08/2020

• Page 1

  Vol 19, August 2020

  ISSUE 125

  INFO

• Page 2

  INFO

  EDUARD

  ISSUE 125

  © Eduard - Model Accessories, 2020

  FREE FOR DOWNLOAD, FREE FOR DISTRIBUTION!

  This material may only be used for personal use. No part of the text

  or graphic presentations can be used in another publication in any other media form

  or otherwise distributed without the prior written

  permission of Eduard - Model Accessories and authors involved.

  Editorial and Graphics - Marketing department, Eduard - Model Accessories, Ltd.

• Page 3

  eduard

  EDITORIAL

  4

  AUGUST 2020

  KITS

  BRASSIN

  PHOTO-ETCHED SETS

  BIGED

  RELEASE

  HISTORY

  BUILT

  ON APPROACH

  August 2020

  Tales of Very Long Range Bill

  Spitre Mk.I

  September 2020

  76

  82

  6

  68

  85

  11

  86

  90

  VLR: Tales of Iwojima Limited edition 1/48

  The Spitre Story Limited edition 1/48

  L-29 Delfín ProPACK 1/72

  Bf 108 Weekend edition 1/32

  Avia B.534 IV. Series Super44 1/144

  Spitre Mk.I 1/48

  P-38G 1/48

  CM.170 Magister 1/48

  Spitre Mk.XVI cockpit 1/48

  CONTENT

  Issued by Eduard-Model Accessories, spol. s.r.o.

  Mírová 170, Obrnice 435 21

  support@eduard.com www.eduard.com

• Page 4

  Dear Friends,

  We need to begin today with some bad news.

  Due to the unfavorable course the pandemic

  is taking, and the associated restricons that

  have been implemented that make an event

  such as a model convenon impraccal, we

  have decided to cancel this year’s E-day show.

  Personally, I think this is a great shame. Already

  now, we have prepared so much to be ready

  for the show that is now in danger of being

  a waste. For example, much of the new items

  for October were being med to be relevant

  specically for E-day. We have several associ

  -

  ated events planned to go along with these kit

  releases, and we hope to turn these into reali

  -

  ty, at least in part, as separate enes. We will

  intensely work on their compleon through

  August, and we will introduce these in the Sep

  -

  tember newsleer. We are assuming that we

  will be able to conduct the Naonal Champion

  -

  ships, at least as a judging aair under the di-

  recon of the SMCzR. It will likely take the form

  of an event only for the parcipants and the

  judges, and, of course, members of the SMCzR.

  I would also be personally pleased, if we could

  introduce our 1:72nd scale Cmelak, including a

  ying display, and a discussion with the pilot.

  I would think that we could even hold an In The

  Pot style Q and A along the same lines as the

  recent Eduard at Artur’s event, which took pla

  -

  ce on July 24th. I took this event as being a su-

  ccess, and my impression is that the aendees

  le sased, leading me to conclude that this

  may be one opon on how to put on a plea

  -

  sant and useful modelling event, even at a me

  when large, tradional model convenons are

  o the table. We have already put on two such

  events this year, where new items were intro

  -

  duced, and conducted a discussion on new and

  future releases. We would like to connue in,

  perhaps, approximately three month intervals.

  That would be a frequency that should re out

  no one, and should always bring up something

  interesng. The next one should be around the

  me of E-day, actually.

  One of the things that were to have been fe

  -

  atured at E-day, which we would like to bring to

  fruion, is the proposed retro-release of the P

  -

  -40F Warhawk in 1:72nd scale, a theme directly

  connected to Vaclav Sorel arcles published in

  old issues of ABC magazine. We are sll ne-tu

  -

  ning these, but the kits are virtually done. It is

  heavily inuenced by said arcles, which inclu

  -

  ded descripons of the pilot, Lubomir Ulehla.

  It is true that research, since those arcles

  were rst published, have shown things to be

  somewhat dierent, historical accuracy and co

  -

  rrecons are not the point here. This has more

  to do with nostalgia, although the historical

  accuracy of the theme does also play a role, of

  course. The basis of this release is more about

  the 1986 arcle than the 1945 aircra. The kit

  was to have been sold at E-day, with the proce

  -

  eds going to Mr. Sorel, and the kit will be sold

  via other methods, but the proceeds will sll go

  to Vaclav. In two months, the details will have

  been ironed out. So far, we have put together

  a prey decent sum from which the family has

  been withdrawing funds to aid in his recovery.

  In a recent newsleer, I described what Vaclav

  Sorel has meant to Czech and Slovak modelers,

  what he has been going through, as well as his

  family, and the need to set up a fund to help

  them out. I would like to take this opportunity

  to thank all those that have already contributed

  to this fund on behalf of myself, Eduard, and

  also of Zdenek Sebesta. The laer is responsi

  -

  ble for the enre concept of the fund, and the

  Warhawk, and its related themes, project.

  At the event with Artur, we introduced a list

  of new items, the descripons of which can be

  found in this newsleer. They were geared to

  two new Limited Edion releases, ‘VLR: Tales

  of Iwo Jima’ and ‘Spiire Story: The Few’. The

  Deln in 1:72nd scale was not discussed a who

  -

  le lot, despite deserving some aenon on its

  own merits, not the least of which were that

  they were delivered on me, no small miracle

  under current condions, and that the decal

  opons are not just downsized copies of the

  48th scale version of the aircra. That’s how

  it goes in life. Aenon invariably gravitates

  towards the big projects and they become big

  events, while the smaller ones are undeserved

  -

  ly le in the shadows. I believe that the plasc

  for the MiG-19s in 1:48th will arrive in a mely

  manner as well. Those set sail on Saturday.

  I believe that I have menoned before that

  the idea for the new duo of Limited Edion

  kits came about last year in Chaanooga while

  observing the reacons to the then-new P-51

  Limited Edion kit, ‘Chaanooga Choo Choo’.

  Our plan to come to Texas with another signi

  -

  cant Mustang and the new Spiire Mk.I got

  the same kick in the teeth from Covid-19 as did

  our plans for E-day. That, however, is no reason

  whatsoever to give up on the ideas. As recently

  as in June, I gured that beyond the shadow of

  a doubt, the Spiire Mk.I will be nothing more

  than a sparring partner for the Mustang. Just

  one look at the marking opons in VLR tell the

  tale. Each opon is more stunning than the

  last, with a riveng tale of long-range missions

  over Japan to tell. And then, there is the simple

  fact that the Mustang is the Mustang, aer all.

  A beauful animal, a thoroughbred ghter, an

  aircra capable of winning a war, and a resul

  -

  ng kit that is well on its way to holding the

  disncon of being the most successful pro

  -

  duct we have ever produced. Could this item

  possibly be topped by the Spiire Mk.I? That

  plain Spiire Mk.I, the boring patron saint of

  the Bale of Britain with the same camouf

  -

  lage scheme from plane to plane, no personal

  markings to speak of to garner some aenon,

  about which all has been known for a long me

  with nothing new promised for the future? The

  workhorse of Churchill’s ‘so few’? The one that

  everyone talks about, but only a few hardco

  -

  re fanacs really know a lot about? A kit, that

  was made by probably anyone and everyone

  with a milling machine in the basement and

  an injecon molding machine in the yard? An

  aircra that has appeared in new model form,

  and done nicely, I might add, twice in the last

  two years? Would that be able to shake things

  up? Unlikely. The Spiire’s glory days are be

  -

  hind her! As it turns out…..NOT! Some things

  are prey meless, apparently, and this is what

  our kit is poinng at very vigorously. This is

  a tribute to the few that eighty years ago stood

  alone against the forces of evil in defense of a

  fragile democracy that, ulmately, was the only

  one able to get Europe back into a period of pe

  -

  ace and prosperity. It is also a recognion of the

  know-how and ingenuity, as well as technical

  beauty that was the result of a long and dicult

  road of development, lled with problems that

  had to be overcome to achieve the legend sta

  -

  tus that it ulmately did. Perhaps, our kit says

  nothing new, but it does say things that are well

  worth repeang.

  Even our road to this Spiire wasn’t an easy

  one, and geng to this point required all of

  our resources, abilies and faith in ourselves.

  In some ways, our story of the development of

  this kit mirrors the story of the development

  of the actual airplane. Even a kit goes through

  a somemes dicult development, evolves,

  and much like the designers of the original

  item, we too have had to try to nd the best

  road to the best end, and we have to live with

  the noon that we have not yet achieved per

  -

  fecon in what we are doing. Perhaps, you will

  be disappointed in the sink marks in the ex

  -

  hausts that we were not able to eliminate by

  the me producon began. Even so, we are

  now able to oer a beauful kit, that oers

  many interesng features and a lot of nesse,

  that I venture to say has never been oered

  before at this level and at this concentraon in

  one product. As with the real thing, our Spiire

  is just barely within our abilies and capacity

  in terms of producon, and whatever the kit’s

  shortcomings are, those will also be eliminated

  in me. The choice in the maer comes down

  to either producing a kit with the inevitable

  queson marks, or keep developing and xing

  in an eort to create something uerly perfect.

  Once we have won the war, we will connue to

  improve, but that will come at a me when we

  are able to ll the orders we have.

  So, back to earth. Both of today’s Limited Edi

  -

  EDITORIAL

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 5

  on kits are a connuaon of basic concepts

  of models that we connuously developed

  over the past few years and which we are sll

  developing. Even though it may come as a bit

  of a surprise, both VLR and Spiire Story are

  conceptual developments of Wilde Sau and Du

  doch nicht!!. I have goen the queson posed

  to me, where exactly, in the kits, are the sto

  -

  ries? The fact is, they are hidden. If your app-

  roach to these kits is, let’s say ‘tradional’, in

  that you look over the markings opons, you

  read their capons, you pick one, you build

  it, and that’s the end of it for you, then you

  will not discover the behind the scenes story.

  If you study the introductory text, read all of

  the capons to all of the marking opons supp

  -

  lied, then you will discover that these kits have

  an intertwined, almost compartmentalized

  write up to them. VLR is based on a concept

  that requires the marking opons to represent

  all of the Fighter Groups and all of the Fighter

  Squadrons within them. The intro explains the

  basics of the history behind the concept of the

  boxing, while the individual prole capons

  then describe the stories behind the speci

  -

  c pilots of the aircra. The combinaon and

  hierarchy of the informaon presented allows

  you to formulate a certain picture of what the

  whole thing is about. If it grabs your aenon

  suciently, and hopefully it will, then you can

  seek out the relevant literature on the subject,

  and educate yourself further.

  With Spiire Story, it even goes a step fur

  -

  ther, since the technical development of the

  Mk.I lineage is simultaneously being mapped

  out. In the markings opons, dierent pha

  -

  ses of technical upgrading is pointed out for

  the individual aircra, against the backdrop

  of historical events. There is also a connec

  -

  on through the fact that dierently equipped

  aircra operated during dierent me periods.

  Then, the historical backdrop governs the de

  -

  scribed experiences of each pilot, which are,

  in this case, famous pilots and aces. And even

  that’s not the end of it. Spiire Story is a part of

  a wider endeavor, dedicated to the 80th

  Anniversary of the Bale of Britain. As of last

  week, our Facebook page has been the forum

  for items related to the Bale of Britain, it’s

  component phases, and parts of this will also

  make up future posts dedicated to our kits, re

  -

  leased for this anniversary. In this edion of the

  newsleer, you will nd a historical account,

  taken from the introductory text of the kit

  ‘Spiire Story, The Few’, but expanded as dicta

  -

  ted by the inclusion of a more detailed history.

  And that has a bearing on the aforemenoned

  series on Facebook. Our kits, to be released

  to commemorate the anniversary of the BoB,

  will be all be introduced in this way. Through

  August, the aenon will shi from the Spiire

  Mk.I to the Bf 109E, which is the focal point of

  the Limited Edion release ‘Adlerangri’, being

  prepared for September, when two kits will be

  released in unison, one as a Dual Combo boxing

  in 1:48th scale, and the other as a classic single

  kit in 1:32nd. Each kit will have a compable

  markings opon, all covering the various and

  relevant subvariants of the Bf 109E, to include

  the E-1, E-3, and E-4, and, in a similar manner,

  the individual Jagdgeschwader will be covered

  that parcipated in the bale on the German

  side. The opons were selected so as to avoid

  recycling previously oered schemes and mar

  -

  kings, and we purposefully avoided the biggest

  aces of the Luwae with the excepon of

  Adolf Galland, who will be a featured opon in

  both kits as the counterpart to Douglas Bader.

