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."}
05/2022
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INFO Eduarde-magazine FREE Vol 21 May 2022# 147Page 2
© 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 mediaform or otherwise distributed without the prior writtenpermission of Eduard - Model Accessories and authors involved.Editorial and Graphics - Marketing department, Eduard - Model Accessories, Ltd.INFO Eduarde-magazine FREE Vol 21 May 2022# 147Page 3
eduardeduardMAY 2022CONTENTSEDITORIALKITSBRASSINPHOTO-ETCHED SETSBIG EDBUILTON APROACH–June 2022TAIL END CHARLIEHISTORYZ-126 Trenér ProfiPACK 1/48MEZEK Limited edition 1/72Bf 109G-10 WNF/Diana Weekend edition 1/48Spitfire F Mk.IX Weekend edition 1/72F6F-3 ProfiPACK 1/48Spitfire HF Mk.VIII ProfiPACK 1/48A6M2 Zero Type 21 ProfiPACK 1/48MEZEK 1/72Z-526AFS Akrobat 1/48Sopwith F.1 Camel (Clerget) 1/48Saburō Sakai part 1Avia S-199 in Israeli serviceThe air war over Ukraine The second month463060749098108128Published by Eduard-Model Accessories, spol. s.r.o.Mírová 170, Obrnice 435 21support@eduard.com www.eduard.comPage 4
Dear Friends,After our participation in the show at Lingen,our May release centerpiece, the 1:72 scaleAvia S-199, was shown off at Prostějov overEaster. After that, last weekend we werepleased to be at Moson again, in Hungary.It was refreshing to be able to do so after twoyears of isolation and home office, and to beable to catch up with so many friends, colle-agues and customers in one location. It feltlike a return to the good ol’ days of pre-Covid.But it’s not quite like that. The good ol’ daysended with the epidemic, inflation and war,and won’t be back. A new world is emerging.The Russian war against Ukraine and thefree world is into its third month, and I ampleased that our nation is on the right side.We are supplying weapons. We may not beproviding as many weapons as larger coun-tries can, or as modern as larger countriescan, if they were willing, but we are provi-ding them quickly and without a lot of talking.When I was in the army, I was with a howitzerunit, and it pleases me that the Ukrainiansare receiving Czech self-propelled howitzersand salvo rocket launchers. It appeared asthough these pieces were destined to end uprotting in some storage depot or in museu-ms, but now we are hoping that they servewell in Ukraine and help push back the Ru-ssian occupiers. Being on the right side isn’t asure thing here. This wasn’t always the case,but just like today, we stood on the right sideeighty years ago. Our field guns and infantryprotected North African Tobruk against theGermans and Italians, our pilots flew in theranks of the RAF over Western Europe andthe 1st Czechoslovak Infantry Battalion wasformed in Buzuluk, preparing for its Baptismof Fire against the Wehrmacht at Sokolov.Back home, in a country under Nazi occupa-tion, there was resistance. On May 22, 1942,our British based agents who parachutedinto the homeland and with the support ofthe local resistance, assassinated the headof the Protectorate of Bohemia and MoraviaSS Obergruppenführer and Chief of PoliceReinhard Heydrich. He succumbed to his in-juries that resulted in the attack and as such,became the highest ranking Nazi official tobe assassinated during the Second WorldWar by anti-Nazi forces. The Czech nationpaid a massive price for this honorable actof defiance, the reprisal for which includedthe outright murder of thousands of inno-cents, the climax of which was the eliminati-on of the towns of Lidice and Ležáky from theface of the earth. The democratic, pro-Westresistance was targeted so effectively afterthat, that there were not enough effectiveresources available after the war to deterthe newly evolving threat of another dicta-torship, this time from the communists, andit ruled Czechoslovakia for forty long years.Halfway through that reign, we thought wecould believe in the Russian talk of freedomand the right to self-government, but theirtanks quickly bailed us out of that mistake.Our right to belong to the free world was anexpensive one, and so today, we stand firmlybehind Ukraine, because Ukraine is decidingon the future of our free world.The MULEBy 1948, we were still precariously on the ri-ght side, although the communists had justcome to power. Czechoslovakia neverthele-ss supported the newly independent stateof Israel in the first Arab-Israeli war. Howthe history of this war mimics the currentsituation in Ukraine! Supplies sent to Israelback then included aircraft, namely SpitfiresMk.IXe and Avia S-199s. The Avia S-199 is be-ing introduced in today’s issue of the newsle-tter, despite being premiered in the secondhalf of April in Prostějov and Moson. Andit should be added that it was a successfulpremiere, indeed. The kit has been well re-ceived, and that pleases me, because to behonest, neither we, nor anyone else, is ca-pable of doing anything substantially better.Of course, they wouldn’t be modellers ifthey didn’t point out some flaws. As soon asMoson, we were notified of some things thatwere missing, keeping our S-199 from per-fection, and what it was we need to work onto get there. We decline, respectfully. We don’tproduce models as much as we produce kits,and a kit is still something in need of com-pletion. The model, from the kit, is made bythe modeller, and if there is an item that themodeler deems as missing, he or she needsto add said items. As Mr. Zatloukal, the headof then Kovozávody Prostějov company andone of the fathers of Czechoslovak plasticmodelling, put it: “A skillful modeller createsby himself”. This rule applied then, appliesnow, and will continue to apply in the future.Those that are not fully satisfied with a kit, bea modeller and take it to that level of comple-tion you want. In some cases, we can aid youin this endeavor with photoetched, resin orother accessory items, but your involvementis also necessary.MODEL KITSThe S-199 entitled MEZEK, or “Mule” in Eng-lish, comes on the market as a Limited Edi-tion Dual Combo kit with two complete setsof plastic. These sets are not identical. Oneis for an aircraft with the Erla cockpit cano-py, and the other for the later series slidingbubble canopy. There are twelve markingoptions, mostly covering Czechoslovak ma-chines of both Military as well as Police AirForce, three marking options cover Israeliaircraft from 1948 as the basis of the Israe-li Air Force. After the Limited Edition kit, theProfiPacks will follow, the first of which willappear in June with the two-seat CS-199.The 48th scale S-199 will in all likelihood seethe light of day after the New Year, insteadof before it as originally planned. I initiallypromised this kit for E-day, but I doubt thatwill happen. Yeah, yeah… The wolf made pro-mises, too!Along with the S-199, we are releasing a 48thscale Z-126 Trenér for May in the ProfiPackline, plus two Weekend kits, the 1:72 sca-le Spitfire F Mk.IX and 1:48 scale Bf 109G-10WNF/Diana. Three 48th scale ProfiPacks arealso making a welcome return to the mar-ket as re-editions: the quickly sold-out A6M2Zero Model 21, the Spitfire HF Mk.VIII and theF6F-3 Hellcat. The last mentioned is not astraight re-edition, but in this case includesa modification to the marking options and theboxart. I don’t see this as much of an issue,though.EDITORIALINFO Eduard4May 2022Page 5
Also enjoying its premiere through Aprilshows is an all-new product line. It’s calledEDDIE THE RIVETER, and as the name su-ggests, it is all about rivets and allows mo-deller to create realistic raised rivets andother surface details on the model. The pro-duct utilizes 3D printing technology usedin the Space line. The rivets are printed ona clear carrier film. It’s important to knowthat you must resist any temptation to re-move the carrier film after the application ofthe rivets onto the model, as is the case withour decals. But you need not worry, as thecorrect application procedure yields invisiblecarrier film. These rivet decals are appliedover primed plastic that is reapplied after thedecals are on the model as well. The surfacerneeds to be airbrushed on with care. Don’tuse a spray can product, as it provides lesscontrol, and the result could damage the de-licate details of the decal. The first Eddie theRiveter is designed for the Zvezda 1:48 scaleMi-24V. The price of the product is somewhathigh, dictated by the scope of the set and theintricacies of applying the technology used inproduction. On the other hand, it is a beau-tifully executed piece of work and based onresearch of the actual thing. A rivet counter’sdream come true. We will follow up with theMi-24D in this line. Although this will stemfrom the Mi-24V set, simplifying develop-ment, it will still take a bit of time. Other can-didates are the Zvezda Su-25 and 1:72 scaleHurricane from Arma Hobby.BRASSIN and PHOTOETCHEDWithin the scope of the smaller 3D printedBrassin sets are two landing flap sets in 1:48scale: the Spitfire Mk.IX and the Fw 190D.Their variations will also show up in June re-leases, giving ample opportunity to examinethese items and determine their use in yourprojects. Among 3D printed Brassin sets, wealso have two ship items in 1:350, and there isalso a ship set in the Space line. Ship sets willcontinue to be released the following monthas well. Besides 3D prints, we will be offeringtwo sets of watertight doors in the Spaceline. Space and photoetched items will alsobe found for the 1:32 scale Hawk 81-A2, whichwas an export version of the P-40. Great WallHobby launched their P-40/Tomahawk linewith this kit, and we will be following theirrelease schedule. One of the Hawk 81 setsis a steel set for the seatbelts (32298 Hawk81-A2 Seatbelts STEEL 1:32), and is in directcompetition with Space 3DL32006, whichincludes these belts as well. This is standardfor Space sets that have cockpits as theirsubject matter. Reviews and other mentionsof the Space sets seldom point out the factthat these are combination sets made upof 3D decals and colored steel photoetchedcomponents. This is the cream of the crop ofwhat photoetching offers and are included inthe Space sets in order to optimize the useof equipment consistent with what they areused to produce. Every technology brings tothe table advantages and disadvantages. 3Dprinting is very good for the production ofside panels and other surface details, and iseven good for instrument panels, although Imust admit that in my opinion, the best in-strument panel is still provided by coloredphotoetching. For details positioned insidespaces with relief protruding out from them,such as various levers, mirrors or thoseseatbelts, this technology is not optimal because the requirements for them fall out ofthe envelope of the capabilities demanded bysuch features. Photoetched steel then sim-ply becomes the best course of action. If youhave doubts, take a look at a windshield wi-per, or compare seatbelts. If you still preferthe 3D print, then fine. It’s a personal choice.But we will not do anything that we consideran avoidable limit on what we offer our cus-tomers.AND SOMETHING TO READ…In today’s newsletter, you will find three newarticles. Miro Barič continues to map out theair war over Ukraine with a daily account ofthe second month of the war. The other twoare historical articles that have a connectionto our modeling. That includes the first partof an article by Jan Bobek about Saburō Sa-kai, that, among other things, sets straight afew inaccuracies in the cult classic biography“Samurai”. These inaccuracies were insertedinto the book thanks to the meddling oftranslators and editors of the original texts.They managed to turn this book into an oddmix of reality and fiction, not unlike anotherfamous biography, The Big Show, about Pie-rre Clostermann. However, he himself waspartially responsible for this, while SaburōSakai was innocent of the inaccuracies andlater objected to them. Saburō Sakai can nolonger fight the mistakes, so Jan Bobek hastaken up the fight to set the records straight,and I believe that he will find success. Realityis no less interesting than fiction. Also, the-re is an article by Yoav Efrati describing theservice of the Avia S-199 in Israel.I hope you find this issue of the newslettera good read. Happy Modelling!Vladimír ŠulcEDDIE AND THE RIVETSINFO Eduard5May 2022Page 6
HISTORYSakai poses next to his Type 96 A5M Claude fighter at HankowAir Base in 1939.Photo: Shori TanakaMap Collections courtesy Stanford University LibrariesThe book “Samurai!” contains misinforma-tion dating back to its original publication.The culprit is Fred Saito, who translated Sakai'smemoirs into English, so that some events areportrayed in the book with incorrect dates or incomplete contradiction to reality. In this article,I describe Sakai's career from the perspectiveof newly available archival documents that se-veral authors have worked with over the years.I have made a modest addition to their work,providing an overview of the combat sorties Sa-kai made in late 1941 and during 1942. The textrefers to inconsistencies in various earlier pu-blications that conflict with the records of theunits in which Sakai served. The article does notdescribe all the victories that Sakai achieved in1942 during the air battles in Rabaul and NewGuinea, according to contemporary documents.For a detailed description of these and an ana-lysis of Allied losses, I recommend the excellentpublication Eagles of the Southern Sky.Saburō Sakai was born on August 26, 1916,in the village of Nishiyoka (Saga prefecture).His father Haruichi and mother Hide belongedto ancient Samurai families. Despite their nobleorigins, the family was one of the poorest in analready quite a poor village. In 1929, Saburō mo-ved to Tokyo, where he lived in his uncle's family.However, the studies were too difficult, he failedto graduate and had to return home in shame.He then spent the next two years doing agricul-tural work. Navy airplanes often flew overheadand it started to inspire him. Once when he sawa Navy recruitment poster, he made his decision.On May 1, 1933, he joined naval training at Sasebo.He successively served on the battleships Kiris-hima and Haruna as a gunner of 6-inch (15cm)gun while attaining the rank of Petty Officer 3rdClass and he often saw various aircraft ope-rating from the Haruna. Sakai, in whose veinsflowed samurai blood, was not happy with thelife on board of a warship. He realized he couldSaburō Sakai is a legend of the history of military avi-ation, even though there were several Japanese pi-lots who have achieved more victories. It's not justthe book “Samurai!” that makes him so special. It isalso because how differently, almost rebelliously,he acted during the war and what he has helped toaccomplish after the war to connect the Japanese so-ciety with US veterans and public.text: Jan BobekINFO Eduard6May 2022Page 7
Photo: Shizuo FukuiPhoto: AWMPhoto: Shizuo FukuiHISTORYnot fulfill his individuality as a sailor and deci-ded to become a fighter pilot. His uncle tried totalk to him, but in vain. Sakai was twice rejectedat the entrance exam but was successful in thethird (in June 1936) and was admitted to the 38thPilot Training Class (March to October 1937).He was one of 70 to be accepted from 1,500applicants. Twenty-five of these graduated aspilots. On March 10, 1937 Sakai enlisted in Ka-sumigaura Kōkūtai and on April 1 conducted hisfirst flight.In his book, Sakai describes the almost unbe-lievable brutality of flight school training. Someof the methods were tragicomic from today'sperspective. For example, recruits were taskedwith catching as many flies as possible in flightand catching them by the wings without harmingthem (Samurai!; page 29). The purpose was toaccelerate conditioned reflexes. Imagine stu-dent pilots running around in a training area,waving their arms wildly and catching flies.Funny, isn't it? However, after a short time,no fly at Tsuchiura Air Base could be sure if itwould see twilight in peace.Sakai completed his pilot training in Novem-ber 30, 1937 as the best student of the year forwhich he received a silver watch from the Em-peror. The gift was given to him through PrinceFushimi and the ceremony was published in theOsaka Mainichi on November 9, 1937. Sakai gra-duated as a carrier pilot, alt-hough he was never assignedto aircraft-carrier duty.Among the Sakai classma-tes was also Kenji Okabe (15v.), who on May 8, 1942, goteight victories in one combat flight to achieveperformance that was surpassed only by Shō--ichi Sugita. In his memoirs Sakai mistakenlystated that it was seven victories in three com-bat flights. Also the information that Okabe fellin September 1943 over Bougainville is wrong.Okabe survived the end of the war at Kōkūtai601.The fighter training Sakai received with SaekiKōkūtai and on April 9, 1938 he was assigned toÓmura Kōkūtai.CHINAPetty Officer 3rd Class Sakai first served withthe Óita Kōkūtai. At this time, the Chinese con-flict was ongoing and like every young fighterpilot in Japan , he was eager for combat expe-rience. On September 11, 1938, he was assignedto 12th Kōkūtai, which was using A5M Type 96"Claude" fighters in mainland China. Finally, Sa-kai´s task was to confront enemy in air combat.Sakai achieved his first victory on October 5,1938 (not May 21, 1939, as stated in his memo-ries). That day, fifteen fighters, under the le-adership of Lt Takahide Aioi, took off to performa patrol over the Chinese city of Hankow. Sakaiflew as Aioi's second wingman. Japanese pla-nes attacked Chinese Polikarpov I-16 fighters.Sakai left the formation and attacked the Chi-nese all by himself. During the duel that follo-wed, he possibly broke all the rules of aviationcombat. Still, he managed to get the Polikarpovdown and happily returned without ammuniti-on back to his formation. After landing Lt Aioiyelled at Sakai. "Sakai! You're a damn fool, Sa-kai! It's a miracle you're still alive! I did not seein my life such a clumsy and ridiculous flying!”(Samurai!, Page 37). What did Aioi thought whenhe met Sakai at the end of the war with the eliteKōkūtai 343? By then, Aioi had 10 victories andSakai several times more!The Chinese 26th Pursuit Squadron flew to Han-kow during the day to provide defense againstbombers and interceptedJapanese aircraft. The newsquadron commander HuangHan-Wen was seriouslywounded and conducteda forced landing at the out-skirts of the city. He was sent to Hong Kongfor medical treatment, but died March 20, 1939,during surgery. Soviet volunteer Lieutenant I. P.Podogov was listed as killed on October 5 butThe battleship Kirishima at Tsukumowan on May 10, 1937. Sakai was assigned to this ship after he completed basic training.It was sunk at Guadalcanal in November 1942.Saburō Sakai in his Type 96 fighter “3-107” over China.The battleship Haruna photographed in 1934. She was sunk at her moorings on July 28, 1945 and later raised and scrappedin 1946. In 1935, Sakai successfully passed the competitive examinations for the Naval Gunners' School. Sakai served on thebattleship Haruna as a turret gunner."Sakai! You're a damn fool, Sakai!It's a miracle you're still alive! I didnot see in my life such a clumsyand ridiculous flying!”INFO Eduard7May 2022Page 8
there is no information about the place of hisburial (according to other data he is listed askilled in a flying accident and buried at Hami).Sakai was promoted to Petty Officer SecondClass rank on May 1, 1939. Almost a year laterafter his first victory, on October 3, 1939, Sakaiclaimed a SB-2 bomber with Chinese insigniaover Icheng. “Surprisingly, they were muchfaster than I expected.” Sakai had to fly morethan 150 miles before hitting one of the bombersthat had raided Hankow Airport, which was al-ready in hands of the Japanese. Thanks to thisperformance he became famous overnight andreturned home as a hero. The reality was slight-ly different, first of all, Japanese airbase waslocated beyond range of SB bombers.On this day, the airbase prepared festivities forthe receipt of new aircraft ferried from Japan.Here representatives of the fleet command andthe city authorities were assembled. Nine DB--3s crewed by Soviet airmen led by Capt. G. A.Kulishenko flew to the target secretly, in a tightwedge, maintaining radio silence. They attackedas the ceremony was in progress. Aircraft stoodin four rows, wingtip to wingtip. From an alti-tude of 8,700 meters the Soviets dropped mixof high-explosive, fragmentation-high explos-ive, and incendiary bombs. According to the re-ports of the crews, most of the bombs explodedalong the rows of aircraft, which were tossedin every direction from the force of the blasts,with many burning. Antiaircraft weapons re-mained silent. Only a single fighter (Sakai) tookoff from the enormous bonfire below, buthe was unable to catch the departingand lightened DB-3s.On the airfield, 64 aircraft werefound destroyed or damagedwith 130 people killed and 300wounded. The fuel reservesburned three hours. Japanesesources confirm the loss of 50machines, seven senior officers ofCaptain and higher rank were killed,and 12 more were wounded. Amongst the latterones was Rear Admiral Tsukahara, commanderof the Japanese Air Flotilla. The airfield com-mandant was killed as well. After this disaster,a mourning period was ordered.Next task for Sakai was to join Ómura Kōkūtaiin mid-1940, where, as an instructor, he had topass on the experience to newcomers. In themeantime, 12th Kōkūtai became the first navyunit to enter the fight with revolutionary Mitsu-bishi A6M Zero fighter (Chunning raid on Sep-tember 13, 1940).In April 1941 Sakai returned to hisold 12th Kōkūtai and in June hewas promoted to Petty Officer 1stClass. He gained another victoryon August 11, when he shot downover, with Zero marked as 3-116,a “beautifully colored biplane”over Chengdu, identified as Po-likarpov I-15. It was a dawn attack onChengdu and four I-153s of the 29th PS sc-rambled. Squadron Commander Tang Zhouli andtwo of his deputies, Wang Chongshi and HuangRongfa were killed in the ensuing combat. Du-ring this combat the last I-153s were destroyed.According to his logbook, Sakai´s last victoryin China came on August 21, 1941, when he shotdown an I-16. However official records of 12thKōkūtai confirm only first of Sakai´s victoriesover China. This discrepancy with official unitrecords is typical for many parts of English edi-tion of book “Samurai!” as well as for some en-tries in Sakai´s logbook as presented by HenrySakaida in his book Winged Samurai.PHILIPPINESSakai was transferred in October 1941 to newlyformed Tainan Kōkūtai in Tainan on Formosa(Taiwan), subordinated under 23rd Air Flotilla(Kōkū Sentai). Tainan Kōkūtai was commandedby Captain Masahisa Saitó, the executive officerwas Commander Yasuna Kozono and the fighterpilots were led by Hikótaichó Lt Hideki Shingó.Before the outbreak of war in the Pacific theTainan Kōkūtai had at disposal 45 fighters A6MZero Type 21 and twelve older A5M Type 96 Clau-de fighters along with six reconnaissance C5NBabs. Another fourteen A6Ms and several A5MHISTORYSaburō Sakai posing on a 250 kg bomb during his assignmentin China.Photo: AWMThe A6M2 from Tainan Kōkūtai (c/n 3372) be-came the rst Zero to reach Allied hands inrepairable condition. One of Sakai's colleagu-es crashed it on Chinese territory on Novem-ber 26, 1941 and was captured. For details,see the April 2022 issue of INFO magazine onpage 12, or the Zero Zero Zero! scale kit.This image from the Chinese base showsthe machine undergoing repairs with thecode painted over on the tail surfaces. Theaircraft bore the typical design of the Tai-nan Kōkūtai markings from the early monthsof the Pacic War - a white code with redoutline. In the spring of 1942, the code de-sign was changed to black, which made thecodes easier to read during air operations.The purpose and color of the stripes on thetail surfaces and fuselages bands of the Tai-nan Kōkūtai planes are still the subject of de-bate. The bands on the fuselage (one or two)may have assigned the machines to dierentghter Divisions (Buntai) within an Air Group(Kōkūtai) by their colour. However, other ex-planations are possible. The stripes on thetail surfaces are usually assigned to identifythe leaders of tactical formations. One hori-zontal stripe apparently identied the leaderof the Shōtai (three planes) and two stripesprobably identied the leader the Chūtai(usually made up of three Shōtai).(Photo: USAF)INFO Eduard8May 2022Page 9
