117 whichis in the group of grey-green colors and similar toRAF interior grey-green. He compared Zero colorto the color of pistachio nuts in direct opposition toLansdale’s theory of “yellow mustard” color. Untilthe last moment David promoted “grey-green” ba-sed on the teachings of his “sensei” in Japan. Manytimes, he was asked to share the knowledge fromthe “mysterious sensei” but silence was the re-sponse. I have to confess I myself challenged himto it, at least three times. David relied too much onthe online images, including images of Tamiya paintbottles, rather than any analysis of actual paint. His“heritage” was preserved, however. He had man-aged to convince the leadership of the Pearl Harbormuseum to paint the restored A6M2 (rather poorly,in my opinion) in the infamous “pistachio green”.The effort has also been made to identify “ame-iro”as I2/I3 tsuchi-iro (color of the earth) from kariki117. These colors are literally yellow-brown ones,and the grey tone is not that apparent. In the end“The Wars” ended and peace was signed with theclause that the color was “olive-grey”, somewherebetween FS16350 and FS34201, but lighter (FS=-Federal Standard) and the best equivalent is RAL7034 Gelb Grau (yellow-grey). Based on NicholasMillman’s (see below) opinion, analysis and re-search RAL 7034 is the closest match to the ori-ginal color.The science steps inNamely color science. I had no idea about it all tho-se years prior. One can learn new things throughhobbies, correct? Earlier I mentioned the name Ni-cholas Millman. As a participant in “the wars” hewas initially skeptical a bit. As a paint color andcoatings specialist from the UK, a great enthusiastof the Japanese and other Asian countries' aviation(see his blog www.aviationofjapan.com) took thescientific approach. The color is a result of the pig-ments it contains and their binder. If we performthe chemical analysis of a well preserved sample,we will find out its pigments and binder composi-tion and can perform “Jurassic Park” on any paintcolors i.e., bring it “back to life”. Nicholas was in-volved in the process. Largest quantity of pigmentwas white (titanium dioxide), then small propor-tions of carbon black and chrome yellow. Yellow--brown tinting of urushi-type resin binder on whitepigment played a certain role as well. The paintwas re-created and looked very close to the bestpreserved samples of the “amber grey”, betweenFS16350 and FS34201 with a “fugitive” green cast.Why these pigments? As mentioned earlier, eventhough Japan possessed a well-developed paintindustry, it was still learning from the other develo-ped countries, including Germany.Before 1940 there were problems with the binderstability and paint yellowing. It could have been areason why Japan bought the German license forspecial paints for light metal alloys. It cannot bejust a coincidence that “amber grey” designated J3SP (SP = special paint for light metals, to differen-tiate it from the ordinary grey) by Millman, used onZeros on the manufacturing lines, resembled theGerman RLM 02.As far as I remember the articles by the leadingexpert on Luftwaffe colors, Michael Ullman, Ger-man paints were of high quality, did not degradequickly (did not yellow) and also did not chip offeven without a primer application. In addition to thechemical analysis, we have some written recordsthat corroborate the existence of the speciallydeveloped paint for the light aviation metal alloys.Zero maintenance manual states: “The paints to beused are transparent paint (light blue color) for theinterior and special paint for light metals (grey ratcolor) for the exterior and the surface is to havea polished finish”. In kariki 117 there is a groupL of grey colors designated “nezumi iro” i.e., rat (ormouse) color and L2 was compared to FS16350.by the Japanese historian and researcher RyoichiWatanabe Then we have a supporting document,Kugisho report nr.0266 (Kugisho=Kaigun Kōkū Gi-jutsu-sho, Navy Air Technical Arsenal based inYokosuka) about Zero camouflage trials which “Ar-senal” conducted in cooperation with Yokosuka Kō-kūtai (kōkūtai=IJNAF unit) between November 1941and February 1942. The report states that “the paintcolor currently in use for the Type 0 KanSen is J3(hai iro, ash or grey color) leaning slightly towardamber color (Ameiro)...” and “ame-iro'' is mentio-ned at least six times throughout the text. There-fore, we are led to the existence, and mass appli-cation of the amber grey (J3 SP) by the followingtriangulation:1. Examination of actual paint samples from manyA6M2 and A6M3 model 322. Evidence of the Kugisho report - consistent withThe abandoned A6M3 Type 32 coded T2-157, which belonged to Kókútai 204, as captured by an Allied photographer on Munda Island in September 1943. Several interesting details canbe recognized such as yellow leading edge stripe or blue-black anti-glare paint which was not only applied to the engine cowling but also to the cockpit deck and canopy frame interiorsurfaces.Photo: Wikimedia Commonseduard50INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 51
HISTORYthe appearance of samples; and3. Evidence from contemporaneous eyewitness descriptions - consistent with appearance of samples and the Kugisho report.Return of grey Zero?Sometime in the beginning of 2018 anime director,illustrator and Japanese aviation colors resear-cher, Sunao Katabuchi published in Rekishi Gunzonr.147 an article where he quotes the paint colorspecifications for the aircraft manufacturing underIJNAF contract. Five colors from kariki 117 wereapproved including J3 hai-iro which can be descri-bed as neutral grey. Katabuchi considers this coloras generally and widely applied and its “ame-iro”appearance as a result of the aging or chemicalinstability. No one seems to doubt the J3 applica-tion on Zeros. It was applied on one Zero (Yo-105)during the Kugisho camouflage experiments. TheZero units “in the field” must have had some stocksof this paint and it cannot be excluded that it wasused after repairs. The chief Zero designer, Hori-koshi, however described the paint as “dimly shi-ning green ash”.Mr. Kenji Miyazaki and Taizō Nakamura collaboratewith Mr. Katabuchi. You can find both of them onFacebook, where Mr. Nakamura in particular is veryactive being an avid Zero relics collector as well. Itseems he was involved in the laboratory analysisof the surviving Zero color samples. He posted alot of photographs and opinions which may be wellworth checking. In 2007 Mr. Miyazaki wrote aboutshades of grey on Zeros but was not too specific.He doesn’t exclude the possible existence of “ame--iro” or some other “khaki toned grey” applied onZero but seems to prefer J3 grey as the only offi-cially applied paint color for Zeros. He thinks it'smore probable that the color changed (yellowed)due to aging. In Kugisho report 0266 however “cu-rrently used hai-iro leaning toward ame-iro” ismentioned multiple times. Mr. Nohara, I mentionedearlier, stands behind his original opinion from 1998i.e., amber grey was Zero factory finish.A strong supporter of Katabuchi’s theories liveson the opposite side of the globe. Tom Hall fromCalifornia (a very active member of j-aircraft.comin its beginnings) wrote a series of short articleson Facebook where he’s rather skeptical aboutLansdale’s and Millman’s research. His supposedfluency in Japanese may give him an edge in obtai-ning some first-hand information from Japan. Onthe other hand, his opinion that “the color changedin the hangar at sunset” can be surprising. Regar-dless, the fact is that the current preference of Zeroimage in neutral grey caught “the second breath”and the further development will be interesting tofollow. For example, in January 2022 a book by Miy-azaki and Nakamura will be released focusing onZero colors analysis. Good news is that the subtit-les will be in English.What color for Zero then?First, do not get overwhelmed by the deluge of in-formation in cyberspace. For example the fairly nu-merous Japanese aircraft interest groups on Face-book are a cesspool of unreliable information. Thisarticle is an attempt at giving the Zero enthusiasta hand in sorting out this information and showingthem the who, when, how and why. The treasuretrove of the information, and not only on Zero, canbe found on Nicholas Millman’s blog www.aviatio-nofjapan.com. The high value reference is his PDF“Painting the Early Zero-Sen” email Nicholas topurchase it.This is followed by Combat Colors No.9 which is anillustrated guide to Zero color schemes and mar-kings. Published in 2017 by Guideline Publications inthe UK may be rather hard to find these days.Especially valuable is Millman’s specialist interestin color science and coatings. In the end the decisi-on how to paint your Zero is only yours. Despite allthat research, science and facts Nick stated once:“Hardly ever any of us will be looking at factory fre-sh Zero on a sunny day”...But let’s not forget. Zero was not made entirely outof metal. All control surfaces (rudder, elevatorsand ailerons) were covered with fabric. Their paintcolor coating was of different chemical composi-tion resulting in slightly different color shade, si-milar to FS 36307, we may say J3 from kariki 117.Nakajima-built Zeros had these surfaces in slightlymore bluish tone, close to FS 26314. I am aware thatnot everyone has access to Federal Standard 595Bcolor swatches I frequently refer to. It’s not easyto obtain a set these days. From $25 I paid thir-ty years ago, the price went up to hundreds of USdollars with a reduced number of swatches.From the practical point of view then let me pro-pose some hobby paint mixes which appear to beclose to amber grey (FS 16350/34201 but lighter).My personal preference is GSI Creos (Gunze) Mr.Color, C336 Hemp + C12 US Olive Drab, 25:1. One ofthe mixes Millman recommends is GSI Creos (Gun-ze) Aqueous Hobby, H336 Hemp + H70 RLM 02, 1:1,and it looks very authentic. Mission Model PaintsMMP110, J3 SP is supposedly a great match to am-ber grey. I have no personal experience with thisbrand. For those control surfaces, especially forNakajima-built Zeros, Mr.Color C35 IJN Grey looksvery suitable.If you use other hobby paint brands, ask your mo-deling buddies for a sample of these mixes and youmake your own shade. It is not necessary to be toopedantic, the goal is to replicate the “character” ofthe desired color.Photo: Fold3A picture from Atsugi base in Japan, taken in September 1945, captures Kókútai 302 aircraft. Even though the camouf-lage paint on some aircraft shows considerable weathering, the national insignia's red is in excellent condition. Thispaint was of high quality. During WWII there were at least three different shades of red, produced and applied to thenational insignias and the units' markings.eduard51INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 52
TEMPEST OVERANTARCTICAJan BobekWe have written about the Czech aviator EduardKleinkönnig several times on the pages of EduardINFO magazine. He fought against giant birds ina Messerschmitt Bf 109 and a Curtiss P-40 in the ArcticCircle. Later, with the MiG-15 „Bunny Racer“ he sear-ched for dinosaurs during races around Africa. And fi-nally, he fought in the legendary „War of the Carrot“with the MiG-21 „Bunny Fighter“. We unexpected-ly tracked down this machine in Hungary about tenyears ago. A hitherto unknown chapter of Kleinkönni-g‘s aviation career is his service in Tempest fightersaboard an aircraft carrier.Mar del Plata,November 1945The American admiral hurried on to the pierwith a Secret Service agent and an Argenti-ne escort at his heels. He stared in disbelief atthe rusting submarine being towed into theharbour by a US Navy destroyer.„Another U-Boot XXI! Shall I guess? Arma-ment dismantled, commander and crew re-fuse to talk.“„Exactly, Admiral. Like all previous cases...“„And where did we find them?“„They had an engine failure. They were off theisland of South Georgia.“„Damn, that doesn‘t make any sense, what iseveryone doing down south?“„Like the others we intercepted, it looks likethey were carrying cargo and unloading itsomewhere. Just like the Japanese did lastmonth.“„Was that the submarine with the hangar onthe bow?“„Yes, and she wasn‘t the only one. We think itwas just the tip of the iceberg.“„Don‘t even talk to me about icebergs, haveyou heard what the British are building in Ca-nada?“„Yes sir.“„Looks like they‘re all going crazy and goingon dates down here in the south!“Moscow, June 1946The atmosphere in the office of the militaryattaché at the British Embassy was rathergloomy.A British diplomat and his New Zealand co-lleague in Air Force uniform were readingintently from a file on the desk. Occasionallythey glanced briefly at the visitor sitting infront of them, and then they looked at eachother in disbelief. The visitor was beginning tolook a bit uncertain.„Um, so you were at the base outside theArctic Circle, right?“ the British officer finallyasked.„Yes, sir, on the island of Kolguyev. „„Hmm... how long were you there?“„From the end of 1944, that‘s when the air-field was set up and we were there until Aprilthis year. Then the Russians occupied us.“„But you weren‘t taken prisoner, were you?“„No, they didn‘t, we thought we were meantto Siberia, but they needed us because... Well,there were some big animals there, they ne-eded to get rid of them. We had been killingthem for almost two years already. So the Ru-ssians sort of kept us busy and let us fly for afew more months.“„And what kind of animals were they? Polarbears?“„No sir, something else, you know, I don‘t rea-lly want to explain it, it would sound strange.There were walruses, the occasional polarbear, but that was easy to handle. The Sovi-ets are doing some experiments with thosewalruses to breed them. And then there weresome big animals, there were difficulties withthem. They also killed the commander.“„Look, sir, sir...“„Kleinkönnig, sir, Eduard Kleinkönnig.“„Kleink... I can‘t even pronounce it properly.You‘re German, right?“„No sir, I am Czechoslovak. From Žatec.“„Well, I can‘t pronounce that either. You havea German name and you‘re Czech?“„Yes, many Czech people have it like that.“Tempest „Bunny Lady“ on patrol offthe Antarctic coast in the summerof 1946/1947. In this form it was pilotedby Ensign Eduard Kleinkönnig after theincident with the killer whales.Photo: IWM, retouched by Kateřina Boreckáeduard52INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 53