  So, with these kits, we will have the biggest

  combatants of the Bale of Britain, the Spiire,

  the Bf 109E, and two foes who were fated to

  become great friends aer the war. But do not

  be concerned that this would relegate our op

  -

  ons to boring items. Far from it! It is a collec-

  on of some interesng aircra own by some

  interesng pilots with colourful stories to tell.

  Same as in Spiire Story. Those that want to

  model the aircra of those famous aces, your

  opportunity will come in September and in Oc

  -

  tober, because we will be releasing separate

  decal sheets to cover these, too.

  In October, we will come back to the Spiire

  in ProPACK form, covering the Spiire Mk.Ia,

  with a classic selecon of decal opons dedica

  -

  ted to pilots not oered in the Limited Edion

  kit. In November, we will be coming out with

  an underrated and, one could argue, much ma

  -

  ligned opponent of the RAF, the Bf 110C and

  D. Again, this will be a Limited Edion kit, and

  again, will be a dual boxing, this me in both

  1:72nd and 1:48th scale. Within that Facebook

  series on the BoB, we will also show that the

  Bf 110 was not a bad ghter at all. On the con

  -

  trary, it could be quite deadly indeed. Among

  other things, over the course of the Bales

  of France and Britain, it had a beer kill rao

  than the Bf 109E! In December, we will be back

  with the Spiire again, with the second volu

  -

  me of Spiire Story, dedicated to the Spiire

  Mk.II. Many modelers think that the Mk.II was

  basically the same thing as the Mk.I, so many

  of you are probably thinking ‘ho hum’ right

  about now. But it’s a lile more complicated

  than that. The Mk.II didn’t dier from the Mk.I

  with just that lile bump on the right side of

  the nose. It was quite a bit more dierent than

  the Mk.I than that, and was also a considerably

  beer airplane than the Mk.I. The kit will be

  a Dual Combo type boxing, and will oer both

  the machine gun armed Mk.IIa and the cannon

  armed Mk.IIb. it will be a prey neat item,

  not only because the Mk.II began to take on

  a more oensive role as the RAF began opera-

  ons against German targets in Western Euro-

  pe. The story won’t end there, either. Aer the

  New Year, there will be other kits coming along,

  but we’ll get more into that in December. So…

  advice to all: keep an eye on all of our infor

  -

  maon avenues, newsleers and Facebook, as

  they will compliment each other in terms of

  informaon as it becomes available.

  Today, I won’t get into a big spiel about acce

  -

  ssory items, just recommend a look at them

  in the newsleer further on down. There are

  things that are suitable for all of the newly re

  -

  leased kits, including a cockpit and gun bays for

  the Spiire Mk.I. But I do need to say a word

  about the decal sheets. Aer an extended peri

  -

  od of contemplang weather or not to release

  sheets covering specic types, we decided to

  go into it. We will be releasing them in three li

  -

  nes. The rst will be intended for our Weekend

  Edion kits, and these will expand on what is

  available with the kit. The second will be for

  our Limited Edion kits, and the third will be

  designed for interesng subjects from other

  manufacturers. All will, of course, expand on

  what is already oered.

  That’s it for now, and I hope that you enjoy

  today’s newsleer, with it’s good dose of new

  things and informaon. Tally ho!

  Vladimir Sulc

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

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  KITS 08/2020

  1/48 Cat. No. 11142

  Plastic parts Eduard

  Photo-etched set

  Paiting mask

  12 marking options

  Brassin: wheels

  Extra: pin with emblem

  of 78th Fighter Squadron

  Product Page

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

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  KITS 08/2020

  P-51D-20, 44-72587, 2nd Lt. William G. Ebersole /

  2nd Lt. James R. Bercaw, 462nd FS, 506th FG,

  20th AF, Iwojima, July 1945

  P-51D-20, 44-72579, Capt. J. B. Baker Jr., 458th FS,

  506th FG, 20th AF, Iwojima, July 1945

  P-51D-20, 44-72570, Lt. Ralph S. Gardner / 2nd

  Lt. Chester Jatczak, 457th FS, 506th FG,

  20th AF, Iwojima, June/July 1945

  P-51D-20 s/n 44-63483, Maj. Gilmer L. Snipes,

  CO of 45th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF, Saipan,

  February 1945

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

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  P-51D-20, 44-63483, Maj. Robert W. Moore,

  CO of 45th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, August 1945

  P-51D-20, 44-63420, Capt. Eurich L. Bright, 47th FS,

  15th FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, Summer 1945

  P-51D-20, 44-63451, Lt. Robert J. Louwers / Lt. John

  E. Montgomery III, 46th FS, 21th FG, 7th AF,

  Iwojima, July 1945

  P-51D-25, 44-73623, Maj. Harry C. Crim

  (later own by Flt.O. Theo Gruici), CO of 531st FS,

  21st FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, July/August 1945

  KITS 08/2020

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

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  P-51D-20, 44-63483, Maj. Robert W. Moore,

  CO of 45th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, August 1945

  P-51D-20, 44-63420, Capt. Eurich L. Bright, 47th FS,

  15th FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, Summer 1945

  P-51D-20, 44-63451, Lt. Robert J. Louwers / Lt. John

  E. Montgomery III, 46th FS, 21th FG, 7th AF,

  Iwojima, July 1945

  P-51D-25, 44-73623, Maj. Harry C. Crim

  (later own by Flt.O. Theo Gruici), CO of 531st FS,

  21st FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, July/August 1945

  KITS 08/2020

  P-51D-20, 44-63733, Maj. Paul W. Imig,

  CO of 72nd FS, 21st FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, March 1945

  P-51D-25, 44-73407, Maj. James B. Tapp, CO of 78th FS,

  15th FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, Summer 1945

  P-51D-25, 44-73382, Lt. Col. John W. Mitchell,

  CO of 15th FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, Summer 1945

  P-51D-20, 44-63984, Maj. James B. Tapp,

  CO of 78th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF, Iwojima,

  May 1945

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

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  KITS 08/2020

  Recommended for P-51D Mustang:

  481000 P-51D (PE-Set)

  FE1021 P-51D seatbelts STEEL (PE-Set)

  644031 P-51D-15+ LööK 1/48 (Brassin)

  644053 P-51D-15+ LööKplus 1/48 (Brassin)

  648485 P-51D exhaust stacks (Brassin)

  648486 P-51D exhaust stacks w/ fairing (Brassin)

  648487 P-51D Hamilton Standard propeller (Brassin)

  648494 P-51D wheels diamond tread (Brassin)

  648495 P-51D undercarriage legs BRONZE (Brassin)

  648503 P-51D wheels oval tread (Brassin)

  648504 P-51D wheels cross tread (Brassin)

  648505 P-51D wheels block tread (Brassin)

  648511 P-51D wheels diamond tread 2 1/48 (Brassin)

  648512 P-51D wheels rhomboid treat 1/48 (Brassin)

  648513 P-51D wheels pointed cross tread (Brassin)

  648514 P-51D wheels grooved 1/48 (Brassin)

  648517 P-51D gun bays (Brassin)

  648522 P-51D cockpit 1/48 (Brassin)

  648555 P-51D engine 1/48 (Brassin)

  648570 P-51D gun sights 1/48 (Brassin)

  EX663 P-51D TFace (Mask)

  Cat. No. 644031

  Cat. No. 648522

  Cat. No. 648555

  Cat. No. 648572

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  HISTORY

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

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  KITS 08/2020

  OVERTREES

  P-51D

  cat. no. 82102X

  cat. no. 82102-LEPT

  A B

  D F

  G H

  Product Page

  Product Page

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 28

  KITS 08/2020

  1/48 Cat. No. 11143

  Plastic parts Eduard

  Complete sprues for two kits

  Photo-etched set

  Paiting mask

  10 marking options

  Brassin: gure of Douglas Bader

  Product Page

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 29

  KITS 08/2020

  MARKINGS:

  K9795, No. 19 Squadron, RAF Duxford,

  Cambridgeshire, October 1938

  No. 41 Squadron, RAF Caerick, North Yorkshire,

  Spring 1939

  K9906, F/O Robert Stanford Tuck, No. 65 Squadron,

  RAF Hornchurch, Essex, Summer 1939

  K9955, F/O Archibald Ashmore McKellar,

  No. 602 Squadron, RAF Drem, East Lothian,

  Scotland, March 1940

  N3180, P/O Alan Christopher Deere (RNZAF),

  No. 54 Squadron, RAF Hornchurch, Essex, May 1940

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

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  KITS 08/2020

  P9443, F/Lt Douglas Bader, No. 222 Squadron,

  RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire /

  Kirton in Lindsey, Lincolnshire,

  early June 1940

  K9953, F/Lt. Adolph Gysbert Malan, No. 74 Squadron,

  RAF Hornchurch, Essex, June/July 1940

  X4425, F/Sgt. George Cecil Unwin, No. 19 Squadron,

  RAF Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire,

  August/September 1940

  N3162, P/O Eric Stanley Lock, No. 41 Squadron,

  RAF Hornchurch, Essex, United Kingdom,

  August/September 1940

  X4382, P/O Osgood Philip Villiers Hanbury, No. 602 Squadron,

  RAF Westhampne, West Sussex, September 1940.

  MARKINGS:

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 31

  P9443, F/Lt Douglas Bader, No. 222 Squadron,

  RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire /

  Kirton in Lindsey, Lincolnshire,

  early June 1940

  K9953, F/Lt. Adolph Gysbert Malan, No. 74 Squadron,

  RAF Hornchurch, Essex, June/July 1940

  X4425, F/Sgt. George Cecil Unwin, No. 19 Squadron,

  RAF Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire,

  August/September 1940

  N3162, P/O Eric Stanley Lock, No. 41 Squadron,

  RAF Hornchurch, Essex, United Kingdom,

  August/September 1940

  X4382, P/O Osgood Philip Villiers Hanbury, No. 602 Squadron,

  RAF Westhampne, West Sussex, September 1940.

  KITS 08/2020

  SPRUE: A

  SPRUE: U

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 32

  KITS 08/2020

  SPRUES: B ,C

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 33

  KITS 08/2020

  SPRUE: E, J

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 34

  KITS 08/2020

  SPRUE: P

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 35

  KITS 08/2020

  SPRUE: R

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 36

  HISTORY

  TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT

  Maiden ight of the Supermarine Type 300 prototype serial K5054

  took place on March 5th, 1936 at the Supermarine factory aireld in

  Eastleight near Southampton. On May 26th, after a series of modica

  -

  tions and improvements it was handed over to The Aircraft & Armament

  Experimental Establishment in Martlesham Heath for military trials. On

  June 6th and 8th, during the ocial tests, 561 km/h speed was recorded

  at the altitude of 5100 meters. On June 10th the Air Ministry conrmed

  the ofcial name given to the aircraft, Spitre. As early as June 3rd, the

  Ministry signed the contract B.527113/36 with Supermarine company for

  the delivery of 310 production Spitres Mk.I which were assigned serial

  numbers K9787 through K9999 and L1000 through L1096. According to

  the contract the deliveries should commence in October 1937 and end in

  March 1939. Neither date was complied with due to the insufcient ma

  -

  nufacturing capacity of the Supermarine company and generally difcult

  introduction of the new manufacturing technologies. Despite the initial Su

  -

  permarine resistance the capacity problem was resolved by creating the

  large network of the sub-contractors who ultimately contributed with the

  whole 4 fth to the Spitre Mk.I production. On June 11th, 1937, while

  launching the large scale production, the Spitre chief designer, Reginald

  Mitchell passed away at the age of 42 and Joseph Smith took over his

  position. The wing design and manufacturing were rather complicated

  which led to the chronic delay in nalizing and delivery of the airframes.

  Quite often the completed fuselages were waiting for the wings delive

  -

  ries. Supermarine built 2 hangars in Eastleigh dedicated to the completion

  of the airframes. On May 14th, 1938 the rst production Spitre Mk.I

  K9787 took to the skies here.