were commanded by Lt Kiku-ichi Inano in frameof 22nd Air Flotilla participating in the campaignin Malaya.Sakai was named as a Shótai leader (Shótaichó,leader of flight with three aircraft), which wasremarkable due to fact he was only Petty Offi-cer. But there were several other Petty Officerpilots in Tainan Kōkūtai with similar privilege,apparently due to lack of officers and largenumber of unit´s flying personnel before theoutbreak of Pacific war. Sakai was also namedtraining leader of Lt JG. Jun-ichi Sasai, who gra-duated in November 1941. Although Sasai (futureace with 27 victories) was an officer, he was oneof those who were willing to break barriers be-tween officers and airmen with lower ranks. Heeven became friend of Sakai.There was a strict barrier in Japanese Navy be-tween officers and lower ranks personnel. Thisbarrier was present in all aspects of militarylife, including food. Not only in case of separa-ted area for dining, but also food quality, supplyof alcohol and tobacco. And that was somethingthat was irritating to Sakai. In order to improvefood supply, he stole a chicken from local inha-bitants. The case was quickly solved and Sakaibecame subject of criticism from officers. But itdid not stop him to steal some pigs from localslater on! He also got access to supply of kanakatobacco with some content of opium. That wasalready too much for young officer Sasai andthey had an argument about it.On the morning of December 8, Japanese navalair units attacked US airfields in the Philippines.Take-off was, however, delayed by bad wea-ther. Therefore, the take-off took place as lateas 10.00 am. The mission was focused againstthe Philippine bases Clark Field and Del Carmenperformed by 25 twin-engine Nells from 1st Kō-kūtai and 27 Betty bombers of Takao Kōkūtaiwith escort of 36 A6Ms from Tainan Kōkūtai.Navy airmen had lost the opportunity to attackthe enemy in the Philippines first, because al-ready at 7.00 am army bombers of 8th and 14thHikó Sentai bombed the Tuguegarao and Baguiobases. During flight from Formosa one Nellbomber and two Zeroes separated from Sakai´sformation due to engine problems and returnedback earlier. The Japanese formation arrivedunder the command of Lt Shingo over ClarkField at 13.30.Bombers dropped their bomb load on the ai-rport and Shingo's pilots accompanied themfor another ten minutes on a return flight.Then they turned back and carried out a seriesof strafing attacks on American machines atthe Clark Field. Sakai with his wingmen, PettyOfficer 3rd Class Toshiaki Honda and Petty Offi-cer 2nd Class Kazu-o Yokokawa, destroyed twoparked Boeing B-17s and then attacked the five--member group of Curtiss P-40. Sakai managedto shoot down one Curtiss and the victory wasconfirmed by Honda.His victim could be Lt Sam Grashio of 21st Pur-suit Squadron, who led another five P-40s overClark Field. He was attacked by two Zeroes (Sa-kai and Honda?) and a cannon projectile wentthrough the left half of his wing, leaving a hugehole. However, Grashio managed to escape inthe dive.On December 8, 85 fighters of Tainan and 3rdKōkūtai claimed a total of 23 certain, 2 proba-ble victories and 1 airplane forced to crash (C.Shores does not even mention Sakai's victory).On the ground, they destroyed about 80 aircraft(C. Shores reports 47). A record long-distanceflight of 1200 miles made by pilots of both fighterKōkūtai during their flight from Formosa to thePhilippines and back, became a routine matterduring the following days.Two days later, on December 10, 1941, Tainan Kō-kūtai made cover for the landing in Vigan. Thevessels were attacked by a lone Boeing B-17from 19th Bomb Group piloted by Capt. Colin P.Kelly Jr. The bomber was intercepted by severalpilots of 1st and 2nd Chútai of Tainan Kōkūtai.At last near Clark Field it began to burn, andKelly ordered his crew to bail out; the aircraftHISTORYHeroic battle of Capt. Kelly´s B-17 crew againt overwhelmingnumber of Tainan Kōkūtai fighters is one of top stories fromstart of Pacific war. This painting of Capt. Colin P. Kelly, Jr.,displayed in the Air Power Gallery at the National Museumof the U.S. Air Force, was painted by Deane Keller of YaleUniversity.Pilots of No. 75 Squadron RAAF at Port Moresby walk from their aircraft in August 1942. Identified, left to right: Flight LieutenantLex D'Arcy Winten, Squadron Leader Les D. Jackson, Flight Lieutenant J. W. W. Piper and Flying Officer Peter Addison Masters.Photo of Brewster Buffalo in Dutch national markings, probably photographed still in USA before delivery to Royal NetherlandsAir Force. Saburō Sakai fought several times against Dutch airmen in early 1942.Photo: U.S. Air Force photo via Wikimedia Commons.Photo: SDASMPhoto: AWMINFO Eduard9May 2022Page 10
HISTORYthen blew up, killing him. Kelly was honoredwith DSO in memoriam, as his last action wasattributed to the sinking of the battleship Ha-runa (note 1). According to Sakai no vessel washit by bomber. Besides that, he claims that thevictory over the bomber could not be attribu-ted to anybody and Japanese authorities did notrecognize it because the crash of the airplanewas not observed by anybody.However, the victory is noted in his logbook andthe confusion is even greater due to informati-on that Sakai's victory was not recognized (C.Shores) and was credited to five of his collea-gues as a shared one. Author of this article hadopportunity to study Tainan Kōkūtai unit diaryand the mission record shows that the B-17 wasintercepted by 16 Zero pilots, five of them wereshooting at the bomber (Sakai was not amongthem) while one shooting pilot’s Zero was hittwice by defense fire. Victory was recognizedas shared to all 16 pilots including Sakai.During another patrol over the Philippines,on December 12, Tainan Kōkūtai repeatedlyattacked Catalinas on the surface of the Gulf ofSubic. Another target, Clark Field found protec-tion under the low cloud layer and so 1. Chútaiturned to the Iba base. Here, during strafing,they destroyed six Curtiss P-40s, including twoby Sakai. Then an anti-aircraft fire hit his pla-ne and forced him to land prematurely at Viganfurther northwards. The ground crews repairedthe machine and Sakai could return to Formosaon the next day with a leg injury.On the same day that Sakai's fighter was da-maged, the Japanese landed near Legazpi insoutheastern Luzon. As early as December 14,Legazpi was in Japanese hands, and the 2ndChútai of Tainan Kōkūtai, led by Lt. Setó landedover there.It is interesting to note that according to unitdiary Sakai performed very few combat flightsduring December 1941. January was not diffe-rent. Tainan Kōkūtai performed combat flightsevery day with usual minimum number of sixplanes, often 10 or more. There were days whenseveral operations were performed. However,during January 1942 Sakai flew just 9 combatflights, followed by 11 missions in February. Sa-kai was always flying as leader of Shótai withthree aircraft, but on several occasions he evenled formation of several Shótais.BORNEOComing the end of 1941, the fate of the defendersof Philippines was also over. Next target wasBorneo with its American and Dutch defenders.Tainan Kōkūtai transferred between December26 and January 7, 1942, to Jolo Island (Horo--tó). Thanks to the rapid advance of Japanesecombat units, on January 11, another base wasin their hands, this time on Tarakan, lying westof Borneo. The airport was operational from Ja-nuary 16, and Tainan Kōkūtai continued patrolflights over Borneo.On Saturday, January 24, 1941, Japanese for-ces landed on Balikpapan, and their ships wereattacked several times by Dutch and Americanbombers. Six Zeroes of Tainan Kōkūtai inter-cepted eight attacking B-17s. This group of Ja-panese fighters was then relieved by anotherflight from the same unit, led by Petty Officer1st Class Kunioshi Tanaka (17 victories), whomade several attacks even though he was in-jured by defense fire. Allegedly, he shot downa four-engine bomber that collided with ano-ther one. Both were credited to him as confir-med victories. The third B-17 was shot down byTanaka’s wingman Petty Officer 3rd Class TakeoMatsuda in cooperation with Sakai (Hata-Izawapage 266). Sakai in his memoirs depicts Tanakaas unharmed, but enraged, for, as he claimed,no bomber was shot down and the Americanshit a tanker that had begun to burn. In addition,Sakai according to his own words did not takepart in this combat, but B-17 was mentioned inhis logbook as well as in unit diary (note 2). OnAmerican side three B-17s suffered light da-mage during the combat.The very next day, January 25, the Tainan Kō-kūtai members intercepted Glenn Martin bom-bers. Their crews attempted to attack Japanesevessels off Balikpapan. It was probably duringthis fight Sakai has won two victories over themedium bombers that he has chased up to Ban-jarmasin where he shot them down.In the afternoon, the patrolling Zeroes attackedseven Boeing B-17 bombers from the 7th and19th Bomb Group. The Japanese performed wellbut lost two pilots themselves. Sakai with hiswingman Sadao Uehara also attacked the Ame-rican formation, although it is not clear whetherthe two airmen performed the attack before orafter the attack by their patrolling colleagu-es. After a great deal of effort, they managedto seriously damage a four-engine bomber, butthe victory could only be verified the next daywhen the crashed machine was photographedby Japanese reconnaissance pilots. A total offive bombers were forced to land after the ba-ttle. As far as it is known, the only victory wascredited to Uehara. Uehara achieved thirteenvictories, according to his own records, by theend of the war.JAVAOn January 30, Tainan Kōkūtai, together with the23rd Air Flotilla, moved to the conquered Balik-papan. From this airbase, starting from Febru-ary 3, 1942, series of raids on eastern Java wereperformed together with 3rd Kōkūtai. The Japa-nese themselves praised the qualities of FlyingFortresses and openly discussed difficultiesPvt. Irving Weibel and Pfc. Lester W. Hengen apply a coat of liquid wax to the surface of an overhauled Bell P-39 at the 4th AirDepot Engine Overhaul And Repair Shop at Garbutt Field, Townsville. This P-39D of the 39th FS, 35th FG was flown by Capt.Curran L. “Jack” Jones for at least the first of his five confirmed aerial victories. Jones shot down W.O. Satoshi Yoshino fromTainan Kōkūtai on June 9, 1942, over Cape Ward Hunt. Yoshino probably flew the well-known Zero “V-117” carrying Buntaichómarkings. The production batch for this particular Airacobra replaced the 37mm cannon with a Hispano-Suiza 20mm (externallyidentifiable by its longer barrel, compared to the 37mm), an option normally found only in the P-400 export version.Sqn. Ldr. John Jackson returned to Port Moresby in the USDouglas A-24 Dauntless aircraft after a walk through thejungle from Lae area, after his aircraft was shot down by Tai-nan Kōkūtai. A distinguished fighter pilot, Sqn. Ldr. Jacksonserved with No. 23 Squadron in Australia (1939), No. 3Squadron in the Middle East (1940-1941) and No. 75 Squadronin Papua New Guinea (1942). He was killed in action on April28, 1942, during a dogfight with PO2c Hideo Izumi(9 v.) of Tainan Kōkūtai. He is buried in Bomana War Cemetery.Jackson International Airport, Port Moresby, commemorateshis name.Photo: AWMPhoto: Fold3INFO Eduard10May 2022Page 11
they had during clashes with these four-en-gine monsters. But very soon they discovereda reliable method of fighting them – the frontalattack. Their colleagues from Luftwaffe weregoing to find out the same method later.The new tactics could be tested on February8 over Surabaya. At 10.40 am nine Tainan Kō-kūtai fighters met by co-incidence eight B-17sof 7th Bomb Group, led by Capt. J. L. Dufran Jr.His airplane was the first going down duringthe attack, followed by two more aircraft. Theother three machines suffered extensive da-mage. The Japanese claimed the downing oftwo and probable downing of three Boeings incooperation with all the participants. Sakai gotcredit for one confirmed shared victory. Ame-rican gunners were convinced that they hadshot down five Zeroes, in fact only two weredamaged.Command of 23rd Air Flotilla decided that anattack on the Javan airfield Surabaya wouldtake place on February 19. The raid was carriedout by 18 bombers with escort of 23 Zeroes ofTainan Kōkūtai. Bad weather goaded the bom-bers crews to focus to alternative target. Ho-wever, fighters continued on and over Surabayathey encountered “30 to 50 P-40s and P-36s.”After the fight Sakai claimed the downing ofthree Curtiss P-36s and one P-40. The Japane-se reported a total of 14 certain and 3 proba-ble victories. Americans lost three aircraft andfour other crash landed. They themselves clai-med five Zeroes. However, only Lt Masao Asai of2nd Chútai fell victim to their fire (Sakai talksabout two fallen colleagues). It is interestingthat both Chútais of Tainan Kōkūtai participa-ting in the fight, reported seven kills each. Ap-parently, claims were doubled, as Sakai himselfadmits. The Dutchmen fought in Java, but in itswestern part, not over Surabaya. Although C.Shores states that in the fight were shot downseven Americans, 17. Pursuit Squadron lostonly three machines from the ten that took-offagainst Japanese (note 3).Sakai experienced another battle on last dayof February. A group of Japanese bombersattacked the port of Surabaya on Java. Seve-ral American P-40s and Dutch Buffalos weresent against the attackers. The Dutch fightersrelocated to this area at the end of February.The Americans, however failed to get closer,because of the reduced performance of theirengines due to difficult climatic conditions andrather poor status of their aircraft. However,the Dutchmen had more “luck” thus had to fightwith the escorting Zeroes belonging to TainanKōkūtai. In a wild dogfight Sakai shot down oneBrewster Buffalo that spun down into a stormcloud.Buffalo belonged to Dutch fighter unit 1-VIG-V.Ens. C. A. Vonck was shot down and bailed out,another pilot bailed out as well, this time fora technical fault on the engine. Beside Sakai,one kill was also claimed by Petty Officer 3rdClass Saburō Nozawa.After the dogfight during which Sakai detachedhimself from the others, he noticed a lone DC-3(Australian?) airliner and was going to attackthe plane. But before he launched the deadlyfire of his weapons, he stopped to think of him-self as a warrior, and he slowly flew along thetwin-engine plane. What was his surprise whenhe saw the blonde lady with child in her arms!Sakai firstly suspected that an important per-son was on board and thought about guiding itto the Japanese base. But the lady was similarto Mrs. Martin, a very kind American lady whotaught him English in the middle school. He de-cided to overlook the aircraft and signaled tothe pilot of the enemy aircraft to escape andtold the superior that "I lost sight of it in theclouds" after returning home.In early March pilots of Tainan Kōkūtai werebusy with patrols and escorts over Java. Sakaiperformed just two combat missions on March1 and 3. On the latter date he participated in thedestruction of PBY Catalina on the base at Chi-rachapu, Java. The flight of six pilots includingSakai expended 3250 rounds of ammunition,while only one of their Zeros sustained damage,a single bullet hole.NEW GUINEAAfter the victorious end of the campaign inDutch East India, the Tainan Kōkūtai performedtheir last flights over that area on March 9. Partof the pilots was sent to Japan, while anotherHISTORYWarming up prior to a takeoff a Martin B-26 Marauder of the22nd Bomb Group on an Allied airfield preparing for a raidagainst Japanese bases in New Guinea. In the center is B-26(40-1437). In late March 1942 the plane was assigned to the22nd Bombardment Group, Headquarters Squadron. Nickna-med “Shamrock” with the nose art of a three leaf cloverbelow the name. This ship also participated in famous missionon June 9, 1942. She was destroyed by Japanese bombing raidin Port Moresby on August 17, 1942.Photo: AWMFuture US president Lyndon B. Johnson was a congressman when he was appointed a Lieute-nant Commander in the naval reserve in June 1940. He reported for duty after Pearl Harborin December 1941, and served in 1942 as an aerial observer in Australia and New Guinea.For participation on June 9, 1942, mission with 22nd Bomb Group he was awarded the SilverStar by General Douglas MacArthur. He resigned his commission in July 1942 in compliancewith President Roosevelt’s order that all congressmen in the armed forces shall return totheir legislative duties. The photo in front of B-17D Flying Fortress, “Swoose” (40-3097) showshim on the June 9 in New Guinea. On the way back to Australia the B-17 had to perform emer-gency landing. This legendary B-17 was initially assigned to the 19th Bomb Group at Hickhamaireld on May 14, 1941. It relocated to Java on December 30, 1941. It returned to the UnitedStates on November 17, 1944. It was used as a personal hack for Lt. Gen. George H. Brett, andlater as a VIP transport aircraft. It is the longest serving B-17 in the USAAF. “Swoose” is nowon display at the National Air and Space Museum (N.A.S.M), in Washington.(Photo: Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum/NARA)INFO Eduard11May 2022Page 12