„James, there’s something strange about thename, isn‘t it?“But the New Zealand officer didn‘t find itstrange.„Sir, the best Czech fighter was called Kuttel-wascher, he flew in the first squadron of theRAF. „„Oh my God, really? I can‘t even pronouncethat, I‘d break my tongue.“„That‘s why he‘s called Kut. And this Closter-mann, whom I met in Paris last month, he isa Frenchman. From Brazil...“„Oh! Those continental nations have alwaysbeen opaque. Well, then, I‘ll call you Eduard,if you do not mind. Look, since the Sovietshave made you available that means they‘reno longer interested in you. You didn‘t end upin Siberia, and you‘re not a spy. We‘ve chec-ked that. You‘re Czechoslovakian, so you‘reour ally. I‘m suggesting that you needn‘t beafraid to tell us more or less anything aboutwhat you saw and did in the North. Let‘s startwith what you flew there. Tell me...“„Nothing extraordinary sir, first the Messer-schmitt 109 and when the Russians camethey gave us the Curtiss P-40.“„So you have experience with both Germanand Western equipment and you lasted twoyears in polar conditions? That‘s good for us.How come you joined the Luftwaffe?“„After the occupation, Žatec was a Germanborder town, and I signed documents as afactory pilot for my job that contained some-thing I didn‘t understand properly, and thenit went quickly.“„Where did you get military flight training?“„In the Protectorate, sir, basic and fighter.“„You speak decent English, where did youstudy?“„Self-Study. When you‘re up north for twoyears, half the year the sun is shining and halfA block of pykrete. The image showsa 50 mm (2 inch) thick 50% mixture (byvolume using shredded wood mulch) hitby a single 7.62 x 39 mm rifle round (lowerimpact mark) fired from 10 m (30 feet)which bounced off the surface. It took anadditional 7 rounds (upper penetrationmark) of 7.62 x 39 mm fired from 5 m (15feet) to penetrate the block.Photo: Wikimedia CommonsGeoffrey Nathaniel Joseph Pyke wasan English journalist, educationalist,and inventor. During the Second WorldWar, Pyke proposed the newly inventedmaterial, pykrete, for the construction ofthe bergship Habakkuk (Habbakuk). Heeven proposed several inventions basedon the use of pykrete and super cooledwater. Due to Pyke‘s earlier disagree-ments with American personnel on Pro-ject Plough, he was excluded from theplanning for Habakkuk in an effort to se-cure American participation.Photo: State Library Victoriathe year it‘s night, you have to keep yourselfbusy somehow so you don‘t go crazy. Wewere also catching the radio from northernCanada.“„You didn‘t miss German radio?“„No, it was unbearable to listen to. There wasalways someone shouting madly that the Re-ich would win, that it had wonder weapons.And then when that bird killed our comman-der, I took over and we tuned to Canada. Wealso listened to Moscow, where at least it wasclear where the front was. And we also caughtFinnish radio, but nobody understood them.“„Well, you‘ll soon get to know the Finns. Youmentioned wonder weapons, do you knowanything about them?“„No sir, just what Goebbels kept shouting atus from the radio.“„I read here that you were a factory pilot inPrague. Did you see anything unusual at theairports there?“„And what would something unusual looklike, sir? A Messerschmitt Schwalbe or a Ko-met is in every magazine a year after the war.“„Maybe something like a big flying disc...“„Disk? No, I haven‘t seen anything like that atAvia.“„Very well, James will help you deal with theformalities. I think I‘ll make you happy, you‘regoing to Canada. And the war isn‘t quite overyet. But you‘ll find out soon enough. „Downing Streetnumber 10, July 1946Churchill finished reading the report and lo-oked at the Foreign Secretary.„So the Americans don‘t want to use the ato-mic bomb and the Russians won‘t send us re-inforcements. Don‘t they realize what‘s goingon?“„Mr Prime Minister, the Russians are havingenormous difficulties with supplies, they havedeployed the army. They have no one to sendus.“„So we‘ve been sending materials and supp-lies to the Russians all through the war, andnow we‘re on our own like in 1940.“„Prime Minister, we must take into accountthat Russia is again facing famine. The drou-ght has destroyed their crops. We may haveto supply them again. But they have madesome foreign pilots available to us for thosenew aircraft carriers. We‘re also trying to getvolunteers from every country, like in 1940.“„Hmmm, what about the Americans? Whatdid Truman‘s people say about the bomb?It would have solved it in one fell swoop. Dothey understand that time is playing againstus?“„They understand, Prime Minister. They willmake available what they can. But the pro-blem is that the war is officially over and theyhave released a lot of people into civilian life. Alot of vessels have started to be dismantled. „„Then let them drop the damn bomb!“„They say it could raise ocean levels, there‘s alot of snow and ice. And they also don‘t knowexactly where it‘s going to topple. They‘ve lostalmost all the reconnaissance planes theysent out there. „„Do we have any decoded enemy dispatchesfrom ULTRA yet?“„Unfortunately not, Prime Minister. What wasintercepted in the South cannot be safelysent over here.“„So Bletchley Park is basically useless to usnow and we don‘t really know anything.“Churchill, in his dressing-gown, leaned backagainst the arm of his chair and watched theglass of whisky as the ice cubes melted in it.„The Prime Ministers of Australia and New Ze-aland call me on the phone every day, every-thing is upside down there. They are horrifiedand I don‘t blame them at all. Bloody bastard,that Hitler. He‘s done it. Too bad Attlee didn‘twin the election last year, I wonder what hewould have done with this, a civilian!Lake Patricia, Canada,August 1946The seamen ashore loaded a large-calibermachine gun. The officer supervising themlooked towards the large wooden vessel, thenturned towards the international group of air-men.„Get down!“He also hid with them behind a rampart.„Fire!“There was the booming sound of a half-inchmachine gun and the barrel began to spitglowing projectiles into the side of the ship.But the bullets bounced back. Some senta geyser of water into the air or took to the skywith a scream, others ended up in the pro-tective wall on the shore or whizzed over theairmen‘s heads into the forest. The roaringstopped.„Stand up!“The astonished group rose from the grassand dusted off their uniforms.„What you just saw is a demonstration of theresilience of a ship made of pykrete,“ the offi-cer announced, enjoying the puzzled expre-ssions on the faces of his temporary subordi-nates. Then he added: „Pykrete is a mixture ofice and sawdust. „There were surprised comments in severallanguages.„Pykrete,“ the officer continued, „has abouthalf the compressive strength of concrete,but three times the tensile strength! Questi-ons? Yes, Ensign Kleinkönnig?“„Sir, but a ship made of ice can‘t work, itwould melt!“„And what do you see here on the lake, En-sign? Noah‘s Ark? Pykrete has excellent insu-lating properties. Now, let‘s move back to theclassroom...“eduard53INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 54
Downing Street number10, August 1946„Admiral Cunningham, are you telling methat the giant carrier has a top speed of sevenknots and so do the two sister bergships?“„Yes, Prime Minister, we see this as a problem.We didn‘t count on her sailing south, acrossthe equator, we‘re afraid she‘ll soften up a bitduring the voyage.“„But the designers assured me that the ma-terial, the pykrete, is heat resistant and thereare cooling units inside...“„You know designers, sir, they mainly countedon it operating only around the Arctic Circle.We‘re quite worried that HMS Habbakuk willshrink along the way and make the deck aswimming pool. There will be 200 aircraft onthe ship, all fighters or bombers, but no sea-planes. „Churchill thoughtfully moved the ashtraya bit with a cigar.„Admiral, have you ever pushed an aircraft ca-rrier with one battleship while simultaneous-ly towing it with the another one?“„Sir, I‘ve never really done that. Especially nota 2,000-foot aircraft carrier made of iceberg.“„Then make it happen! You just have to crossthe equator fast! We‘ve got HMS Vanguardcompleted, she‘s doing thirty knots. If youdon‘t dare, I‘ll ask the US Navy! Summer startsin Antarctica in a few months, we‘ve got to bethere in time to get the bastards. „Aircraft carrier HMS Ha-bbakuk, south of New-foundland, September1946The executive officer felt that he was about tobreak something in anger. „Clostermann re-ally pisses me off. I think we‘ll drop him backin Brazil. Try explaining to him again that he‘snot a Wing Commander, and he‘d better wri-te that book of his on his time off. So what‘snext for you, John.“„The Canadians are arguing with the Dutch.One wants to play hockey on board, the otheris pushing for ice-skating competitions andhas been discussing it for a long time. TheCanadians hit the head of the commanderof the American volunteers with the puck.He‘s in the infirmary, raving and talking aboutsome Pittsburgh Penguins...“„They‘re going to see a lot of penguins soon.Okay, anything else?“„Finns protest that they have too small dailydoses of coffee and want a sauna. The Nor-wegian mechanics have started building se-veral igloos on board.“„What, igloos?“„Yes sir, they say to make the road to theequator more, please wait, to say it right...To make the road more hygge. They promi-sed to dismantle them again before combatdeployment.“„Any normal news?“„The New Zealand squadron with Tempestshas finished painting the planes to the navalscheme, they are asking permission to paintrabbit skulls on the machines. They have theCzech Ensign Kleinkönnig with them, theyseem to like him, they say it‘s in his honour.In his spare time he makes carrot spirit forthem. He smuggled a lot of carrots and a dis-tillation column on board. He says they candistill anything in his country.“„OK, that‘s actually the first normal requestI‘ve heard today, even though it sounds goo-fy. Let them paint it. But they have to save thewhite paint. We don‘t know what it will looklike over Antarctica, we may have to paint themachines white. I‘m sure the Germans will doit, they said they did it each winter on the eas-tern front during the war.“Suddenly things on the desk shifted a few in-ches and the furniture in the cabin creaked.It was as if the ship had been rocked by so-mething big... Both men froze. The executiveofficer shook his head and pursed his lips indispleasure.„John, can you please ask the Vanguardbridge again, and emphatically, not to pokeus from behind? I understand that they‘reone knot faster than King George V, who istowing us, but it‘s really getting on my nerves.I‘d like the captains of both ships to come toan agreement. We need to get this internati-onal circus in order. Otherwise we won‘t sur-vive the two weeks south. „White House, September1946President Truman was leaning against alarge desk, looking at photographs taken byaerial reconnaissance. Around him were advi-sers, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretaryof State, the Commander of the Air Force, Ge-neral Spaatz, and Admiral Nimitz.Spaatz put on the table another picture ofthe landscape showing ice and snow.„Mr President, we have not yet reliably iden-tified this object, but it is very large. My colle-agues have some estimates of what it mightbe. „„Is it possible that it flies?“„We‘ve found a few of them, they look likeairships, but they‘re much longer. We don‘tknow exactly yet.“„What about those disks you were talkingabout last time?“„They are flying for sure, we have clear photosof them. We know they don‘t need an airport.But we don‘t know what kind of propulsionthey use. Maybe it‘s a combination of pro-pellers for vertical takeoff and jet propulsionfor forward flight. We‘re not sure yet. They‘reprobably the same objects we‘ve seen overEurope. Foo Fighters. „„And rockets?“„They have several types of missiles, biggerthan the V2. We‘ve even recorded flights abo-ve stratospheric level. Von Braun is success-fully continuing development.“„Why do we still know so little?“„Images are difficult to obtain. They‘ve gotnew anti-aircraft missiles, they‘ve shot downa few of our reconnaissance RB-29s, and thearea is huge. We‘re looking for a needle in ahaystack. They seem to be mainly close to thecoast in New Swabia, because of logistics.“Nimitz placed the folders on the table, ope-ned them, and spread out the other slides.„We got this from our colleagues in the AirForce, probably something like a productionhall or hangar. It‘s huge and well camouf-Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, with President Franklin D Roosevelt,and Winston Churchill during the Quebec Conference, 18 August 1943. It included ademonstration of the pykrete‘s resistance to gunfire as part of a presentation of theHMS Habbakuk project. Churchill was enthusiastic about the project.Photo: IWMlaged from above. Look here, there‘s an icesheet leading to it. We think they‘re trans-porting supplies by submarine under the ice.This area is important. It‘s somehow connec-ted to the giant objects. „„Do you at least have a theory as to whatthese objects are for?“Nimitz and Spaatz looked at General LeslieGroves of the Manhattan Project.„Mr President, I have consulted, confidentiallyof course, with the people from our project.Also with Mr. Einstein. And it‘s possible that...I mean, they believe these are spacecraft.While the war was going on, they managededuard54INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 55