  First RAF unit re-equipped with Spitre Mk.I was No. 19 Squadron led

  by S/Ldr. Henry Cozens operating out of Duxford aireld, up until then

  SPITFIRE MK.I

  Never in the eld of human conicts was so much owed by

  so many to so few.

  Winston Churchill

  No 65 Squadron Spitre Mk.Is. The aircraft are equipped with two blade propelers, bulged canopies

  without the armored windshield, early type of the Pitot tube and the early antena mast.

  K5054 Prototype

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

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  HISTORY

  ying Gloster Gauntlet biplanes.

  The re-equipment commenced on August 11th, the last, sixteenth Spitre

  was delivered to the squadron as late as November 16th, 1938. In Octo

  -

  ber the re-equipment started at No. 66 Squadron also based at Duxford

  and close to the end of the year the rst two Spitres were received by

  No. 41 Squadron at Catterick aireld. Till the end of 1939 the deliveries

  reached 49 Spitres Mk.I. Due to the deterioration of the international si

  -

  tuation, on September 1st the Air Ministry increased the orders of Spitres

  by 200 aircraft. Further contracts for 200 and 450 airframes respectively

  followed on April 20th and August 9th, 1939 and as early as on April

  12th, 1939 the Air Ministry signed the contract with Morris Motors Ltd.

  for 1000 license-built Spitres Mk.II constructed in the new factory in Ca

  -

  stle Bromwich. In the spring and summer 1939 the production was nally

  gaining the necessary pace. On September 3rd, 1939, day the Great

  Britain entered the War, 11 Fighter Command squadrons were equipped

  with Spitres. Absolutely crucial for the successful deployment of the new

  ghters in the upcoming war was continuous elimination of the technical

  faults and their restriction on the already delivered and factory-fresh

  Spitres. First production Spitres were powered by twelve cylinders Rolls

  Royce Merlin II engine with 768 kW (1060 hp) single stage single speed

  compressor. It was driving the two blade wooden Weybridge propeller.

  Starting with 78th production airframe (K9961 manufactured on May

  8th, 1939) Spitres Mk.I were equipped with three blade two speed

  metal De Havilland Type 5/20 propeller which was also installed on the

  aircraft originally furnished wit two blade propeller. Starting with the

  airframe serialed K9980 (May 16th, 1939) the production Spitres Mk.I

  were powered by a new, more reliable Merlin III engines of the same

  output, cooled by water-glycol mixture (70:30). Merlin II and Merlin III

  engines‘ standard fuel was 87 grade aviation gas DTD 230. Signicant

  modication of Merlin III allowed the option to burn 100 grade Ameri

  -

  can fuel which, in conjuction with higher manifold pressure, increased the

  engine output primarily at the lower ight altitudes. The modication was

  continuosly being introduced since the spring 1940 but the capability to

  use 100 grade fuel was the standard feature of Merlins XII powering

  Spitres Mk.II, Merlins III were factory-modied for this fuel since Sep

  -

  tember 1940.

  Merlin III allowed the installation of the constant speed three blade Rotol

  RMS.7 propeller (license-built Hamilton Standard Hydromatic) with which

  a smaller number of Spitres built in the end of 1939 was furnished.

  Spitres Mk.II from Castle Bromwich as well as Hurricanes Mk.I were gi

  -

  ven priority in the installation of Rotol propellers. Practically the only unit

  fully equipped with Spitres Mk.I featuring Rotol propellers was No. 54

  Squadron operating from Hornchurch during the winter 1939/40. As the

  performance of the aircraft furnished with constant speed propellers was

  signicantly better than that of those featuring two speed propellers, the

  solution was found in the conversion of two speed De Havilland propellers

  to constant speed ones. Modications were performed by a team of tech

  -

  nicians from De Havilland directly at the units‘ level, conversions took pla-

  ce between June 24th, 1940 and August 16th, 1940 on all Spitres Mk.I

  and Hurricanes Mk.I equipped with two speed propellers De Havilland

  5/20. Later, the constant speed De Havilland Type 5/39A propellers

  were installed as a standard. During their whole service life Merlin engi

  -

  nes suffered from oil leaks, problem which has never been fully resolved.

  The carburators were also causing trouble due to the fact that during the

  negative G maneuvers, such as sharp transition into the dive ight, they

  were failing and briey interrupting the fuel mixture supply for the engi

  -

  ne. Problem was solved relatively later, after the Battle of Britain, having

  introduced so-called RAE-restrictor which was in fact a well-known and fa

  -

  mous modication of the carburator oat invented by Ms.Beatrice Shilling.

  Visually important modication was application of the bubble cockpit

  canopy. It is said that it was implemented on the production lines in Ja

  -

  nuary 1939 but supposedly it appeared on some individual airframes

  several months earlier because at least one Spitre Mk.I belonging to No.

  19 Squadron featured this type of canopy already in October 1938.

  The problem was very difcult, even impossible, opening of this cockpit

  canopy during the ight in the case of the necessity to bale out of the

  damaged aircraft. In order to equalize the cockpit pressure a small hatch

  was added to the canopy, a notorious crow bar was added to the cockpit

  door and later Martin Baker canopy emergency release system was im

  -

  plemented. Modications were performed on the front line aircraft only

  during Battle of Britain period.The rear mirror mounted on the canopy

  windshield was introduced in order to improve the Spitre‘s rear eld of

  vision. Initially it was installed at the units‘ level, later as a standard equip

  -

  ment on the production lines and as a retrot according to the ofcial mo-

  dication. The gunnery tests shown that the machine guns were freezing

  at the higher altitudes. The solution was the installation of the gun heating

  by means of the hot air ducted from the larger air cooler located under

  the right wing. The modication was incorporated the production lines

  starting with 60th manufactured airframe (K9846) in January 1939 and

  retrotted to previously built aircraft. Later, the hot air guns heating was

  replaced with an electrical system. During the introduction of Spitre Mk.I

  the armament of eight Browning 7.7 mm machine guns was considered

  powerful and respectable but in the course of time, with introduction of

  cockpit armor and self-sealing fuel tanks it became insufcient and further

  development to increase the Spitres‘ armament impact was by introdu

  -

  cing 20 mm cannons. Spitre Mk.IB modication was armed with 20 mm

  cannons and manufactured in relatively small numbers since the fall 1940.

  In October No.19 Squadron received delivery of the rst combat ready

  Spitres Mk.IB. Important and welcome modication was introduction of

  the incendiary de Wilde ammunition for Browning machine guns.

  Gunsights are directly linked to the armament. First Spitres were equi

  -

  pped with simple mechanical aiming device, a circular sight in the cockpit

  and vertical sight in front of the windshield. This was soon replaced with

  No 19 Squadron Spitres equipped with late type of the Pitot tube, and already by the

  hot-air gun heating.

  No 611 Squadron Spitre Mk.I equipped with armored windshield.

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

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  HISTORY

  Barr and Stroud GM 2 reex gunsight. After Spitres were introduced to

  regular service, the gun camera was installed externally on the right wing

  upper surface root, starting with airframe K9988 G.42B gun camera was

  installed into the left wing leading edge. Pitot tube was also subject to mo

  -

  dication, the older „two ngers“ design was replaced by more modern

  T-shape pitot tube starting witn K9918 airframe test-own in March 1939.

  First Spitres Mk.I were equipped with short wave radios TR.9B and TR.9D

  with wire antenna running from the antenna mast to the top of the vertical

  tail surface. Since the spring 1940 these older radios were replaced by

  TR.1133 radio working on very short wave frequencies where the ante

  -

  nna was actually a radio antenna mast and antenna wire application was

  discontinued. The antenna mast was originally tall with constant diameter,

  kind of a broom stick, later it was replaced with new, shorter sword-sha

  -

  ped mast. In September 1940 type R.3002 IFF (Identication Friend or

  Foe) identication device was added to the Spitres‘ equipment enabling

  the ground stations to distinguish their own aircraft from the enemy onesf

  on the radar screens. It was nicknamed „pip-squeak“ and featured two

  wire antennas running from the fuselage sides to the horizontal tail sur

  -

  face tips leading edges. Spitres were entering the service without any

  passive protection despite the fact that some aspects of this, such as armo

  -

  red glass on the windshield, were discussed already in 1936. Due to the

  problems with layered glass development the application was delayed,

  as a standard it was featured on the N series airframes in September

  1939. 50.8 mm (2 inches) thick armor plate was mounted on the outside

  of the windshield. Similarly the introduction of the armored pilot seat and

  the whole cockpit area was delayed. Those should have been installed

  in September 1939. In reality, numerous Spitres were lacking them still

  in the spring and exceptionally even in summer 1940. Complete Spitre

  Mk.I cockpit armor protection, as per modication nr.247 promulgated on

  June 6th, 1940, consisted of an armor plate behind the seat, then 6 mm

  sheet metal on the engine bulkhead, a sheet metal covering the face of

  the coolant tank and nally, as per modication nr.315 dated November

  20, 1940, armor plate behind the pilot’s head. These features however

  can be also recognized in the Spitre photographs from the spring and

  summer 1940. The important feature of the passive protection was also

  fuel tanks armor protection. Spitre had two fuselage mounted fuel tanks,

  the lower one with capacity 168 litres (37 gallons) and upper one with

  capacity 218 litres (48 gallons) located behind the engine and in front

  of the pilot’s cockpit. Same, like in other cases, the protection was initially

  non-existent. As a rst step, a thicker 3 mm dural sheet protecting the

  upper fuel tank from outside was applied. Since April 1940 the protec

  -

  tion of the lower fuel tank was being introduced by means of the Linatex

  protective covering which was a sandwich of rubber and linen 5 to 15 mm

  thick. Only in the end of July 1940, according to the modication nr.273,

  the rubber self-sealing tank protection was introduced. Unfortunatelly, in

  the summer 1940 a lot of Spitres were still ying without any fuel tank

  protection and the upper tank was completely missing the self-sealing

  covering which in case of combat damage often resulted in a re and se

  -

  Spitre Mk.Ia of the No 19 Squadron with full armor, gun heating, late type of the Pitot tube and three blade De Havilland Type 5/20 propeller.

  No 602 Squadron Spitre Mk.Ia own by P/O A.A.McKellar during maintenance.

  See the anti-spin fairings on the sides of the fuel tank cowling.

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

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  HISTORY

  rious burns to a pilot. As can be seen, from its introduction to service in the

  fall 1938 to the end of the Battle of Britain in October 1940, Spitre Mk.I

  underwent signicant technical development which decidedly increased

  its combat value and showed that the airframe did possess the reserves

  necessary for the further development. Some problems remained unsol

  -

  ved however and are out of the scope of the historical period covered

  by our model. Firstly, it was the ailerons‘ stiffness at higher speed caused

  by their blown skin. During the Spitre Mk.I combat deployment this cause

  was known, solution in the form of all metal ailerons was prepared but it

  has not been applied. Similarly, the 100 grade fuel potential has never

  been fully exploited on Spitre Mk.I.The armament of eight 7.7 mm ca

  -

  liber machine guns, still fully acceptable in the summer 1940, in the fall

  1940 it began to be considered insufcient for the future. The couple of

  20 mm cannons was experimented with on the cannon equipped Spitres

  Mk.IB already, but this armament saw a wider use only later, on Mk.II and

  primarily Mk.V where it practically became a standard.

  OPERATIONAL DEPLOYMENT

  As we mentioned earlier, at the moment of the outbreak of the war,

  Spitres Mk.I were in the inventory of eleven RAF squadrons. Fighter Co

  -

  mmand held all Spitre squadrons back at home bases, squadrons equi-

  pped with Hurricanes were sent to France with British Expeditionary Force.

  Regardless, during the „Phoney War“ the Spitre squadrons engaged in

  several important battles with Luftwaffe aircraf penetrating the British

  airspace. However, the rst Spitre kills were the friendly aircraft. On

  September 6th, during the incident known as „Battle of Barking Creek“

  No. 74 Squadron ight A, led by Adolph „Sailor“ Malan, having been

  vectored from the ground, shot down two No. 56 Squadron Hurricanes.