HISTORYpart was sent to Rabaul on board of cargo shipKomaki Maru. From the new air base Tainan Kō-kūtai including Sakai performed first patrols onMarch 22, and before end of March Sakai parti-cipated in two more missions.Next stop was Lae airfield in New Guinea, whe-re 4th Kōkūtai was active since March. Fighterpilots of 4th Kōkūtai, including future figh-ter legend Hiroyshi Nishizawa, were officiallyincluded in Tainan Kōkūtai on April 1, 1942. Theunit was also transferred under the commandof newly founded 25th Air Flotilla.Before Tainan Kōkūtai pilots managed to scoreagainst enemy over New Guinea, they becametarget. On April 5, PO2c Takuró Yoshi´e was shotdown near Port Moresby by Australian pilot“Les” Jackson, brother of legendary squadroncommander John Jackson. Both belonged to No.75 Squadron RAAF equipped with Kittyhawks.This unit based at Port Moresby was in Marchthe single fighter unit in the area. “Old John”Jackson managed to motivate and transform hispilots from a group of newbies to serious adver-saries for the Japanese Navy veterans. In April,the Allied fighters in Port Moresbyarea were reinforced by Americanswith Airacobras.Some sources state that on April11 Sakai claimed two Airacobras indogfight over Port Moresby. Therewere two Allied planes shot downon that day, one Kittyhawk withpilot captured and one DouglasA-24 went down with both crew-men killed. But, according to TainanKōkūtai unit diary, Sakai did not flyany mission on that day, moreoverSakai did not fly a single missionduring whole April 1942! It is notclear what was the reason for Sa-kai´s absence from combat activity.But May 1942 was a very differentstory, and Sakai flew 22 combat sorties, hishighest monthly total during World War II. Sa-kai scored his first victories over Port Moresbyon May 2. Eight Zeros clashed there with sevenAiracobras of the 8th FG and three Kittyhawksof the No. 75 Sq. RAAF. Sakai scored two P-40sshot and one in cooperation.The Americans with Airacob-ras reported four kills. The Ja-panese, however, lost a singleZero and its pilot, PO1c Haruo Kawanishi. Whenthe Japanese fighters returned to base, theirmechanics found that Sakai had fired 610 roundsfrom the guns during the fight, about 200 roundsper kill. The Japanese reported a total of eightvictories and one in cooperation. The Allies lostonly Australian Sgt. D. W. Munro in the fight. Oneof the Zeros' weaknesses – low speed in dive– became obvious during the engagement. TheAllied pilots easily escaped by diving and theJapanese were unable to pursue them.During the very next day, while escorting bom-bers over Port Moresby, Sakai claimed twodowned Airacobras from the 8th FG and hiscolleagues two more. The Americans lost twomachines and pilots, but one was apparentlykilled by board gunners and the other remainedmissing after a fierce aerial battle.The Australians were about to leave Port Mo-resby. Over a period of a little longer thana month, they had achieved 18 certain victories,for which they had lost a total of 20 machines(including three on the ground). US 8th FG leftPort Moresby Seven Mile Drome at the begi-nning of June after being replaced in the secondhalf of May by 39th Fighter Squadron (35th FG).As we can see, the Allies continually replacedthe losses suffered in heavy combat by ex-change of combat units. The Japanese could notafford such luxury, so Tainan Kōkūtai was for-ced to fight alone and almost without reinforce-ment over the jungles of New Guinea.Sakai´s struggle to get better conditions forhim and his men continued also on New Guinea.In these primitive conditions better treatmentof officers was even more obvious. Therefore,Sakai decided to steal food and cigarettes fromofficer´s supplies. He even involved in that hiswingman Toshiaki Honda,who was caught and as tra-ditional punishment severelybeaten. But commander finallyarranged improvement of conditions for enlis-ted pilots.Even long after the war Saburō Sakai pointedout that one of his main priorities was to ensuresafety of his wingmen. One of them was Hondawho said, “As long as I fly with Sakai, I will not beshot down.” He was probably right. On the day,when this rule was broken, he lost his life. Theincident occurred on May 13, 1942. Ensign Wa-tari Handa (13 victories) asked Sakai to borrowhis wingman Honda for a reconnaissance flightover Port Moresby. Sakai regarded Watari Han-da as a very experienced pilot, and therefore didnot see any reason, why to refuse it. As Handa´swingmen flew Petty Officer 3rd Class Honda andPetty Officer 1st Class Masu-aki Endó (14 victo-ries), the other flight was led by Hiroyoshi Nishi-zawa (87 v.). Honda protested, but Sakai calmedhim down “Do not worry, he's a better pilot thanI am. Go!” It should be added that, according tothe original version of this interview, Sakai hassilenced Honda in a much stronger way (note4). Handa´s formation took-off from Lae at 10.15and around 12.00 the six Zeroes arrived to Se-ven Mile Drome area at Port Moresby. Japaneseformation claimed one B-26 (that was actuallydamaged) and one Airacobra whose pilot bailedout and later returned to unit. The remainingseven P-39 pilots from 8th FG were more thanready for that fight which lasted an impressiveforty minutes. Capt. Paul G. Brown attacked atan altitude of 8,000 feet the Japanese forma-tion with an altitude advantage about 500 feet.At the same time the Japanese were attackedby 1Lt. Elmer F. Ghram. Honda's machine got inPetty Officer pilots of the Tainan Kōkūtai pose at Lae in June 1942. Severalof these aviators would be among the top Japanese aces, including Toshio Ōta(middle row, far left, 34 v.), Saburō Sakai (seated next to Ōta, second fromthe left) and Hiroyoshi Nishizawa (standing to the far left, 86 v.).One of most epic fights Sakai experienced over New Guinea was engagement on July 22, 1942 against Lockheed Hudson mas-terfully flown by P/O Warren Frank Cowan of 32. Sq RAAF. Cowan and his crew perished at the end of spectacular battle. During1998, Saburō Sakai wrote a letter to the Australian Department of Veterans Affairs, recommending Cowan for a medal, stating:“I recommend that Pilot Officer Warren F. Cowan be posthumously awarded your country's highest commendation. I have encoun-tered many brave pilots in my life but Warren F. Cowan stands alone.” The request was rejected on procedural grounds.Photo from 1943 shows three Hudsons from No. 6th Sq. RAAF over Milne Bay, New Guinea.“As long as I fly with Sakai,I will not be shot down.”Photo: Hajime Yoshida via Wikimedia Commons.Photo: Australia At WarINFO Eduard12May 2022Page 13
HISTORYa middle of cross-fire, exploded, and the pilotwas instantly killed. The airplane crashed at theend of the runway.Both Americans were credited with a single vic-tory. They applied two basic rules in duels withZeroes: “Hit and run” and “Don't dogfight”. In thiscase, it paid off. The shocked Sakai watched thereturn of the five Zeroes instead of the expectedsix. His faithful friend and wingman was dead.The apologies of Watari Handa were useless.It could not return Honda´s life. Handa did notstop to blame himself for the death of Sakai'swingman until the end of his life. According toSakai's memories, Honda's score exceeded 15victories.In the middle of May, Sakai is said to have par-ticipated in one of the most epic events of Pa-cific war – aerobatics over enemy airfield. Thestory in book “Samurai!” says that on the nightof 16 May, Sakai and his colleagues, HiroyoshiNishizawa and Toshio Ota, were listening toa broadcast of an Australian radio program,when Nishizawa recognized the eerie "DanseMacabre" of Camille Saint-Saëns. Inspired bythis, Nishizawa came up with the idea of doingdemonstration loops over the enemy airfield.The next day, Sakai´s flight included fellow acesHiroyoshi Nishizawa and Toshio Ōta. At the endof an attack on Port Moresby that had involved18 Zeros, the trio performed three tight loops inclose formation over the allied air base. Nishi-zawa indicated he wanted to repeat the perfor-mance. Diving to 6,000 ft (1,800 m), the threeZeros did three more loops, without receivingany AA fire from the ground. The following day,a lone Allied bomber flew over the Lae airfieldand dropped a note attached to a long cloth ri-bbon. A soldier picked up the note and deliveredto the squadron commander. It read (paraphra-sed): "Thank you for the wonderful display of ae-robatics by three of your pilots. Please pass onour regards and inform them that we will have awarm reception ready for them, next time theyfly over our airfield". The unit commander wasfurious and reprimanded the three pilots fortheir stupidity, but the Tainan Kōkūtai's threeleading aces felt Nishizawa's aerial choreogra-phy of the "Dance Macabre" had been worth it.Evidence in historical documents for this eventis lacking. There are five days when the trio flewtogether, but May 17 is not matching. There arealso no reports from Allied side of such activityof Japanese airmen over Allied airfield.FIGHTS WITH MEDIUM BOMBERSSaburō Several times Saburō Sakai clashedwith American twin-engine bombers over NewGuinea The first battle occurred on May 25, 1942.Six B-25 Mitchell belonging to 13th and 90thBomb Squadron attacked Lae. Ten miles befo-re the target, the Americans noticed the star-ting Zeroes. The bombers successfully droppedtheir cargo and were departing from the target,accompanied by accurate flak fire. The Ame-rican formation was then attacked by fifteenZeroes. Bomber pilots wanted to find protecti-on in low-level flight over the water. This wassupposed to make fighter attacks more difficult.According to information from American side,When Allied units entered Buna airstrip on New Guinea at the end of 1942, they found a former Tainan Kōkūtai Zero which became subject of many photos and also souvenir hunting. A6M3 Type32 “V-187” (c/n 3028) carries typical markings of Tainan Kōkūtai – the V code and diagonal identification band. Latest research indicates this aircraft with shorter range belonged to Buna deta-chment of Tainan Kōkūtai and carried yellow markings. The Hókoku 870 marking with inscription Ko Gen indicates the aircraft was donated by civilian volunteer group.Photo: Fold3INFO Eduard13May 2022Page 14
HISTORYat least two “Zeroes” crashed in flames into thesea. In fact, it was only Flyer1c Masao Watanabe,who, due to the pilot error, crashed into sea sur-face and perished.The remaining 14 Japanese shot down five Mit-chells. The first to went down in flames wascrew of Capt. Lowery, followed by crews of Lt.Shearer, Lt. Wilson, Lt. Rulison and finally themachine of Lt. Hesselbarth. Lt. Talley made itwith his heavily damaged aircraft back to PortMoresby, where he crash landed on the SevenMile Drome. He could talk about the luck thatthey had surviving with his crew, his Mitchell,was a write-off. Six victories were sharedamong participating pilots after the fight, inclu-ding Sakai.A few days later, on 28 May, Sakai won anothervictory over the bombers, this time against Ma-rauders of 22nd Bomb Group. Sakai, in coopera-tion with other pilots of Jun-ichi Sasai's formati-on attacked near Lae five American aircraft, andone of them crashed into the sea. Several of thecrew got out of sinking wreck, but soon, as Sa-kai could testify, the sharks took care of them.It was a Martin B-26 Marauder serial number40-1467, belonging to the crew of 1/Lt Spears R.Lanford from 33rd Bomb Squadron (22nd BG).The Zero pilots claimed one more shot downMarauder as shared victory, but the crew madeit back to Port Moresby with one dead on board.On the early morning of June 9, the 22nd BombGroup was scheduled for a combat flight underthe code name Tow Nine, but for some reason,the order for take-off according to the timetabledid not come. The reason for the delay was thearrival of some “big bosses”, one of them was noother than the future US President Lyndon By-nes Johnson. Boeing B-17 with Johnson aboardarrived about an hour after the planned missionstart. Johnson wanted to take part in the TowNine mission. It is certainly not possible to saythat the arrival of VIPs would raise the enthusi-asm among the 22nd BG members. Johnsonwas to join the crew of the Marauder named“Wabash Cannonball”, but soon he left to get hiscamera. When he came back, he saw his placewas occupied by another VIP, Lt. Col. Francis R.Stevens. So “Some important congressman”, asJohnson was identified by pilots, joined anotherMarauder’s crew , “Heckling Hare” with serialnumber 40-1488 and Lt. Walter H. Greer at thecontrols. Eleven machines took-off from PortMoresby at 8.51 under the command of 1Lt. Wal-ter A. Krella, who flew in his machine “KansasComet” (40-1433).Lae was attacked before 10.00 am by Mitchellsand B-17s. Shortly thereafter, about two dozenZeroes of Tainan Kōkūtai went to the air. Justa little later, at 10.02 the formation of Maraudersarrived over Lae. During the fight that followed,the Japanese shot down the machine of com-mand flight “Wabash Cannonball” (40-1508) pi-loted Lt. Willis G. Bench. Together with the eightmen of the crew also perished Lt. Col. Stevens.The four other machines were lightly damagedby the fire of the fighters and Lt. Pierre Powellhad to belly land his Marauder (40-1363) at PortMoresby. This mission became subject of MartinCaidin's book “The Mission” in 1964. According toCaidin's account, Johnson's Marauder generatormalfunctioned during the fight and the machinefell out of formation. The Bomber was then pur-sued by up to eight Zeroes and returned to thebase with heavy damage. The Japanese repor-ted a total of four downed Marauders after thefight including two by Sakai. However, unit diarydoes indicate only four victories as shared forall participants.Lyndon B. Johnson and Lt. Col. Samuel Andersonwere honored for the heroism shown during theair battle with Silver Star award by Gen. Dou-glas MacArthur. Lt. Col. Stevens received DSC(Distinguished Service Cross) in memoriam.Congressman and later President Johnson ne-ver forgot to display the Silver Star ribbon onhis jacket flap.What about Johnson's diary? He says that on theway to the target the generator quit, thereforeafter 30 minutes he decided to turn back, so noair battle, no war drama. As already mentioned,Marauders arrived to target area at 10.02. Butaccording to logbook of Greer´s Marauder withJohnson on board, the ship turned back halfwayto the target and landed safely back in Port Mo-resby at 10.08, in fact at the same time whenair battle was taking place far in the north. Let’sbelieve that fictive version of Johnson´s parti-cipation was done by authorities and not dueto Johnson's dishonesty. After the war variousAmericans were repeatedly asking Sakai whycould not shoot down the B-26 with Johnson onboard!It also seems that the shooting down of Marau-der piloted by Lt. Bench is not as clear as it wassupposed to be. According to 2Lt. Dewey C. Flintthe Marauder crashed into the sea due to piloterror, not battle damage.Several times during the Pacific campaign, Sa-kai was surprised by the courage of the Alliedairmen who opposed him in the air. But perhapsthe most impressive encounter took place onJuly 22, 1942. Nine Zeroes under the commandof Junichi Sasai took-off from Lae at 8:00 andarrived at 8:40 at Buna where Japanese lan-ding was ongoing. Sakai and others were quiet-ly circling at altitude 2000 m, when he suddenlyheard the explosions from below. He looked atthe beach and saw smoke rising from cratersafter bomb impacts. Someone attacked the Ja-panese landing!“It was very weird,” recalls Sakai, “I was sear-ching the sky, but I did not see anything. Buta few moments later I saw a descending point inthe distance. I thought it could be a B-25, B-26 orDouglas A-20 and was as fast as my Zero!”Sakai was the first to caught the bomber. It wasan Australian Lockheed Hudson. The Zero pilotstarted to fire at the intruder and hoped to forcehim to maneuver and shorten the distance be-Lae airstrip on New Guinea was characteristic for its location at a seashore. US photo from air raid shows a narrow design of theairfield. Saburō Sakai spent more than two months of intensive front line service on this airbase.Photo: Fold3INFO Eduard14May 2022Page 15
HISTORYtween them. And the Hudson maneuvered inde-ed! His pilot performed a 90 degrees bank turnand attacked Sakai head-on with all weapons fi-ring! Sakai was forced to evade! The Australianwas skillfully escaping attacks of angry Japa-nese and in addition pressed home well aimedfire from his gunners.The courageous pilot was P/O Warren F. Cowanof No 32 Sqn. RAAF in his Hudson (A16-201). Hiscrew members were co-pilot D. R. Taylor andgunners Sgt. R. B. Polack and L. E. Sheard. BothAustralian pilots were able to do amazing sharpturns due to reducing the gas on the internal en-gine in curve. Sakai himself made four unsucce-ssful attacks on Hudson. His fifth one was finallysuccessful. First, he hit the right then the leftwing tank. He run out of cannon ammunition, butwith the fire of machine guns, he ignited leakingfuel. Cowan still tried to make emergency lan-ding, but he failed and fell into the jungle nearbythe village Popoga near Buna.Many years after the war, thanks to researcherHenry Sakaida, Sakai lodged a signed statementof the events of that day in the hope that Cowanand his crew would be finally acknowledgedfor their bravery and some sort of posthumousaward be made by the Australian Government.Unfortunately, it was contrary to Australian mi-litary policy, possibly based on the reasonablylogic that to award medals to some, after allthese years, would perhaps open the way tomany more.In June 1942 Sakai completed a total of elevencombat sorties. During one of them in the vi-cinity of Rabaul he participated in the shootingdown of a B-17 bomber. The most successfulday for him became June 16. Over Port Moresby,twenty-one Zeros clashed with thirty-five Aira-cobras of the 39th and 40th FS. The Japaneseclaimed seventeen kills and four probable afterthe violent fight. Sakai was credited with fourconfirmed victories. The Americans lost fivemachines and two pilots, and two other fighterplanes were damaged. The Japanese lost onlyone Zero and its pilot. On a second mission du-ring the same day, Sakai scored one more Ai-racobra.During July 1942 Sakai performed only ninecombat sorties and took part in the destruc-tion of two B-25 bombers. He scored his lastvictories over New Guinea on August 2. In themorning Sakai and eight of his colleagues par-ticipated in the interception of five B-17s of 28thBS. One of the bombers was shot down by Lt.jg. Jun-ichi Sasai who claimed a second one asdamaged. Sakai did not score a victory (booksSamurai! and Winged Samurai provide differentinformation). Later on, during the same missionthe Japanese patrol engaged three Airacobrasof 41st FS and the Japanese pilots claimed sixvictories, including one by Sakai. Americans lostonly two fighter planes and pilots.To be continued...Notes:1) On December 10, several B-17s armed with twenty100-pound bombs each ran individual attacks againstongoing Japanese landings in Vigan and Appari. Kellyat Vigan attacked the light cruiser Naka, which Kelly´screw identified as battleship Haruna. The other bom-bers attacked vessels off Appari, where direct hitdamaged destroyer Harukaze and with a near missdamaged cruiser Nattori, the flagship of the Rear Ad-miral Hara. During the landing, the Dai 19 Sókaitei (W-19 minesweeper) was badly damaged by the bombs.Damage of this vessel is attributed to Kelly by C. Sho-res and his team of authors.2) In fact, there was not even one tanker nearby. Theburning vessel could have been Tatsugami-maru orNana-maru damaged by Boeing B-17 on the afternoonof January 23, 1942, or some of the six vessels sunk bythe Allies during the night of January 23–24.3) Before the fight the unit had a total of 24 P-40sand lost three while on following day lost five. Fourother Americans had to perform emergency landing.However, the machines were not lost in combat.4) According to original version Sakai said: “Shut upyou fool, Handa is better pilot than me and he is flyinglonger than me. Get out!"c/n 5784, Petty Officer 1st class Saburō Sakai, Tainan Kōkūtai, Lakunai Airfield, Rabaul, New Britain Island, August 1942Sakai flew this machine in early August 1942. It was manufactured by Mitsubishi in May 1942 and was delivered to Tainan Kōkūtai in June or July. A photograph of the V-172 from this period is notavailable. It is believed that it may have later served with Kōkūtai 204. Its wreckage was found in the spring of 1944 at Gasmata airfield in New Britain and recovered in 1973. The colour of thefuselage markings is based on the publication Eagles of the Southern Sky, whose authors assume it was black. However, it cannot be ruled out that it was blue-black or blue, and the colour hadblackened during the post-war period on wrecks of Zeros due to high temperatures. The machine is currently on display in a restored condition as V-173 in v Australian War Memorial, Canberra.A 1944 aerial photograph of Rabaulshows Lakunai airfield looking east.One of the volcanoes that are partof the Rabaul caldera can be seenin the background.Photo: AWMINFO Eduard15May 2022Page 16
HISTORYBombardment of Tel Aviv became a dailyoccurrence as REAF (Royal Egyptian AirForce) Spitfires and makeshift Dakotabombers roamed the skies of Israel unch-allenged. With the armies of Egypt in thesouth, Syria in the north, Jordan to the eastand local Arabs inside Israel bearing armsagainst their Jewish neighbors, effortswere made worldwide to obtain arma-ment at any cost. The only country willingopenly to defy the UN embargo imposed onthe fledgling country was Czechoslovakiawhich supplied Israel with guns and bulletsas well as with Avia S-199 fighter planesand D70 and D250 aerial bombs. Ironicallyall of these of WWII Nazi Germany design.Along with small arms and ammunition,Israeli owned C-46 Commando transportaircraft flying under Panamanian registryand markings flew S-199s into Israel in thedead of night, in operation given the codename “Balak”.First sortie, first bloodThe first four Messers, as the S-199s werenicknamed, were ready for their first mi-ssion on May 29, 1948, to attack El Arish ai-rbase in the Sinai, from which REAF Spitfi-res and Dakotas took off for their bombingmissions into Israel population centers.The 101 squadron's first mission was chan-ged at the last minute as desperate pleascame from the IDF southern command toattack a 500 vehicle Egyptian Armoredconvoy delayed at a blown up bridge situa-ted on the outskirts of Ashdod, 40 kilome-ters south of Tel Aviv. This mission was ledby former VMF-214 Black sheep squadronMarine pilot Lou Lenart and it succeededin halting the Egyptian Army’s advancefurther north beyond the bridge which wasto be called from then on “Gesher Ad Ha-lom” (A Bridge to a Halt). The successfulmission came at the cost of half the IAFfighter fleet, as two of four operational“Messers” were put out of action and oneof the pilots, Eddy Cohen, was killed. TheEgyptian Army forces did not turn back, butinstead spread along the road connectingGaza to Hebron and Jerusalem which washeld under siege by Royal Jordanian Armyregulars. All Jewish settlements south ofthe Gaza – Hebron – Jerusalem road andJewish inhabitants in Eastern Jerusalemwere cut off behind enemy lines.Lou Lenart in the cockpit of Messer D-107.TEXT: YOAV EFRATIAvia S-199in Israeli serviceOn the eve of May 14, 1948, Prime Minister Ben Gurion declared thefounding of the state of Israel. The following morning, Royal EgyptianAir Force (REAF) Spitfires bombed Tel Aviv, including Dov Hoz airportand the sole hanger which housed light planes that were essential forkeeping in contact with settlements in the Negev desert and the upperGalilee in the north. It was more than clear the new Israeli state wouldneed some fighter planes as well.INFO Eduard16May 2022Page 17