Admiral Ernest J. King, USN, Comman-der in Chief, U.S. Fleet and Chief of NavalOperations, 1944 photo. King was glad tohave survived the demonstration shoo-ting at the pykrete block at the Quebecconference. He was intolerant and suspi-cious of all things British, especially theRoyal Navy. The Quebeck incident didnot improve his opinion.Photo: U.S. Navy PhotographConceptual design of the aircraft carrier HMS Habbakuk. The ship was constructed fromiceberg and covered with a 12 metre thick layer of pykrete. The bergship was to have a highresistance to enemy fire as well as to the temperature of sea water. A 1/50th scale model ofher was built in Canada in 1944.Foto: Wikimedia CommonsAdmiral Lord Louis Mountbattensitting at his desk, 1943. He was a gre-at supporter of the construction of HMSHabbakuk and the use of pykrete. At theQuebec Conference in 1943 Lord Mount-batten brought a block of pykrete alongto demonstrate its potential to the ad-mirals and generals who accompaniedWinston Churchill and Franklin D. Roos-evelt. Mountbatten entered the HMS Ha-bbakuk project meeting with two blocksand placed them on the ground. One wasa normal ice block and the other was py-krete. He then drew his service pistol andshot at the first block. It shattered andsplintered. Next he fired at the pykrete togive an idea of the resistance of that kindof ice to projectiles. The bullet ricochetedoff the block, grazing the trouser leg ofAdmiral Ernest King, and ended up in thewall.Photo: IWMto develop and manufacture these vesselsand the antigravity drive here in seclusion.“„Gentlemen, that changes the situation! It lo-oked like a couple of bases of some Germantroops, but what you‘re saying is a major glo-bal threat!“„We didn‘t have enough information Mr.President, it‘s only since the last few weeksthat we‘ve gotten images that changed ourminds. „„And the British know about this? They‘resending a fleet south. Byrnes, what do youknow at the Foreign Office?“„Currently, Mr. President, Churchill thinks Hit-ler may have an atomic bomb there. That‘swhy he‘s so nervous. He hasn‘t heard of thespace program.“„That‘ll give Winston a heart attack! And theyhave a bomb?“„We don‘t know, we found some objects withradioactivity in Germany, but we‘re not sure.“Truman looked around. The atmosphere inthe room was so thick it could have been cut.Finally, he looked at Nimitz.„Who did you send south?“„The aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt,commanded by Rear Admiral Apollo Soucek.Until now, we assumed we‘d make a few tar-geted raids with the British and be done withit.“The President shook his head in disbelief.„What are the British sending there?“„Ten of their regular carriers, each with aboutfifty aircraft. But they are counting on someof them being out of commission becauseof the climate. In addition, they have sentthree huge bergships made of icebergs. Theyare called HMS Habbakuk, HMS Nahum andHMS Zephaniah, each with two hundred air-craft on board, including Tempests and Me-teors.“„Gentlemen, send in everything we have avai-lable in the Pacific, deploy jet fighters as well. „Aircraft carrier HMS Ha-bbakuk, northof the Antarctic coastnear the zero meridian,October 1946The intelligence officer walked into the brie-fing room and headed straight to the frontbetween the rows of seats where the pilotswere sitting. As he passed them, the conver-eduard55INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 56
sation gradually died down. He walked overto the board with the launch schedule foreach patrol and hung a roll of paper with thelayouts on top. It had wooden strips at the topand bottom, and so it unfolded easily on itsown. The room hummed in surprise.„Gentlemen, we have approached the coastof New Swabia. Our ship is part of the RoyalNavy fleet that has joined the internationalforces in the secret allied operation Ice Age.“I‘ll make it short and clear: There are Nazis inAntarctica. We don‘t know how long they‘vebeen there. But we know they‘re up to some-thing dangerous, and we have to stop them.Allied aircraft carriers and their escorts arecruising the entire Antarctic coastline lookingfor them. Unfortunately, we don‘t get muchfrom American high-altitude aerial reconnai-ssance. The enemy has anti-aircraft missiles,effective even at high altitudes, and this hasgotten our American colleagues into trouble.That‘s why it‘s your turn. We think the Nazisdon‘t have enough conventional anti-aircraftweapons, so you have more chances to ga-ther intel and get back.You must examine every inch of our sector.Colleagues from units in Canada, Alaska, Nor-way, Finland and others who have experiencein Arctic conditions are important. That‘s whywe‘ve assigned them to individual squadrons.Keep your eyes peeled! Report the slightestanomaly. As you can see, the enemy has airassets you don‘t know yet. I‘ll get to that ina minute.Here is a Messerschmitt P.1101 jet, this is aFocke-Wulf Ta 183 and this is what a HeinkelP.1079 night fighter and a Gotha P.60 bomberlook like. Unfortunately, we haven‘t yet foundthe airfields from which they operated. So wecan‘t rule out such vertical take-off machineswith rotating gondolas with jet propulsion.But you can also see other types.What we are sure of, however, are the flyingdiscs that have so intrigued you. They arecalled Hauneburg-Geräte, or Haunebu forshort. We have pictures of them in our area.Here, take them, let them circulate.The larger ones have a wingspan of severaltens of metres, we don‘t know where theytake off from and we don‘t know their speed,climb rate or armament. So you‘ll be flyingpatrols armed with rockets. We don‘t knowhow armoured the Haunebu are, so don‘t he-sitate to use rockets. You have standard survi-val gear for polar conditions. Our submarinesand other vessels are cruising the area. Com-mandos have already landed on the coast. Ifyou‘re shot down, we‘ll do everything we canto get you to safety. Our task force is on a sou-thwest course to get closer to this mountainrange. That‘s where the enemy is said to bemost active. The daytime temperature off thecoast is about minus ten degrees Celsius. Thistime of year is summer here. The sun risesbefore 4:00 a.m., sets before 9:00 p.m. There‘sa 24-hour patrol schedule. Any questions? Noquestions? All right. Good luck, gentlemen!“The pilots began to rise from their chairs andthe room filled again with the noise of con-versation. The intelligence officer turned toone of the groups.„Gentlemen of the 486th Squadron, ‚Bunny‘Kleinkönnig and ‚Eikka‘ Luukkanen, pleasecome here. We have some questions for you.We‘ve picked up enemy radio traffic. Comeand see if you recognize the call codes of anyof your former Luftwaffe colleagues, so weknow who we‘re dealing with. One of theircommanders is on the radio as Eismeer 1.“Kleinkönnig and Luukanen looked at eachother without a word.„Perkele...“Mountain base Cäsar III,mountains in New Swabia,October 1946In the vast concre-te hall, red lightsflashed on the flooralong the walls.Some of the mecha-nics were running totheir shelters behindthe armor plates.The heavy concretedoor, as wide as theentire hall, beganto lift with a creak,letting in cold airfrom the Antarcticvalley. Finally, with agroan, it stopped atthe ceiling. Outside,the floor of the hallbecame a platformseveral dozen meterslong.The pilot‘s voicecame from the wall--mounted speakers, transmitted from a figh-ter flying nearby.„This is Späte, approaching from the SouthPole direction, on the opposite side of the va-lley, speed two hundred, height six hundred,descending slightly. Make ready the arrestingdevice.“The mechanics set in motion two hydraulicjacks and erected a huge structure in thecentre of the hall across its entire width, it lo-oked like a gate with a large number of verti-cal strips of flexible fabric.„I‘m dropping to five hundred, landing gearextended, speed one hundred and fifty,deploying flaps. Visual contact with the han-gar. Is the Landungssignaloffizier in position?I don‘t see him.“The LSO had just run to a station that was lo-cated outside at the edge of the platform.„Major, the LSO is in position, wind speed twometres per second, blowing southeast.“„I‘m making visual contact, turning left to-wards the runway, slowing down to one hun-dred and thirty.“High above the wide valley, the slender fi-ghter seemed to be driving on an invisiblebridge towards the rock.The LSO was giving flags instructions for lan-ding maneuver corrections. The Horten jetpowered flying wing landed smoothly on theplatform and passed into the bowels of thehangar through the opening under the hugedoors. It began to close immediately after-wards.Inside, the Horten stopped with a distinctyo-yo effect against the restraint strips, andthen the elastic bands pushed it back a little.The mechanics shouted with undisguisedjoy, „Goal!“Major Späte lifted the cockpit canopy andthe ground crew provided him with a ladder.But Späte stood up in the cockpit and shou-ted loudly: „I‘ve got my first kill!“Another wave of cheers and an avalanche ofquestions about where and how it happened.„It was a classic, I saw two Meteors, they were-n‘t flying very high, they looked like they wereon a reconnaissance. I guess they were tired,or a little dazzled from the white all aroundhere. I attacked his wingman from an eleva-tion change, he took a close range hit fromme on his left engine, immediately caughtfire, rolled over to the left and Tommy jumpedout. The other one got away in a dive. They-‘re good at this, I already had plenty of speedIce being cut for research on scale model of HMS Habbakuk. The construction wasperformed at Patricia and Jasper Lakes in Alberta, Canada.Photo: Library and Archives CanadaThe completed 1/50th scale model of HMS Habbakuk wasdisguised as a house on a lake. The pykrete was so tempe-rature resistant that the ship lasted three summers before itmelted. Pykrete is still used today for the surfaces of Canadianairfield runways located above the Arctic Circle.Photo: Library and Archives Canadaeduard56INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 57
Shots from Eduard Kleinkönnig‘s Tempest guncamera during a battle with torpedo carryingHaunebu flying saucers in October 1946.Photo: IWM, retouched by Kateřina Boreckáand I didn‘t dare go over a thousand.“After the Major‘s words, there was cheeringand applause, and someone promptly ope-ned a bottle of champagne.„Major, Lieutenant Woidich and HaunebuTwo are about to arrive!“„Then I‘ll be glad to see that,“ Späte replied,toasting the mechanics.With a few pilots he walked across the hallwhere mechanics were untangling the twin--engine flying wing from the arresting belts.The staff opened an armoured door in thewall leading to the next hangar. It was alreadybustling with activity.Surprisingly, the safety device was not erec-ted, the gate was already up and snow wasflying inside.„This is Woidich, I have visual contact with theLSO,“ came from the speakers„Sir, but the LSO reports he can‘t see you!“Woidich laughed loudly into the radio. Thepersonnel on the platform looked for him invain in the valley.„Of course they can‘t see me, because I‘mabove you!“Surprised, the LSO looked up with the othermen and the signal flags fell from his hands.A few dozen meters higher, a huge grey-blueflying saucer slowly emerged from behinda rock massif. It could have been twenty me-ters in diameter. It made a dark, metallic reso-nating sound, and there was an ozone smellall around. No roar of piston or jet engines.You could see where the disc had a cabinwith a downward view. The machine slowlydescended under the pilot‘s experiencedsteering, while turning 180 degrees on a verti-cal axis so Woidich could see into the hangar.It was slowly moving inward only about twometers above the surface. When the hulkingmachine was in the middle of the hall, theLSO backing in front of it signalled with flagsto reach a parking position. The landing gearlegs slid out of the bizarre machine and thedisc landed lightly on them. Then the reso-nating sound of the anti-gravity drive fadedaway and the machine loaded its full weighton the landing gear with a heavy metallicscreech.From the bottom of the flying saucer, a rampon the side swung down, and LieutenantWoidich, two technicians and several scien-tists climbed out.„Major, I report successful completion of ano-ther test. We reached a speed of one thou-sand eighty kilometres per hour in level flight,but we did not break the sound barrier. Thatcabin up there needs a more aerodynamicshape and then it might be good.“Späte shook his head appreciatively.„During today‘s flight we reached a flight le-vel of fifty kilometres without any problems,it was something incredible to see.“ ThenWoidich added: „It‘s definitely a world record.“„That gives our JG 400 something to cele-brate. Weissenberger and his Geschwader‚Nowotny‘ will be envious,“ Späte replied, andWoidich enthusiastically added: „We will behappy to celebrate! And tomorrow we haveweapons tests.“„All right, Woidich, I‘ll join you later, I‘m still go-ing to the meeting at Raumfahrt-Hauptquar-tier. I wonder if they‘ve got the big ship up inthe air yet.“The next day, Cäsar IIIbase areaFour Tempests of New Zealand‘s 486thSquadron with rockets took off from the air-craft carrier. The formation flew over the va-lley at an altitude of 3,000 metres, searchingfor enemy activity on snow and ice and for su-spicious structures in the rocks. It was led bySquadron Leader Sheddan with Clostermannas wingman. Behind them flew Luukkanenand Kleinkönnig as altitude protection. Theirmachines wore individual letters S, C, L and Kand the traditional stylized rabbit skulls. Kle-inkönnig‘s machine also had the inscriptionBUNNY LADY on the nose with a painting ofa pin-up rabbit model.„Rabbit 1, I see Sand Cake down at 11 o‘clock,distance 5000 meters. My pair is attacking,you cover us.“The first two Tempests headed down to thesuspected bunkers. Luukkanen and Klein-könnig, with the experience of the previousencounters, split up, now flying about 300meters apart and carefully observing the areaabove and below them.„Rabbit 1, missiles launched, target must havebeen deceptive.“High geysers of snow, earth and rocks roseinto the air. No explosion of stored ammuni-tion or anything like that. Instead, 20 and 37millimeter flak came down the valley side. Af-ter a while, unguided 40 mm rockets joinedin.„Rabbit 1, get out of here, Rabbit 2 follow me.Rabbit 3 and 4 stay up, watch out for rockets!“Kleinkönnig suddenly saw a shadow in theshape of an arrow-winged plane silhouettebehind the leading pair. It was approachingfast. Now he could see the plane too. It wasobviously painted white, but the sun‘s rayswere reflected off the cockpit overlay.„Rabbit 4 to Rabbit 1, you‘ve got Jerry behindyou on your six. About five hundred yards be-hind you.„Rabbit 3, attacking, Rabbit 4 cover me. We‘regoing after him. Saatana!