  One of the Hurricane pilots, Montague Hulton-Harrop, perished. The fur

  -

  ther sorties were aimed at the real adversary although the tragedies

  caused by friendly re still ocurred. On October 16th, 1939, RAF ghters

  engaged in their rst successfull combat with German bombers over the

  British territory when during the KG 30 raid on Scapa Flow No. 602 and

  603 Squadrons shot down three Ju-88. In one of them, Hptm. Helmut Pohl,

  I./KG 30 commander, was shot down and captured. On October 28th

  both squadrons participated in the rst kill of the German aircraft over

  the British territory when they shot down He-111 over Firth of Forth. This

  kind of combat was typical for the period of the Phoney War and the

  Spitre were, during this time, entering combat with German bombers

  attacking shipping, ports and similar targets. Till mid March 1939 RAF

  ghters shot down 26 enemy airplanes over the Great Britain. Until the

  decisive turn in the course of war in May 1940, Spitre eet grew by

  another eight squadrons totalling 19 squadrons. After the beginning of

  the German offensive in the west in May 1940, even these squadrons,

  until then exclusively focused on homeland air defense, began, despite

  A.M.Downing initial resistance, to more intensely participate in the air co

  -

  ver of the British Expeditionary Force and allied units in general. Soon,

  better said surprisingly late, Spitres, for the rst time, met their most

  important and famous adversaries, Messerschmitt Bf 109. At vee hours of

  May 13th, No. 264 Squadron Deants escorted by six Spitres from No.

  66 Squadron A ight, attacked 12./LG 1 Stuka formation diving on the

  railway station in the vicinity of Hague. 5./JG 26 Bf 109E providing the

  ghter cover for Stukas shot down ve out of six attacking Deants and

  one of the escorting Spitres. 12./LG 1 lost four Ju 87B in this combat and

  5./JG 26 one Bf 109E. Thus both sides opened their score, so numerous

  in the future.

  In the meantime they parted almost even-handed. With the German

  offensive advancing through Netherlands, Belgium and France and conti

  -

  nuous surrounding of the allied units concentrated on Belgium and French

  coasts, the Spitres‘ deployment intensity over the Continent grew rapidly.

  On May 20th the German tanks attacking through Belgium and France in

  westerly direction reached Channel La Manche, the German front turned

  to the north and the Germans started to push the surrounded allied troops

  to the area of the French port of Dunkirk. On May 24th the German tro

  -

  ops reached channel Aa 30 km south-west from Dunkirk just to stop there

  for two days. The precise reason of the famous Hitlers‘ „Haltbefehl“ is not

  know, one train of thought is a supposed intention of marshal Goering to

  nish the surrounded Allies and force them to surrender. British Expeditio

  -

  nary Force commander, marshal Gort, took advantage of the two day

  break to relocate his troops and consolidate the defenses. On May 26th

  evening, almost simultaneously with restarted German attack, British Ad

  -

  miralty commenced the operation „Dynamo“, evacuation of the surroun-

  ded allied units from Dunkirk area. Airspace defense above British Expe-

  ditionary Force area of operation was assigned to No. 11 Group

  commanded by Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park. In the second half of May,

  No. 11 Group was rapidly enforced by units allocated from No. 12

  Group (A/V/M Leigh Mallory). Since May 21st intense air combat over

  Dunkirk was picking up the pace with growing losses on both sides. In the

  course of these two weeks of heavy ghting, when the squadrons of (not

  only) Spitres rotated even four times a day above British Expeditionary

  Force area, the British ghters‘ deployment tactics was already gradually

  changing in response to the more effective German tactics. Germans ty

  -

  pically operated over the target area in the strength of the whole Gruppe

  i.e. three Staffelen, whereas the Staffel was roughly the equivalent of the

  British squadron. Therefore, the British gradually doubled the scouts of the

  particular squadrons so as two squadrons operated in concert. Since the

  end of May Fighter Command ghters operated in the formations of four

  squadrons, kind of embryonic form of the future wings. On June 3rd,

  1940, the operation „Dynamo“ was concluded by the successful evacuati

  -

  on of the large contingent of the surrounded British, French and Belgium

  troops. The remaining allied units at Dunkirk, in the strength of roughly

  40,000 men, mostly French soldiers defending evacuation beachhead,

  capitulated on June 4th. Battle of France ended with capitulation of

  France on June 22nd. Spitre losses in May were 46 aircraft as opposed

  to seventeen in June. During the week-long covering of the operation

  „Dynamo“ RAF lost 49 Spitres which indicates by itself the combat inten

  -

  sity during this operation. After several months of waging the war leisurly,

  the Spitre pilots experienced the modern war and over three weeks

  gained invaluable combat experience. A number of future ghter aces

  received their baptism of re in combat with enemy ghters and claimed

  Spitre Mk.I YT-O of the No 65 Squadron. After forced landing on a Dunkirk beach,

  May 26, 1940. The aircraft has been ignited by it´s pilot, P/O Kenneth Hart, who was

  successfuly avacuated from Dunkirk two days latter. He was in age of 18 that time.

  No 11 Group Commanding Ofcer, AVM Keith Park, Newzeallander and World war One ghter ace.

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 40

  HISTORY

  their rst kills. Intensity of the battles above the Channel after the evacua-

  tion of Dunkirk gradually diminished reaching the lowest point between

  June and July. Both sides, RAF and Luftwaffe, were replenishing the ex

  -

  hausted units. At the fast pace, Lufwaffe was building the airport and

  supply infrastructure on the French coast of Channel La Manche and relo

  -

  cating its units for preparation of the invasion of the Great Britain. July

  marked mutual skirmishes and German raids over the Channel. It was in

  this phase when rst Bf 109E was shot down and emergency landing

  occured on the British soil. This memorable event took place on July 8th,

  1940, when 4./JG 51 Bf 109E-1 piloted by Lt. Johann Bohm was serious

  -

  ly damaged by the re from a Spitre manned by Sgt. E.A.Mould from

  No. 74 Squadron and crash-landed at Bladbeam Hill in Kent. At that time

  JG 51 was the only complete German Jagdgeschwader operating it the

  Channel area. The British mark the beginning of the Battle of Britain on

  July 10th, 1940. In this opening stage, called by Germans Kanalschlacht

  and Channel Battle by Brits, the Luftwaffe gained the actual air suprema

  -

  cy over the Channel. However, this was not accomplished for free, they

  had to overcome RAF’s tough resistance. The Germans date the beginning

  of the Battle of Britain one month later, on August 8th, when they already

  had sufcient forces concentrated in the Channel area. The actual stage

  of the Battle commenced on August 13th with the operation Adlerangriff.

  During its rst day, known by the codename Adlertag, the concentrated

  attack on the British infrastructure started, within which the Luftwaffe gh

  -

  ters were actively seeking the confrontation with British ghters with the

  intention to pressure RAF and weaken Fighter Command forces as much as

  possible. This turned out to be quite a success, the British evaluated August

  18th as the Hardest Day and in the middle of September Luftwaffe was

  not far from victory. However, RAF was not defeated yet, it put up a tough

  resistance and was adjusting the tacticts of its ghters according to the

  ever-changing combat conditions. Luftwaffe too was changing the tactics

  in the course of ghting. The British ghters strived to attack from higher

  altitude, ghting the bombers though they preferred deployment of the

  Hurricanes since they presented more stable gun platforms and had be

  -

  tter concentrated wing armament. Spitres focused more on the combat

  with German bombers‘ ghter escort. Thus the Hurricanes could, during

  their rst attack on the enemy bombers formation, to an extent, ignore the

  ghter escort which was taken care of by Spitres. The Germans helped

  this by an unfortunate decision when in response to a rather panic reaction

  of the bomber crews to the losses during the operation Adlerangriff, they

  brought the escort ghters too close to the bombers depriving them of

  maneuvering exibility against British ghters attack so they de facto

  accomodated the British tactics. On the other hand the British experiment

  with Composite Wings or Big Wing, promoted by Leigh-Mallory and Ba

  -

  der, failed. Withing Duxford Wing led by Douglas Bader Czechoslovak

  No. 310 Squadron and Polish No. 302 Squadron fought alongside British

  No. 242, 19 and 611 Squadrons. The idea was promising, in reality ho

  -

  wever, it was proven too difcult to execute. Formation of the whole wing

  into a combat formation and its vectoring to the combat zone was compli

  -

  cated, clumsy, easily identied by the enemy. Due to these circumstances

  the Bader’s wing usually arrived at the battle scene delayed, often into an

  already terminating encounter. By all means it was not that strike force

  which its fathers expected. The evaluation is always the matter of the

  aspect because later RAF was able to form higher level units at wing level

  and successfully deploy them. On the contrary, the British advanced gui

  -

  dence system allowed to deploy, on the endagered sections defended by

  No. 11 Group, forces from the other units, from No. 10 Group in the west

  primarily and No. 12 Group concentrated in the north of England, and

  exibly create the strong operational groups without clumsy organization

  of the higher level units. Probably the fatal tactical mistake made by

  Luftwaffe command was to shift the attacks from RAF infrastructure tar

  -

  gets and military targets in general, to the cities and populated areas. In

  the second half of August Luftwaffe command withdrew Luftotte 2 and

  Luftotte 5 bombers from day sorties and let them continue ying at night

  only and fully withdrew Stukas from the raids against England due to their

  insufcient range. Only Luftotte 3 bombers continued the day operations

  and were to continue with raids on industrial factories including those of

  the aviation industry and other militarily important targets. This granted

  RAF the time to consolidate the forces and renew the infrastructure. The

  rst mass attack on London was performed by German bombers on Sep

  -

  tember 7th under the personal supervision of marshal Goering. On Sep-

  tember 15th, commerative Battle of Britain Day when Luftwaffe executed

  another massive raid on London, Fighter Command was left with 581

  Spitres and Hurricanes. The Luftwaffe ghter inventory was being deple

  -

  ted as well, a week earlier, on September 7th, Luftwaffe had 533 various

  version of Bf 109E it its inventory. On the top of it, on this day, September

  7th, the Germans deprived themselves of the capacity of its ghter units

  by decision to remove one Staffel from each Jagdgruppe and deploy

  these units in the ghter-bomber role. By this move they reduced the pure

  ghter inventory by one third without somewhat signicantly increasing

  the bomber attacks effectiveness (you will nd more about this topic in the

  upcoming item of the Eduard Limited Edition series dedicated to various

  versions of Bf 109E deployed in the Battle of Britain). On September 15th

  Fighter Command managed to concentrate ghters of all three Groups,

  10, 11 and 12 for the defense of London, muster the erce resistance and

  show its strength to the enemy. On September 17th, as a result of these

  events, the German supreme command called off the operation Seelowe,

  the invation of Britain, and postponed it indenitely. Battles did not cease

  however, the war was going on. On September 19th Luftwaffe command

  already redirected the attacks on British supply depots, warehouses, rail

  -

  way stations and ports where the Germans started to lay mines as well.

  On September 26th Luftwaffe scored an accurate and effective strike

  when 59 He 111 from KG 55 performed a devastating raid on Super

  -

  marine factories in Woolston and Itchen leading in fact to the halt of their

  production. As we mentioned earlier, production in these factories signi

  -

  cantly relied on subcontractors which was a way to restarting the manu-

  facturing process in the scattered locations. Despite that, Spitre Mk.I pro-

  Shot down Bf 109E from JG 51 after an emergency landing in England.

  Preparation of Ju 88 for an air raid on Britain.

  A stricken Spitre Mk.I attacking He 111 formation, photographed from the Heinkel cockpit.

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

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  HISTORY

  duction decrease was noticeable, also due to the fact that during the

  production reorganization large part of it was redirected to Morris com

  -

  pany in Castle Bromwich manufacturing Spitres Mk.II. On the other hand

  this meant lling the orders of superior Spitres Mk.II at desirable levels.

  From the British point of view the Battle of Britain ended on October 31st,

  1940. From the point of view of deploying the ghter squadrons it is ra

  -

  ther historical date, the battles continued at the same intensity. In Novem-

  ber Luftwaffe conducted heavy raids on Birmingham, Liverpool and Co-

  ventry. Coventry was heavily hit by carpet bombing on November 14th.