HISTORYFirst moveOn another ground support mission of thefollowing day, a third Messer was put outof action, leaving only D-106 (the letterwas painted as the Hebrew character thatreads dalet; it is the fourth letter of theHebrew alphabet and thus corresponds tothe letter D in the Latin alphabet; editori-al note) airworthy. In an attempt to seekand destroy Israeli fighters on the ground,REAF Spitfires bombed the former RAFbase at Ekron, where Israel’s sole Messerwas based. To avoid its loss, the 101 squad-ron moved its operations to a small orangegrove located at the outskirts of Herzliya.Under open skies, Israel’s single opera-tional Messer was hidden under densecamouflage netting spread between thetrees, the adjacent strip of unplowed dirtwas used as a runway and a water towersituated next to the orange grove servedas a control tower.First victoriesIn the late afternoon hours of June 3, 1948,a pair of Royal Egyptian Air Force Dakotabombers, escorted by a pair of Spitfiresmade their way to Jewish settlements inthe area of Rishon Le Tzion and Tel Aviv.As they approached their destination, theywere attacked from the sun by 101 squad-ron commander Modi Alon flying the onlyavailable combat plane of the Israeli AirForce wearing a blue fuselage numberD-106. The first Dakota was downed overJaffa and the second over the sands ofRishon Le Tzion. These were the first airto air kills to be credited to the Israeli AirForce.In order not to compromise the upper sur-face camouflage of the airplanes hiddenbetween trees, underneath camouflagenetting, blue and white Star of David roun-dels were applied only to the sides of thefuselage and the bottom surfaces of thewing. In July of 1948, ex-USAAF volunteerpilot Stan Andrews drew up the squadron’sred, white, and black insignia of a wingedskull of death wearing a flight helmet andgoggles. The squadron insignia was prin-ted on billboard paper and applied to theleft side of the engine cowling. The insigniawas seen photographed on airplanesD-108 and D-111, which were operationalprior to the July 9, along with D-107 andD-110.A second cease fire went into effect onJuly 18 and lasted until October 15, 1948,with the outbreak of Operation Ten Pla-gues, later to be renamed Operation Yoav.The aim of that operation was to root outthe Egyptian army headquartered at theIraq El Sudan fortress situated along theGaza – Hebron – Jerusalem road. Duringthis offensive, World War II vintage combatplanes from opposing forces were flowntogether in one squadron wearing theidentification roundels, the Jewish Star ofDavid of the Israeli Air Force. Czechoslo-vakian built Avia S-199s, Jumo 211 poweredMesserschmitt Bf 109Gs, SupermarineSpitfires and North American P-51D Mus-tangs flew together for a short time be-tween October 15–22, 1948.Preparations for Operation Yoav began inthe summer of 1948 with all airworthy air-craft including light and heavy transportplanes, bombers, and fighters. They werefitted to deliver bombs brought from ab-road or manufactured locally. Most missi-ons during operation Yoav were concen-Commander of the 101 squadron Modi Alon.S-199 D-111 under the masking net at the Herzliya airfield. REAF Dakota bomber prior to be shot down by Modi Alonon June 3, 1948.INFO Eduard17May 2022Page 18
HISTORYtrated on bombing the Egyptian forwardairbase of El Ahrish and the Egyptian armyheadquarters set up at the Iraq Al Sudanfortress overlooking the Faluga pocketalong the Gaza – Hebron road leading toJerusalem.First coloring changesOn October 16, 1948, IAF headquartersnotified all ground units that Israeli fi-ghter planes belonging to its only fightersquadron had their spinners painted inred and the rudders decorated with redand white stripes in order to distinguishthem from Egyptian Spitfires operating inthe same area. To further differentiate theIsraeli fighter planes from those of Egypt,especially Egyptian Spitfires, Star of Davidroundels were applied atop of the wingsfor the first time. The aircraft available tothe 101 squadron at the start of OperationYoav included Avia S-199s numbers D-113,114, 117, 118, 120, 121 and 123; Spitfires D-130,131, 132, 133 and 134; and P-51D Mustangsnumbered D-190 and 191 which joined thefighting on October 21, 1948 in their naturalmetal finish, conducting reconnaissancemissions over Lebanon and Syria just aday prior to a cease fire that was agreedupon a day later. On the first day of combatoperations, Messer number D-121 was in-volved in air combat against a Royal Egyp-tian Air Force Spitfire Mk.IXc. AlthoughRudi Augarten claimed downing the Egyp-tian opponent, the downed airplane wasnot found and no credit was given for a kill.With the end of Operation Yoav on October22, 1948, and winter weather softening thedirt runway in Hertzelia orange grove im-Pilots and mechanics of 101 squadron in the summer of 1948 at Herzliya improvised airfield.Messer D-115 with Al Freeman and Syd Cohen standing besides the airplane at Herzelia air-field. D-115 arrived on July 13, 1948, flew for the first time on July 20 and was damaged duringlanding by Sandy Jacobs on September 8. The aircraft was written off.Messer D-117 arrived on July 15, 1948 and was flown for first time on July 21. Hereit is photographed in July 1948 at Hertzelia field with lead mechanic Eli Reuveniwho chalked his girlfriend’s name “Nechama” on the Star of David. This aircraft wasconverted for photo reconnaissance between October 17–20, 1948.INFO Eduard18May 2022Page 19
HISTORYprovised airbase, the 101 squadron movedon November 9, 1948, to the former RAFbase at Castina, later to be renamed asHatzor Air Base. The arrival of ten Spit-fires Mk.IXe from Czechoslovakia duringthe Velveta II direct flights to Israel on theDecember 23 and 26 curtailed flight opera-tions in the Messer. The 101 squadron ope-rated from Hatzor air base during operati-on Chorev, using Messer airplanes whichwere given a new four digit identificationnumber introduced by the IAF to all air-planes in inventory as of November 1948.The Avia S-199 were given the type num-ber beginning with the digits 19 followed bytwo digits identifying the aircraft. Airpla-nes to be identified with the new numbersincluded 1901/D-117, 1902/D-118, 1903/D-120,1904/D-121, 1905/D-123, 1906/D-108. Me-sser number 1907 was the last to arrive inIsrael and is the only Messer to be painteddirectly with the new four digit number onits fuselage. The last combat mission lo-gged in an Israeli Air Force Avia S-199 wasto escort Israel’s first Spitfire D-130 in areconnaissance escort mission over Gazaand Rafah. The mission took place on De-cember 26, 1948, and was flown by RudyAugarten in Messer number D-108.Messer D-122 flew for the first time over Israeli soil on August 5, 1948.It was written off in a take-off accident by Horowitz on September 22, 1948.Photo of Messer D-123 after final assembly, prior to its first flight on August 15, 1948. D-123 participatedin Operation Chorev and operated from Castina airbase until it was scraped in 1950.The only photo found which was taken at Hertzelia airfield during operation Yoav, showing Messers D-120and D-121 in the background as they prepare for take-off.Photo of D-121, taken on March 14, 1949 on Castina air base, is the last photograph taken of an operationalMesser. It is the only surviving S-199 in Israel and has one probable kill on its account. It currently residesat the Israel Air Force Museum, wearing an incorrect D-120 tail number.The deep cooler nose intake and red spinner belong to the longestlasting Messer in IAF service, D-108, which logged its first flight duringthe first week of June 1948 and the last one on December 26, 1948.INFO Eduard19May 2022Page 20
June 3 Modi Alon C-47 Dakota REAF D-106June 3 Modi Alon C-47 Dakota REAF D-106July 8 Gideon Lichtman Spitfire Mk.Vc REAF N/AJuly 10 Morris Mann Harvard SyAAF D-107July 18 Modi Alon Spitfire Mk.Vc REAF N/ASeptember 23 Gideon Lichtman Dragon Rapide RJA D-118October 16 Rudi Augarten Spitfire Mk.IXe REAF D-121IAF S-199 kills and probableabbreviationsREAF–Royal Egyptian Air ForceSyAAF–Syrian Arab Air ForceRJA–Royal Jordanian AirlinesnotesAccording to the IAF historian Alex YofeNot credited as a kill, only probableThis aircraft is the sole surviving Messer in Israel; it is on display in the IAF museum in Hatzirim.1)1)1)3)2)2)3)HISTORYS-199 paintingThe most difficult aspect of making accu-rate representation of the Avia S-199 isconfirming the color of the airplane. His-torians of the IAF relayed on a documentissued by the IAF in the early 1950’s whichlisted the airplanes in IAF inventory andtheir colors by name, with no reference toany color standard. The S-199 was foundon this list and was described as beingpainted gray. Post-World War II black andwhite photographs of the S-199 in Czecho-slovakian service show lighter and darkerairframes next to each other, which havebeen interpreted to be differing shades ofa locally manufactured color MNO 2036smalt 02 - similar or the same as RLM 02or RLM 02 with a bit of RLM 83 Dark Greenadded. In a mid-1994 visit to the Israel AirForce museum by former Messer pilot andIsraeli president, Ezer Weizman insistedthat the gray painted S-199 on display hadwrong color. On January 2, 1995 I met withpresident Weizman and when asked aboutthe right color, he pointed to the RLM 68color chip in my Official Monogram Pain-ting Guide to German aircraft 1935–1945,further stating that the color was more ofa khaki shade “as seen on soldiers uni-forms”. In cross reference of RLM 68 pu-blished in Monogram Publications bookon WWII Luftwaffe colors with FS.595, Ilearned that this color is nearly identicalto FS.34258 green, which is significant-ly more vivid than the “khaki green” colorwhich he meant. I first published my fin-dings about RLM 68 in the December 1995issue of IPMS Israel, Kne-Mida magazine.This color finding was close, yet wrong.A sample of the actual green color wasfound several months after my findings,when my fellow model builders and his-torians Ra'anan Weiss and Rami Skladmaninterviewed a former IAF Avia S-199 me-chanic Shabtai Katz. During their visit, heshowed them a fuel cap that belonged toan IAF S-199. From this fuel cap the colorof the Avia was found as “khaki green” si-milar to German post WWII standard RAL6013 Schilfgrün.In February 2003 the correct RAL 6013green color was relayed to the JosephGoldman, who is in charge of restorationof the IAF museum exhibits, and he re-painted Messer D-112 in the correct greenMesser D-121 painted in a brown and blue for 101 squadron's 10th anniversary family day celebrations,held in May 1958 when the squadron was operating Mystere IV French fighter planes in the same colors.INFO Eduard20May 2022Page 21
HISTORYApril 7, 2004: With no clear UV coating applied to the newly painted airframe, the D-120 faded to an overall gray color in less than a year...IAF museum Messer D-121 as of August 10, 2007, painted in RAL 6013 with incorrect tail number D-120 instead of D-121 and clear coated with UV gloss coat to avoid the color degradation.and restored the markings to representMesser D-120 as it appeared during ope-ration Yoav. An interesting event happenedwhen I revisited the IAF museum in Aprilof the following year. The correctly green--painted Avia had turned to be… Gray! Thelack of UV protective layer had turned thegreen into gray and so the mystery of greyS-199 was concluded. Now it is clear, whythe 1950's vintage document was wrong.On October 12, 2014 I finally had the oppor-tunity to see the Avia S-199 fuel cap on myown eyes. IAF museum curator Avi MosheSegal presented me the key to his vaultwhere the original Avia-painted S-199 fuelcap was kept. With Tambor German RAL,United States FS595b, British StandardBS381c/1964 and Humbrol color catalogsat hand, I compared the color of the S-199fuel cap in direct and indirect sun light. Thefuel cap's khaki color was a direct matchto RAL 6013, it was slightly darker thanFS595b-14257 and had no equivalent inBS381c and Humbrol color catalogs. For-tunately for us model builders RAL 6013is available in the Revell enamel range ofpaints as SM362.The names given to the S-199in the IAFThe official IAF code name for the AviaS-199 was Python. IAF pilots who wereWWII war veterans referred to them as theMesserschmitt and this name was shor-tened to Messer as stated to me by EzerWeizman. Messer has also the dual me-aning, amongst European Jews who spo-ke the Yiddish language, the messer alsomeans the knife, which is pronounced asSakeen in Hebrew. So the name Sakeen issometimes used as well for S-199.ReferencesWhite Crow Publications – Avia S-199 in IsraeliAir Force Service 1948 – 1950, by Alex Yofe andLawrence NyveenAir Enthusiast Magazine Spring 1995 No. 57Air Enthusiast Magazine Sep/Oct 1995 No. 59IDF Ministry Publishing, The Messerschmitt –the First Fighter Plane of the IAF (Hebrew text)Spitfires Over Israel – by Brian Cull, ShlomoAloni and David Nicolle; Grub Street LondonIPMS Israel Kne-Mida magazine No. 23,December 1995Zlinek model magazine, Avia S-199Aero Journal issue No. 22, Dec 1 – Jan 2Biaf Air and Space Magazine issueno.30, Feb.1979Wings & Wheels Publications – Avia S-199specialPersonal interviews with Ezer Weizmanand Lou LenartINFO Eduard21May 2022Page 22
HISTORYThere were significant changes on theground, Russians realized that they lackedresources to attack in four directions at thesame time. In Kherson the Russians wenton defense. Kharkov is still under Russi-an bombardment but at Kiev the Russiantroops had to completely withdraw fromUkrainian territory. During March 16 andApril 16 Donbas faced the strongest Russi-an pressure. Also, the brunt of the RussianAF activities was concentrated there.The Russian troops retreating from Kievleft behind the destroyed cities and murde-red civilians. Namely the Buche massacremarked the significant shift in the attitudeof Western allies. While up until then mainlyportable anti-tank and anti-aircraft wea-pons were supplied to Ukraine the heavyweapons started to flow into the count-ry-tanks, armored vehicles, cannons ormissile launchers from Czech Republic,Poland, USA, Britain or Australia. Slovakiasupplied one battery of the S-300 anti-air-craft system to Ukraine. The Americanswere preparing the supply of 16 helicoptersMi-17 originally earmarked for Afghanistan.More advanced weapon systems werementioned more often. The Ukrainian am-bassador to the USA, Oksana Markarova,started negotiations with General Atomicsrepresentatives about the potential supp-lies to the Ukrainian armed forces. Eventhough details were not published GrayEagle, Predator or even Reaper drones arebeing considered. While the Turkish madeBayraktar TB2 drone currently in the Ukrai-nian inventory can carry 150 kilos of theordnance on four attachment points Reapercan carry ten times more ammunition onseven hard points.Even though Predators or Reapers are cu-rrently a matter of the future, during thepreparation of this article supplies of theso-called “kamikaze drones” Switchbladewere on the way. And not only on the way –the Ukrainians reported the first success-ful deployment. They destroy the target bydirect impact. They are launched from thetube similar to the mine launcher. After it islaunched the drone extends its wings andpropeller in the rear. Then it flies towardsthe target searching for it with a camera inthe nose. There are two versions of Swit-chblade. The older and smaller model 300is designed to destroy troops, cannons, orlight vehicles. It is 50 cm long, weighs 2.5kilos and its range is 10 kilometers. Swit-chblade 600 can also destroy armoredvehicles. It is 130 cm long, weighs 25 ki-los and its range is 40 kilometers. Ukrainewas supplied with both versions. The smallgroup of Ukrainian soldiers was trained inthe USA how to use these drones and theycurrently train other local troops.More destroyed than in use...As we mentioned Bayraktars, the Russi-an side claimed to have already destroyedaround 50 of them. That is quite an interes-ting phenomenon because before the warUkraine had a maximum 20 to 24 in their in-ventory and during March another 16 weredelivered from Turkey. That is a total of 40Bayraktars in the Ukrainian inventory. It se-ems that some of them were destroyed bythe Russian army twice! Joking aside - theloss of only three Bayraktars is photogra-phically documented. During the fighting inthe northern Ukraine these drones werepretty efficient because the Russian armycould only advance in columns and dronesdestroyed their anti-aircraft systems (suchas Buk) sooner than they managed to getinto the firing position. Not even travelingin the alarm mode helped since Bayraktaroffers very small radar reflection surfacesTEXT: MIRO BARIČThe air force and missiles more and more prove themselves as a de-cisive factor in the Russian military strategy in Ukraine. By the sametoken, air defense is important for Ukraine. The previous summaryended on March 16 so today we will look into the events in the Ukrai-nian skies that have happened up until April 16.The air warover UkraineThe second monthUkraine's R-360 Neptun anti-ship missile during tests in 2019.INFO Eduard22May 2022Page 23
HISTORYand it was typically too late for Russiancrews to notice them. After the anti-aircraftprotection was eliminated the rest of thecolumn was easy prey for the drones.Ukrainian problem is that they use the am-munition faster than they can obtain it – andit’s not only true about bombs and rocketsfor the drones. In the East, where in moreopen space the Russians have better condi-tions for the anti-aircraft defense, Bayrak-tars are deployed in a different way. Theyespecially facilitate the gun fire guidanceutilizing their capable instruments. Theycan see pretty far behind the front line wi-thout crossing it and expose themselves tothe danger. The gun battery fire is thereforemore efficient that the drones’ ordnance.Losses versus claimsAs of April 16, the Russians claimed to havedestroyed 460 unmanned aircraft systemsof all types, 134 combat aircraft and 105 he-licopters. That is the total of 699 destroyedaircraft.As of April 16, the Ukrainian armed forcesreported 163 aircraft, 138 drones shot downand 145 helicopters destroyed. That is thetotal of 446 destroyed aircraft.Both sides practically daily announce anairplane or helicopter shot down. It’s quiteinteresting from the Russian side as theyannounced a long time ago to have destroy-ed the whole Ukrainian air force. Regardle-ss, the official Russian sources report dailymore successes fighting this “non-existent”Ukrainian AF. But not to pick only on Ru-ssians, the Ukrainian side also reported su-ccesses which cannot be verified and couldbe categorized as unrealistic. Since thewar started the destruction of 22 Russianaircraft, 42 helicopters and 34 drones canbe photographically documented. It meansthat the Ukrainian victories versus lossesratio is 446:98.The disparity on the Russian side is even bi-gger. Destruction of 18 Ukrainian airplanes,5 helicopters and 14 drones can be docu-mented. It means that the ratio of Russianclaims and positively confirmed Ukrainianaircraft losses is 699:37.It is true what we stated in the summaryin the previous issue – the actual numberswill be somewhere in between and whilethe war rages cannot be independently ve-rified. For sure there will be more aircraftdestroyed than shown in the available pho-tographs however the claims are exagge-rated. Moreover, some documented lossesthat were added to the Oryx site during thepast month are from the earlier period; ho-wever, the pictures appeared only recent-ly. For example, an Ukrainian Su-34 shotdown during the first days of war whosewreck was found in the fields much later.Similarly, two Ukrainian transport IL-76MDwere destroyed at the Melitopol airportin the beginning of war but their picturesappeared more than one months later. Oneof them however had been sitting there for10 years so it is not included in the combatlosses. After the liberation of the Hostomelairport near Kiev several wrecks of theAntonov civilian aircraft were found whichwere seriously damaged there togetherwith An-225 Mrija. We don’t know if Russiaincluded them on their list of the destroyedUkrainian aircraft.The ratio of the confirmed Russian andUkrainian losses, 98:37, is interesting. Tosome extent it reflects the high numberof missions flown by the Russian AF. Thenumber gradually increased from 200 dailyto 250 to further 300 and at the time thisarticle went to print the Russians flew 350missions daily. The main target was Don-bas, also the focus of the Russian groundforces. During the vast majority of the mi-ssions the Russian aircraft did not crossthe front lines and launched their weaponsfrom distance. Therefore, the number ofRussian aircraft shot down decreased incomparison to the first stage of war. Oneof very few confirmed claims is Su-35 shotdown near Izjum on April 3. The Ukrainianfighters supposedly played a bait. They lu-red the Russian plane into the trap wherethe anti-aircraft battery waited for it. Afterthe hit the pilot ejected and became POW.One of three Ukrainian Bayraktars destructed and confirmed by photographic evidence.Two Ukrainian Il-76MD transports were destroyed at Melitopol airfield.INFO Eduard23May 2022Page 24
HISTORYRussian Su-35 shot down on April 3 near Izjum.This Ukrainian Su-25 from the 299th Tactical Air Brigade was able to land in a field despite having its tailvirtually shot off, damaged flaps, and destroyed landing gear tires.The symbols under the cockpit of the Ukrainian MiG-29 stand forthree night kills of cruise missiles.The tail of a Ukrainian MiG-29 with patches after damage repairs.INFO Eduard24May 2022Page 25