“Two Tempests, with sporadic flak salutes, ra-ced low over the terrain through the valley to-wards the coast. A sleek Messerschmitt P.1101was approaching from behind, while the twoother Tempests were coming at full powerfrom above.The planes were already above the frozensea surface and Luukkanen got the Messer-schmitt in his sights and shouted, „Break!“Several things happened at that moment.Luukkanen damaged the enemy´s wingwith his fire, but not seriously. Sheddan do-dged sharply to the left, Clostermann to theright. The Messerschmitt turned behind Clos-termann and hit him several times in the en-gine area and in the wing. The Tempest losta little altitude, wobbled, but kept flying.„Rabbit 2, how are you?“ came over the radiofrom Sheddan, who was making a right turnlow over the terrain towards his wingman.„I‘ve been worse. He‘s after you, I‘ll try topepper him!“Luukkanen, who had gained height with Kle-inkönnig for the second attack, was unexpec-tedly hit on the wing. A 30 mm grenade torea large part of the covering on the right wingand the machine started to roll to the right.He thought he had been hit by flak, but thenhe heard a surprised Kleinkönnig: „Rabbit 4to Rabbit 3, we‘ve been attacked by Haunebufrom the sun! He‘s already below us, but he‘sclimbing again!“Down in the valley, the P.1101 pilot took a ste-ep climbing turn and got into a good positionto shoot at Sheddan.„Rabbit 1 to Rabbit 3 and 4, get out of hereand try to lure that Foo Fighter away! We‘llsort it out down here.“Clostermann was just trying to get his da-maged Tempest behind the intruding Me-sserschmitt. He was going to hit it with de-flection shot in right turn. But the Germanaccelerated, tightened the turn and got awayfrom him on a slight climb.„Rabbit 4 to Rabbit 3, how are you doing withthe wing damage?“„Perkele, saatana, jumalauta!“„I see...“„Rabbit 1 to Rabbit 2 and 3. Return to the ca-rrier. Rabbit 4 will join me.“Clostermann‘s engine began to leave a thic-kening smoke trail.The Messerschmitt pilot had the upper handover the allied aircraft and he turned theminto practice targets for the Haunebu’s pilotwith his 30-mm cannons.The fighting planes were now over the iceeduard57INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 58
floes. Nearby were Allied vessels, which hadcome into play and began to honour the Ger-mans with a nasty and dense barrage of theirBofors. Although reluctantly, the two Germanairmen packed up for home in their Wunder-waffen.Luukkanen was in the worst situation afterthe fight. His aircraftperformance was dec-reasing and it was very difficult to control. „I‘llhave to land on the water!“„Good luck Eikka!“„Thanks, Bunny. It‘ll be like home after thesauna. No worries!“Finn landed his Tempest expertly on the wa-ter. His mae vest inflated immediately andthe lifeboat quickly filled with air too. Everyo-ne was relieved to have the Finnish colleaguein the raft.But no one expected a group of killer whales,which started to show great interest in theboat. Luukkanen had to use his gun to scarethem off, but they were soon back.It was getting serious, the curious cetaceanstried to capsize the boat first and then one ofthem just bit through it. So Luukkanen en-ded up back in the water, trying to get to thenearest floe as quickly as possible. He succee-ded, but the killer whales kept attacking. Theymust have mistaken the man in the suit fora seal. They even jumped up on the ice packto tilt it and knock their prey down. Luukka-nen stuck his knife into the crust to keep him-self from sliding down.It was clear to Kleinkönnig that rescue, inthe form of a torpedo boat, was coming tooslowly, so he decided to intervene. He startedshooting at the killer whales. If he‘d foughtgiant man-eating penguins in the past, whynot killer whales... The group of hungry ma-rine mammals were spooked by the gunfireand retreated to a distance,still waiting atten-tively.But the boat crew soon picked up the pilotand returned him to the aircraft carrier, cold,wrapped in blankets and with a cup of rum.He complained that he had not been givenenough coffee. One or two sailors asked himto sign a newspaper with his picture on it.In the evening Squadron Leader Sheddannodded his head in acknowledgement. „Sofrom today on, you have the nickname „Lu-cky“ Luukkanen! And you, Kleinkönnig, geta killer whale‘s mouth painted on the bow ofA United Service Organizations troupe posing with a Messerschmitt P.1101 at theOberbayerische Forschungsanstalt, Oberammergau, Germany, in 1945. It was alsowith these fighters that Kleinkönnig and his fellow pilots clashed over Antarctica in1946 and 1947.Photo: Wikimedia CommonsCommissioning of the U.S. Navy aircraftcarrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB-42)at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York City,on Navy Day, 27 October 1945. Crew andvisitors crowd her flight deck, as the crewsof other ships present man their ship‘s railsin her honour. The aircraft carrier on theopposite side of pier is USS Franklin (CV-13),under repair for battle damage receivedearlier in the year.Photo: U.S. Navy Naval History and HeritageCommandthe Tempest. You‘ve really done a good jobof that, considering the circumstances. We‘llbe flying joint patrols with Meteors of „Smo-ky“ Shraeder for future events. We gottacome up with something on those Germans.We‘ll also be joined by the USS Franklin D.Roosevelt. They‘ve got Bearcats and Phan-tom jets.Cäsar III base, after the ba-ttle with the TempestsMesserschmitt P.1101 stopped in a rock han-gar. The turbine was slowly running downand the mechanics began to swarm aroundthe blue and white machine. An officer clim-bed out of the cockpit and inspected the hitsin the wing from 20 mm Tempest shells.The disheveled and smiling Haunebu pilotapproached from the next hall. He salutedimpeccably and clicked his heels together.„Lieutenant Woidich, Colonel, welcometo our base and congratulations on yourkill! I saw your Tommy land on the surface.I suspected that Eismeer 1 was you.“Theo Weissenberger shook his head. „Thankyou, but I also saw yours fall into the water.I was already quite far away, but I definitelysaw a geyser of water when he hit the sur-face. Congratulations!“„Your Tempest today was the first Geschwa-der ´Nowotny´ s victory in New Swabia?“„No, we‘ve already taken out a couple of B--29s and seaplanes.“„When are you switching to Haunebu? It‘s anincredible machine!“„Perhaps next month. Our friends in thefactories down there are doing great. CanI see the flying wonder?“„Of course, come on, I‘ll explain everything.We‘ve designed some aerodynamic modifi-cations for the new Haunebu III. This is theanti-G suit and here is the spacesuit...“Aircraft carrier HMS Ha-bbakuk, north of the An-tarctic coast, November1946Between the carrier group and the coastof Antarctica, which loomed on the horizon,a curtain of flak bursts alternately thickenedand thinned. By the third day, attacks on Ger-man mountain airfields were under way, andAllied pilots were in the air several times a day.However, the Luftwaffe persistently attackedthe alliance and sank several ships. Now andthen a hit aircraft crashed into the sea, ora geyser of water rose into the air from an ae-rial bomb or torpedo.The deck of the giant aircraft carrier was filled.This time, Tempests from several squadronswere tasked with bombing additional lan-ding platforms in the rocks. Meteors providedfighter escort. There wasn‘t much chance ofrockets and bombs making their way insidethe hangars, but they managed to at leastcover the surrounding area with rocks anddamage the platforms. This also made life di-fficult for the Luftwaffe.Kleinkönnig started as Rabbit 5 withthe young Norwegian wingman Torgeir.The squadron gathered in formation ina circle around the aircraft carrier and, underSheddan‘s guidance, climbed to five thou-sand meters. It then headed south. Fairbanks‘meteors patrolled a thousand meters abovethem.As the British formation passed the coast,in the opposite direction, Helldivers, Bearcatsand Phantoms from the US Navy flew at lo-wer flight levels. Some obviously damagedand lagging behind the others. Then the ra-dio went into a chaotic scream of Americanswear words. It turned out that German jetsand a few Haunebus were heading towardseduard58INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 59
Bunny Lady was inspired by Klein-könnig‘s girlfriend. His colleagues propo-sed the painting of carrot as part of the„nose art“, as a reminder of the distilledcarrot juice produced by Kleinkönnig.the task force. The US Navy fighters were notin an advantageous position to attack anddid not want to abandon their brothers. Hea-vy anti-aircraft fire was launched from theships of the task force. The 486th Squadronwas closest to the enemy, and Wing Com-mander Mackie, commander of the entireBritish formation, ordered Sheddan to attackwith his squadron. The rest of the Tempestsand escorts continued to the target.The New Zealand Tempests raced towardsthe surface, just above which the attackingGermans were coming. Sheddan first splitthe squadron into four flights and then allo-wed attacks in pairs. The enemy were hea-ding for the aircraft carriers HMS Habbakukand USS Franklin D. Roosevelt.Kleinkönnig alternated between checkingthe position of his enemies, the altimeter andthe speedometer during the descent. Theengine roared and the plane shook. At 3,000metres, the speedometer needle was appro-aching 800 kilometres per hour. Torgeir heldon bravely a few hundred metres behind.Kleinkönnig carefully leveled off but missedtwo bombing Gotha‘s that were flying left toright with torpedoes under their wings. In hisrear-view mirror he noticed that some Bri-tish colleague had opened fire on them. Hecontinued towards the ships. The flak fire hadthickened to the point that it was perhapswalkable. One Haunebu and two Gotha wereviolently spinning into the sea after the hitsfrom ship guns.Around Kleinkönnig, his own flak was alrea-dy exploding, and he heard a few bangs as ifa hammer had hit the plane.„Rabbit 6 to Rabbit 5, there‘s a Messerschmittdown at 10 o‘clock!“Indeed! The P.1101 flew the same course. „Hecan‘t just be here alone, he‘s covering some-one,“ thought Kleinkönnig. „Rabbit 5, I‘m go-ing to attack, watch your surroundings andwatch out for bombers!“Kleinkönnig already had a target in his sights.Occasionally it was partially obscured by pu-ffs of flak, but he was quickly approaching theMesserschmitt from above and its 5 o‘clock.The German spotted the danger at the lastmoment and tried to roll to the right, but itwas too late. The hits of Kleinkönnig‘s gunstore off his wing and the Messerschmitt jetdisappeared in a tumble in the depths.„Good show!“ the wingman echoed.„Rabbit 5 to Rabbit 6, check the area, lest weend up like that mule.“Then Kleinkönnig noticed two shadows overthe water, moving in the same direction ashim. At first he thought it was the shadow ofhis pair, but then he realized how low the sunwas and looked down on the other side. TwoHaunebu with white and grey camouflagewere flying towards the carriers.„Tally-ho!“The speedometer needle passed the 800mark.The Haunebu had torpedoes hanging fromher bottom, Kleinkönnig knew they wouldhave to slow down and stay on course for thetarget in order to drop their cargo. He wasclosing fast on both saucers. Flak of smallercalibers was already firing from nearby ships.The outlines of the carriers were rapidly inc-reasing in size.The flying saucers suddenly turned sharply tothe left. Kleinkönnig didn‘t expect that andpulled Tempest up the climb. He went intoa sharp bank to see what was happening.Then he realised that the German pilots hadto reduce their speed considerably and therewas no other way to do it than to reduce po-wer and brake in a tight turn.Both Haunebu‘s performed a 360 degreeturn during the break off and re-set coursefor the carriers, this time at the correct spe-ed for torpedo drops. Kleinkönnig had not yetmet the Haunebu bombers, but he suspec-ted that they might have at least a rear firingguns.He wasn‘t wrong, the German machineswent into a slight descent and from theirsterns red tracers with smoke trails began toconverge towards the pair of Tempests.Torpedoes could be in the water any second.Kleinkönnig opened fire, and flashes and pu-ffs of smoke began to appear on the surfaceof the flying disc. Two geysers of water rosebelow, the torpedoes were on their way. Thedisk began to leave gray smoke behind it, butit hadn‘t had enough yet. But Torgeir tookaim.Kleinkönnig targeted the second machinewith fire and when he ran out of ammuni-tion, he came even closer and fired rockets.The disc exploded in a deafening detonation.Kleinkönnig looked back to find his wingmanand saw the first flying saucer hit the water.From the reports on the radio it was clearthat Sheddan, Clostermann, Luukkanen andothers had shot down several torpedo bom-bers. HMS Habbakuk had taken two hits, buta layer of pykrete protected the ship. USSFranklin D. Roosevelt was more severly hit, lis-ting on her side. Her crew managed to rightthe tilt, but eventually Rear Admiral Soucekdecided to drive between the ice floes to theshallow water and make the ship a stationarybase off the part of the coast in Allied hands.The danger from enemy submarines was toogreat on the high seas.To be continuedEns. Eduard „Bunny“ Kleinkönnig, Naval Detachment of No. 486 SquadronRNZAF, Aircraft Carrier HMS Habbakuk, Antarctica, summer 1946/1947This machine was flown by the legendary Czech pilot in the internationalcrew of the aircraft carrier HMS Habbakuk during the battles against theLuftwaffe over Antarctica in the summer of 1946-1947. The letter K is the in-dividual designation of Kleinkönnig‘s machine. He had his girlfriend paintedon the side of the aircraft. The sharkmouth was added to the aircraft later,as a reminder of the rescue of Kleinkönnig‘s flight leader. After being shotdown into the sea, he was attacked by killer whales, but Kleinkönnig foughtoff the predators. The naval scheme was painted on the unit‘s machines du-ring the voyage to Antarctica. Rabbit skulls were painted on all of the unit‘smachines in honor of Kleinkönnig. The machine was equipped with missilesfor attacking od enemy jets during take-off.eduard59INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 60