  This raid became a symbol of the cynical air war against civilian targets

  and partially served as an ideological justication of the RAF bomber

  offensive against German cities in the upcoming period of the war. The

  last large scale Luftwaffe raid, before deploying the main forces to the

  east, was heavy raid on London which took place on May 10th, 1940.

  Towards the end of 1940 Spitre Mk.I share in ghter squadrons invento

  -

  ry started to gradually decrease in favor of the more modern and better

  performing Spitres Mk.II. Spitres Mk.I were being slowly transferred to

  the training and second line units serving in the less exposed areas.

  Squadrons rotating from No. 11 Group to No. 12 or No. 13 were typica

  -

  lly re-equipped with them leaving their better performing Mk.II behind for

  the incoming squadron. Regardless, Spitres Mk.I still ew combat up until

  the beginning of the RAF offensive against German targets in western

  Europe in January 1941. They were however continuously pushed out of

  the front lines by Spitres Mk.II and later Mk.V. Nevertheless, in July 1941

  5 combat and 6 non-combat Spitre Mk.I equipped squadrons remained

  still on duty. Since the spring of 1941 Mk.I airframes were used as a base

  to rebuild them to Spitre Mk.V standard.

  COMPETITORS AND ADVERSARIES

  In order to evaluate Spitre Mk.I qualities and historical importance it is

  important to compare it to another two airplanes. The rst is a home-grown

  Hurricane Mk.I as a competitor, and partner, in the RAF Fighter Command

  squadrons‘ inventory and the second is Bf 109E, as a principal opponent

  to Spitres and Hurricanes in the Battle of France and Britain. Hurricane

  Mk.I was the rst modern ghter monoplane being introduced to the RAF

  inventory. Conceptually, both Hurricane and Spitre aircraft were simi

  -

  lar, both were low-wing monoplanes with retractable undercarriage, both

  were powered by the same engine, Merlin II/III, the basic armament of

  eight Browning 7.7 mm machine guns was the same as well. The difference

  was in applied manufacturing technology and performance. Hurricane

  was built as classic Warren truss box-girder partially covered with fabric

  featuring relatively thick wing prole a lower wing load. This resulted,

  in comparison with Spitre, in the lower maximum speed and maneuve-

  rability, on the other hand, thick wing prole enabled the comfortable in-

  stallation of the weapons in two compact batteries of four machine guns in

  each wing half and the installation of a sturdy undercarriage with a wide

  wheels track. The classic airframe design did not cause any fundamental

  technological challenges during the production implementation at an ex

  -

  perienced biplane ghters manufacturer (Hawker was a successor to the

  famous Sopwith company known by its WWI period ghters). Introduction

  of this type into large scale production and service was without major pro

  -

  blems and Hurricane preceded more modern Spitre by several months

  in arrival to the service. At the outbreak of the war, on September 3rd,

  1939, RAF mustered 11 operational squadrons equipped with Spitres

  and 16 operational squadrons equipped with Hurricanes. This ratio was

  more-less maintained until the end of 1940. From the beginning of July

  till the end of October a little over 600 Spitres (608) and almost 1000

  Hurricanes (991) were manufactured. The difference was largely inu

  -

  enced by the complicated Spitre design. To make one Spitre 2.5 times

  more man hours were needed than to produce a Hurricane. Speaking

  about performace however Spitre was decidedly superior to Hurricane

  and Spitre losses to victories ratio is signicantly better as well. In 1941

  the ratio of these two types in the inventory started to rapidly change

  in favour of Spitre, with which RAF Fighter Command squadrons were

  gradually re-equipped. Hurricanes were being transferred to the gh

  -

  ter-bomber role and remained serving as ghters in the night ghting

  squadrons since they were better suited for this role than Spitre thanks

  to their features. Spitre and Bf 109E comparison is a favourite discipline

  since the rst deployment of both types in the combat over the Channel.

  Thousands of pages were written however, the results are rather biased

  based on the evaluator‘s personality and his preferences. What I have

  on mind is which airplane was his favourite, frankly speaking. The mutual

  comparison is also burdened by the conditions of these tested aircraft,

  captured ones in particular. Of course both sides tested the captured air

  -

  planes of the enemy and it is interesting to learn that both sides arrived at

  the conclusion that their own airplanes demonstrated performance superi

  -

  or to the opponet’s ones. It’s quite understandable that they came to these

  results during testing and comparison. It was not only that they somehow

  routed for their own team. „Skeleton in the cupboard“ was the actual

  condition of the tested aircraft. While their own airplanes were almost

  always in perfect condition, impeccably serviced and properly lled with

  all prescribed operational uids the same can not be said about the cap

  -

  tured planes. It was a matter of improvisation in order to maintain these

  aircraft airworthy and the maintenance standards were not followed pre

  -

  cisely. Neither service manuals nor pilot’s notes were available and even

  though no one can doubt the abilities and qualities of the test pilots on

  both sides the question remains if they could have pushed the performan

  -

  ce limits of the tested aircraft in the same way they would have done with

  their own planes. The logical conclusion will be that probably not. There is

  a plethora of papers and studies about advantages and disadvantages

  of the both aircraft. About carburetor problems in Spitre, about fuel

  injection advantages in Messerschmitt, about British ability to introduce

  100 grade fuel as a standard or on the contrary about better German

  constant speed VDM propellers. Similar situation exists in regards to the

  armament, standard combined Bf 109E armament of two 20 mm MG

  FF cannons and two 7.62 mm MG 17 machine guns gave by all means

  stronger punch a was more effective than eight 7.7 mm Spitre machine

  guns but even this statement is doubted by some authors. And this goes

  on with almost every parameter. In fact, both aircraft, Spitre Mk.I and

  Bf 109E, were equal in the majority of the evaluated parameters. In some

  cases they even faced the similar, almost identical issues. The example is

  fabric-covered ailerons on both types which despite knowing the problem

  of them becoming stiff at high speed, they have never been replaced

  in production with full metal ailerons, neither on Bf 109E nor on Spitre

  Mk.I. If you wish to learn more details about the issue of comparing the

  Spitre Mk.I and Bf 109E performaces there is a lot of available sources.

  The interesting and non-negotiable difference is in the design philosophy

  of both opponents. While on Bf 109 design racionality and production

  technology were primary focus Spitre was built more ruggedly and from

  some aspects in a slightly complicated „British style“. Whoever of you

  had, at any time, anything to do with British and German car design con

  -

  cept will understand what I am talking about. Even our models show, that

  there are about one third more rivets on Spitre than on Bf 109E. And

  that is correct, the ratio of the number of applied rivets on these two real

  aircraft is similar.

  MMM-MOST MEMORABLE MISCONCEPTIONS

  Like in many other cases, when it comes to Spitre in general and spe

  -

  cically Spitre Mk.I, modellers‘ community harbors some deeply rooted

  popular misunderstandings. Some of them are historic, for example the

  imagination, that the Battle of Britain was several months-long continuous

  stream of combat encounters and that the both sides had clear strategy

  and tactics. In reality, even during the Battle of Britain, there were peri

  -

  ods of the intense battles as well as relative lull in the operations either

  due to inclement weather or re-organization of the forces, primarily on

  the German side who during the Battle of Britain enjoyed strategic initi

  -

  ative. Situation was similar as far as tactics is concerned, both sides were

  continuously changing it and did not avoid fatal mistakes. Then we have

  technical mistakes, for example typical modelers‘ imagination that Spit

  -

  Hurricane Mk.I with popular performance of the group of pilots running for scramble. It was usually

  a show for a photographer only.

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

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  HISTORY

  re Mk.I production can be cleanly divided into the blocks with clearly

  dened atributes such as equipment, weaponry and other parameters.

  Truth be told, it is very easy to distinguish Spitre Mk.I from the beginning

  of its production, featuring two blade propeller and at canopy, from

  Spitre in its nal form with three bladed propeller and bubble canopy

  but that is about it. Once the inovations and changes started to roll out

  they were applied gradually and it was not uncommon as the result of an

  improvisation.

  Thus Spitres featuring various changes served, at the same time, with

  Spitres that were still waiting for their application. Typical example is

  the cockpit and other parts armor protection. In certain period, typica

  -

  lly the spring 1940, it is very difcult to determine what kind of armor

  protection had been installed on Spitres and to which extent on any

  particular airframe. Even if we know the date of the introduction of

  a particular change, it will not help because this change was demonstrably

  featured earlier than it was supposed to ofcially. S/Ldr. Cozens Spitre

  bubble canopy visible in the photographs from October 1938 serves as

  an example, well before the ofcial introduction of te bubble canopy

  into production in January 1939. We have the similar situation with the

  armor behind pilot’s head, ofcially introduced in November 1940, but

  documented to be already featured on the aircraft photograhed in May

  or June 1940. Immediately after presenting our Spitre Mk.I model on

  Czech Modeller‘s Forum the motor-driven hydraulic pump of the underca

  -

  rriage retracting system became an instant hit. In further Spitre versions

  this pump replaced the original, hand-operated pump installed in Spitre

  Mk.I. The published sources vaguely state that the hand pump was later

  replaced by the motor-driven one spreading the information at the same

  time, that it took place after the manufacture of the 175th Spitre Mk.I.

  This is an error, the aircraft of much later production blocks still featured

  the hand pump and it is highly probable that the undercarriage retracting

  system with motor-driven pump has never been introduced into Spitre

  Mk.I production line. Spitre Mk.I pilots therefore retracted their landing

  gear by 27 strokes of the large lever mounted on the right side of the

  cockpit which certainly had an negative impact on take off and landing

  procedures and more often than not caused bruises of the back of the

  pilot‘s hand, known as „Spitre Knuckle“. On the contrary, Spitres Mk.II

  featured the motor-driven pump as a standard, supposedly right off the

  production start.

  The most resistant and favourite errors are obviously the following:

  - Two parallel wing strengthening strakes on the wing skin above wheel

  well. These wing strengthening strakes have never been featured on the

  combat Spitre Mk.I, not even Mk.II and Mk.V. They were applied on the

  aircraft much later, the earliest in 1942, exclusively as an reinforcement

  of the skin over the wheel well as it was exposed to an enourmous stress

  on war-weary aircraft.

  - Oil cooler with circular intersection under the left wing. Spitres Mk.I

  have never featured these cooler, only those with U-shape intersection.

  - Crow bar on the cockpit door. It was only introduced in 1941 and it

  has never been painted red on wartime aircraft. Denitely not on Spitres

  Mk.I.

  - Electrical socket on the port side of the wing root, behind the canopy. It

  was missing on Mk.I. It needs to be lled with putty on our model since the

  basic fuselage design is common for Mk.I, Mk.II and Mk.V versions.

  - Gunsight with rectangular shade. It was only introduced into production

  in 1941.

  - Little bulge covering a pyrotechnical starter (Coffman starter) on the

  port side of the aircraft nose behind propeller. This starter was only in

  -

  troduced on Merlin III powering Spitres Mk.II. Sometimes it is stated that

  also Merlin III powered Spitres Mk.I were equipped with this starter. It

  is not true.

  - The inner armor glass. It has never been featured on Mk.I, it was only

  introduced in 1942 on Spitre Mk.V production line.

  - And in addition already mentioned motor-driven pump and all metal

  ailerons. Neither can be documented on any combat Spitre Mk.I.

  And then we have one more historical error. Frequently repeated, ma

  -

  ybe not a complete error but a suspicion, uncertainty circulated around

  the world with the intention to dissolve and cover up the old thruths, as

  happening nowadays all the time. From time to time someone states that

  RAF did not win BoB, that Luftwaffe did not loose, that if it had wanted

  it would have nished it, but did not want to. That LW only lost interest in

  carrying on with Battle of Britain. Let‘s make it clear: the loss of interest to

  win the battle means defeat. It has been like it since the beginning of days

  and will be forever. Whoever looses interest, looses the faith as well and

  ultimately looses the battle. That is it, no rocket science. RAF won the Battle

  of Britain. Luftwaffe suffered its rst defeat. It was the rst out of many

  awaiting it in the coming ve years and Spitres played their role in them

  more often than not. And that is all about Spitre today. We will continue

  with Spitre Mk.II in the end of 2020.