HISTORYTough life of a helicopter pilotThe Ukrainian air force is clearly at a bigdisadvantage and flies just a fraction of themissions the Russians fly. In general, it'sless than 10 per day. Before the war startedthe aircraft managed to disperse to bac-kup airfields and were able to operate fromthe grass surfaces however the shockshad a negative effect on the missiles. TheRussians possess two main advantages -they enjoy the AWACS Beriev A-50 supportand their missiles feature longer range.Therefore, the Ukrainians have to be veryresourceful to get the Russians into thetrap, like in the aforementioned case. Theseare however isolated cases and manyUkrainian pilots lost their lives in defense oftheir homeland. The Ukrainian anti-aircraftsystems also present the top target. There-fore, they only engage their radar for a veryshort time (60 to 120 seconds) to impairtheir location. However, with the center ofthe Russian air operations moving towardsthe front lines the Ukrainian anti-aircraftbatteries had to follow and many paid theprice.On the front the Ukrainians can only usethe portable rocket systems - Soviet Igla,American Stinger and lastly the BritishStarstreak. They are not efficient againstthe aircraft flying at high altitudes howevercan make helicopter pilots’ life miserable.Kamov Ka-52 suffered 10% losses of thewhole deployed inventory. Last one wasdestroyed on Friday, April 15 by the troopsfrom 93rd Mechanized Brigade “KholodnyiYar”. According to their account, during thenight two Russian helicopters were flyingso low that they decided not to waste Stin-gers and used the Soviet missiles Igla. Onehelicopter avoided the missile with the helpof flares however the second one was hit,crashed in the field, and exploded.Before that one Ka-52 was destroyed onTuesday April 5 even with an anti-tank mi-ssile. The aircraft was hovering for a longtime above a cluster of trees and so theoperator of the Ukrainian made Stugna-Pmissile got him in his sights. On Friday Ap-ril 1 a video confirmed the first successfuldeployment of the British Starstreak mi-ssile in Ukraine. A Mi-28 helicopter was hitand broke up midair. No wonder the Russi-an helicopter pilots do not rush into action.A video appeared showing Mi-28 and Ka-52operating as an air platform rocket launch-ers for carpet bombing by the unguidedmissiles. The aircraft arrive at maximumspeed close to the ground, then they startclimbing and during this maneuver launchsalvos of unguided missiles on the ballis-tic curve, to extend their range, towards theUkrainian positions. Right after the launchthey turn around launching the flares asa precaution.Wreckage of a Ka-52 helicopter destroyed by an Igla missile on April 15.Ukrainian Mi-8MSB shot down during an evacuation flight from Mariupol.This is not the result of a strike by a giant fly swatter. A Russian Mi-17MTV was destroyed by an anti-tank missileimmediately after an emergency landing.INFO Eduard25May 2022Page 26
HISTORYMissile attacksBesides the air attacks on the front linetargets the Russians also fire the missi-les with the long range against the targetsall over the Ukrainian territory. During theweek starting Friday March 25 their tar-gets were fuel storages. In this manner theRussians tried to deprive the Ukrainianarmy of the fuel and thus hamper the trans-fer of the troops to the east before the Don-bas offensive they were preparing. In Aprilthe railway stations in Donbas were shelledby rockets with the same mission - to pre-vent the transfer of the Ukrainian reinfor-cements. At the limited scale Ukraine alsoattempts the rocket counter attacks. Theirrepeated target for example was Chorno-baivka airport near Kherson. In the firsthalf of March, during two attacks, at least 16Russian helicopters of various types weredestroyed. Remaining helicopters retrea-ted while the damaged aircraft were towedaway by trucks with their rotors removed.The Russians however maintained the ga-rrison there with the large number of ve-hicles which became the target of at least15 further attacks on April 14. According tothe Ukrainians besides the destroyed ve-hicles the Russians lost the ammunitionstorage and two Russian generals lost theirlives. Russians did not confirm their death.The occupied port of Berdjansk at the co-ast of Azov Sea also became the target ofa rocket attack. In the end of March, theRussians media published the propagan-da footage where the armored vehicleswere being off loaded from the ships toreinforce the attack on Mariupol. Off cour-se the Ukrainians saw the videos as welland knew precisely where to attack. Theydeployed Tochka-U missiles which arerather inaccurate. The pier was hit by atleast four missiles but caused no damageto the ships on anchor. Shortly after, onMarch 24 however there was an explosionon one of the landing ships. It was a vesselof the Aligator class later identified as Sa-ratov. The wreck was burning and explodingfor several hours and sank to the bottom ofthe port. Saratov was 113 meters long andits displacement was 4,500 tons. Its capa-city was 300-400 troops and 20 tanks or 40armored vehicles or other cargo up to 1,000tons. Besides Saratov the flames reachedand damaged other two landing vesselsclass Bullfrog, later identified as Novo-cherkassk and Cezar Kunikov. The Ukraini-an side immediately claimed that this ex-plosion was caused by rocket Tochka-U aswell but owing to the missile’s inaccuracythis is rather improbable. The explosion andship destruction can be more attributed tothe Russian carelessness in handling theammunition.End of the flagshipThirteen proved to be an unlucky numberfor the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship. OnApril 13 night the fire erupted on board ofthe cruiser Moskva followed by the ammu-nition explosions after which the ship sankon the next day. It was the largest ship inthe world lost in combat since WWII. Thechain of events described by Ukrainian andRussian sides logically differ.The Ukrainians claim that as bait they usedBayraktar drones. Those drew the attentionof the cruiser’s radar operators. While theRussian sailors were monitoring the dronesthe Ukrainians launched two R-360 Neptuncruise missiles. Those flew low above therough seas and the cruiser’s crew did notnotice them on time. Their hits supposedlyThe Russian ship Saratov burns in the port of Berdyansk on March 24. The other two landing craft are sailing away from her in a hurry.The Moskva cruiser in its glory days.INFO Eduard26May 2022Page 27
HISTORYcaused the fire and following ammunitionexplosion on board.The Russians admitted to the fire and ex-plosions, not a single word about missilehits though.They attempted to tow the ship into theport however it capsized in the rough seasand sank. At the time of print of this INFOEduard issue the Russians claimed to haverescued all 510 crew members. However,considering the conditions (fire, explosi-ons) it would have been almost a miracle.When you read these lines, it will be clearerwhat caused the sinking and how manycrew members were rescued. The loss ofthe cruiser Moskva is rather serious forRussia. Originally the ship’s name was Sla-va and was built in the 70s and 80s of thelast century in the shipyards of the Ukrai-nian Mykolayiv. The ship was 186 meterslong and had 12 500 tons displacement.In 1990 she was decommissioned but af-ter the modernization in 2000 became theflagship of the Black Sea Fleet. Moskvawas armed with a 130 mm caliber cannon,16 launchers for the anti-shipping missilesand 64 S-300F rockets to combat aircraftand ballistic missiles. Therefore, she wasin charge of the anti-rocket defense of thewhole fleet and after her loss the remainingships withdrew further from the Ukrainiancoast. That Ukrainians had something todo with her sinking indicates the RussianMinistry of Defense statement threateningUkraine with retaliation for sinking the ship.At least one Russian lie is confirmed bythe picture of the burning Moskva shortlybefore her sinking. Calm sea is visible sothe ship could not have capsized in the rou-gh seas. There is a large hole with metalbent inwards visible on the port side at theline of displacement which indicates the hitfrom outside.In the very beginning of war Moskva beca-me famous as a ship the defenders of theSnake Island sent to hell. When on Febru-ary 24 the ship asked them to surrendertheir response was “Russian military shipf..k off”. This sentence became a symbol ofthe Ukrainian resistance against Russianaggression.On April 13 the Ukrainian Post released thestamps featuring the event. And the verysame day evening the Russian battleshipcomplied. There could not have been betterpromotion for a stamp. R-360 Neptun roc-kets which Ukrainians supposedly used tohit Moskva, are of interest to Czech readersbecause they are intended to be installedon the Tatra running gears. Subsonic mi-ssiles are 5 meters long and weigh 870kilos, out of which 150 kilos is the detona-tion head. Their range is 300 kilometers.Ukraine added them to their inventory onlyin March last year and till the spring of thisyear intends to increase their number to sixbatteries but more realistically possessesjust one.Supplies for MariupolUkrainians do not fight with airplanes androckets only the helicopters are fairly su-ccessfully used as well. However, they don’treport about their deployment for tacticalreasons. Only at the end of battle for Ma-riupol, when the city defense turned intoseveral centers of resistance, the infor-mation about the successful supply flightappeared. Mi-8 pilots flew into besiegedMariupol at the maximum speed and the lo-west altitude possible. Many times it meantflying between the trees and buildings. Theysupplied the city with food and ammunitionflying back the wounded. At least one Ukrai-nian helicopter was shot down during thesedangerous missions. Mi-8MSB-V was de-stroyed on Thursday March 31 and carriedthe inscription “For Baba Vera” which canbe seen in various colors on several otherUkrainian helicopters.Similar missions including the extremelylow helicopter flying was also conductedon the northern side of Ukraine. On TuesdayMarch 23 a series of explosions shook thesuburbs of the city of Belgorod 50 kilome-ters north of Kharkov when the ammuniti-on storage exploded. The Russian investi-gators inclined to the theory that it wascaused by carelessness but already aftera week they stated that the storage hadbeen hit by three Ukrainian missiles Toch-ka-U. At that time Belgorod went throughanother big series of explosions, this timeFlagship of the Black Sea Fleet shortly before sinking.INFO Eduard27May 2022Page 28
HISTORYdirectly in the city. On Friday April 1 earlymorning the fuel storage exploded and thesecurity cameras’ footage shows that itwas targeted by unguided missiles launch-ed from two helicopters. One video clearlyshows the Mi-24 silhouette leaving afterthe attack.And now it has become interesting. At thefirst glance it was undoubtedly a braveattack at very low altitude and deep in theenemy territory. The Ukrainians had the re-ason to take credit for it. Instead, severalUkrainian representatives refused to con-firm or deny if the attack was conducted bythe Ukrainian air forces. Some representa-tives even categorically rejected it. Kremlinspeaker, Dmiti Peskov stated that the inci-dent can impair the peace talks betweenRussia and Ukraine. By the way he madethe statement after a week-long Russianattacks on the fuel storages throughoutUkraine… Truth is since then the peace talkshave not progressed in two weeks.Next attack, which Russians attribute toUkrainians, took place on Thursday April14 in the village of Klimovo in Bryansk re-gion very close to the border with Ukraine.“Utilizing two combat helicopters armedwith heavy offensive weapons the militarypersonnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forcesillegally crossed the Russian border” sta-ted the Russian side who has been illegallycrossing Ukrainian border for a month andhalf… According to this official statementthe helicopters flying at very low altitudeconducted at least six attacks on the villageof Klimovo, damaging six civilian housesand wounding seven people. Ukraine cate-gorically rejected participation in such anattack. There were sabotages on the rail-ways on the Russian territory and the Be-lorussian partisans claimed responsibilityfor them.These incidents together with the sinking ofthe cruiser Moskva led to the reinstating ofthe massive Russian attacks in the westernpart of Ukraine. After a relative lull the Ru-ssian missiles, during Easter holidays, tar-geted Kiev and Lvov. Needless to say, Khar-kov has been bombarded non-stop.The Russians don’t use only rockets toattack. On Saturday April 16 the Tu-22M3bombers were deployed over Ukraine forthe first time. They operated in relative sa-fety behind the front lines. They were usedto bomb Mariupol where the defenders, af-ter more than 50 day siege, were pushedto the steelworks area. It was not imme-diately apparent what ordnance the bom-bers carried during this attack but coupleof days earlier the Russians threatened touse three ton bombs FAB-3000. These weredeveloped right after WWII precisely forthis purpose-destroying the large industri-al areas. Their age and decades of storagecould however have caused the problems.At the time this article was going to printthe large Russian offensive in Donbas star-ted so the end of war was not on the hori-zon.Sources:www.oryxspioenkop.com (1 2 3)www.facebook.com (1 2 3 4)www.bbc.comOld Russian FAB-3000 bombs prepared for use by Tu-22M3 aircraft in the raid on Mariupol.INFO Eduard28May 2022Page 29
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OK-JGD, No. 860, Kolín Aero Club, Czechoslovakia, 1980´sOK-IGA, No. 766, PZO Motokov, Beijing, China, April 1955OK-IFG, No. 746, Kunovice Aero Club, Czech Republic, 1994This Trenér was produced in 1955 and subsequentlystored. Svazarm took it over on July 7, 1956 and onAugust 10 of the same year it was taken over by theRegional Aero Club Olomouc. There flew the OK-JGDTrenér until December 1960, then it was handed overto the Regional Aero Club Ostrava. In the 1980s and1990s it served with Kolín Aero Club, which sold itto private hands on October 22, 2010. Nowadays, thewhole aircraft is painted in yellow and bears the em-blem of the Aero Club of Kolín on the rudder.This aircraft was manufactured in 1954 and takenover by Motokov company on April 3 the same year.Motokov was one of the companies responsible forforeign trade in then Czechoslovakia. The aircraftwas transported disassembled together with anotherone (OK-IFV) to be exhibited in China. The OK-IGA wasdestined for a static demonstration at the BeijingExhibition Center, while the OK-IFV was assembledat a nearby airport to perform flight displays. Theseunfortunately ended in a crash and injuries to bothpilots. After returning home, the OK-IGA was sold tothan GDR at the end of October 1956. There it servedthe needs of the army there. From April 1962 to Sep-tember 1972, it flew as DM-WAE.This Trenér was test-flown on April 24, 1954 and inJuly the same year was assigned to the Regional AeroClub Olomouc. He served there from 1955 for trainingand group aerobatics. At that time, the Aero Club Olo-mouc was a hatchery of aerobatic pilots and severalaerobatic groups were active there. One of them wasan all-girls group, where Eva Krenčová flew OK-IFGsince 1957. By that time the original green paint wasreplaced by cream color with a red nose. In the fo-llowing years the OK-IFG was serving with variousAero Clubs of North Moravia region until 1963. It wasstored than for ten years. At the end of 1973, it under-went a third overhaul at the Aerotechnik company inKunovice and was put back into service. From 1981, itserved with the Aero Club Kunovice and after anotheroverhaul in 1988 the Tréner No. 746 received a retromilitary green-blue paintjob. Later yellow stripeswere added to the wing and fuselage to mimic themilitary training aircraft even more. In 1995, OK-IFGwas used for the filming of the TV series "The LandGone Wild" and it received a temporary paint job ofgreen color on the bottom surfaces as requested bythe filmmakers. On October 11, Albert Orlita made thelast flight of this Trenér and the aircraft was handedover to the Kunovice Aviation Museum, where it is ondisplay today.KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard31May 2022Page 32
KITS 05/2022OK-IGT, No. 735, Kunovice Aero Club, Czechoslovakia, 60s and 70s2A-AM, No. 864, Österreichische Luftstreitkräfte, Austria, 1960sOK-JLE, No. 827, Chrudim Aero Club, Czech Republic, 2014This trainer was produced in 1953 as C 105-233 andserved with the army until October 17, 1955, when itobtained civilian registeration. It was then handedover to Svazarm and flew in the Kunovice Aero Clubin an attractive aerobatic livery including a “witch”drawing on the nose. It served until 1976, when it wasremoved from the registry on September 1 and sub-sequently cut up to inspect the airframe for corro-sion. As it turned out, there was nothing wrong withthe aircraft...In the second half of the 1950s, four Z-126s wereexported to Austria, one of which was the TrenérNo. 864, manufactured 1955. It was subsequently sto-red and handed over on January 9, 1957. It receivedthe OE-AAL temporary registration for the flight to itsnew owner and subsequently the Austrian Air Forcedesignation 2A-AM. In 1968, the aircraft was sold offand Heinz Pollani became the owner. From 1977 theaircraft was “grounded” in Gros Enzersdorf. Fromthere it went to the Zeltweg Air Museum in February2008, where it is on display today. Although it hasbeen given a period military livery, it is not entirelyaccurate. The differences are particularly noticea-ble in the size and location of the insignia and codemarkings. The marking shown here represents theperiod, not museum scheme.This Trenér was produced in 1955, Svazarm took itover on April 30 of the same year. It was flown bya number of aeroclubs, including the one of Havlíč-kův Brod in the late 1970s. In 1991, an overhaul of thethen decommissioned aircraft was carried out inAerotechnik for Mr. David, a customer from the USA.However, the Aero Club of Bohemia and Moraviabanned the sale of the aircraft abroad and the over-hauled aircraft was purchased by Aeroclub Chrudim.There this Trenér served until 2017, when it endedup in corn field after a failed take-off and had to bedecommissioned due to damage. It was subsequentlysold to a private owner and is currently in storageawaiting overhaul.INFO Eduard32May 2022Page 33
OVERTREESOVERLEPT#82181X Z-126T/226 1/48Product pageProduct pageRecommended:for Z-126 Trenér 1/48481084 Z-126/226 Trenér landing flaps (PE-Set)FE1219 Z-126/226 seatbelts STEEL (PE-Set)644119 Z-126 Trener LööK (Brassin)644139 Z-126 Trener LööKplus (Brassin)648679 Z-126/226 Trener wheels (Brassin)648680 Z-126 Trener cockpit PRINT (Brassin)648681 Z-126 Trener Walter Minor 4 engine PRINT (Brassin)3DL48044 Z-126 SPACE (3D Decal Set)D48097 Z-126/226/326/526 cockpit placards (Decal Set)EX827 Z-126 TFace (Mask)KITS 05/2022#82181-LEPTZ-126 Trenér LEPT 1/48Cat. No. 644119Cat. No. 3DL48044Cat. No. 481084Cat. No. 648680Cat. No. 648681INFO Eduard33May 2022Page 34
MEZEK DUAL COMBO1/72Limited edition kit of Czechoslovak fightera/c Avia S-199 in 1/72 scale. The kit pre-sents aircraft with both types of the cano-py during their service in Czechoslovak AirForce and in Israeli Air Force.plastic parts: Eduardmarking options: 12decals: EduardPE parts: yes, pre-paintedpainting mask: yesresin parts: noProduct page#2141KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard34May 2022Page 35
S-199.285, CPL Josef Jiroušek, No. 1 Squadron, Aviation Regiment 8,Brno-Černovice, Czechoslovakia, July 25, 1949S-199.486, Lt. František Fořt, No. 1 Squadron, Aviation Regiment 7,Brno-Černovice, Czechoslovakia, 1950S-199.54, Sgt. František Novák, Fighter Training Center, No. 2 Squadron,Aviation Regiment 4, Planá u Českých Budějovic,Czechoslovakia, May, 1948One of the first of seven S-199s produced by the Aero fac-tory had an oil cooler installed under the nose, as did allearly examples. Four aircraft from this seven-unit pro-duction run remained in Czechoslovakia; three were re-leased for export to Israel (Nos. 282, 286 and 287). “Mezek”(translated as Mule) No. 285 was assigned to LP 8 (Aviati-on Regiment 8) on August 4, 1948, based at Brno-ČernoviceAir Base. There, the aircraft served with No. 1 Squadron.On July 25, 1949, it suffered a mishap while flown by CPLJosef Jiroušek and the damaged airframe was sent in forrepairs, while the engine underwent a factory check. FromDecember 12, 1949 to February 25, 1950 the aircraft wasoverhauled at the Kunovice factory and handed over toLP 1 (Aviation Regiment 1) in September that same year.From June 22, 1953, it served with No. 3 Squadron of No.45 Air Artillery Regiment based at Plzeň-Bory Air Base.At that time, it bore the fuselage code HY-56. On August 4,1953, it was severely damaged in a crash by Lt. LadislavKadlecovič. The airframe was written off, by which timeit had logged 116.23 flight hours. At the time of CPL Ji-roušek’s accident, the machine was painted standard MNOSmalt Avion 2036.02 on all surfaces. Contrary to standardpractice, there was no arrow pointing to the fuselage stepon the left side below the cockpit, nor were there triangu-lar warning symbols on the rear fuselage.This "Mezek" was test flown by factory pilot Antonín Krauson December 12, 1949. On January 24, 1950, the aircraftwas taken over by the military administration, and as-signed to LP 7 (Aviation Regiment 7) stationed at Brno--Slatina airport on February 7 of the same year. It wascoded IV-8 and, according to the memories of veteransand unit logs, it sported a drawing of Diana carryinga bow. The author of the drawing was the fiancée and fu-ture wife of the deputy Squadron Commander and FlightCommander František Fořt. According to period witnesses,the same emblem also appeared on the aircraft of twoother Flight Commanders, Lieutenants Jaromír Jech andJiří Váňa. As it is mentioned in the unit memoirs, moreS-199s were equipped with various emblems, at least fora certain period of time. They are even documented in thesaid memoirs, but it is not clear to which specific aircraftthey refer. The aircraft was probably painted with a darkergreen paint on all surfaces. At that time, the white colorof the spinner belonged to the aircraft of Air Division, towhich LP 7 and LP 8 (Aviation Regiments 7 and 8) be-longed, but not all aircraft were so marked and IV-8 wasprobably one of these. There is no photographic evidenceunfortunately.After the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia, militarypilot defections to the West were nothing unusual. For-mer RAF members, who either suspected or even knewthat they would be persecuted by the communists, cro-ssed the border and many younger pilots also decided toleave the country. One of them was Sgt. František Novák,at that time a trainee of the second class from the Figh-ter Training Centre (SVS), who fled to then West Germanyon May 24, 1948. The aircraft was stored in Munich and,after various obstacles were ironed out, was transportedto Czechoslovakia by land in March 1950. From March 31until October 24, 1950, it underwent a general overhaulat the Avia factory. Later it served with LP 4 (Aviation Re-giment 4). The Avia produced aircraft bore the standardMNO Smalt Avion 2036.02 paint scheme on all surfacesand this aircraft was the tenth Avia factory productionpiece to be fitted with a heat exchanger instead of theoriginal oil cooler. The cabin was of the older design andthe aircraft did not have machine guns in the wings, norunderwing cannons.KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard35May 2022Page 36