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KITS 01/2022c/n 5379, PO1c Tsuguo Matsuyama, Hiryū Fighter Squadron, aircraft carrier Hiryū, December 7, 1941PO1c Saburō Sakai, Tainan Kōkūtai, Lakunai airfield, Rabaul, New Britain island, August 1942PO2c Kōtarō Koyae, Zuihō Fighter Squadron, Rabaul, New Britain island, April 1943During second attack against Hawaii the Hiryū aircraft carrier sent nine Zeros under the command of Lt. Sumio Nōno. His pilotsattacked Kaneohe and Bellows bases, claiming two destroyed aircraft and one car. Third Shōtai was led by PO1c Matsuyama, whoshot down in coopeartion with his wingman P-40s piloted by 2nd Lieutenants George Whiteman and Samuel Bishop of the 44thPursuit Squadron. Matsuyama had combat missions with the 13th Kōkūtai in China on his account already. On February 25, 1938, aswingman of the legendary Sadaaki Akamatsu, he participated in shooting down four aircraft. During the raids on Ceylon on April 9,1942, Matsuyama's shōtai shot down a Blenheim Mk.IV, probably of S/Ldr Kenneth Ault´s crew, who was leading formation of No. 11Squadron RAF in an attack on Japanese ships. Matsuyama later served on the aircraft carrier Hiyō and was killed on April 7, 1943in combat with the Wildcats off Guadalcanal. The airplane BII-124 was shot down on February 19, 1942 during the raid on Darwin.After being hit by anti-aircraft fire, Seaman 1st class Hajime Toyoshima landed on Melville Island and was captured by AboriginalMatthias Ulungura. Toyoshima was the first captured Zero pilot and used alias "Tadao Minami". He became one of the organizersof the largest prisoner escape in World War II. On August 5, 1944 at Cowra POW Camp he gave signal to escape. Total of 1,104 POWsattempted to espace, 231 were killed and four Australians lost their lives as well. Toyoshima was mortally wounded, so he lighteda cigarette and committed suicide.Saburō Sakai is best known Japanese fighter pilot, thanks to his memoirs and meetings with Allied airmen after World War II. Hewas born in 1916 and served from September 1938 with the 12th Kōkūtai in China. In October 1941, he was assigned to the newlyorganized Tainan Kōkūtai in Taiwan and took part in campaign heading South until he was wounded on August 7, 1942 off Gua-dalcanal. After recovering, he served as an instructor with Ōmura Kōkūtai, and later, despite bad eyesight, was combat deployedwith Yokosuka Kōkūtai on Iwo Jima. At the end of war he served with Kōkūtai 343 (II) and Yokosuka Kōkūtai. He is listed as an acewith 64 victories, but Sakai himself claimed the number of his victories was lower. With the first two units he actually achieved12 individual victories, 8 shared and 4 probables. The V-128 was also flown by PO2c Arita and PO1c Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, who iscredited with 87 victories. The color of the stripes is chosen from Sakai's recollection, but there are other interpretations, such asa black or yellow stripe on the fuselage. During a fighter escort to Guadalcanal on August 7, Sakai shot down Wildcat "F12" fromVF-5 piloted by "Pug" Southerland in an epic dogfight. Sakai was later severely wounded in the face by fire from VB-6 Dauntlessnear Tulagi Island. After nearly five hours and more than 1,000 km, he managed to land back at Rabaul. Sakai died in 2000 afterformal dinner with members of the US Navy.Petty Officer 2nd Class Koyae was born in 1923 in Miyazaki Prefecture and completed his flight training in November 1942. Hewas than assigned to the fighter unit of the aircraft carrier Zuihō in March 1943. In April, the unit moved to Rabaul and Koyae flewthe aircraft during Operation I-gō. In this period, green paint was applied to Zeros in field conditions. It was usually painted byhand, the edges of the green fields being softened with thinner sometimes. However, according to the unit log, Koyae did not flycombat sorties in April 1943. In fact he did not encounter the enemy until November 1943 over Rabaul. During the same month hewas transferred to Kōkūtai 253 at Rabaul and by early 1944 he was undergoing intense fighting. Upon his return to Japan, he wasassigned to the Ōmura Kōkūtai. While on leave, on February 17, 1944, he spotted a Japanese bomber circling in the rain at nightover the village of Goda, Miyazaki Prefecture. Koyae, with the help of the villagers, established a navigation signal and after sometime he managed to guide the crew to right heading. For this achievment he received a written commendation from commanderof Ōmura Kōkūtai. In July 1944, Koyae was assigned to Hikōtai 701 and fought in the defense of the Philippines. After returningto Japan, he was assigned to Hikōtai 701 (II) and served with Ōmura Kōkūtai at the end of the war. After the war he worked as afireman and published his memories. According to the local press, he achieved 20 victories, but these may be victories achievedby fighter formations in which he took part.eduard61INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 62
KITS 01/2022Lt. Kunio Kanzaki, CO of Hikōtai 311 of Kōkūtai 381, Kendari airfield, Celebes island, May 1944Lt. Nobuo Miyatake, Kamikaze Tokubetsu Kōgekitai, 1. Shichisei-tai, Kanoya airbase, Japan, April 1944Kōkūtai 381 was established in October 1943 at Kendari Base on the island of Celebes. It was a mixed Kōkūtai with 48 fighter--bombers (Hikōtai 602), 24 night fighters (Hikōtai 902) and 48 fighter aircraft in Hikōtai 311, the latter commanded by Lt. Kanzaki.During the 1944 he operated from bases on islands in Indonesia and the Philippines. Their most frequent opponents were U.S. Armyaircraft. Kanzaki's unit used special phosphorus anti-aircraft bombs to attack enemy bombers. Kanzaki's aircraft, manufacturedby the Nakajima company, has been reconstructed in the past with various color markings. It is assumed that the vertical tail sur-faces and part of the upper wing surfaces were painted the same color like lower surfaces. The front part of the engine may alsohave been painted grey or yellow. It is not entirely clear from the photograph of the aircraft whether the white stripes on the lowerfuselage are joined. It may have been designed to improve the mutual identification of Army and Navy aircraft when fighting Alliedfighters. Another reason for this camouflage may have been for easier identification during night fighter flights. For example,Lt. Kanzaki and his wingman shot down a B-24 of the 380th BG over Balikpapan on the night of January 12-13, 1944. Some aircraftof Kōkūtai 331 were also painted in the same upper and tailplane camouflage. Both units operated in one tactical group during partof 1944.From the April 3, 1945 a total of eight special attack units with the battle name "Shichisei" were organized from the airmen servingin Genzan Kōkūtai (II) and Hikōtai 306 (part of Kōkūtai 721). Lt. Miyatake, who was 24 years old at the time, led the 1st Shichisei-taiin an attack on a convoy off Okinawa on April 6, 1945. During that day, eleven other airmen from Genzan Kōkūtai (II) sacrificed theirlives along with him. They took off successively in four formations. Their formation was part of the 524 aircraft of special attackunits and escort fighters from IJN and IJA sent against Allied vessels off Okinawa as part of Operation Kikusui I. The U.S. Navy lostdestroyers USS Bush and Colhoun and other ships were severely damaged. "Shichisei" units were sent against ships off Okinawa,Yoronjima, Kikai, and Tanegashima islands in several missions till May 14. Only one of them returned to base due to bad weather.Lt. Miyatake was born in Kagawa Prefecture and graduated from the Etajima Naval Academy in 1942. Before the mission, he wrotefarewell letters to his mother and three sisters. His father was interned in Siberia at the time. Nobuo Miyatake was posthumouslypromoted to the rank of Commander. His aircraft from Nakajima production is designated "Ke-113".eduard62INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 63
KITS 01/2022OVERTREESA6M2Cat. No. 82211X1/48Product pageProduct pageCat. No. 82212-LEPT1Recommended for A6M2 Zero Type 21481076 A6M2 landing flaps (PE-Set)FE1238 A6M2 seatbelts STEEL (PE-Set)644128 A6M2 LööK (Brassin)648693 A6M2 wheels (Brassin)648694 A6M2 engine PRINT (Brassin)648695 A6M undercarriage legs BRONZE (Brassin)648698 A6M2 seat PRINT (Brassin)3DL48050 A6M2 SPACE (3D Decal Set)EX821 A6M2 TFace (Mask)Cat. No. 644128Cat. No. 648694Cat. No. 648695eduard63INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 64
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KITS 01/2022Z-126, OK-JGT, No. 804, Ruzyně Aero Club, 1960Z-126, OK-DVG, No. 525, Příbram Aero Club, September 2021The “Yoghurt”, as the aircraft is nicknamed due to its matriculation, was manufactured in 1954 and on February 15, 1955 it washanded over to the Ministry of Defence for pilot training purposes. Later was handed over to the Svazarm organization (Unionfor civilian cooperation with army) and was operated mainly by Aero Clubs of Zbraslavice, Ruzyně or Letňany. Its career as Z-126version ended in 1982 and it was stored disassembled in the Letňany hangar. In 1998, OK_JGT underwent general overhaul and wasalso upgraded to the Z-226MS version by ZLIN-AVION Service company. At that time, "Yoghurt" also received a livery with yellow--red triangles. The historical livery of OK-JGT as Z-126 was based on the scheme used for the Z-226A/AS aerobatic specials, withlight blue color instead the white one.This aircraft was produced as Z-26 on August 30, 1950. As it was 38th aircraft of this type manufactured, it got military markingcode UC-38 and served with military from 1950 to 1954. After that the aircraft was assigned to the Liberec Aero Club, convertedto the Z-126 version and registered as OK-DVG on April 22, 1955. It flew like this until 1966, when it was considered too old and putout of service. Eventually it was noticed by František Altner, a Czechoslovak Airlines pilot, who brought the incomplete aircraft. Hemade overhaul of it on his own and registered it as OK-EKA at the end of 1970. When Ladislav Bezák emigrated at the end of 1971,however, Altner was banned to use the aircraft and sold it to the Svazarm (Union for civilian cooperation with army). In 1976, theaircraft underwent another overhaul and flew with the Aero Clubs in the Central Bohemia region, mainly at the airfields of Točná,Kladno and Příbram until 1981, when it was de-registered again due to its age. Thanks to the efforts of the members of PříbramAero Club it was overhauled again in the mid-1990s by ZLIN-AVION Service and got its original markings. It was test-flown onSeptember 2, 1997 and is in use by Příbram Aero Club until today. It is the only Trener that has retained manual crank start andis the oldest airworthy one as well.eduard65INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 66
KITS 01/2022Z-126, OK-JHD, No. 817, private owners, Chotěboř airfield, 2021Z-126, D-EYGL, No. 796, private owner, Straubing Airport, Germany, 2020This Z-126 was test-flown on March 3, 1955 and stored afterwards until February 1, 1957. At that time it was given the OK-JHD ma-triculation, and the military commission took over this trainer a week later. It was then used by Regional Aero Club Liberec. Dueto its intense service, it had to undergo its first overhaul in 1959 by LOTN (Trenčín Aircraft Repairs). The second overhaul followedin 1966 and the third in 1974, this time at Aerotechnik Kunovice, where the aircraft received a brick orange livery with a dark redstripe. In this form it was serving until September 1979. A year later it was deleted from the register and remained disassembledin the hangar of the Liberec Aero Club where over the years became a spare parts source. Then, two members of the ChotěbořAero Club found it there some 20 years later and decided to buy it and make it to fly again. They also wanted their Trener to be givena historically accurate marking. Their first choice was the design in which the Z-126 OK-IMB flew in the 1970´s in Chotěboř andneighbor Aero Clubs. However, as they lacked good reference materials, the choice fell on the color scheme based on the coloringof the aircraft of the famous Olomouc woman aerobatic group which was flying in 1957. The OK-JHD was test-flown in this form onOctober 13, 2007 in Otrokovice. Since then, it has been operated on the Chotěboř airfield and used not only by its owners but alsoby other pilots of the local Aero Club.The aircraft was manufactured in 1954 with wooden tail surfaces, but already as Z-126. It was handed over to the Svazarm (Unionfor civilian cooperation with army) on December 17 the same year. From that time on it was serving with Kralupy nad Vltavou, Gott-waldov and Holešov Aero Clubs (there until 1978). In 1992 it was bought by Emmax Uherské Hradiště company and a year later soldto a private owner from Strážnice. After overhaul by ZLIN-AVION Service in 1994, the OK-IGL was operated at Kunovice airfieldand changed hands again around 2000. After a few years the owner sold it to German taker and the aircraft was given Germanmatriculation D-EYGL, as more appropriate D-EIGL was not available.eduard66INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 67
KITS 01/2022Z-126, OK-IFD, No. 739, Ústí nad Orlicí Aero Club, 1969Z-126, OK-IHQ, No. 778, private owners, Letňany airfield, 2021OK-IFD was first flown on July 26, 1954 and then headed to AK Liberec, where it was used for pilot training and glider towing. Sub-sequently it was also used in Ústí nad Labem and Most, from where it was bought by AK Ústí nad Orlicí. However, the aircraft hadto be transported by land, as it was at the end of its lifetime period. It was overhauled by the LOTN (Trenčín Aircraft Repairs) andthe original military green color was replaced by a more colorful marking. At the same time, a large logo of the then textile factoryPerla, which sponsored the overhaul, appeared on the sides of the fuselage under the canopy. Overhauled OK-IFD was test-flownon September 1, 1970, but after Vlastimil Macek emigrated to Austria on a glider in July 1973, the Aero Club had to hand its Trenerover. The OK-IFD then travelled through several Aero Clubs, changed colors several times, and finally ended up in Holešov AeroClub in 1982. There is one uncertainty with this marking, as the contemporary witnesses can´t decide whether the stripe on thefuselage and wing was blue or black. We provide decal for the blue version; black stripe can be airbrushed instead.This Z-126 was handed over to Ministry of Defence on February 21, 1955 as a C 105-243. On September 12, 1959, it was entered tothe civil register under the OK-IHQ matriculation and put into service with the Svazarm Aero Clubs in Hořice, Plasy and Jičín. Thelatter used it until 1999. Later it was bought by private owners and the aircraft was given the livery of a 1950s military trainer asa part of an overhaul. Interestingly, the dashboards are painted red, and the aircraft has impressive radio equipment. OK-IHQ isbased at the Letňany airfield nowadays.eduard67INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 68