  Foto courtesy of Simon Erland and CTK

  S/Ldr Robert Stanford Tuck in cabin of No. 257 Squadron Hurricane.

  Vladimír Šulc

  Product Page

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

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  KITS 08/2020

  K9795, No. 19 Squadron, RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire, October 1938

  No. 41 Squadron, RAF Caerick, North Yorkshire, Spring 1939

  INTO SERVICE. The rst unit to be armed with the new Spiire Mk.I was to have inially been No. 41 Squadron, which at the me was ying the Hawker

  Fury. For a number of reasons, though, the honor ended up going to No. 19 Squadron. Besides the fact that this was an experienced squadron, which similar-

  ly bapzed the new Gloster Gauntlet in 1935, the size of the aireld was also a determining factor. The aireld at Duxford, No. 19 Squadron’s base, had

  a longer landing strip than the one at No .41 Squadron’s base, Caerick. Aer the experience with the Hurricane, where several aircra were lost in landing

  accidents, the larger eld was felt to be the beer choice. Last, but not least, the fact that the Squadron’s Commanding Ocer , S/Ldr Henry Cozens, was

  a qualied aeronaucal engineer able to co-operate with Supermarine on the ne-tuning of the Spiire, certainly did not hurt. This later turned out to be

  good choice, and there was a close communicaon between the new head designer, Joseph Smith, and Cozens. Cozens himself rst ew Spiire K9789 on

  August 11th, 1938. Our presentaon of the Spiire camouage scheme and markings from October 31st, 1938, are based on the photographs taken from

  a Blenheim Mk.I. An interesng item of note is that during the photo op, Cozens’ K9794 was equipped with a blown canopy cover, a feature that didn’t be-

  come standard unl January, 1939. The rst loss came on November 3rd, 1938, when P/O Sinclair, future A Flight Leader of No. 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron,

  suered a landing mishap, causing the rst ocially delivered Spiire Mk.I to the RAF, K9792, to be wrien o. Note the interesng design of the n leading

  edge, which was to prevent entanglement of the an-spit parachute in the case of use.

  TUNNING. No. 41 Squadron accepted its rst two Spiire Mk.Is, K9831 and K9832, only a day before the end of 1938, as the third Fighter Co-

  mmand unit to do so. This Spiire Mk.I, coded PN-M, carries a scheme from the summer of 1939, with the upper surface naonal roundels of

  the red-blue type, with the white segment covered in blue and red, and the yellow segment covered over with the camouage colours. Tech-

  nically, the aircra is representave of the rst producon version with a Merlin II engine, a xed, two-blade wooden Weybridge propeller,

  a at cockpit canopy, and the original pitot tube. The aircra lacked gun heang and all armor plang, including the armored windscreen. The

  right wing of the aircra mounted an external gun camera. By the beginning of the war, the RAF had accepted 306 Spiire Mk.Is, 187 of which

  served with Fighter Command squadrons. Seven of these units were fully combat ready on September 3rd, 1939, and the remaining four

  were at various stages of re-equipping. Prior to the outbreak of the war, thirty-six Spiires were lost to various accidents. Aer the war began,

  no Spiire equipped squadrons were sent to France and all remained on the Brish islands.

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

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  KITS 08/2020

  K9906, F/O Robert Stanford Tuck, No. 65 Squadron, RAF Hornchurch, Essex, Summer 1939

  K9955, F/O Archibald Ashmore McKellar, No. 602 Squadron, RAF Drem, East Lothian, Scotland, March 1940

  TALLY HO! This Spiire Mk.I from No. 65 Squadron also sports a prewar camouage scheme and markings. It carries some technical impro-

  vements from the previous aircra, such as the blown cockpit canopy, a three-blade two-pitch De Haviland Type 5/20 propeller, and is likely

  equipped with a system that used hot air to heat the guns. The aircra does lack armor plang and is equipped with an older style pitot tube.

  It does not yet carry a reector type gun sight. From our decal opons, the pilot, F/O R.S. Tuck is the most successful in terms of combat

  with 29 conrmed kills and two shared. In May, 1940, he was transferred to No. 92 Squadron, and with this unit, he fought in the Bale of

  France and the Bale of Britain. His rst kills came on May 23rd, 1940, over Dunkirk, when he shot down three German aircra, and two on

  the following day. On September 11th, 1940, he was named CO of No. 257 Squadron, armed with the Hurricane Mk.I. It is assumed that one

  of his vicms was future Luwae ace Hansz-Joachim Marseille on September 23rd, 1940. With the rank of Wing Commander, he was shot

  down by ak on January 28th, 1942, near Boulogne sur Mer, and aer a successful forced landing, he was taken prisoner. He took part in the

  preparaons for what became known as the Great Escape from Stalag Lu III in Sagan, but he did not actually take part in the escape itself, as

  he was moved to the camp Belaria just prior to it. On February 1st, 1945, he made good his escape with Polish pilot Zbigniew Kustrzynski, du-

  ring an evacuaon march and headed west, where he joined up with the advancing Soviet army. At this point, his knowledge of Russian came

  in rather handy, a knowledge that he had acquired as a child from his Russian nanny. Later, he made his way back to England, via Moscow.

  He connued on in the services of the RAF aer the war, and did so up to the ies, and then dedicated another twenty years of his life to

  mushroom farming. He served as a technical advisor on the lm ‘Bale of Britain’ during which he became friends with Adolf Galland, and

  became godfather to his son. He passed away on May 5th, 1987, at the age of seventy.

  PHONEY WAR. This Spiire Mk.I, serialled K9955 and hailing from No. 602 Squadron, is representave of an aircra that has been going through modernizaon, carry-

  ing an armored windscreen, a two-pitch, three bladed propeller, gun heang, a new pitot tube, but with an older antenna mast. The seat is likely not yet armored,

  but the aircra does have the GM 2 reector type gun sight. Note the an-spin fairings on the sides of the fuel tank. Also interesng is the fact that No. 602 Squadron

  had their engines converted to use 100 Octane fuel already by mid-February, 1940. No. 602 Squadron was one of the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF) units to have acquired

  Spiires prior to the beginning of the war. The AAF was an arm of the RAF that was composed of Reserve and Non-Commissioned Ocers, who kept up their qualica-

  ons by way of weekend ying. They were known as ‘the Weekend Air Force’. Before the war, and shortly aer its outbreak, the members of the force were made up

  of mostly beer-o individuals with good social connecons. Aer the war began, its personnel were mobilized, and units were essenally ‘professionalized’. A part of

  the AAF was also made up of units composed of foreign naonals, including Czechoslovak and Polish squadrons of the RAF. On October 16th, 1939, No. 602 Squadron

  took part in the rst successful RAF encounter with German bombers when KG 30 conducted a raid on Scapa Flow, together with No. 603 Squadron, downing three Ju

  88s. One of the crew that was shot down and taken prisoner was Hptm. Helmut Pohl, CO of I./KG 30. The squadron also took part in the rst shoot down of a German

  aircra over Brish territory, that on October 28th, when her pilots, again in conjuncon with No. 603 Squadron, amed an He 111 over Firth of Forth. Both encount-

  ers were parcipated in by A.A. McKellar, and some sources count them among McKellar’s aerial victories. In June, 1940, McKellar was named Flight Leader with No.

  605 Squadron, ying Hurricane Mk.Is, to eventually take command of the unit from another well-known pilot, S/Ldr. Walter Churchill. McKellar claimed een kills

  during the Bale of Britain (plus one shared), with ve coming on October 3rd (all over Bf 109Es), becoming one of 28 Allied pilots to reach ‘Ace in a Day’ status. A.

  A. McKellar died in combat just one day aer the end of the Bale of Britain, on November 1st, 1940. It is widely assumed that his end came at the hands of Hptm.

  Wolfgang Lippert, CO of II./JG 27. It is a noteworthy fact that his Hurricane Mk.I, P3308, on which he gained thirteen of his kills (plus one shared, four probables and

  one damaged), was the aircra responsible for making the Hurricane the most successful aircra of the Bale of Britain, in terms of number of kills.

  Later, P3308 was assigned to No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron on January 4th, 1941, where it was wrien o in an accident on April 30th of the same year.

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 45

  K9955, F/O Archibald Ashmore McKellar, No. 602 Squadron, RAF Drem, East Lothian, Scotland, March 1940

  KITS 08/2020

  N3180, P/O Alan Christopher Deere (RNZAF), No. 54 Squadron, RAF Hornchurch, Essex, May 1940

  P9443, F/Lt Douglas Bader, No. 222 Squadron, RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire / Kirton in Lindsey, Lincolnshire, early June 1940

  BATTLE of FRANCE. No. 54 Squadron transioned from the Gladiator onto the Spiire Mk.I at the beginning of 1940. It was the only RAF squadron

  that was equipped almost exclusively with Mk.I Spits that featured Rotol RMS 7 constant-speed propellers. Aircra serialled N3180 was representa-

  ve of the Spiire sporng all upgrade features seen on the type. What is not certain is whether or not interior armor was carried, and the rearview

  mirror was not, as was the case with the majority of Spiires at the me. That came about as a reacon to the intense combat over Dunkirk. Aer

  the German aack on Holland, Fighter Command squadrons were tasked with air cover for retreang Allied units. New Zealander Al Deere, who rst

  ew a Spiire on March 6th, undertook Channel patrol missions aer his return from a period of inacvity induced by health reasons. These missions

  extended into oensive acons undertaken over the European mainland side of the Channel. He also took part in No. 54 Squadron’s air support of

  retreang Allied units on May 16th. On May 23rd, Deere, along with other pilots, took part in the escort of a Miles Magister own by F/Lt. James

  Leathart, to pick up No. 74 Squadron CO Laurie White, who crash landed not far from Calais. It was during this mission that Deere shot down his rst

  two Bf 109s. The next day, he added another over Saint-Omer, and on May 26th, he dispatched a couple of Bf 110s over Gravelines. On the night of

  the 26th of May, Operaon Dynamo began the evacuaon of Dunkirk. For FC, this meant several ights per day over the evacuaon beaches and

  also signicant losses. On May 28th, Deere sustained damage from the defensive re coming from a Do 17, and he had to belly in on a beach. He ma-

  naged to hop an evacuaon ship, cross the Channel to Dover while enduring the taunng of stressed and evacuated infantry, get to London by train,

  and aer a 19-hour anabasis, nally reaching Hornchurch. No. 54 Squadron took part in the Bale of Britain aer the successful Dunkirk evacuaon

  and a short rest at Caerick. Al Deere is credited with seven conrmed kills during the Bale of Britain. Over the course of the Second World War, he

  held several command posions, commanded No. 602 Squadron, later in 1942 No. 403 Squadron RCAF, commanded the Biggin Hill Wing, and also

  the French 143rd Wing in May, 1944. In July, 1944, he became a member of the Sta of the 84th Group. His total tally is 22 kills (some sources cite

  seventeen). He remained in the service unl his rerement in 1967, with the rank of Air Commodore. In 1991, he published his memoirs called ‘Nine

  Lives’. A holder of the Order of the Brish Empire and one of the most famous of all New Zealand and Brish pilots, he passed away September 22nd,

  1995, at the age of 77.

  DARKNESS HOUR. Bader’s P9443 is an example of the nal Spiire Mk.I conguraon, including armored tanks, windscreen and seat. The aircra sll had not been equipped with

  a rearview mirror or armored headrest. The legend that was Douglas Bader lost both legs in a crash in a Bristol Bulldog Mk.II during aerobacs training on December 14th, 1931. He returned

  to the RAF aer the outbreak of the Second World War, and aer tesng that conrmed his aerial abilies and conversion training, he was assigned to No. 19 Squadron in January, 1940.