KITS 05/2022S-199.7, Ivan Pavel, Aviation Military Academy, Hradec Králové,Czechoslovakia March 17, 1950S-199.210, Aviation Regiment 5, Dobřany (Líně) AB, Czechoslovakia, 1950S-199.310, PFC Josef Mucha, Aviation School Regiment 5, Zvolen,Sliač AB, Czechoslovakia, August 1952The seventh “Mezek” produced by Avia was test flown onJanuary 10, 1948, accepted by the military on February 3,and flown to LP 7 (Aviation Regiment 7) on March 15 of thesame year. The aircraft was delivered with an oil cooler,but after damage that occurred on April 1, 1949, it under-went a factory repair which included the installation ofa heat exchanger and sliding canopy. From February 7,1950, it served with the Aviation Military Academy (LVA)in Hradec Králové, where it received the A-784 code. OnMarch 17, 1950, it was damaged in a collision with anotheraircraft (S-199.82). The student pilot, Ivan Pavel, madean emergency belly landing. Subsequently, this aircraftunderwent a general overhaul during September-Novem-ber that year and later served with No. 45 Air ArtilleryRegiment in Pilsen from November 1953. The aircraft isinteresting for its white and blue spinner, which were thecolors of the academy.Nose-art was rare on Czechoslovak Air Force aircraft inthe 1950´s and 1960´s. Rigid discipline and regulations didnot favor such activities, but from time to time comman-ders apparently turned a blind eye to a certain level ofexpressionism. Something like this may have happened in1949 or 1950 at LP 5 (Aviation Regiment 5). A carefullycrafted heraldic silhouette in white appeared on the air-craft. We will probably never know which emblem was tobe subsequently added to it, because before the paintingcould be finished, the aircraft suffered an emergencylanding. During subsequent repairs, the aircraft either re-ceived a new engine cowling or the in-progress nose-artwas deleted. One likely possibility of the original intentmight be the emblem of the local football club Baník Líně.As a result, this aircraft can be modeled in both its realform, i.e., with the white coat of arms only, or in the formit probably would have taken, if higher powers had notintervened. We don't know if the emblem would have beenpainted on the starboard side as well, since only the portside was photographed. However, decals are provided foreither version. The aircraft was subsequently used bytraining units. It was handed over by LP 5 (Aviation Regi-ment No. 5) on July 8, 1950 to the Aviation Training School.From April 1953, it served with No. 4 lsp (Aviation TrainingRegiment 4) and then was transferred to No. 2 lsp (Aviati-on Training Regiment 2). Finally, at the end of 1954, it waspassed on to No. 1 lsp (Aviation Training Regiment 1) whereit completed its service career.This “Mezek” was assigned to LP 7 (Aviation Regiment7) on August 4, 1948 and flew first with the Staff Flightcoded JP-1. Later, it was assigned to No. 3 Squadron andthe code was changed to KT-3. On March 9, 1949, it wasdamaged during an emergency landing near Boskoviceand was sent in for factory repairs. Staff Captain Truhlářconduct an acceptance flight on July 14, 1949, in Kunoviceand on August 17, 1950, the aircraft was transferred fromLP 1 (Aviation Regiment 1) to the Aviation School. Later,after repairs at Avia, it was assigned to LSP 5 (AviationSchool Regiment 5), where it received the code UL-51.On August 26, 1952, a take-off was aborted by PFC JosefMucha, causing damage. No further records are available.This aircraft is listed among the ones delivered to Israel,although the records of its service in Czechoslovakia con-tradict this. The same can be said for S-199s Nos. 302, 307and 311. Of the five “Mezek” aircraft produced by Aero anddelivered to Israel as part of the second batch of fifteenaircraft (ten being delivered by Avia), only the case of No.287 is certain. As part of its service with the school regi-ment, aircraft 310 was given yellow markings, indicatingits function as a trainer. These consisted of a band on thespine at the rear fuselage and stripes on the upper si-des of both wings. The wing stripes wrapped around theleading edge before terminating behind it on the lowersurface. Interestingly, although the aircraft lacked thewing-mounted machine guns, at least in available pho-tographs, the spent cartridge collector bulges remainedbelow the wings.INFO Eduard36May 2022Page 37
KITS 05/2022S-199.340, Lt. František Kratochvíla, No. 3 Squadron, Aviation Regiment 51,Mladá, Czechoslovakia, July 1952S-199.531 Lt. Václav Dvořák, No. 2 Squadron, Aviation Regiment 3,Brno-Černovice, Czechoslovakia, April 5, 1953S-199.178, Police Air Patrol, Praha-Ruzyně, Prague,Czechoslovakia, December, 1948Not much is known about the early service of this aircraft.It was manufactured in the summer of 1948. The aircraftunderwent general overhaul in Kunovice from June 5 toNovember 20, 1950 and served with the Police Air Patrolservice briefly (this aviation arm of the Police was disban-ded on December 23, 1950). In May 1952, it was assignedto No. 51 lp (Aviation Regiment 51), where it was first as-signed to No. 4 Squadron and then served after reorgani-zation of the regiment with No. 3 Squadron, which retainedthe original Police code of its aircraft (numbers B-0311 andhigher). On July 30, 1952, the aircraft made an emergencylanding in Zvolen while being flown by Lt. František Kra-tochvíla This aircraft was one of a number that retainedtheir simplified Police markings, including the red noseand horizontal stabilizer and elevator. The army insigniaon the wings were overpainted in a darker colour than thecamouflage coat. The same color was used to adapt theinsignia on the rudder from circular to triangles with cu-rved edges. It is not known what specific color was used,but it may have been a darker shade of green used lateron the S-199.This “Mezek” was test flown on April 19, 1950 andwas one of the last of this type produced. From June12, 1950 it was assigned to the Air Reserve (LZ 8) atZvolen Air Base with assignment to the VLT (Air For-ce Headquarters) in Prešov. Later it was transferredto No. 3 lp (Aviation Regiment 3), which was part ofNo. 22 Air Fighter Division, comprising units flyingpiston engined fighter aircraft. There, “Mule” 531served with the code GY-35. On April 5, 1953 Lt. Vác-lav Dvořák made an emergency landing with it dueto an injection pump malfunction. The airframe waswritten off. The aircraft was visibly worn at the timewith numerous signs of repairs to the original paint,which had been made in a darker shade of green. Theengine cowling was apparently a replacement unitfrom a machine painted in the later, darker shade,but darker spots were also visible on it. These werelikely the result of contrast between fresh and fa-ded paint of the same shade. Similar signs of repairswere found on older Avia S-199s of the unit.S-199 No. 178 was test flown by factory pilot Anto-nín Kraus on November 19, 1948, and on December27 of the same year was ferried to Ruzyně, whereit was assigned to the Police Air Patrol. It was firstcoded OK-BYW, and after a change to the markingsystem it became B-4300 in March 1950. Probably inMarch 1951 the aircraft was passed on to the Armyfor a stated cost of 802,000 CZK. The airframe hadlogged only 94 flight hours. Subsequently, it servedfrom 1953 with No. 4 Aviation School Regiment inProstějov, coded UF-25. On October 19, 1953, it wasseverely damaged during landing. The airframe waswritten off, but not scrapped and remained unnoticedin the scrap yard at Olomouc. From there, it was mo-ved to the Kbely Aviation Museum in 1969. Using thefuselage of this aircraft, a single museum example ofthe Avia S-199 was then restored and is a part of itsdisplay to this day.INFO Eduard37May 2022Page 38
S-199, D-106, Modi Alon, 101 Squadron (tayeset), Cheyl ha-avir,Aqir, Israel, June 4, 1948S-199, D-117, 101 Squadron (tayeset), Cheyl ha-avir,Herzliya, Israel, July-August 1948S-199 , D-123, 101 Squadron (tayeset), Cheyl ha-avir,Hatzor, Israel, October, 1948Eight S-199s from the first delivery batch to Israel wereof early Avia production (aircraft serial numbers 30, 32,33, 36, 37, 38, 42, 63) and two from the Aero factory (Nos.282, 286), so these were all equipped with an oil coolerunder the nose. The aircraft with the fuselage code D-106was delivered to Israel on May 30, 1948, during Operati-on Balak’s Flight No. 16. On June 1, it joined the fightingand just two days later Modi Alon achieved the first twoair-to-air kills for the Czech- built S-199 fighter and, byextension, the newly established Israeli Air Force. Alon’svictims were two Egyptian C-47s makeshift bombers ofthe Royal Egyptian Air Force’s No. 3 Squadron. On thefateful day of the kills, "Mule" coded D-106 was the onlyairworthy fighter available to Israel, as the other S-199sdelivered up to that time were either destroyed, damaged,or in various stages of assembly. The following day, No.101squadron pilot Dov Ben Zvi damaged D-106 on takeoff, thusleaving the squadron without an airworthy fighter andIsrael without air cover. To counter REAF air raids, No 101squadron relocated to an improvised dirt airstrip set upin the town of Herzliya. Repaired "Mule" D-106 was madeairworthy again, but not for long. On takeoff, while flownby Gideon from the Herzliya airstrip, one of the wheels hita patch of mud, causing the airplane to flip over. GideonLichtman survived the crash, but D-106 was scrapped.One of the “Messers”, as these aircraft were dubbed inIsraeli use, that survived the First Arab-Israeli War, wasan aircraft coded D-117. The aircraft was delivered onJuly 15, 1948, aboard Balak Flight No. 63 and made its firstoperational sortie on July 21. In the summer of 1948, 101Squadron's lead mechanic, Eli Reuveni fell in love withhis sweetheart named “Nechama”. He commemoratedthis occasion with a photograph in which he posed nextto “Messer” D-117 with Nechama's name chalked atop theairplane's Star of David; Nechama went on to become hiswife. However, D-117 had a less romantic future, sufferingits first accident on August 20, 1948, when Mitchell Flintflipped it over onto its back in a crash landing. Furtherserious fuselage damage occurred on October 17, when,after being hit by ground fire, Giddy Lichtman made a for-ced landing at Aqir Air Base. Along with the repairs madeto the airframe, D-117 was also fitted with a high reso-lution camera to conduct photo reconnaissance missions.In November 1948, the Israeli Air Force changed its alphanumeric aircraft numbering system to a four digit identi-fication number, and D-117 was renumbered 1901, where 19stood for the airplane type and 01 for the first airframe onthe squadron list.The aircraft coded D-123 was delivered to Israel on July28 on board Balak Flight No. 79 and joined the action onAugust 15, 1948. A month prior to D-123's entry into servi-ce, ex-USAAF volunteer pilot Stan Andrews drew up the101 squadron’s insignia of a winged skull of death wearinga flight helmet and goggles. The skull symbolizes the Je-wish faith's belief in the rising of the dead to form a largearmy when the messiah comes to earth. The insignia wasprinted on poster paper and applied to the left side of thenose of 101 Squadron’s planes. In preparation for OperationTen Plagues (15-22 October 1948), later renamed OperationYoav, 101 Squadron fighters obtained high visibility mar-kings consisting of red spinners and red and white stripeson the rudders in order to distinguish them from EgyptianSpitfires. To further differentiate the Israeli fighters, theStar of David roundels were applied atop the wings for thefirst time. During Operation Yoav, Rudi Augarten claimeda Royal Egyptian Air Force Spitfire Mk.IXc flying D-121 onthe first day of the offensive, on October 16. The kill wasnot confirmed by IAF intelligence and is only consideredas damaged. In November, D-123 was given the number1905 as part of the introduction of a new military aircraftmarking system. There are a few repairs to the fuselagethat appear as darker areas from photos of D-123. Thishas led some researchers to believe the aircraft receiveda two-tone camouflage scheme on the upper surfaces.However, it is merely a contrast of older and newer paintof approximately the same shade of green.KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard38May 2022Page 39
OVERTREESOVERTREESOVERLEPT#70151X S-199 bubble canopyOVERTREES 1/72#70152X S-199 ERLA canopyOVERTREES 1/72#2141-LEPTMEZEK 1/72Product pageProduct pageProduct pageRecommended:for Avia S-199 1/72672284 S-199 exhaust stacks PRINT (Brassin)672285 S-199 wheels PRINT (Brassin)672288 S-199 cockpit Erla canopy PRINT (Brassin) 06/2022672289 S-199 cockpit bubble canopy PRINT (Brassin) 06/2022Cat. No. 672285Cat. No. 672284Cat. No. 672288Cat. No. 672289KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard39May 2022Page 40
Sprue ASprue E Sprue FKITS 05/2022INFO Eduard40May 2022Page 41
Sprue DSprue CKITS 05/2022INFO Eduard41May 2022Page 42
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EN500, F/O Irving F. Kennedy, No. 249 Squadron, Qrendi, Malta, July 1943BS240, W/Cdr Richard Milne, CO of Biggin Hill Wing, Biggin Hill,United Kingdom, January - March 1943BS152, F/O Lorne M. Cameron, No. 402 Squadron RCAF, RAF Kenley, Surrey, United Kingdom, February 1943Irving Farmer Kennedy, an ace with 10 aerial victo-ries complemented by five shared and one probable,was born in Cumberland, Ontario on February 4, 1922.He joined the RCAF in October 1940 and on completionof training, he was posted to the UK as a sergeant inAugust 1941. After training with No. 55 OTU, he becamea member of No. 263 Sqn, flying Whirlwinds. On June14, he was posted to No. 421 Sqn but left for Malta onOctober 22, 1942. He joined No. 249 Squadron there onDecember 15, 1942. His first victim was a Ju 52/3m,shot down on February 7, 1943. He continued to seesuccess against Ju 88s and Ju 52/3ms. His first vic-tory over an enemy fighter came on June 10, 1943,when he shot down a Bf 109G and shared one C.202.He was posted to No. 111 Sqn on July 30, 1943, based inSicily. “Hap” Kennedy´s first tour of duty ended in Ja-nuary 1944, and his second started on June 15, of thesame year, when he was posted to No. 401 Sqn. Hebecame its commanding officer on July 3, achievinghis last two victories, before being shot down by Flaknear Dreux on July 28. He bailed out, avoided captu-re, and reached Allied lines on August 24 but he didnot return to combat. Instead, he returned to Canada,where he joined No. 124 Sqn RCAF. He was dischargedin February 1945 and resumed his education. He gra-duated in medicine and practiced for 37 years. “Hap”Kennedy passed away on January 6, 2011. His SpitfireEN500 was among those finished in Dark Mediterra-nean Blue and Medium Sea Grey colors, which werebetter suited to fighting over water.A pre-war pilot, “Dickie” Milne achieved the statusof ace during the Battle of Britain, while with No.151 Sqn. In mid-1941, Milne was transferred to No. 92Squadron at Biggin Hill, first as A Flight Leader, latertaking command of the entire squadron. On Janua-ry 19, 1942, he took over command of No. 222 Sqn atNorth Weald, holding the post until the completion ofhis tour of duty in May. At the beginning of January1943, he was given leadership over the elite unit atBiggen Hill. He was given use of Spitfire BS240 as hispersonal aircraft, which briefly served with No. 340(French) Squadron, coded GW-G. As a reminder of thisservice, the Spitfire retained the Cross of Lorrainebelow the windscreen, while the Wing Commandermarking was carried on the main fuel tank cover.Although BS240 had not served very long, it carriedsigns of non-standard repair and touch-up, such asthe natural metal replacement canopy. Milne fell intohis role function admirably, and he had claimed thedestruction of an Fw 190 and an Bf 109 by January 20.He regularly led his Biggin Hill Wing in BS240 untilMarch 14, when, after having downed an Fw 190 (his15th victory), “Dickie” was shot down by an II./JG 26Fw 190A-4 over Berck-sur-Mer and was taken priso-ner. After being freed in May 1945, he was released bythe RAF in 1946 as Wing Commander. During his mili-tary career, Milne shot down a total of fifteen enemyaircraft, one probable and eleven damaged.Lorne Maxwell Cameron enlisted in the RCAF in Janua-ry 1941 and after completion of training was stationedto the UK in September 1941. Prior to joining No. 402Sqn in January 1942, he attended No. 53 OTU for combattraining. On February 27, the day of his 21st birthday,Cameron scored his first victory, shooting down a Fw190A-4 of JG 26. He flew this Spitfire serialled BS152during that sortie and added one damaged aircraft onMarch 13. After being injured on July 22, he spent sometime recuperating, returning to the unit in September1943. After a period with No. 53 OTU, where he servedas an instructor, he returned to action with No. 401 Sqnand took over the unit‘s commander responsibilities.Cameron and his “boys” were tasked with numerousanti-ground assignments and the leader really sho-wed the others the way to do things, being creditedwith some 75 vehicles and five rail locomotives de-stroyed. He also added five more aerial victories plusone damaged. He was shot down by Flak over Franceon July 3, 1944. He was able to hide himself for twomonths before being captured but managed to esca-pe and returned back to the UK in September 1944.At the end of the war, he left the RCAF and served withAuxiliary Air Force No. 402 “City of Winnipeg” Squad-ron, where he was promoted to the rank of Wing Co-mmander. His Spitfire BS152 was decorated with noseart depicting a skull in a red circle and also featuredthe rather unusual deletion of the outer cannon aero-dynamic fairing.KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard43May 2022Page 44
EN447, Lt Victor N. Cabas, 4th FS, 52nd FG, Le Sers, Tunisia, April 1943“Vic” Cabas worked in an aircraft factory in Allian-ce, Ohio, and by 1939 was a locally recognized pilot.At the age of nineteen, he was hired to ferry bombersfrom Canada to England. In March 1941, he joined theRCAF, in which he served with No. 403 Squadron upto September 1942. Over his career with the RCAF, heflew 51 combat sorties and claimed his first victoryover Dieppe. On America’s entry into the war, he joi-ned the American Air Corps as a Lieutenant and wasassigned to the 4th FS, 52nd FG. He became one ofa few American pilots to fly a Spitfire in Britain,Egypt, France, over the Ardennes, Italy and Germany.He flew over 125 combat missions, during which heclaimed six victories (four individual and two shared).In March 1944, he was awarded the DFC and was pro-moted to Captain. Later the same year, he was ele-vated to the rank of Major and at the 9th Air Forcein Belgium, he flew P-47 Thunderbolts. The Spitfirewith which Cabas flew in the spring of 1943 carrieda standard desert camouflage scheme used by theRAF. An interesting feature of this aircraft was thatit retained its original RAF markings under the leftwing and the tail surfaces. The upper wing roundelswere overpainted with fresh Dark Earth paint. Theyellow border of the national insignia on Americanaircraft appeared for Operation Torch and remainedin place after its conclusion in the MTO.Recommended:for Spitfire F Mk.IX 1/7272623 Spitfire Mk.IX landing flaps (PE-Set)72624 Spitfire Mk.IX (PE-Set)72641 Spitfire F Mk.IX (PE-Set)SS597 Spitfire Mk.IX seatbelts STEEL (PE-Set)SS651 Spitfire Mk.IX radiator grilles (PE-Set)BIG72117 SPITFIRE Mk.IX (PE-Set)672110 Spitfire exhaust stacks - fishtail (Brassin)672112 Spitfire Mk.IX cockpit (Brassin)672123 Spitfire Mk.IX top cowl early (Brassin)672126 Spitfire Mk.IX engine (Brassin)672134 Spitfire Mk.IX legs BRONZE (Brassin)672150 Spitfire Mk.IXc gun bays (Brassin)672173 Spitfire Mk. VIII / IX / XVI radiator fairings (Brassin)D72008 Spitfire Mk.IX stencils (Decal Set)D72010 Spitfire - British WWII roundels late (Decal Set)CX454 Spitfire Mk.IX (Mask)Cat. No. 672126Cat. No. 672112Cat. No. 672134KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard44May 2022Page 45