KITS 01/2022Z-126, OK-IVA, No. 737, private owner, Slaný airfield, 2021Z-126, OK-HLK, No. 722, Kunovice Aero Club, 1970This aircraft was produced in 1954 and received the OK-IFB matriculation. It served with the Košice Aero Club from May 15, 1954and subsequently was used at Nitra airfield as a training aircraft for students of the College of Transportation in Žilina. After that,it was used by the Holíč Aeroclub. In 1992 the aircraft was at the end of its technical lifespan and transferred to Slušovice, whereit was stored. Subsequently it was moved to Kunovice. Since 1998 it is in private hands. During 1999 - 2000 period it underwenta major overhaul at ZLIN-AVION Service and after that it was sold and operated again at the Kunovice airfield. In 2017, it changedhands again and is operated from Slaný airfield today, where it is stored in the hangar of the Točná Aero Club. The aircraft hasa non-standard flash beacon on the top of the vertical fin.This Trener served with the army from February 5, 1954, when the Ministry of Defence took it over and used it as C 105-220. Laterit was transferred to Uherské Hradiště and flew in Kunovice Aero Club, where in 1969 the powered flying was re-established. Afterreaching its technical life limit, it was stored in the depository of the Technical Museum Brno and handed over to the Brno companyŠperlík later. Thanks to the company´s efforts, it was overhauled in Aerotechnik Kunovice. In August 2007, the aircraft had a severecrash in Vysoké Mýto. However, but it was repaired again and is still flying today in new elegant white and blue coloring. Attractiveperiod coloring corresponds to the habits of the Kunovice Aero Club at that time, including the drawing of a “flying witch” on thenose.eduard68INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 69
KITS 01/2022Z-126, OK-IHO, No. 705, Brno-Slatina Aero Club, spring 1977Z-126T, OK-MFV, v. no. 168, Aeroklub Kladno, 2020The Z-126 of serial number 705 served with the army as C 105-234 from March 30, 1954. It was entered into the civil register onDecember 18, 1958 and served with the Brno Aero Club for many years. In the spring of 1977, it had only about five flying hours leftin its service life, so the members of the Aero Club decided to “decorate” the aircraft a little. The shark's mouth motif was chosen,but when the then regional chief technician engineer of the Svazarm (Union for civilian cooperation with army) saw the work, hewas not impressed and demanded the painting to be removed. However, the situation was saved by the regional chief of Svazarm,Colonel Holubář, who immediately declared that he wanted to fly the painted Trener first. And so, the new design was approved...Finally, this Trener was removed from the register on July 21, 1977.When the OK-JHA Z-126 Trener ended its service with Kladno Aero Club due to the end of its technical lifespan in November 2013,its engine together with the propeller and engine cowls were transported to ZLIN-AVION Service company in Otrokovice. In thesame direction, the Z-226MS airframe of the OK-MFV matriculation headed to mate with OK-JHA´s parts to create new Z-126T.As part of this conversion, the newly built aircraft also received the original livery and OK-MFV matriculation. It was test-flown inJanuary 2014 and is still flying with Kladno Aero Club. The “donor” of the engine and of other parts, OK-JHA, was manufactured in1955 and subsequently stored at the manufacturer´s premises before being handed over to the Svazarm on March 1, 1957. It wasflown mainly at Točná and Kladno, where it ended its journey.eduard69INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 70
KITS 01/2022OVERTREESZ-126 Trenér Cat. No. 82186X1/48Product pageRecommended for Z-126 TrenérFE1219 Z-126/226 seatbelts STEEL (PE-Set)644119 Z-126 Trenér LööK (Brassin)648679 Z-126/226 Trenér wheels (Brassin)3DL48044 Z-126 SPACE (3D Decal Set)EX827 Z-126 TFace (Mask)Product pageCat. No. 11156-LEPT1Cat. No. 644119Cat. No. 648679eduard70INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 71
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KITS 01/2022P9372, P/O Antony C. Bartley, No. 92 Squadron, RAF Croydon, Great Britain, March – April 1940L1004, F/Lt Alexander V. R. Johnstone, No. 602 Squadron, RAF Drem, East Lothian, Great Britain, May 1940Spitfire P9372 served with No. 92 Sqn from March 1940, when the unit changed their Blenheims Mk.If to Spitfires. Along with it, ittook part in the evacuation from Dunkirk, when it was flown by Antony Charles Bartley, among other airmen. A native of Dhaka inwhat was then British India, he joined the RAF in 1939 and after training he was posted to No. 92 Sqn, with which he took part notonly in covering the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force but also in the Battle of Britain. In March 1941 he was transferredto No. 74 Sqn for two months, where he had been training new pilots. He later flew as a test pilot with Supermarine and fromAugust 1942 commanded No. 111 Sqn during its deployment to North Africa. He subsequently served as a staff member of No. 83Group and from October 1944 he took post at RAF Transport Command in the Far East. At the end of the war his score was 12 + 1destroyed, 5 probables and 8 damaged aircraft. After the war he held various positions in the British film and television industryand died on April 18, 2001. Spitfire P9372 served with No. 92 Sqn until September 9, 1940 when it was shot down near East Guildford.P/O W. C. Watlings, althoug injured, managed to rescue himself on parachute. The wreckage of the Spitfire was excavated from thecrash site and displayed at Tonbridge Battle of Britain Museum. The parts were then acquired by noted Spitfirologist Peter R. Monkof Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar Ltd. There they have been on display on the hangar wall since 2016. On August 5, 2019, the projectto restore P9372 to airworthy condition commenced and it was subsequently officially registered under the G-CLIH matriculation.Alexander Vallance Riddell Johnstone, better known as "Sandy" Johnstone, achieved his first combat successes in the cockpit ofL1004 in late June and early July, when he shot down a He 111, a Ju 88 in cooperation and also damaged a Do 17. On July 12, he tookcommand of No. 602 Sqn and increased his score by a further seven kills. In September 1941 he took command of No. 263 Wing inBeirut and in April 1942 became sector commander in Haifa, Palestine. As early as September 1942, however, he moved to Malta,where he became commander of Luqa airfield. In January 1943 he returned to operational flying as commander of Krendi Wingwith Spitfire Mk.Vc. He commanded the Wing until the end of March 1943, then returned to Britain where he held various commandposts until the end of the war. He ended the war with nine kills (7 + 2), 1 probable and 7 enemy aircraft damaged. Tests of the 1,645hp Merlin 32 engine were carried out on Spitfire Mk.I L1004 in late 1942. The tests were successful and the decision was made toinstall this powerplant in the existing Seafire Mk.IIC aircraft. The colour profile shows the appearance of the aircraft in the secondhalf of May 1940, when the undersurfaces of the RAF fighters were painted black and white. A tricolour was added to the tail andcockades of type A1 were painted on the fuselage sides. From June 6, 1940 it was ordered that the undersurfaces of RAF fighterswould be camouflaged with Sky paint.eduard73INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 74
KITS 01/2022X4036, P/O Robert F. T. Doe, No. 234 Squadron, RAF Middle Wallop, Hampshire, Great Britain, August 1940R7057, P/O James H. Lacey, No. 501 Squadron, RAF Colerne, Wiltshire, Great Britain, May 1941Robert Francis Thomas Doe, a native of Reigate, Surrey, joined the RAF at the age of fresh 18 in March 1938. Training was followedby service with No. 234 Sqn from November 1939, with which he flew until almost the end of the Battle of Britain. On August 27,1940 he was transferred to No. 238 Sqn, with which he flew as Flight Leader in Hurricanes. On his return from rest, when he wastraining new pilots with No. 57 OTU, further activity followed, this time in faraway Burma with No. 613 Sqn. However, he flew withthis unit for only two months, until December 1943, when he was commissioned to form No. 10 Sqn of the Indian Air Force. Therehe also served to the end of World War II. In September 1946, Robert Doe returned to the UK and held staff posts in the RAF untilhis retirement in April 1966, retiring with the rank of W/Cdr. He died on February 21, 2010.After the rearmament of No. 501 Sqn from Hurricanes to Spitfires in May 1941, Spitfire R7057, bearing the donation inscription"Caithness" (drawn on both sides probably in yellow) became the personal aircraft of "Ginger" Lacey, one of the RAF's most su-ccessful pilots with 28 kills to his credit. Czech pilot Sgt. Antonín Dvořák also flew several operational flights in its cockpit. FromJuly this Spitfire served with No. 53 OTU RAF in Llandow. On August 12, 1941, R7057 and its pilot Colin Day were lost in an air crashnear Glynneath.eduard74INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 75
R7057, P/O James H. Lacey, No. 501 Squadron, RAF Colerne, Wiltshire, Great Britain, May 1941KITS 01/2022481026 Spitfire Mk.I landing flaps (PE-Set)FE1112 Spitfire Mk.I seatbelts STEEL (PE-Set)644063 Spitfire Mk.I early LööK (Brassin)644064 Spitfire Mk.I late LööK (Brassin)644066 Spitfire Mk.I early LööKplus (Brassin)644067 Spitfire Mk.I late LööKplus (Brassin)648578 Spitfire Mk.I cockpit (Brassin)648579 Spitfire Mk.I wheels (Brassin)648580 Spitfire Mk.I exhaust stacks (Brassin)648581 Spitfire Mk.I gun bays (Brassin)648582 Spitfire Mk.I engine (Brassin)648589 Spitfire Mk.I undercarriage legs BRONZE (Brassin)SIN64868 Spitfire Mk.I ESSENTIAL (Brassin)SIN64870 Spitfire Mk.I ADVANCED (Brassin)3DL48005 Spitfire Mk.I early SPACE (3D Decal Set)3DL48006 Spitfire Mk.I late SPACE (3D Decal Set)D48053 Spitfire Mk.I national insignia (Decal Set)D48064 Spitfire Mk.I stencils (Decal Set)EX709 Spitfire Mk.I TFace (Mask)EX713 Spitfire Mk.I (Mask)Recommended for Spitfire Mk.IaCat. No. 644063Cat. No. 648579Cat. No. 648580Cat. No. 648581Cat. No. 648578Cat. No. 648589Cat. No. D48053Cat. No. 3DL48005Cat. No. 648582eduard75INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 76
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KITS 01/2022MiG-21MT, No. 96.40.15, Dolgoye Ledovo, Russia, early 1980´sMiG-21SMT, 515 IAP, Tököl, Hungary, late 1970´sThis aircraft can be currently found at Dolgoye Ledovo on display, but the unit it served with is uncertain. The MiG-21MT (NATO codeFishbed K) was produced by the Moscow plant Znamya Truda in 1971, but only 15 of these aircraft were built, because pilots werevery unsatisfied with performance and flying characteristics of the plane. It was developer as a response to foreign customerscalling for longer operational range. More powerful R-13F-300 engine was installed as well as a big internal fuel tank of 900 litersvolume in the fuselage ridge. This gave the MiG-21MT its characteristic hump appearance. Although the MT version was intendedto be an export version, no customers were ever found.Yellow 31 was serving with the 515 Fighter Regiment in Tököl. The aircraft was delivered in natural metal finish, later on the aircraftof the unit were given camouflage and the tactical numbers were painted with white outline only. The aircraft was given protectivegrey painting on the bottom of the front section of the fuselage and was presented to delegation of Hungarian pilots, who wereundergoing training for usage of special bombs at the time.eduard77INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 78
KITS 01/2022MiG-21MT, No. 96.40.14, Dolgoye Ledovo, Russia, mid 1980´sMiG-21SMT, 582 IAP, Chojna, Poland, late 1970´sAircraft of serial number 96.40.14 was one of only fifteen MTs produced (factory designated “Izdelye 96B”). Some 12 of them wereprobably used by 66 APIB (Fighter-Bomber Air Regiment) based at Veshchevo, while three remaining were based at Kubinka AirBase for display to foreign delegates. It is possible that these aircraft also served with the No. 4 escadrille of 234 GIAP (GuardsFighter Air Regiment). This aircraft can be found at the airfield at Dolgoye Ledovo near Moscow today as a didactic aid and is partof the military department of MEI (Moscow Energy Institute - Technical University).The “Yellow 20” was serving with the 582 IAP located at Chojna Air Base in Poland. Aircraft of this unit were delivered in naturalmetal finish, later, during 1980´s they got camouflage markings. The aircraft was given protective grey painting on the bottom ofthe front section of the fuselage. The tactical number has slightly different outline for each digit. The aircraft sports also red badgeindicating “outstanding maintenance”.eduard78INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 79
MiG-21SMT, 582 IAP, Chojna, Poland, late 1970´sKITS 01/202248704 MiG-21 ladder (PE-Set)648025 Rocket launcher UB-16 and UB-32 (Brassin)648026 MiG-21 wheels (Brassin)648030 MiG-21 seat late (Brassin)648038 MiG-21SMT interior (Brassin)648040 RS-2US / AA-1 Alkali (Brassin)648049 MiG-21 wheel wells (Brassin)648064 MiG-21 late airbrakes (Brassin)648080 MiG-21 undercarriage legs BRONZE (Brassin)648082 R-60 / AA-8 Aphid (Brassin)648125 R-3S / AA-2 Atoll-A (Brassin)648126 OFAB-100 Soviet bombs (Brassin)648127 OFAB-250 Soviet bombs (Brassin)648136 S-24 rocket (Brassin)648490 MiG-21 F.O.D. (Brassin)648445 R-13M missiles (Brassin)EX526 MiG-21MF w/ canopy seal (Mask)EX636 MiG-21MF TFace (Mask)Recommended for MiG-21SMTCat. No. 648049Cat. No. 648082Cat. No. 648126Cat. No. 648445Cat. No. 648490Cat. No. 648080Cat. No. 648125eduard79INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 80