  While serving with this unit, he crashed in a Spiire on landing, and pronounced that had he not lost both his legs earlier, he would have done so now. Prior to the beginning of the German

  oensive of May 10th, 1940, he was transferred to No. 222 Squadron as a Flight Leader. During Operaon Dynamo, No. 222 Squadron took part in providing air cover for the evacuaon of

  Dunkirk. Here, Bader got his rst Bf 109 kill, and he damaged several other German aircra. On June 28th, 1940, he was made CO of No. 242 Squadron, which was dominated by Canadian

  personnel and was armed with the Hurricane Mk.I, with which he took part in the Bale of Britain. During the BoB, he was a big supporter of ghter operaons involving large groups, the

  Composite Wing, also known as the Big Wing, made up of up to ve squadrons. In a test of his theory, he led the Duxford Wing, made up of ve squadrons, No.s 242, 19, 310 (Czechoslovak),

  302 (Polish) and 611. The results were not sasfactory. It was not possible to properly formate such a large number of aircra. This caused Bader’s Wing to show up at the designated loca-

  on late, and the ulizaon of such a concentraon of assets was deemed disproporonately ineecve. As a result, the idea was fairly quietly dropped. During the Bale of Britain, Bader is

  credited with eleven conrmed kills. On March 18th, 1941, he was named Wing Commander of the Tangmere Wing, made up of No. 145, 610 and 613 Squadrons. These units took part in

  oensive operaons in occupied France. At the me, he ew the Spiire Mk.Va, coded DB, which yielded his somewhat pejorave call sign ‘Dogsbody’. On September 9th, 1941, Bader was

  shot down in combat, west of Saint Omer, with a JG 26 Bf 109F, and taken prisoner. On bailing from his aircra, he lost one of his prosthec limbs, and a replacement was ensured for him by

  Adolf Galland, with Hermann Goring’s approval. It was dropped o at Saint Omer on August 19th by a Bristol Blenheim in an operaon dubbed Circus 81. Who actually shot down Bader is

  not clear, and no German pilot ever took the credit. It has been speculated that there was a collision of two airplanes, or that this may have been a case of friendly re. There is even

  a version of events that implies that he was intenonally shot down by another Spiire. It is interesng to note that his damaged prosthec limb was recovered in a eld, but his Spiire was

  never found. Bader was placed in the well known POW camp at Stalag Lu III in Sagan, and aer several unsuccessful aempts at escape, he was transferred on August 18th, 1942, to Oag

  IV-C, located at Colditz castle in Saxony. There, he was released on April 15th, 1945, by advancing American troops. He le the RAF in July, 1946. Unl his rerement in 1969, he worked for

  the Shell company. He was polically acve as a member of the House of Commons of the Brish Parliament. He was well known for his very conservave and even then, to say nothing of

  today, controversial views. He authored a well known book, tled ‘Reach for the Sky’ that was made into a movie, where the role of Bader was played by Kenneth More. He passed away on

  September 5th, 1982, suering a heart aack aer a dinner held in honor of Marshal Arthur Harris.

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 46

  KITS 08/2020

  K9953, F/Lt. Adolph Gysbert Malan, No. 74 Squadron, RAF Hornchurch, Essex, June/July 1940

  N3162, P/O Eric Stanley Lock, No. 41 Squadron, RAF Hornchurch, Essex, United Kingdom, August/September 1940

  CHANNEL BATTLE. This aircra is also in the modernized form of the Spiire Mk.I, but interesngly has an older antenna mast conguraon. South African

  nave Adolf ‘Sailor’ Malan, originally an actual sailor, joined the RAF back in 1935, and served with No. 74 Squadron from 1937. At the me, the unit ew

  the Gloster Gauntlet Mk.II. In September, 1937, he was named A Flight Leader. In February, 1939, the unit converted to the Spiire and went into combat on

  September 6th, 1939, but unfortunately, this was an incident in which they were vectored into a ight of No. 56 Squadron Hurricanes. Malan’s Flight shot

  down two Hurricanes, and one pilot, Montague Hulton-Harrop was killed. The incident became known as the Bale of Barking Creek, and went through

  court maral on the basis that Malan did not control his pilots suciently enough. The nal decision was that this was a tragic accident and all defendants

  were acquied. Over the course of Operaon Dynamo, Malan gained ve kills, and was awarded the DFC. For the downing of two He 111s on the night of

  19th/20th of June, he gained his rst Bar to go with the DFC. Even at the beginning phases of the Bale of Britain, Channel Bale/Kanalkampf, Malan and

  his pilots gave up on the line-astern formaon, known as ‘looser man’, and were accepng the more exible nger-four formaon instead, something the

  Luwae had done as far back as the Spanish Civil War. Legend has it that on July 28th, Malan damaged the aircra own by Werner Mölders and even

  wounded him, but current research aributes this event to No. 41 Squadron. On August 8th, Malan took command of No. 74 Squadron. On August 11th, this

  unit, under the command of Malan, gained 38 kills over four operaonal ights. The event has come to be regarded as ‘Malan’s August 11th’. Malan himself

  achieved sixteen kills during the Bale of Britain, and by the end of his career in August, 1941, this had risen to 27 kills with another seven shared. He was a

  magnicent taccian, and was also famous for his ten rules of air combat. He connued in the RAF in dierent roles unl April, 1946, when he entered into

  rerement with the rank of Group Captain and returned to South Africa, dedicang himself to farming. He was polically acve through the ies and was

  a vocal opponent of Apartheid, but the rise of the African Naonal Congress caused him to withdraw due to disagreement with the ANC’s pracces. He died

  at the age of 53 on September 17th, 1963.

  The HARDEST DAY. Eric Lock, nicknamed ‘Sawn o Lockie’ due to his small stature, joined No.41 Squadron as a rookie in June, 1940. At the beginning of July,

  he found the me to get married, and aer his honeymoon, he began his combat career in the developing Bale of Britain. His rst kills didn’t come unl Au-

  gust 15th. He rst shot down a Bf 110, followed by a Ju 88. During the rotaon of units, No 41 Squadron was moved from Caerick to Hornchurch in Essex on

  September 3rd, into the centre of the most intense combat during the Bale of Britain. From that point on, Lock accumulated kills on an almost regular daily

  basis, and by the 20th of September, he had een kills to his credit, accomplished in sixteen days, this despite suering leg wounds in combat with a Bf 109E

  on September 5th. On October 31st, 1940, Eric Lock was the most successful Allied pilot of the Bale of Britain with 21 kills. On November 8th, Lock’s Spiire

  was heavily damaged in combat with several Bf 109Es over Beachy Head in eastern Sussex, and he had to belly land in a eld. Lock was himself wounded in

  the right hand and both legs from rounds red by a Bf 109E on November 17th. He again force landed his aircra near an airstrip at Martlesham Heath in

  Suolk. However, this me he was not able to get out of his aircra due to serious injuries and loss of blood. He remained in his aircra unconscious for some

  two hours before being found by a pair of patrolling soldiers, who carried him to a hospital on an improvised stretcher made from ries and a tarp. Over the

  next three months, Lock endured een major surgeries and spent another three months in a rehabilitaon centre at Royal Masonic Hospital, where he was

  repeatedly operated on by a pioneer of plasc surgery, Archibald McIndoe. He returned to No. 41 Squadron, and to ying, in June, 1941, and in July, he was

  promoted to Flight Lieutenant and made B Flight Leader with No. 611 Squadron. In July, he gained three kills over Bf 109Fs during oensive missions over

  France. On August 3rd, 1941, while returning from a ‘Rhubarb’ mission, he aacked a German convoy not far from Pas de Calais and has been listed as missi-

  ng in acon ever since. It is generally assumed that he was hit by an-aircra re and crashed in the sea. Neither his Spiire Mk.V, W3257, nor his body, were

  ever located, despite several eorts. At the me of his disappearance, he had 26 aircra to his credit, which he achieved over a twenty-ve week span over

  the course of one year, six months of which were spent in hospital. Eric Lock was the rst of three famous Brish pilots and heroes of our Spiire Story, who

  were shot down at that me. Douglas Bader was shot down and taken prisoner on August 9th, 1941, and on January 28th, 1942, Robert Tuck.

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 47

  N3162, P/O Eric Stanley Lock, No. 41 Squadron, RAF Hornchurch, Essex, United Kingdom, August/September 1940

  KITS 08/2020

  X4425, F/Sgt. George Cecil Unwin, No. 19 Squadron, RAF Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire, August/September 1940

  X4382, P/O Osgood Philip Villiers Hanbury, No. 602 Squadron, RAF Westhampne, West Sussex, September 1940.

  THE FEW. This aircra illustrates the nal conguraon of the Spiire during the Bale of Britain, including the rearview mirror and fully

  armored features. The pilot of this aircra was George Unwin, nicknamed ‘Grumpy’, and was one of the most experienced pilots, and not just

  within No. 19 Squadron. He was one of the rst Spiire pilots, and ew the new plane serialled K9792 as early as August 16th, 1938. He test

  ew een new Spiires during tests conducted in the fall of 1938. He pulled o a successful forced landing in K9797 aer an engine failure,

  skillfully avoiding the village of Acton in Suolk. During Operaon Dynamo, he shot down three aircra, an Hs 126, a Bf 110 and an He 111.

  The Bale of Britain allowed him to raise the total by another eleven kills. At the end of the year, he ended ying operaonally, and served

  as a ight instructor unl October, 1943 with several training units. From April unl October, 1944, he returned to combat ying, this me in

  Mosquitos with No. 613 Squadron with No. 2 TAF. At the end of 1944, he went back to instruconal ying. From 1948 to 1952, he ew the

  Bristol Brigand. Also in 1952, he took part in the ghng against communist insurgents in Malaysia. He entered civilian life in 1961 with the

  rank of Wing Commander. He died at the age of 93 on June 28th, 2006.

  END OF THE BATTLE. Osgood Hanbury, nicknamed ‘Pedro’, was a graduate of Eton College, began his military career in June, 1940 as a pilot of

  Lysanders. He volunteered to join a ghter unit on September 3, 1940, and was assigned to No. 602 Squadron. His X4382 is another represen-

  tave of the later Spiire Mk.I. Towards the end of the year, Hanbury had four conrmed kills to his credit. In May, 1941, he was transferred

  to the Middle East and No. 260 Squadron, ying Curss P-40s. On May 22nd, 1942, he received the DFC for his role in the defense of Tobruk,

  and he was given command of said unit with the rank of Squadron Leader. On May 22nd, 1943, he married Patrice Cecil Harman. He died

  eleven days later, on June 3rd, when a Ju 88C own by Leutnant Hans Olbrecht shot down a No. 117 Squadron Lockheed Hudson, own by

  S/Ldr Robert Yaxley. At the me of his death, Osgood P.V. Hanbury had eleven kills to his credit.

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 48

  BUILT

  in surfacer

  built by Jakub Nademlejnský

  eduard

  48

  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 49

  BUILT

  BUILT

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 50

  BUILT

  BUILT

  Product Page

  eduard

  50

  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 51

  BUILT

  built by Robert Szwarc

  CAMO F

  Cat. No. 11143

  Product Page

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 52

  BUILT

  P9443, F/Lt Douglas Bader, No. 222 Squadron, RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire / Kirton in Lindsey, Lincolnshire, early June 1940

  #648580 exhaust stacks (Brassin)

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 53

  BUILT

  #648579 wheels (Brassin)

  #481026 landing aps (PE-Set)

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 54

  KITS 08/2020

  OVERTREES

  Spitifre Mk.I early

  cat. no. 82151X

  OVERLEPT

  cat. no. 82151-LEPT

  Product Page

  Product Page

  B R

  A

  U

  E+J

  P

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 55

  KITS 08/2020

  OVERTREES

  Spitifre Mk.I LATE

  cat. no. 82152X

  OVERLEPT

  cat. no. 82151-LEPT

  Product Page

  Product Page

  C R

  A

  U

  E+J

  P

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 56

  KITS 08/2020

  Recommended for Spitr Mk.I:

  481026 Spitre Mk.I landing aps 1/48 (PE-Set)

  FE1102 Spitre Mk.I seatbelts STEEL 1/48 (fotolept)

  644063 Spitre Mk.I early LööK 1/48 (Brassin)

  644064 Spitre Mk.I late LööK 1/48 (Brassin)

  648578 Spitre Mk.I cockpit 1/48 (Brassin)

  648579 Spitre Mk.I wheels 1/48 (Brassin)

  648580 Spitre Mk.I exhaust stacks 1/48 (Brassin)

  648581 Spitre Mk.I gun bays 1/48 (Brassin)

  EX709 Spitre Mk.I TFace 1/48 (Mask)

  EX713 Spitre Mk.I 1/48 (Mask)

  648589 Spitre Mk.I undercarriage legs BRONZE (Brassin)

  release 09/2020

  Cat. No. 644063

  Cat. No. 644064

  Cat. No. 648578

  Cat. No. 648580

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 57

  Product Page

  Product Page

• Page 58

  1/72 Cat. No. 7096

  Plastic parts AMK

  Photo-etched set

  Paiting mask

  5 marking options

  KITS 08/2020

  Product Page

  L-29 Delfín 1/72

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 59

  KITS 08/2020

  a/c No. 2853, 1st Flight, 11th Fighter Regiment, Žatec, Czech Republic, 1993

  3250, International Fighter Pilots Academy , Košice, Slovak Republic, 1993

  378, 101st Fighter Reconaissance Wing, Szolnok Air Base, Hungary, Summer 1978

  3246, 3rd Flight, 1. Fighter Regiment, Planá Air Base, Czechoslovakia, 1969-1970

  N179EP, Reno AFB, United States of America, 2009

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 60

  This Zatec 11th Regiment Deln

  s/n 2853 received this nish at

  the beginning of June 1993. Its

  development was undertaken by

  the ground crew of No. 1 Flight

  with assistance of Captain Ing.