Bf 109G-10 WNF/Diana 1/48Weekend edition kit of German WWII fighter aircraft Bf 109G-10 in 1/48 scale. The kit is focusedon 109s produced by Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke / Diana. One aircraft is from the post-warservice in Czechoslovak Police Air Force.plastic parts: EduardNo. of decal options: 4decals: EduardPE parts: nopainting mask: noresin parts: noProduct page#84182KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard45May 2022Page 46
Bf 109G-10/U4, II./JG 52, Ainring, Germany, May 1945Bf 109G-10/U4, WNr. 612762, Jagdstaffel 5 der ROA (Russian Liberation Army),Německý Brod, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, April 1945Bf 109G-10/U4, WNr. 613165, 101. "Puma" vadászrepülő osztály, Neubiberg, Germany, May 1945In the end of December 1944 this one-o-nine wasdelivered to I./JG 53. Upon arrival it received a ye-llow fuselage stripe together with the unit insigniaon the nose, the Stab markings were added to thefuselage and rudder was painted yellow while thevertical stabilizer port side retained the first nume-ral 6 from the serial number and the last numeral 8on the starboard side. After a brief operational acti-vity at I./JG 53 the airplane was handed over to II./JG52. Here the markings of the previous operator wereoverpainted with the camouflage color. In April 1945the II./JG 52 operated on the Protektorat Böhmen undMähren territory where it flew missions in support ofthe German ground units fighting the defense com-bat against the Soviet offensive on Brno. The picturecaptures the aircraft marked yellow 6 at Ainring air-port in Bavaria on May 8, 1945.Jasta 5 of the Russian Liberation Army, led by Ma-jor S. T. Bychkov was deployed to the Německý Brodbase (nowadays Havlíčkův Brod) in the beginning ofMarch 1945. It took part in the retreating fights ofthe German units during the battle of Brno in April1945. White 24 was found at Německý Brod airport inMay. One-o-nine sporting the camouflage typical forDiana factory carries the large crosses on the wingupper surfaces, smaller size crosses on the fuselagesides and swastika on the vertical stabilizer, peelingoff on the starboard side. Serial number was sprayedover the light mottles.In the end of May 1945 the remaining Hungarian airunits concentrated on the Tulln airport in Austriafrom where they flew the missions into Wien andBrno areas. On April 5, after the frontline approachedTulln, these units transferred to the Raffelding air-port from where they continued to fly sorties to supp-ort the ground units around Wien. At the end of warthe Hungarian aviators, same as their German colle-agues, preferred to surrender to the American Armytherefore, on May 8, 1945, 101. osztály pilots flew theremaining aircraft over to the Bavarian Neubiberg.The aircraft manufactured in the Diana factory werecamouflaged with the same paints as the aircraftmanufactured in Wiener Neustadt. The photographsof black 16 show that the Hungarian national insigni-as were spray-painted directly on the camouflage,the German markings were not applied at all.KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard46May 2022Page 47
Avia S-99, Police Air Patrol Unit, Czechoslovak Police Air Force,Praha - Kbely, 1947This aircraft, allocated to the air detachment of SNB(Sbor národní bezpečnosti - National Security Corps)got to the air for the first time in summer 1946. Theupper and side surfaces were camouflaged in steelgray paint, the lower surfaces were sprayed in dar-ker grey color. The engine cowlings, wings leadingedges and elevators of the “SNB” Air Patrol aircraftwere painted in scarlet red. The code letters werepainted in the same color outlined in white. Thenational insignia was in the form of white outlinedspherical triangle. The vertical tail stabilizer carrieda small black numeral 4.Recommended:for Bf 109G-10 WNF/Diana 1/48481006 Bf 109G-10 Erla (PE-Set)FE910 Bf 109G seatbelts STEEL (PE-Set)FE1191 Bf 109G-10 ERLA Weekend (PE-Set)644004 Bf 109G-10 LööK (Brassin)644046 Bf 109G-10 w/ late wheels LööKplus (Brassin)648158 Bf 109G-10 wheels (Brassin)648239 Bf 109G-6 radio compartment (Brassin)648247 Bf 109G exhaust stacks (Brassin)648265 Bf 109G external fuel tanks (Brassin)648309 Bf 109G undercarriage legs BRONZE (Brassin)648310 Bf 109G control surfaces (Brassin)648422 Bf 109G-10 cockpit (Brassin)648441 Bf 109G-10 engine (Brassin)D48025 Bf 109G stencils (Obtisk)D48027 Bf 109G Balkenkreuze (Decal Set)D48028 Bf 109G svastikas (Decal Set)D48042 Bf 109G-10 Erla national insignia (Decal Set)EX608 Bf 109G-10 (Mask)EX609 Bf 109G-10 TFace (Mask)Cat. No. 648422Cat. No. 644004Cat. No. 648309KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard47May 2022Page 48
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Lt. Lochridge, VF-34, Nissan Island, 1944VF-8, USS Intrepid (CV-11), Summer 1943Lt. Oscar Chenoweth, VF-38, Segi Point airstrip, New Georgia Island, September 1943The very unusual marking consisting of a white spineand part of the tail was typical for VF-34 Hellcats.Even more rare were pin-up girls on U.S. Navy fighteraircraft. Registration number is spray-painted on theengine cowling, used obviously during the deliveriesfrom the manufacturer to the units.Second unit marked as VF-8 was established on June1, 1943, under the command of LCdr. William M. CollinsJr. and was dispatched for the operational trainingaboard USS Intrepid which was sailing in the Cari-bbean Sea at that time. Tri-color camouflage, intro-duced as of January 5, 1943, for the application on theaircraft deployed to Pacific, composed of Non-specu-lar Sea Blue, Semi-gloss Sea Blue, Intermediate Blueand Non-specular White, was applied slightly diffe-rently than on the other aircraft. National markingsfeaturing the red outline were introduced as of June28, 1943.Oscar Chenoweth was born on July 16, 1917, in Salem,Oregon. Having graduated from the High School hecontinued his studies at the Oregon State University,however he interrupted his education and in Octoberof the same year enlisted in the US Navy. Having com-pleted the fighter training Ens. Chenoweth flew as aninstructor at a training unit. In the middle of 1943he was assigned to VF-38 operating in the Pacific.Here he achieved his fist kill on September 15, 1943,when he shot down a Japanese Zero nearby Balla-le island. Since January 1944 he flew Corsairs withVF-17 achieving another 7.5 victories over Japaneseaircraft. Since June 1944 he was in command of thedive bomber squadron. In 1954 he retired from the USNavy and worked for Chance Vought. He passed awayon May 9, 1968 due to the heart attack. Red outlineof the national markings was discontinued as of Au-gust 14, 1943, due to the possible confusion with theJapanese Hinomaru. There is no photographic proofthat Chenoweth aircraft carried the red outlines atthe time of his first kill. It is possible, that in this timecarried blue-outlined markings.KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard49May 2022Page 50
OTU VF-2, NAS Melbourne, United States of America, October 1944Ens. Gordon Arthur Stanley, VF-27, USS Princeton (CVL-23), October 1944Naval Air Station Melbourne was established on Oc-tober 20, 1942 and the first training course commen-ced on January 18, 1943 on F4F Wildcat aircraft. Hell-cats started to arrive at the unit as of June 1, 1943,fully replaced originally operated Wildcats as of Oc-tober 1, 1944, and their inventory varied between 75and 150 machines. During 1944, 546 pilots completedtheir pilot training at this base, another 916 pilotsfrom January to October 1944. Hellcats belonging tothis unit sported a prominent marking carried on thefront part of the engine cowling consisting of stripesor other geometrical shapes.Gordon Arthur Stanley, born on July 13, 1921, in Sea-ttle, Washington state, shot down 8 enemy airplanesin the course of World War Two, all achieved flyingwith VF-27. This unit became famous thanks to itsunique marking - cat mouth and eyes, painted by Ro-bert Burnell on all noses of the Hellcats belonging tothis unit. Most of the Hellcats sporting the cat mouthwith eyes was destroyed on October 24, 1944, duringthe Battle of Leyte Gulf. The aircraft ended up on theocean bottom together with Light Aircraft CarrierPrinceton sunk by the single bomb launched fromthe D4Y Suisei (Judy) dive-bomber. Afterwards VF-27 operated from the board of CVL-22 Independence,however without the cat-mouth and eyes markings.KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard50May 2022Page 51
OVERTREESOVERLEPT#8221X F6F-3 / Hellcat Mk.I 1/48#8227-LEPTF6F-3 LEPT 1/48Product pageProduct pageRecommended:for F6F-3 1/4848585 F6F undercarriage (PE-Set)48588 F6F gun bay (PE-Set)FE951 F6F-3 seatbelts STEEL (PE-Set)644011 F6F-3 LööK (Brassin)648102 F6F wheels (Brassin)648683 F6F exhaust stacks (Brassin)648747 F6F undercarriage legs BRONZE (Brassin)D48055 F6F-3 part 1 (Decal Set)D48057 F6F-3 part 2 (Decal Set)D48058 F6F-3 stencils (Decal Set)Cat. No. 644011Cat. No. 648747Cat. No. 648683KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard51May 2022Page 52
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JF519, No. 1 Squadron SAAF, Trigno, Italy, June 1944JF630, F/O L. Cronin, No. 81 Squadron, Palel, India, March 1944JF364, No. 32 Squadron, Foggia, Italy, early 1944No. 1 Squadron SAAF was established in February1940 by renaming of the No. 6 Squadron SAAF armedwith Hawker Hurricane and Fury aircraft. In the midof the year 1940 the pilots of this unit joined the fi-ghts above North Africa. At the turn of 1942 and 1943the squadron received Spitfires and flew them in thefights under the African sun. These fights were fo-llowed by the use of these aircraft above Malta andSicily. The wartime presence of the squadron finishedin Italy. After WWII, the squadron remained active,first with Spitfires, Vampire, Sabre and Impala andthen, in April 1975, the squadron was rearmed withFrench Mirage F.1. The squadron was disbanded onNovember 25, 1997, at the Hoedspruit Base.The Mk.VIII Spitfires used by No. 1 Squadron SAAF abo-ve Italy had a Day Fighter Camouflage Scheme. Theupper surfaces were painted in Ocean Grey and DarkGreen; the undersides with Medium Sea Grey colour.The wing tips of Spitfires of this squadron were pain-ted red.According to the interview with Larry Cronin thesquadron A/C retained their desert colours. The pi-lot maintains that his aircraft still had its extendedwingtips when he gained his victories. In November1943, No. 81 Squadron RAF, withdrew from Sicily toEgypt where they re-equipped with Spitfire Mk.VIIIaircraft. Cronin recalls that all these aircraft werein the JF serial range and had extended wingtipsand standard rudders. Photos of aircraft in thisserial batch showing this configuration supporthis comments. Most sources state that the aircraftwere re-camouflaged in Dark Earth, Dark Green andSea Grey Medium when they arrived in India. Thecomments in those sources appear to be based onan order issued by RAF Headquarters, New Delhi. Thedate of the order is April, 1944, some three monthsafter No. 81 Squadron's arrival in the theatre, anda month after the only known photos of Cronin's air-craft were taken.The high altitude fighter camouflage scheme adornedthis Spitfire as well. In accordance with regulations,red-blue cockades were painted on the fuselage andupper sides of the wings. No national insignia wasapplied on the bottom of the wings. A photo of thisaircraft shows that the GZ code letters did not adhereto regulations on the right side of the fuselage. Theaircraft was equipped with extended wingtips.KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard53May 2022Page 54
JF476, No. 92 Squadron, Triolo, Sicily, November 1943308th Fighter Squadron, 31st Fighter Group, Castel Volturno, Italy, 1944Originally No. 92 Fighter Squadron fighting in WWIwas cancelled in August 1919. On October 10, 1939a squadron bearing the same number was esta-blished. It was first equipped with Bristol Blenheims.Right at the beginning of year 1940 it got Spitfires,which were fighting above Dunkerque and alsofought in the Battle of Britain. In February 1942 thesquadron was sent to Africa where it served againstGerman and Italian armed forces. After the fights inAfrica terminated, the squadron fought above Maltaand Sicily, later the squadron served above Italy. Thesquadron was disbanded on December 30, 1946, inAustrian Zeltweg. During WWII it reached the highestnumber of shot downs of the enemy aircraft amongthe RAF Wings, 317 victories over the enemy aircraft.No. 92 Squadron aircraft had a Desert Scheme Ca-mouflage. This consisted of Dark Earth and MiddleStone colours on the top surfaces, the undersideswere painted in Azure Blue colour. The colour of theletters of coding of the squadron could not be clearlydetermined, various sources state blue and red. Bothsides of the fuselage bore Desert Air Force sign.308th Fighter Squadron was armed with P-39s andP-40s. The performance of these fighters was notenough to keep up with German opponents, whichled to a relatively quick rearmament to SpitfiresMk.V. The Spitfires were used by 31st Fighter Group ina two-month heavy fights above northern France.Later the group was transferred to Gibraltar to usethe base for take offs for Algeria as part of the di-sembarkation of the Allies in North Africa (OperationTorch). What followed were the fights against the for-ces of the Axis in North Africa. In May 1943 the 308thFighter Squadron received Spitfires Mk.VIII, whichwere than used in the fights above Sicily and Italy.In March 1944, the Spitfires were replaced by P-51Mustangs, which were used by 308th Fighter Squad-ron pilots till the end of war.KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard54May 2022Page 55
OVERTREESOVERLEPT#8294X Spitfire Mk. VIII 1/48#8284-LEPTSpitfire Mk.VIII 1/48Product pageProduct pageRecommended:for Spitfire Mk.VIII 1/4849708 Spitfire Mk.VIII (PE-Set)648099 Spitfire exhaust stacks fishtail (Brassin)648115 Spitfire wheels - 4 spoke (Brassin)648118 Spitfire wheels - 4 spoke w/pattern (Brassin)648120 Spitfire - radio compartment (Brassin)648199 Spitfire Mk.VIII cockpit (Brassin)648200 Spitfire Mk.VIII engine (Brassin)648201 Spitfire Mk.VIII gun bays (Brassin)648338 Spitfire Mk.VIII top cowl (Brassin)648380 Spitfire Mk.VIII / IX cockpit door (Brassin)3DL48039 Spifire Mk.VIII SPACE (3D Decal Set)D48048 Spitfire Mk.VIII over Europe (Decal Set)D48049 Spitfire Mk.VIII over Pacific (Decal Set)Cat. No. 648199Cat. No. 648200Cat. No. 648120KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard55May 2022Page 56
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c/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 aircraftcarrier sent nine Zeros under the command of Lt. SumioNōno. His pilots attacked Kaneohe and Bellows bases,claiming two destroyed aircraft and one car. Third Shōtaiwas led by PO1c Matsuyama, who shot down in coopear-tion with his wingman P-40s piloted by 2nd LieutenantsGeorge Whiteman and Samuel Bishop of the 44th PursuitSquadron. Matsuyama had combat missions with the 13thKōkūtai in China on his account already. On February 25,1938, as wingman of the legendary Sadaaki Akamatsu,he participated in shooting down four aircraft. During theraids on Ceylon on April 9, 1942, Matsuyama's shōtai shotdown a Blenheim Mk.IV, probably of S/Ldr Kenneth Ault´screw, who was leading formation of No. 11 Squadron RAF inan attack on Japanese ships. Matsuyama later served onthe aircraft carrier Hiyō and was killed on April 7, 1943 incombat with the Wildcats off Guadalcanal. The airplaneBII-124 was shot down on February 19, 1942 during the raidon Darwin. After being hit by anti-aircraft fire, Seaman1st class Hajime Toyoshima landed on Melville Island andwas captured by Aboriginal Matthias Ulungura. Toyoshimawas the first captured Zero pilot and used alias "TadaoMinami". He became one of the organizers of the largestprisoner escape in World War II. On August 5, 1944 at CowraPOW Camp he gave signal to escape. Total of 1,104 POWsattempted to espace, 231 were killed and four Australianslost their lives as well. Toyoshima was mortally wounded,so he lighted a cigarette and committed suicide.Saburō Sakai is best known Japanese fighter pilot, thanksto his memoirs and meetings with Allied airmen afterWorld War II. He was born in 1916 and served from Septem-ber 1938 with the 12th Kōkūtai in China. In October 1941,he was assigned to the newly organized Tainan Kōkūtai inTaiwan and took part in campaign heading South until hewas wounded on August 7, 1942 off Guadalcanal. After re-covering, 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 heserved with Kōkūtai 343 (II) and Yokosuka Kōkūtai. He islisted as an ace with 64 victories, but Sakai himself clai-med the number of his victories was lower. With the firsttwo units he actually achieved 12 individual victories, 8shared and 4 probables. The V-128 was also flown by PO2cArita and PO1c Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, who is credited with87 victories. The color of the stripes is chosen from Sakai'srecollection, but there are other interpretations, such asa black or yellow stripe on the fuselage. During a fighterescort to Guadalcanal on August 7, Sakai shot down Wild-cat "F12" from VF-5 piloted by "Pug" Southerland in an epicdogfight. Sakai was later severely wounded in the face byfire from VB-6 Dauntless near Tulagi Island. After nearlyfive hours and more than 1,000 km, he managed to landback at Rabaul. Sakai died in 2000 after formal dinnerwith members of the US Navy.Petty Officer 2nd Class Koyae was born in 1923 in MiyazakiPrefecture and completed his flight training in November1942. He was than assigned to the fighter unit of the air-craft carrier Zuihō in March 1943. In April, the unit movedto Rabaul and Koyae flew the aircraft during OperationI-gō. In this period, green paint was applied to Zeros infield conditions. It was usually painted by hand, the edgesof the green fields being softened with thinner someti-mes. However, according to the unit log, Koyae did not flycombat sorties in April 1943. In fact he did not encounterthe enemy until November 1943 over Rabaul. During thesame month he was transferred to Kōkūtai 253 at Rabauland by early 1944 he was undergoing intense fighting.Upon his return to Japan, he was assigned to the ŌmuraKōkūtai. While on leave, on February 17, 1944, he spotteda Japanese bomber circling in the rain at night over thevillage of Goda, Miyazaki Prefecture. Koyae, with the helpof the villagers, established a navigation signal and aftersome time he managed to guide the crew to right heading.For this achievment he received a written commendationfrom commander of Ōmura Kōkūtai. In July 1944, Koyaewas assigned to Hikōtai 701 and fought in the defense ofthe Philippines. After returning to Japan, he was assignedto Hikōtai 701 (II) and served with Ōmura Kōkūtai at theend of the war. After the war he worked as a fireman andpublished his memories. According to the local press, heachieved 20 victories, but these may be victories achievedby fighter formations in which he took part.KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard57May 2022Page 58
Lt. 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 KendariBase on the island of Celebes. It was a mixed Kōkūtai with48 fighter-bombers (Hikōtai 602), 24 night fighters (Hikōtai902) and 48 fighter aircraft in Hikōtai 311, the latter com-manded by Lt. Kanzaki. During the 1944 he operated frombases on islands in Indonesia and the Philippines. Theirmost frequent opponents were U.S. Army aircraft. Kanza-ki's unit used special phosphorus anti-aircraft bombs toattack enemy bombers. Kanzaki's aircraft, manufacturedby the Nakajima company, has been reconstructed in thepast with various color markings. It is assumed that thevertical tail surfaces and part of the upper wing surfaceswere painted the same color like lower surfaces. The frontpart of the engine may also have been painted grey or ye-llow. It is not entirely clear from the photograph of theaircraft whether the white stripes on the lower fuselageare joined. It may have been designed to improve the mu-tual identification of Army and Navy aircraft when fightingAllied fighters. Another reason for this camouflage mayhave been for easier identification during night fighter fli-ghts. For example, Lt. Kanzaki and his wingman shot downa B-24 of the 380th BG over Balikpapan on the night of Ja-nuary 12-13, 1944. Some aircraft of Kōkūtai 331 were alsopainted in the same upper and tailplane camouflage. Bothunits operated in one tactical group during part of 1944.From the April 3, 1945 a total of eight special attack unitswith the battle name "Shichisei" were organized from theairmen serving in Genzan Kōkūtai (II) and Hikōtai 306 (partof Kōkūtai 721). Lt. Miyatake, who was 24 years old at thetime, led the 1st Shichisei-tai in an attack on a convoy offOkinawa on April 6, 1945. During that day, eleven other air-men from Genzan Kōkūtai (II) sacrificed their lives alongwith him. They took off successively in four formations.Their formation was part of the 524 aircraft of specialattack units and escort fighters from IJN and IJA sentagainst Allied vessels off Okinawa as part of Operation Ki-kusui I. The U.S. Navy lost destroyers USS Bush and Colhounand other ships were severely damaged. "Shichisei" unitswere sent against ships off Okinawa, Yoronjima, Kikai, andTanegashima islands in several missions till May 14. Onlyone of them returned to base due to bad weather. Lt. Miy-atake was born in Kagawa Prefecture and graduated fromthe Etajima Naval Academy in 1942. Before the mission, hewrote farewell letters to his mother and three sisters. Hisfather was interned in Siberia at the time. Nobuo Miyatakewas posthumously promoted to the rank of Commander.His aircraft from Nakajima production is designated "Ke-113".KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard58May 2022Page 59