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KITS 01/2022c/n 613234, kpt. Oldřich Paldus, 15th Fighter Regiment, Czechoslovak Air Force, Cottbus Airfield,German Democratic Republic, August 30, 1957No. 20 Squadron, Egypt., Late 1950s / Early 1960sc/n 1315376, ex 64th IAK, Soviet Union, Mid 1950sA group of three MiGs-15bis of 15 Fighter Regiment from Žatec Air Base took part in the 2nd Cultural and Sport Celebration orga-nized in Cottbus, German Democratic Republic from late August to early September 1957. The distinctive blue marking was appliedon these aircraft especially for this event. During the display two aircraft, this No. 3234, and another MiG-15bis No. 3233 collided.No. 3234 lost the tip of its left horizontal stabilizer, but the pilot managed to keep control of the aircraft and was able to land sa-fely. After the 15th FR was disbanded, two pilots of its display team, Oldřich Paldus and Václav Polášek were transferred to 11 FRin 1958. Capt. Jaromír Palečný joined them in 1959 and as all of them were not tall at all, the display team was unofficially dubbed“Trio Prckos”( “The Three Shorties” in English).Egypt purchased a total of 110 MiG-15bis aircraft from Czechoslovakia. This particular one served with No. 20 Squadron of the Uni-ted Arab Republic Air Force. The United Arab republic was a federation of Egypt and Syria that lasted from 1958 to 1961. Egypt keptthis name untill 1971. No. 20 Squadron was based at Deversoir, El Qabrit and Inshas air bases.This aircraft took part in the Korean War – the communist attempt to occupy the entire Korean peninsula. At the time it was mar-ked with red number 1976 on its fuselage. Back in the USSR, the number was simply overpainted with the yellow 30, as well as thefading North Korean insignia was freshly overpainted. As the North Korean national insignia was simply an extension of the Sovietred star, removing the white outline and adding the red and blue circles, only these circles (rather faded) were visible. The originalstar was simply overpainted with fresh outlined one. Based on photographic evidence, the insignia was applied on the fuselageonly, but it is possible these were painted on the lower surface of the wings as well.eduard81INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 82
KITS 01/2022c/n 0320138, 1st Squadron, 101st Reconnaissance Regiment, Szolnok, Hungary, 1972Maj. Mikhail Ivanovich Mikhin, 518th IAP, North Korea, May 1953This MiG was delivered together with another 29 aircraft in April 1962. These originally served with the Soviet Air Force and afterthe overhaul were supplied in the natural metal finish to Hungary. During the overhaul the aircraft c/n 0320138 had the upgradedwing installed featuring the landing light located at the left wheel well. The light was later covered with a sheet aluminum.In August 1968 this particular airplane participated in the Warsaw Pact armed forces invasion (except Romania and Albania) to,at that time, Czechoslovakia. Before the invasion it was marked with the red stripes which were later deleted. In March 1970 theaircraft was overpainted in the camouflage colors including all stencils. In September 1975 the airframe was struck off chargehaving logged 1535 flight hours and was abandoned at the Szolnok airbase.Mikhail Mikhin was born on October 25th, 1923 and right after the graduation from the high school he started his pilot trainingfinishing it in the end of 1944. He did not manage to participate in any combat during the World War Two, however he participatedin the air combat over Korea where he was deployed in July 1952 with the entire 518th IAP. The unit remained in the combat zoneuntil the end of hostilities, Major Mikhin shot down 9 enemy aircraft in total (7 x F-86, 2 x F-84) for which accomplishment he wasawarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on July 14, 1953. He remained in the active service of the Red Army Air Force after theKorean War and retired with the rank of Major General in 1980. He passed away on March 25, 2007 in St. Petersburg.eduard82INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 83
KITS 01/2022OVERTREESMiG-15bisCat. No. 7059X1/72Product pageProduct pageCat. No. 7059-LEPT1Recommended for MiG-15bis72574 MiG-15 landing flaps (PE-Set)72575 MiG-15/MiG-15bis exterior (PE-Set)672007 MiG-15 wheels (Brassin)672008 MiG-15 ejection seat (Brassin)672020 MiG-15bis airbrakes (Brassin)672024 MiG-15bis cockpit (Brassin)D72007 MiG-15 / MiG-15bis stencils (Mask)Cat. No. 672020Cat. No. 672024Cat. No. 672008eduard83INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 84
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KITS 01/202244-13761, flown by Capt. Jack M. Ilfrey, 79th FS, 20th FG, 8th AF, USAAF Station 367 Kings Cliffe, Northamp-tonshire, Great Britain, Autumn 194444-13597, flown by Lt. William E. Fowler, 487th FS, 352nd FG, 8th AF, USAAF Station 141 Bodney,Norfolk, Great Britain, September 1944Captain Jack Ilfrey became an ace in North Africa, where he claimed 5½ kills (and 2 damaged) while flying P-38F “Texas Terror”.He joined 20th FG, 79th FS at USAAF Station Kings Cliffe in England on April 20, 1944, serving as Ops Officer from June 14, 1944. Heclaimed two more Bf 109Gs on May 24, flying P-38J “Happy Jack´s go Buggy”. He was shot down behind enemy lines in France onJune 12, but he successfully evaded capture walking and cycling 150 miles to Allied lines in Normandy with help of French civilians.He became 79th FS CO on September 7, leading the unit until December 9, 1944. He completed 142 combat missions over ETO andMTO. The 20th FG did not replace their P-38Js with P-51Cs until July 1944, changing them for P-51Ds shortly afterwards. The earlyMustangs of the 20th FG are known to have upper surfaces overpainted with green color, probably with RAF Dark Green, withirregular splitting line between green upper surfaces and silver/natural metal bottom surfaces. The 20th FG was nicknamed “LocoBusters” because made significant number of attacks against railroad network.Lt. Col. John C. Meyer, acting CO of the 487th FS and the ace credited with 37½ destroyed enemy aircraft, claimed four of his 24aerial victories in cockpit of this mount on September 11, 1944. Stardust was originally a personal aircraft of Lt. William E. Fowler,nicknamed „Flaps“, who ended his combat tour just three days before Meyer´s four-victory raid. The Stardust was than assigned toLt. Jack „Moose“ Landrum, who renamed it „Moose“. He was shot down and killed on October 24, 1944, while strafing at Hannover.The 352nd Fighter Group, based at USAAF Station Bodney, was fourth most successful FG of the 8th USAAF with 519 enemy pla-nes destroyed in the air and 287 on the ground, with 119 losses of their own. All three squadrons painted noses of their Mustangswith blue colour. In September 1944, the paint of the noses was changed from Medium Blue to the Dark Blue, which remained theGroup´s color until end of the War. Note the light area over the fuselage national insignia of the Stardust, which is clear naturalmetal surface after the washing of the invasion stripes on the upper surfaces including the upper surfaces of the wings.eduard85INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 86
KITS 01/202244-13316, flown by Leonard K. Carson, 362nd FS, 357th FG, 8th AF, USAAF Station 373 Leiston,Suffolk, Great Britain, June 194444-13317, flown by Capt. Donald R. Emerson, 336th FS, 4th FG, 8th AF, USAAF Station 356 Debden,Essex, Great Britain, September 1944The second top scoring Fighter Group of the 8th USAAF and the top scoring FG equipped with P-51D Mustangs was 357nd FG,credited with 609 German aircraft destroyed in the air and 106 on the ground, with their own losses of 128 aircraft. The unit had 35aces, led by Major Leonard „Kit“ Carson with 18½ aerial victories. He became 362nd FS CO on April 8, 1945. The key to the succe-ss of the unit was its fighting academy, called Clobber College, where the experienced pilots taught the newcomers the fightingtactics. The 362nd FS received their P-51Ds just a few days before D-day. Most of the unit´s early Mustangs had upper surfacescamouflaged Dark Green with Neutral Grey bottom surfaces, or Dark Green upper surfaces over the aluminium/natural metalbottom surfaces with narrow border between green and NMF surfaces high on fuselage sides. The colors were probably RAFpaints overtaken from RAF stock. The “Nooky Booky II” wears full D-day stripes, as the aircraft was delivered to the unit probablyaround June 6, 1944. The previous name of this plane was “Mildred”.The 4th FG was nicknamed Debden Eagles thanks to its home base and origins, as it was formed from RAF Eagle squadron (71st,121st and 133rd squadrons). After the incorporation into 8th AF the squadrons were re-named to 334th FS, 335th FS and 336th FS.As of April 1, 1943 their Spitfires were replaced by P-47s and in February 1944 these were changed for P-51s. Donald Emersonjoined the ranks of 4th Fighter Group on March 9, 1944 and during the following eight months of duty he flew 89 sorties duringwhich he was credited with 4½ enemy aircraft shot down. On December 25, 1944 he perished returning from the bomber escortmission when he spotted six Bf 109s. During the ensuing combat he descended close to the terrain and was hit by the anti-aircraftfire over the front. Pilot was probably killed, and his aircraft crashed nearby the town of Sittard in The Netherlands. However, hehad managed to shoot down two of his opponents. Capt. Emerson had the fuselage port side of his Mustang decorated with boxingDonald Duck in resemblance to his first name. There are seven kill markings painted under the windshield. From the beginning ofSeptember, the invasion stripes on the upper wings and fuselage sides surfaces of the allied aircraft were deleted and left on thelower surfaces only.eduard86INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 87
44-13316, flown by Leonard K. Carson, 362nd FS, 357th FG, 8th AF, USAAF Station 373 Leiston,Suffolk, Great Britain, June 194444-13317, flown by Capt. Donald R. Emerson, 336th FS, 4th FG, 8th AF, USAAF Station 356 Debden,Essex, Great Britain, September 1944KITS 01/2022FE1021 P-51D seatbelts STEEL (PE-Set)648485 P-51D exhaust stacks (Brassin)648486 P-51D exhaust stacks w/ fairing (Brassin)648487 P-51D Hamilton Standard propeller (Brassin)648494 P-51D wheels diamond tread (Brassin)648495 P-51D undercarriage legs BRONZE (Brassin)648503 P-51D wheels oval tread (Brassin)648504 P-51D wheels cross tread (Brassin)648505 P-51D wheels block tread (Brassin)648511 P-51D wheels diamond tread 2 (Brassin)648512 P-51D wheels rhomboid treat (Brassin)648513 P-51D wheels pointed cross tread (Brassin)648514 P-51D wheels grooved (Brassin)648517 P-51D gun bays (Brassin)648522 P-51D cockpit (Brassin)648555 P-51D engine (Brassin)648570 P-51D gun sights (Brassin)648571 P-51D 75gal drop tanks (Brassin)648572 P-51D 108gal drop tanks (Brassin)SIN64865 P-51D ESSENTIAL (Brassin)SIN64869 P-51D ADVANCED (Brassin)D48033 P-51D national insignia (Decal Set)D48034 P-51D stencils (Decal Set)EX663 P-51D TFace (Mask)Recommended for P-51D-5Cat. No. 648522Cat. No. 648522Cat. No. 648571Cat. No. 648495Cat. No. 648511eduard87INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 88
01/2022LööK set - Brassin pre-painted dashboard andSTEEL seatbelts for Tornado ECR in 1/48 scale.Easy to assemble, replaces plasc parts.Recommended kit: Eduard / RevellSet contains:- resin: 6 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted- painng mask: noLööK set - Brassin pre-painted dashboardand STEEL seatbelts for Z-126 Trener in 1/48 scale.Easy to assemble, replaces plasc parts.Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- resin: 2 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: yespre-painted- painng mask: no644136Tornado ECR LööK1/48 Eduard/Revell644119Z-126 Trener LööK1/48 EduardProduct pageProduct pageeduard88INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 89
Brassin set - cockpit for Z-226 Trener in1/48 scale. Made by direct 3D prinng.Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- 3D print: 20 part- resin: 13 parts- decals: yes- photo-etched details:yes, pre-painted- painng mask: no648705Z-226 Trener cockpit PRINT1/48 EduardBRASSIN 01/2022Product pageeduard89INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 90
BRASSIN 01/2022Brassin set - the early undercarriage whe-els for F-16 in 1/48 scale. The set consistsof the main wheels and a nose wheel.Easy to assemble, replaces plasc parts.Recommended kit: TamiyaSet contains:- resin: 3 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painng mask: yesBrassin set - the engine for A6M2in 1/48 scale. Made by direct 3D prinng.Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- 3D print: 1 part- decals: no- photo-etched details: yes- painng mask: no648707F-16 wheels early1/48 Tamiya648694A6M2 engine PRINT1/48 EduardProduct pageProduct pageeduard90INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 91
Brassin set - the ejecon seats for F-4B in 1/48scale. Made by direct 3D prinng. Easy to assem-ble, replaces plasc parts.Recommended kit:TamiyaSet contains:- 3D print: 8 parts- decals: yes- photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted- painng mask: noBrassin set - the late undercarriage wheels forF-16 in 1/48 scale. The set consists of the mainwheels and a nose wheel. Easy to assemble,replaces plasc parts. Recommended kit:TamiyaSet contains:- resin: 3 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painng mask: yes648709F-4B ejection seat early PRINT1/48 Tamiya648708F-16 wheels late1/48 TamiyaBRASSIN 01/2022Product pageProduct pageeduard91INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 92