Recommended:for A6M2 Zero Type 21 1/48481076 A6M2 landing flaps (PE-Set)481077 A6M2 Zero (PE-Set)FE1238 A6M2 seatbelts STEEL (PE-Set)644128 A6M2 LööK (Brassin)644134 A6M2 LööKplus (Brassin)648692 A6M2 Zero Model 21 cockpit PRINT (Brassin)648693 A6M2 wheels (Brassin)648694 A6M2 engine PRINT (Brassin)648695 A6M undercarriage legs BRONZE (Brassin)648698 A6M2 seat PRINT (Brassin)648722 A6M2 exhausts PRINT (Brassin)648723 A6M2 cannon barrels & cockpit guns PRINT (Brassin)648724 A6M2 landing flaps PRINT (Brassin)648731 A6M2 Zero Model 21 folding wingtips PRINT (Brassin)SIN64883 A6M2 Zero Model 21 ESSENTIAL (Brassin)3DL48050 A6M2 SPACE (3D Decal Set)D48098 A6M2 stencils (Decal Set)D48100 A6M2 national insignia (Decal Set)EX821 A6M2 TFace (Mask)OVERTREESOVERLEPT#82212 A6M2 Zero Type 21 1/48#82212-LEPTA6M2 Zero Type 21 1/48Product pageProduct pageCat. No. 648692Cat. No. 648694Cat. No. 648695Cat. No. 648698Cat. No. 644128KITS 05/2022INFO Eduard59May 2022Page 60
BRASSINLööK set - Brassin pre-painted dashboardsand STEEL seatbelts for SR-71A in 1/48 scale.Easy to assemble, replaces plastic parts.Recommended kit: RevellSet contains:- resin: 2 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted- painting mask: noCollection of 3 sets for Z-526AFS in 1/48 scale.Recommended kit: Eduard- LööK set (pre-painted Brassin dashboards & Steelbelts)- TFace painting mask- undercarriage wheels644154SR-71A LööK1/48 Revell644150Z-526AFS LööKplus1/48 EduardProduct pageProduct pageINFO Eduard60May 2022Page 61
Collection of 3 sets for OV-10A in 1/48 scale.Recommended kit: ICM- LööK set (pre-painted Brassin dashboards & Steelbelts)- TFace painting mask- undercarriage wheelsCollection of 4 sets for F-14A late in 1/48 scale.Recommended kit: Tamiya- LööK set (pre-painted Brassin dashboards & Steelbelts)- TFace painting mask- undercarriage wheels- ejection seats644155OV-10A LööKplus1/48 ICM644156F-14A late Löökplus1/48 TamiyaProduct pageProduct pageBRASSIN 02/2022BRASSININFO Eduard61May 2022Page 62
BRASSINBrassin set - the landing flaps for Fw 190Din 1/48 scale. Made by direct 3D printing.Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- 3D print: 6 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: yes- painting mask: noBrassin set - the undercarriage wheels for SR-71Ain 1/48 scale. The set consists of the main wheelsand nose wheels. Easy to assemble, replaces plastic parts.Recommended kit: RevellSet contains:- resin: 8 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painting mask: yes648737Fw 190D landing flaps PRINT1/48 Eduard648740SR-71A wheels1/48 RevellProduct pageProduct pageINFO Eduard62May 2022Page 63
BRASSIN 02/2022BRASSINBrassin set - the undercarriage wheels for Vampire F.3in 1/48 scale. The set consists of the main wheelsand a nose wheel. Easy to assemble, replaces plasticparts. Recommended kit: AirfixSet contains:- resin: 3 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painting mask: yesBrassin set - the undercarriage wheels for F-15A/Bin 1/48 scale. The set consists of the main wheelsand a nose wheel. Easy to assemble, replaces plasticparts. Recommended kit: GWHSet contains:- resin: 3 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painting mask: yes648741Vampire F.3 wheels1/48 Airfix648743F-15A/B wheels1/48 GWHProduct pageProduct pageINFO Eduard63May 2022Page 64
BRASSINBrassin set - the undercarriage wheels for Mosquitoin 1/48 scale. The set consists of the main wheels anda tail wheel. Easy to assemble, replaces plastic parts.Recommended kit: TamiyaSet contains:- resin: 8 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painting mask: yesBrassin set - the undercarriage legs for F6Fin 1/48 scale. The legs are made of bronze.Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- 3D print: 6 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painting mask: no- bronze: 2 parts648746Mosquito wheels1/48 Tamiya648747F6F undercarriage legs BRONZE1/48 EduardProduct pageProduct pageINFO Eduard64May 2022Page 65
BRASSIN 02/2022BRASSINBrassin set - the landing flaps for Spitfire Mk.IXin 1/48 scale. Made by direct 3D printing.Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- 3D print: 6 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: yes- painting mask: noBrassin set - manually operated M2 Browningmachines guns in 1/48 scale. Set consists of 4 guns.The version for A/C. Made by direct 3D printing.Easy to assemble, replaces plastic parts.Set contains:- 3D print: 4 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painting mask: no648748Spitfire Mk.IX landing flaps PRINT1/48 Eduard648751M2 Browning w/ handles for aircraft PRINT1/48Product pageProduct pageINFO Eduard65May 2022Page 66
BRASSINBrassin set - USN 36´ searchlights in 1/350 scale.The set consists of 6 searchlights. Made by direct 3D printing.Easy to assemble, replaces plastic parts.Set contains:- 3D print: 6 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painting mask: noBrassin set - USN electric ship winches in 1/350 scale.The set consists of 2 types of winches, 6 pcs in total (4+2).Made by direct 3D printing. Easy to assemble, replacesplastic parts.Set contains:- 3D print: 12 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painting mask: no653001USN searchlights 36 inch PRINT1/350653003USN electric ship winches PRINT1/350Product pageProduct pageINFO Eduard66May 2022Page 67
BRASSIN 02/2022BRASSINBrassin set - exhaust stacks for S-199 in 1/72 scale.Made by direct 3D printing. Easy to assemble,replaces plastic parts. Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- 3D print: 2 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painting mask: noBrassin set - the undercarriage wheels for S-199 in 1/72scale. The set consists of the main wheels. Made by direct3D printing. Easy to assemble, replaces plastic parts.Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- 3D print: 2 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painting mask: yes672284S-199 exhaust stacks PRINT1/72 Eduard672285S-199 wheels PRINT1/72 EduardProduct pageProduct pageINFO Eduard67May 2022Page 68
BRASSINBrassin set - exhaust stacks for Fw 190D in 1/72 scale.Made by direct 3D printing. Easy to assemble,replaces plastic parts. Recommended kit: IBGSet contains:- 3D print: 2 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painting mask: noBrassin set - the undercarriage wheels for Fw 190Din 1/72 scale. The set consists of the main wheels.Easy to assemble, replaces plastic parts.Recommended kit: IBGSet contains:- resin: 2 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painting mask: yes672286Fw 190D exhaust stacks PRINT1/72 IBG672287Fw 190D wheels1/72 IBGProduct pageProduct pageINFO Eduard68May 2022Page 69
BRASSIN 02/2022BRASSINCollection of 4 sets to convert Mi-24V to Mi-24D in 1/48 scale.Recommended kit: Zvezda- cockpit- undercarriage wheels- dashboard, exhausts, chaff dispensers and chin sensors- painting maskAll sets included in this BIG SIN are available separately,but with every BIG SIN set you save up to 30 %.SIN64882Mi-24D conversion set1/48 ZvezdaProduct pageINFO Eduard69May 2022Page 70
BRASSINCollection of 4 sets for A6M2 Model 21 in 1/48 scale.Recommended kit: Eduard- cockpit- undercarriage wheels- undercarriage legs BRONZE- exhaustsAll sets included in this BIG SIN are available separately,but with every BIG SIN set you save up to 30 %.SIN64883A6M2 Zero Model 21 ESSENTIAL1/48 EduardProduct pageINFO Eduard70May 2022Page 71
www.eduard.com/bfcBUNNY BUNNY FIGHTERFIGHTERCLUBEduard's special membership club for all modeling enthusiasts!15% Permanent Club discount at Eduard Store – you will receive permanent 15% discount on all Eduardproducts and also discount on various other non-Eduard products. Fixed, permanent, forever!Unique valuable Club kits and accessories – you will gain access to unique and nowhere else to be soldproducts, specially made for BFC members.Even better prices at Eduard events stand – do you know that Eduard usually has huge discounts ontheir products at fairs and events all over the world? BFC members will have even higher discount atthese events.Club T-shirt – you will receive fancy BFC T-shirt with unique design and special barcode(used for event discounts). This exclusive T-shirt will be only availableto the members of BFC.Free entry fee on E-day – you will not have to pay a penny to visit Eduard's E-day.That means lot of fun at E-day for two days and entry kit, absolutely free!* E-day - INTERNATIONAL SCALE KIT EXHIBITION - IPMS Czech Republic ChampionshipBOX CONTENT:Plastic parts, Marking options 6, Decal Set, PE parts, Maska, Brassinparts (two different types of wheels, landing flaps, dust filter witheyelid, intake ring and RP-3 60lb rockets), 3D decals for main and si-dewalk instrument and control panels with photo-etched details andseat belts.BOX CONTENT:Plastic parts, Marking options 4, Decal Set, PE parts, Maska, Brassinparts (undercarriage wheels, cockpit, exhaust nozzle, FOD).How to become a member of BFC?How to become a member of BFC?Simply by purchasing the Activation product. You will be given 15% discount on (almost) every Eduardproduct in your shopping cart. To apply this discount, the Activation product has to be in your shoppingcart. Activation product is excluded from this calculation.Activation products:Activation products:Tempest Mk. V + T-shirt 1/48MiG-21MF + T-shirt 1/72Page 72
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EDDIE THE RIVETERINFO Eduard82May 2022Page 83
EDUcationRivet the Eddie way! Rivet the Eddie way!All you need forapplication.Assemble the model, fill engraved linesand sand off details that are marked in this guide.12Prepare the model for the painting. Spray with Mr. FinishingSurfacer 1500, add drops of Super Gloss Clear to the mixtureso that the sprayed model has glossy surface (same grade ofsmoothness of the surface like for decal application).Step by step applicationEDDIE THE RIVETEREDDIE THE RIVETER (Cat. No. ER48001)Page 84
EDUcationWait until the decal could be released from thepaper. Put drops of water/saponite mixture on themodel surface where you want to place the decal.354Prepare mixture of water (100 ml)and dishwashing saponite (2–3drops). Soak the dishwashingsponge in the mixture.Cut off a section with rivets andraised details from the decalpaper along the gray line with sci-ssors or sharp modeling knife.Put it on the sponge then push thesponge so that the decal is wet.Step by step applicationEDDIE THE RIVETEREDDIE THE RIVETER (Cat. No. ER48001)Rivet the Eddie way! Rivet the Eddie way!Page 85
EDUcation67Step by step applicationEDDIE THE RIVETEREDDIE THE RIVETER (Cat. No. ER48001)Rivet the Eddie way! Rivet the Eddie way!Place the decal on its position.Remove the decal from decal paper.Page 86
EDUcationPress the applied decalto the surface with drydishwashing sponge andremove all water. Do notmove the sponge! Justapply gentle press andthen draw the sponge apartfrom the surface vertically.Otherwise, the decal mightget deformed.After all the decals are on their positions,allow at least 24 hours for drying.89Step by step applicationEDDIE THE RIVETEREDDIE THE RIVETER (Cat. No. ER48001)Rivet the Eddie way! Rivet the Eddie way!Page 87
EDUcation1011Then spray 3–5 very thin layers of Mr. FinishingSurfacer 1500 over the whole model using airbrush.Do not use spray in can!Continue with painting and final as-sembly of the model. Pay maximumattention to masking when usingmasking tape. The adhesion of thetape must be reduced to avoid da-mage of the Surfacer layer or eventhe decal!Step by step applicationEDDIE THE RIVETEREDDIE THE RIVETER (Cat. No. ER48001)Rivet the Eddie way! Rivet the Eddie way!Page 88
EDUcationStep by step applicationEDDIE THE RIVETEREDDIE THE RIVETER (Cat. No. ER48001)One model withEddie the Riveter setand one without this set.One model withEddie the Riveter setand one without this set.Rivet the Eddie way! Rivet the Eddie way!Page 89
EDUcationHow to build PRINTEDPRINTEDlanding flaps(Cat. No. 648738 Spitfire Mk.V)IT COULDN‘T BE EASIERIT COULDN‘T BE EASIERAll you need.Assembled flaps.Dry fit. Glued parts.Assembled plastic.Ready to assemble.135246DETAILED SIMPLE- -FAST!DETAILED SIMPLE- -FAST!Page 90
BIG EDAll sets included in this BIG ED are available separately,but with every BIG ED set you save up to 30%.BIG49323 Mi-24D 1/48 TrumpeterBIG49324F/A-18F 1/48 Meng481078 Mi-24D cargo interior 1/48491255 Mi-24D 1/48FE1257 Mi-24D seatbelts STEEL 1/48EX842 Mi-24D 1/4849103 Remove Before Flight STEEL491253 F/A-18F 1/48FE1254 F/A-18F seatbelts STEEL 1/48EX840 F/A-18F 1/48Product pageProduct pageINFO Eduard90May 2022Page 91
All sets included in this BIG ED are available separately,but with every BIG ED set you save up to 30%.BRASSIN 02/2022BRASSIN 02/2022BIG EDBIG49325 Su-27 1/48 Great Wall HobbyBIG72170Wellington Mk.II 1/72 Airfix491249 Su-27 1/48FE1250 Su-27 seatbelts STEEL 1/48EX838 Su-27 1/4872719 Wellington Mk.II bomb bay 1/7272720 Wellington Mk.II landing flaps 1/7273766 Wellington Mk.II 1/72CX619 Wellington Mk.II 1/72Product pageProduct pageINFO Eduard91May 2022Page 92
MASKSIT FITS!EX850 F-104A/C1/48 KineticEX851 F-104A/C TFace1/48 KineticEX852 F-22A1/48 I Love KitsEX853 F-22A TFace1/48 I Love KitsEX854 EA-18G1/48 Hobby BossEX855 EA-18G TFace1/48 Hobby BossEX856 Il-2 mod. 19431/48 ZvezdaEX857 Il-2 mod. 1943 TFace1/48 ZvezdaEX850EX850EX851EX851EX851EX851EX844EX850EX851EX845EX851EX852EX853EX853 EX853 EX853EX852EX853EX852EX853INFO Eduard92Květen 2022May 2022Page 93
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EDUcationHow to use Maskon Eduard ECR(Cat. No. 11154 TORNADO ECR)EDUARD MASK–IT FITS!46+23, JaboG 32, Lechfeld Air Base, Germany, July 2008Page 95
EDUcationHow to use Maskon Eduard ECR(Cat. No. 11154 TORNADO ECR)EDUARD MASK–IT FITS!46+44, 1./JaboG 32, Lechfeld Air Base, Germany, June 2001Page 96
RELEASESMAY 2022KITSPE-SETSZOOMSMASKS82181 Z-126 Trenér 1/48 ProfiPack2141 MEZEK DUAL COMBO 1/72 Limited84182 Bf 109G-10 WNF/Diana 1/48 Weekend7460 Spitfire F Mk.IX 1/72 Weekend8227 F6F-3 Re-release 1/48 ProfiPack8287 Spitfire HF Mk.VIII Re-release 1/48 ProfiPack82212 A6M2 Zero Type 21 Re-release 1/48 ProfiPack53279 Tirpitz part 1 1/350 Trumpeter53280 Tirpitz part 2 1/350 Trumpeter32997 Hawk 81-A2 1/32 Great Wall Hobby36479 Jackal 2 1/35 Hobby Boss481085 Il-2 mod. 1943 landing flaps 1/48 Zvezda491266 F-104A 1/48 Kinetic491267 F-104C 1/48 Kinetic491268 EA-18G 1/48 Hobby Boss491271 Il-2 mod. 1943 1/48 Zvezda491273 F-22A 1/48 I Love Kits73769 J1N1-S Gekko 1/72 Fujimi/Hobby 200073770 TA-4J 1/72 Fujimi/Hobby 200033297 Hawk 81-A2 1/32 Great Wall Hobby33298 Hawk 81-A2 seatbelts STEEL 1/32 Great Wall HobbyFE1266 F-104A 1/48 KineticFE1267 F-104C 1/48 KineticFE1268 EA-18G 1/48 Hobby BossFE1269 EA-18G seatbelts STEEL 1/48 Hobby BossFE1270 F-104A/C seatbelts STEEL 1/48 KineticFE1271 Il-2 mod. 1943 1/48 ZvezdaFE1272 Il-2 mod. 1943 seatbelts STEEL 1/48 ZvezdaFE1273 F-22A 1/48 I Love KitsFE1274 F-22A seatbelts STEEL 1/48 I Love KitsSS769 J1N1-S Gekko 1/72 Fujimi/Hobby 2000SS770 TA-4J 1/72 Fujimi/Hobby 2000EX850 F-104A/C 1/48 KineticEX851 F-104A/C TFace 1/48 KineticEX852 F-22A 1/48 I Love KitsEX853 F-22A TFace 1/48 I Love KitsEX854 EA-18G 1/48 Hobby BossEX855 EA-18G TFace 1/48 Hobby BossEX856 Il-2 mod. 1943 1/48 ZvezdaEX857 Il-2 mod. 1943 TFace 1/48 ZvezdaINFO Eduard96May 2022Page 97
RELEASESMAY 2022BIG-EDBIG-EDBIG EDBRASSINLöökPLUSBIG SINEDDIE THE RIVETERDECAL SETSSPACEBIG49323 Mi-24D 1/48 TrumpeterBIG49324 F/A-18F 1/48 MengBIG49325 Su-27 1/48 Great Wall HobbyBIG72170 Wellington Mk.II 1/72 Airfix644154 SR-71A LööK 1/48 Revell648737 Fw 190D landing flaps PRINT 1/48 Eduard648740 SR-71A wheels 1/48 Revell648741 Vampire F.3 wheels 1/48 Airfix648743 F-15A/B wheels 1/48 Great Wall Hobby648746 Mosquito wheels 1/48 Tamiya648747 F6F undercarriage legs BRONZE 1/48 Eduard648748 Spitfire Mk.IX landing flaps PRINT 1/48 Eduard648751 M2 Browningw/ handles for aircraft PRINT 1/48653001 USN searchlights 36 inch PRINT 1/350653003 USN electric ship winches PRINT 1/350672284 S-199 exhaust stacks PRINT 1/72 Eduard672285 S-199 wheels PRINT 1/72 Eduard672286 Fw 190D exhaust stacks PRINT 1/72 IBG672287 Fw 190D wheels 1/72 IBG644150 Z-526AFS LööKplus 1/48 Eduard644155 OV-10A LööKplus 1/48 ICM644156 F-14A late LööKplus 1/48 TamiyaSIN64882 Mi-24D conversion set 1/48 ZvezdaSIN64883 A6M2 Zero Model 21 ESSENTIAL 1/48 EduardER48001 Mi-24V positive rivets & surface details 1/48 Zvezda3DL32006 Hawk 81-A2 SPACE 1/32 Great Wall Hobby3DL48063 F-104A SPACE 1/48 Kinetic3DL48064 F-104C SPACE 1/48 Kinetic3DL53007 Tirpitz flags SPACE 1/350 TrumpeterD72038 S-199 Czechoslovak national insignia 1/72 EduardD72039 S-199 Israeli national insignia 1/72 EduardD72040 S-199 Czechoslovak stencils 1/72 EduardD72041 S-199 Israeli stencils 1/72 EduardINFO Eduard97May 2022Page 98
1/72Dual ComboCat. No. 2141marking GBuilt by Robert SzwarcBUILTMEZEKINFO Eduard98May 2022Page 99
BUILTS-199.340, Lt. František Kratochvíla, No. 3 Squadron, Aviation Regiment 51, Mladá, Czechoslovakia, July 1952Not much is known about the early service of thisaircraft. It was manufactured in the summer of1948. The aircraft underwent general overhaul inKunovice from June 5 to November 20, 1950 andserved with the Police Air Patrol service briefly(this aviation arm of the Police was disbanded onDecember 23, 1950). In May 1952, it was assigned toNo. 51 lp (Aviation Regiment 51), where it was firstassigned to No. 4 Squadron and then served afterreorganization of the regiment with No. 3 Squad-ron, which retained the original Police code of itsaircraft (numbers B-0311 and higher). On July 30,1952, the aircraft made an emergency landing inZvolen while being flown by Lt. František Krato-chvíla This aircraft was one of a number that re-tained their simplified Police markings, includingthe red nose and horizontal stabilizer and elevator.The army insignia on the wings were overpaintedin a darker colour than the camouflage coat. Thesame color was used to adapt the insignia on therudder from circular to triangles with curved ed-ges. It is not known what specific color was used,but it may have been a darker shade of green usedlater on the S-199.Product pageINFO Eduard99May 2022Page 100
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BUILTS-199 , D-123, 101 Squadron (tayeset), Cheyl ha-avir, Hatzor, Israel, October, 1948The aircraft coded D-123 was delivered to Israel onJuly 28 on board Balak Flight No. 79 and joined theaction on August 15, 1948. A month prior to D-123'sentry into service, ex-USAAF volunteer pilot StanAndrews drew up the 101 squadron’s insignia of awinged skull of death wearing a flight helmet andgoggles. The skull symbolizes the Jewish faith'sbelief in the rising of the dead to form a large armywhen the messiah comes to earth. The insignia wasprinted on poster paper and applied to the left sideof the nose of 101 Squadron’s planes. In preparationfor Operation Ten Plagues (15-22 October 1948), la-ter renamed Operation Yoav, 101 Squadron fightersobtained high visibility markings consisting of redspinners and red and white stripes on the ruddersin order to distinguish them from Egyptian Spitfi-res. To further differentiate the Israeli fighters, theStar of David roundels were applied atop the wingsfor the first time. During Operation Yoav, Rudi Au-garten claimed a Royal Egyptian Air Force SpitfireMk.IXc flying D-121 on the first day of the offensive,on October 16. The kill was not confirmed by IAFintelligence and is only considered as damaged.In November, D-123 was given the number 1905 aspart of the introduction of a new military aircraftmarking system. There are a few repairs to the fu-selage that appear as darker areas from photos ofD-123. This has led some researchers to believethe aircraft received a two-tone camouflage sche-me on the upper surfaces. However, it is merely acontrast of older and newer paint of approximatelythe same shade of green.INFO Eduard101May 2022Page 102
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BUILTZ-526AFS, I-IOIO, s/n 1330, Silvio Bellei, Sassuolo airfield, Italy, 1994This aircraft was produced in 1974 and it was thelast of the Z-526AFS line. She was stored after thetest flight on April 30, 1974, waiting for her buyerfor two years. On May 26, 1977, she was flown tothe new home in Parma by the famous Italian ae-robatic pilot Valenti. Two years later, however, theI-IOIO changed hands. She was bought by Dr. SilvioBellei, founder of the ceramics manufacturer No-vaBell, long-time president of the Sassuolo AeroClub and a respected and renowned businessmanand pilot. “Signor Bellei”, as the people regularlycalled him, was awarded the Paul Tissandier Di-ploma by the International Aeronautical Federa-tion for his aviation merit by the way. His aircraftwas based at Sassuolo airfield near Modena untilDr. Bellei passed away (May 22, 2021, at the ageof 84). The I-IOIO had one happy-ending accidentwhen the pilot decided to make a landing withoutconducting the regular pattern after aerobatics fli-ght. Unfortunately, he landed literally on the ridgeof Partenavia Oscar, which was on her final inthe moment. Nobody was hurt, but the I-IOIO hadto be craned from the back of the Oscar and re-paired. The last overhaul of I-IOIO was carried outby ZLÍN-AVION service company in 1993. She wascheck-flown by renowned pilot Vladimír Peroutkaprior to her return to Sassuolo. Since then, she hadbeen serving to the satisfaction of her owner andis still fully aerobatic.INFO Eduard103May 2022Page 104
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BUILTB6299, FL Norman M. MacGregor, No. 10 Sqn RNAS, Téteghem, France, November 1917Norman Miers MacGregor entered the RNAS onFebruary 1916 and was assigned to HMS Presi-dent. He was assigned to No. 6 Squadron in 1917and scored four kills there. After that he movedto the No. 10 Squadron. His first victory with thi