BRASSIN 01/2022Brassin set - a twin machine gun for SBD-5in 1/48 scale. Recommended kit: Accurate Minia-tures / Revell / AcademySet contains:- resin: 8 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: yes- painng mask: noBrassin set - the engine for Sopwith Camelin 1/48 scale. Made by direct 3D prinng.Easy to assemble, replaces plasc parts.Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- 3D print: 1 part- decals: no- photo-etched details: yes- painng mask: no648712SBD-5 twin machine gun1/48 Accurate Miniatures/Revell648711Sopwith Camel Gnome engine PRINT1/48 EduardProduct pageProduct pageeduard92INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 93
Brassin set - the undercarriage wheels forSBD-5 in 1/48 scale. The set consists of themain wheels ans a tail wheel.Easy to assemble, replaces plasc parts.Recommended kit: Accurate Miniatures /RevellSet contains:- resin: 7 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painng mask: yesBrassin set - the Panzerschreck 1 rocketsfor Fw 190F in 1/48 scale. The set consistsof 4 rockets and launchers. Made by direct3D prinng. Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- 3D print: 20 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: yes- painng mask: no648713SBD-5 wheels1/48 Accurate Miniatures/Revell648714Panzerschreck 1 for Fw 190F PRINT1/48 EduardBRASSIN 01/2022Product pageProduct pageeduard93INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 94
BRASSIN 01/2022Brassin set - Brish 1000lb retarded bombsin 1/72 scale. The set consists of 8 bombs.Set contains:- resin: 16 parts- decals: yes- photo-etched details: yes- painng mask: noBrassin set - the TSPJ pod for Tornadoin 1/48 scale. The set consists of 1 pod.Made by direct 3D prinng.Recommended kit: Eduard / RevellSet contains:- 3D print: 1 part- decals: no- photo-etched details: yes- painng mask: no672277British 1000lb retarded bombs1/72648715TSPJ pod PRINT1/48 Revell/EduardProduct pageProduct pageeduard94INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 95
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Collection of 4 sets for Spitre Mk.Va/b in 1/48 scale.Recommended kit: Eduard- cockpit- undercarriage wheels- exhaust stacks- undercarriage legs BRONZEAll sets included in this BIG SIN are available separately,but with every BIG SIN set you save up to 30%.SIN64878Spitre Mk.Va/b ESSENTIAL1/48 EduardBRASSIN 01/2022Product pageeduard97INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 98
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PHOTO-ETCHED JANUARY 2022P-51D-15 exterior 1/32 Revell (32475)P-51D-15 interior 1/32 Revell (32993)P-51D-15 1/32 RevellP-51D-15 1/32 Revell (32475)P-51D-15 interior 1/32 Revell (32993)P-51D-15 1/32 Revell (33292)P-51D-151/32 RevellP-51D-15 interior 1/32 Revell (32993)eduard100INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 101
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53272 USS Intrepid CV-11 pt.1 1/35053273 USS Intrepid CV-11 pt.2 1/35053274 USS Intrepid CV-11 pt.3 1/35032991 AH-1G late 1/3233289 AH-1G late seatbelts STEEL 1/32JX279 AH-1G 1/32491225 Chipmunk T.10 1/48FE1226 Chipmunk T.10 seatbelts STEEL 1/48EX809 Chipmunk T.10 1/48BIG5363 US Intrepid CV-11 PART I 1/350 TrumpeterBIG33139 AH-1G late 1/32 ICMBIG49312 Chipmunk T.10 1/48 AirxAll sets included in this BIG ED are available separately,but with every BIG ED set you save up to 30%.Product pageProduct pageProduct pageeduard108INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 109
481070 CH-47A rear ramp 1/48491229 CH-47A 1/48491230 CH-47A cargo seatbelts 1/48FE1230 CH-47A seatbelts STEEL 1/48EX813 CH-47A 1/48491227 F/A-18E 1/48FE1228 F/A-18E seatbelts STEEL 1/48EX811 F/A-18E 1/48BIG49311 CH-47A 1/48 Hobby BossBIG49313 F/A-18E 1/48 Hobby BossAll sets included in this BIG ED are available separately,but with every BIG ED set you save up to 30%.Product pageProduct pageeduard109INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 110
MASKS 01/2022EDUARD MASK IT FITS!JX284 P-51D TFace 1/32 RevellEX822 B-17G TFace 1/48 HKMEX823 La-11 1/48 Hobby BossEX824 Tornado ECR TFace 1/48 Eduard/RevellEX825 OV-10A 1/48 ICMEX826 OV-10A TFace 1/48 ICMEX827 Z-126 TFace 1/48 EduardCX616 P-43 1/72 Dora WingsCX617 C-130J-30 1/72 ZvezdaCX618 Mosquito B Mk.XVI 1/72 AirxCX616CX617CX617 CX617CX616 CX616EX822EX822EX822 EX822EX823eduard110INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 111
KITS82212 A6M2 Zero Type 21 1/48 ProPACK11156 Z-126 Trenér 1/48 Limited edition84179 Spitre Mk.Ia 1/48 Weekend edition84180 MiG-21SMT 1/48 Weekend edition7059 MiG-15bis (reedice) 1/72 ProPACK84172 P-51D-5 (reedice) 1/48 Weekend editionPE-SETS53278 USS Gato SS-212 1941 1/350 Hobby Boss32475 P-51D-15 exterior 1/32 Revell32993 P-51D-15 interior 1/32 Revell481075 F-14A late exterior 1/48 Tamiya481076 A6M2 landing aps 1/48 Eduard491239 F-14A late interior 1/48 Tamiya491240 OV-10A 1/48 ICM72718 C-130J-30 exterior 1/72 Zvezda73759 C-130J-30 interior 1/72 Zvezda73760 C-130J-30 cargo oor 1/72 Zvezda73761 C-130J-30 cargo seatbelts 1/72 Zvezda73762 C-130J-30 cargo interior 1/72 Zvezda73763 Mosquito B Mk.XVI 1/72 AirxZOOMS33292 P-51D-15 1/32 RevellFE1239 F-14A late 1/48 TamiyaFE1240 OV-10A 1/48 ICMFE1241 OV-10A seatbelts STEEL 1/48 ICMSS759 C-130J-30 1/72 ZvezdaSS763 Mosquito B Mk.XVI 1/72 AirxMASKSJX284 P-51D TFace 1/32 RevellEX822 B-17G TFace 1/48 HKMEX823 La-11 1/48 Hobby BossEX824 Tornado ECR TFace 1/48 Eduard/RevellEX825 OV-10A 1/48 ICMEX826 OV-10A TFace 1/48 ICMEX827 Z-126 TFace 1/48 EduardCX616 P-43 1/72 Dora WingsCX617 C-130J-30 1/72 ZvezdaCX618 Mosquito B Mk.XVI 1/72 AirxBIGEDSBIG5363 US Intrepid CV-11 PART I 1/350 TrumpeterBIG33139 AH-1G late 1/32 ICMBIG49311 CH-47A 1/48 Hobby BossBIG49312 Chipmunk T.10 1/48 AirxBIG49313 F/A-18E 1/48 Hobby BossBRASSINS644119 Z-126 Trener LööK 1/48 Eduard644136 Tornado ECR LööK 1/48 Eduard/Revell648694 A6M2 engine PRINT 1/48 Eduard648705 Z-226 Trener cockpit PRINT 1/48 Eduard648707 F-16 wheels early 1/48 Tamiya648708 F-16 wheels late 1/48 Tamiya648709 F-4B ejection seats early PRINT 1/48 Tamiya648711 Sopwith Camel Gnome engine PRINT 1/48 Eduard648712 SBD-5 twin machine gun 1/48 Accurate Miniatures/Academy/Revell648713 SBD-5 wheels 1/48Accurate Miniatures/Academy/Revell648714 Panzerschreck 1 for Fw 190F PRINT 1/48 Eduard648715 TSPJ pod PRINT 1/48 Eduard/Revell672277 British 1000lb retarded bombs 1/72LookPLUS644135 Chipmunk T.10 LööKplus 1/48 Airx644137 F-4B LööKplus 1/48 TamiyaBIGSINSIN64878 Spitre Mk.Va/b ESSENTIAL 1/48 EduardDECAL SETD32017 A6M2 stencils 1/32 TamiyaD72037 A6M2 stencils 1/72 Tamiya/Airx/HasegawaSPACE3DL48044 Z-126 SPACE 1/48 Eduard3DL48053 MiG-21PF grey SPACE 1/48 Eduard3DL48054 MiG-21PF SPACE 1/48 Eduard3DL48055 Bf 109E-7 SPACE 1/48 Eduard3DL48056 Tornado ECR SPACE 1/48 Eduard/Revell3DL48057 F-14A late SPACE 1/48 TamiyaJanuary 2022January releasesPage 112
BUILTTORA TORA TORA! 1/48built by Josef BlažekCat. No. 11155marking Heduard112INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 113
BUILTLt. Saburō Shindō, Akagi Fighter Squadron, second attack waveDuring the second wave, fighter escort of thirty-six Zeros was led by Lt. Shindō. Nine Akagi Zeros met no resistance in the air and destroyed twoaircraft at Hickam. Shindō was born in 1911 and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1929. He was assigned to the Omura Kōkūtai in 1935 anda year later went to the aircraft carrier Kaga. In 1940, he served in China with the 12th Kōkūtai during combat trials of the A6M2 fighter. Under hiscommand, the first combat engagement occurred on September 13, resulting in 27 victories without loss. In November 1940, Shindō was trans-ferred to the 14th Kōkūtai in Hanoi. From April to December 1941 he was the Buntaichō of the Akagi fighters, but had to be hospitalized after theattack on Pearl Harbor. After recovering, he was appointed commander of Tokushima Kōkūtai in April 1942. From November 1942, as Hikōtaichōat Kōkūtai 582, he was involved in the fighting over Guadalcanal. From July 1943, he was Hikōtaichō with the Kōkūtai 204 in the same area. In late1943 and early 1944, he led fighters of the aircraft carrier Ryūhō and later served with Kōkūtai 653 and 203 in the defense of Taiwan, the Philippi-nes, and Japan. At the end of the war, he was Hikōtaichō at Tsukuba Kōkūtai. Shindó passed away in 2000.Product pageeduard113INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 114
BUILTTORA TORA TORA! 1/48built by Paolo Portuesi Cat. No. 11155c/n 2266, PO1c Shigenori Nishikaichi, Hiryū Fighter Squadron, second attack waveHiryū sent nine Zeros under the command of Lt. SumioNōno. His pilots attacked Kaneohe and Bellows bases,claiming two destroyed aircraft and one car. Zero ofPO1c Nishikaichi was running low on fuel and he waslooking for a rescue submarine off Niihau Island wit-hout success. After belly landing he was captured bya Hawaiian native who took his papers and weapon. Thepilot persuaded several residents of Japanese descentto cooperate and managed to get free. He dismantledmachine gun from the aircraft, set the machine on fireand threatened to kill the natives to force the return ofthe secret documents. During the December 13, he anda helper captured Mr. Benjamin Kanahele and his wife.A scuffle ensued during which Kanahele was shot threetimes by the pilot, but became so enraged that he killedhim against a wall. The pilot's helper, Mr. Harada, co-mmitted suicide. It is known as the Niihau Incident. Mr.Kanahele received the Purple Heart and the Medal ofMerit from the President of the United States. Nishikai-chi, whose fate was unknown to the Japanese side, wasposthumously promoted two grades. Parts of Zero areon display at the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor.On the engine cover there was a service plate with thename of the mechanic PO3c Akimoto painted.Product pageeduard114INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 115
TORA TORA TORA! 1/48BUILTbuilt by Paolo Portuesi Cat. No. 11155Lt. Cdr. Shigeru Itaya, Akagi Fighter Squadron, first attack waveDuring the first wave Itaya led 43 Zero fighters, inclu-ding 9 from Akagi. Itaya's own Akagi formation shotdown one sightseeing and three training aircraft. Then,at Hickam and Ewa bases, they destroyed about 25 air-craft and also attacked incoming B-17s. Itaya's wingmendamaged and set fire to a B-17C from 7th BG of Capt.Swenson´s crew with one passenger who did not sur-vive the attack. Itaya's wingman, PO1c Hirano, was hitby anti-aircraft over Fort Kamehameha and hit an ob-stacle while flying low over the ground, killing himselfand four American soldiers. Itaya was born in 1909 andgraduated from the Naval Academy in 1929. From No-vember 1936, he was the Buntaichō of the Ryūjo FighterSquadron for one year. He then served with the 15th and12th Kōkūtai and from January 1940 he was Buntaichō ofthe Hiryū Fighter Squadron. In November 1940 he tookover this position on the aircraft carrier Akagi, in Ap-ril 1941 he was appointed Hikōtaichō and remained inthis position until the Battle of Midway. He was killed onJuly 24, 1944 in the Kuril Islands, at that time serving asa member of the staff of the Naval 51st KōkūSentai.He was flying aboard a G3M bomber towards Paramu-shir and was accidentally shot down by a Ki-43 fighter.Product pageeduard115INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 116
BUILTbuilt by Patrik PěchaCat. No. 11153marking C1/48eduard116INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 117
BUILTBL973, F/Lt Stanislav Fejfar, No. 313 (Czechoslovak) Squadron,RAF Hornchurch, Great Britain, March – May 1942Stanislav Fejfar, a member of Czechoslovak Air Force before thewar, flew as a commander of 45th Fighter Squadron based in Slo-vakia during the Munich crisis. He scored his first two kills duringthe Battle of France as a member of Armee de l’Air flying MS.406with GC I/6. On July 12, 1940 he arrived in the Great Britain aboardthe ship Neuralia. On September 9, he started his operational ca-reer as a Pilot Officer with No. 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAFscoring his first out of three kills claimed during the Battle of Bri-tain. On July 21, 1941 he joined No. 313 (Czechoslovak) Squadron asa F/Lt in the position of a B Flight leader. Stanislav Fejfar perishedon May 17, 1942 in the cockpit of Spitfire Mk.Vb BL973 during the Ra-mrod 33 mission. He was shot down by Hptm. Josef Priller betweenGuines and Audebert in the northern France. Couple of days earlierPriller also shot down Sergeant Karel Pavlík, author of Pluto theDog nose art on Fejfar’s Spitfire.Product pageeduard117INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 118
BUILT1/48 Tamiyapostavil Jan Novotnýeduard118INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 119
BUILTF-4B wheels (Cat. No. 648682)F-4B undercarriage legsBRONZ (Cat. No. 648700)eduard119INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 120
BUILTF-4B SPACE (cat.no. 3DL48040)eduard120INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 121
BUILTMk.77 bombs(Cat. No. 648223)LAU-10/ A ZUNI(Cat. No. 648226)AIM-9B Sidewinder(Cat. No. 648028)MER(Cat. No. 648227)TER(Cat. No. 648232)F-4B MARINES (Cat. No. D48095)F-4B stencils (Cat. No. D48094)eduard121INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 122
BUILTBf 109E-7built by Robert Szwarc1/48Cat. No. 8264This marking is not inclueded in this kit.eduard122INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 123
BUILTeduard123INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 124
BUILT1/48built by Luboš ZachCat. No. 11152marking Geduard124INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 125
BUILTZ-226B, OK-MQL, No. 283, Aero Club Kralupy nad Vltavou, Czech Republic, 2010This aircraft was manufactured as a Z-226B, it was operated as the Z-226B and still flies as the Z-226B…The aircraft of the serial number 283 was registered on April 10, 1959, and is unique because it has notundergone any conversion to different version. Incidentally, it is the last airworthy „Bohatýr“, as the Z-226Bwas nicknamed (meaning something as a strong hero). The OK-MQL served for many years in the Aero ClubKralupy nad Vltavou and was operated at the Sazená airfield. In 2015, it was bought by private Ikarus GlidingClub organisation and has its home at the airport in Dvůr Králové.eduard125INFO Eduard - January 2022Page 126
built by Matthias BeckerCat. No. 82125Product pageBUILTTempest Mk.II late version1/48eduard126INFO Eduard - Janua