  Karel Krejci, who, a quater of

  a century later, from the position

  of Eduard´s researcher, carefully

  supervised the construction of

  markings for the current L-29 kit

  Weekend edition.

  Introduction of this plane to the

  public came on July 10th, 1993

  at an airshow in Žatec. After the

  disbandment of the 11th Fighter

  Regiment, the aircraft was

  transferred to the 1st Training

  Regiment at Přerov.

• Page 61

• Page 62

• Page 63

• Page 64

  OVERTREES

  L-29 Delfín 1/72

  cat. no. 7096X

  OVERLEPT

  cat. no.7096-LEPT

  2x

  KITS 08/2020

  Product Page

  Product Page

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 65

  KITS 08/2020

  RECOMMENDED:

  32452 Bf 108 Taifun 1/32 (PE-Set)

  32971 Bf 108 Weekend 1/32 (PE-Set)

  632150 Bf 108 wheels 1/32 (Brassin)

  632151 Bf 108 wooden propeller 1/32 (Brassin)

  632155 Bf 108 wheels spoked 1/32 (Brassin)

  632157 Bf 108 oil cooler 1/32 (Brassin)

  634017 Bf 108 LööK 1/32 (Brassin)

  JX253 Bf 108 TFace 1/32 (Mask)

  JX258 Bf 108 1/32 (Mask)

  WNr. 178, Stab II.(Schl.)/LG 2, Vyerdino aireld,

  Soviet Union, July 1941

  Germany, September 1939

  1/32, Cat. No. 3404Bf 108

  2 marking options

  Plastic parts Eduard

  Brassin: propeller

  Product Page

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 66

  Avia B.534 IV Series

  Eduard plastic parts

  painting mask

  4 marking options

  1/144, Cat. No. 4453

  KITS 08/2020

  Recommended:

  144008 Avia B.534

  1/144 (PE-Set)

  Product Page

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 67

  KITS 08/2020

  Combined Squadron of Slovak naonal uprising, Tri Duby aireld,

  Slovakia, September – October 1944

  12th Squadron, Slovak Air Forces, Eastern Front, Soviet Union, 1941

  B.534.187, 40th Fighter Squadron, Air Regiment 4,

  Prague - Kbely, Czechoslovakia, April 1938

  7./LLG 1, Eastern Front, Soviet Union, Winter 1942 – 1943

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 68

  E-BUNNY

  SQUAT

  LööK set - Brassin pre-painted

  dashboard and STEEL seatbelts for

  Spitre Mk.I in 1/48 scale. Easy to

  assemble, replaces plastic parts.

  Recommended kit: Eduard

  Set contains:

  - resin: 1 part,

  - decals: no,

  - photo-etched details: yes,

  pre-painted,

  - painting mask: no.

  08/2020

  644063

  Spitre Mk.I early LööK

  1/48 Eduard

  Product Page

  LööK set - Brassin pre-painted

  dashboard and STEEL seatbelts for

  Spitre Mk.I in 1/48 scale. Easy to

  assemble, replaces plastic parts.

  Recommended kit: Eduard

  Set contains:

  - resin: 1 part,

  - decals: no,

  - photo-etched details: yes,

  pre-painted,

  - painting mask: no.

  644064

  Spitre Mk.I late LööK

  1/48 Eduard

  Product Page

• Page 69

  BRASSIN 08/2020

  Brassin set - the 75gal drop tanks for

  P-51D in 1/48 scale.

  Recommended kit: Eduard

  Set contains:

  - resin: 2 parts,

  - decals: yes,

  - photo-etched details: yes,

  - painting mask: no.

  Product Page

  Brassin set - the 108gal drop tanks for

  P-51D in 1/48 scale.

  Recommended kit: Eduard

  Set contains:

  - resin: 2 parts,

  - decals: yes,

  - photo-etched details: yes,

  - painting mask: no.

  Product Page

  648571

  P-51D 75gal drop tanks

  1/48 Eduard

  648572

  P-51D 108gal drop tanks

  1/48 Eduard

  Brassin set - the rocket launcher for

  Soviet / Warsaw Pact aircraft in 1/48

  scale. The set consists of 4 launchers.

  Recommended for Mi-24 by Zvezda.

  Set contains:

  - resin: 8 parts,

  - decals: yes,

  - photo-etched details: yes,

  - painting mask: no.

  Product Page

  648574

  UB-32A-24 rocket launcher

  1/48

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 70

  Brassin set - the rocket launcher for

  Soviet / Warsaw Pact aircraft in 1/48

  scale. The set consists of 4 launchers.

  Recommended for Mi-24 by Zvezda.

  Set contains:

  - resin: 12 parts,

  - decals: yes,

  - photo-etched details: yes,

  - painting mask: no.

  Brassin set - the ait-to-ground missi-

  les for Soviet / Warsaw Pact aircraft

  in 1/48 scale. The set consists

  of 4 missiles. Recommended for

  Mi-24 by Zvezda.

  Set contains:

  - resin: 4 parts,

  - decals: yes,

  - photo-etched details: yes,

  - painting mask: no.

  Product Page

  BRASSIN 08/2020

  648575

  B8V20 rocket launcher

  1/48

  648576

  9K114 Sturm missiles

  1/48

  Product Page

  Brassin set - the bazooka rocket

  launchers for P-51D in 1/48 scale.

  The set consists of 2 launchers.

  Recommended kit: Eduard

  Set contains:

  - resin: 8 parts,

  - decals: no,

  - photo-etched details: yes,

  - painting mask: no.

  Product Page

  648577

  P-51D Bazooka rocket launcher

  1/48 Eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 71

  BRASSIN 08/2020

  Brassin set - the cockpit for Spitre

  Mk.I in 1/48 scale. Two versions of

  the dashboard and the seat included.

  Recommended kit: Eduard

  Set contains:

  - resin: 37 parts,

  - decals: yes,

  - photo-etched details: yes,

  pre-painted,

  - painting mask: no.

  Product Page

  648578

  Spitre Mk.I cockpit

  1/48 Eduard

  Brassin set - the undercarriage wheels

  for Spitre Mk.I in 1/48 scale. The set

  consists of main wheels and a tail whe-

  el. Easy to assemble, replaces plastic

  parts.

  Recommended kit: Eduard

  Set contains:

  - resin: 3 parts,

  - decals: no,

  - photo-etched details: no,

  - painting mask: yes.

  Product Page

  648579

  Spitre Mk.I wheels

  1/48 Eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 72

  Brassin set - the exhaust stacks for

  Spitre Mk.I in 1/48 scale. Easy to

  assemble, replaces plastic parts.

  Recommended kit: Eduard

  Set contains:

  - resin: 2 parts,

  - decals: no,

  - photo-etched details: no,

  - painting mask: no.

  Product Page

  BRASSIN 08/2020

  648580

  Spitre Mk.I exhaust stacks

  1/48 Eduard

  Product Page

  Brassin set - the gunbays for Spitre

  Mk.I in 1/48 scale. The set consists

  of gunbays for both wings.

  Recommended kit: Eduard

  Set contains:

  - resin: 44 parts,

  - decals: no,

  - photo-etched details: yes,

  - painting mask: no.

  648581

  Spitre Mk.I gun bays

  1/48 Eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 73

  Brassin set - the Eberspächer type

  acountis pipes for Bf 109G in 1/482

  scale. The set consists of 2 versions

  of the pipes (2 pairs of each).

  Recommended kit: Eduard

  Set contains:

  - resin: 16 parts,

  - decals: no,

  - photo-etched details: yes,

  - painting mask: no.

  Product Page

  Brassin set - the US 1000lb bombs

  in 1/72 scale. The set consists

  of 2 bombs.

  Set contains:

  - resin: 4 parts,

  - decals: yes,

  - photo-etched details: yes,

  - painting mask: no.

  Product Page

  648583

  Bf 109G Eberspächer acoustic pipes

  1/48 Eduard

  672244

  US 1000lb bombs

  1/72 Eduard

  Brassin set - the US aerial torpedo

  of WWII in 1/72 scale. The set con-

  sists of 3 torpedoes with dierent

  warheads.

  Set contains:

  - resin: 11 parts,

  - decals: no,

  - photo-etched details: yes,

  - painting mask: no.

  Product Page

  672245

  US torpedo Mk.13

  1/72

  BRASSIN 08/2020

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 74

  Product Page

  BRASSIN 08/2020

  Collection of 4 sets for Bf 109G-6 in 1/48 scale by Eduard.

  - LööK set (pre-painted Brassin dashboard & Steelbelts),

  - TFace painting mask,

  - undercarriage wheels,

  - exhaust stacks.

  644060

  Bf 109G-6 LööKplus

  1/48 Eduard

  NEW

  PRODUCT

  LINE

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 75

  BRASSIN 08/2020

  Product Page

  Collection of 4 sets for P-400 in 1/48 scale by Eduard.

  - LööK set (pre-painted Brassin dashboard & Steelbelts),

  - TFace painting mask,

  - undercarriage wheels,

  - exhaust stacks.

  644061

  P-400 LööKplus

  1/48 Eduard

  NEW

  PRODUCT

  LINE

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 76

  A-26B Invader undercarriage 1/32 Hobby Boss (32453)

  A-26B Invader cockpit interior 1/32 Hobby Boss (32970)

  A-26B Invader 1/32 Hobby Boss (33258)

  A-26B Invader seatblets STEEL 1/32 Hobby Boss (33259)

  A-26B Invader 1/32 Hobby Boss (JX256)

  A-26B Invader TFace 1/32 Hobby Boss (JX257)

  A-26B Invader 1/32 Hobby Boss (JX256)

  A-26B Invader bomb bay 1/32 Hobby Boss (33454)

  release 09/2020

  A-26B Invader reat interior 1/32 Hobby Boss (32972)

  release 09/2020

  A-26B Invader

  1/32 Hobby Boss

  PHOTO-ETCHED AND MASK AUGUST 2020

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 77

  PE-SETS AND MASKS 08/2020

  KV-1

  1/35 Tamiya

  KV-1 1/35 Tamiya (36447)

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  77

  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 78

  PE-SETS AND MASKS 08/2020

  U.S. Military Tractor

  1/35 Airfix

  Brummbär

  1/35 Academy

  U.S. Military Tractor 1/35 Airx (36446)

  Brummbär 1/35 Academy (36448)

  Brummbär schürzen 1/35 Academy (36449)

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 79

  Do 217J-1/2

  1/48 ICM

  FM-2

  1/72 Arma Hobby

  PE-SETS AND MASKS 08/2020

  Do 217J-1/2 exterior 1/48 ICM (481024)

  Do 217J-1/2 landing aps 1/48 ICM (481025)

  Do 217J-1/2 1/48 ICM (FE1100) (Zoom)

  Do 217J-1/2 seatbelts STEEL 1/48 ICM (FE1101) (Zoom)

  Do 217J-1/2 1/48 ICM (EX704)

  Do 217J-1/2 undercarriage 1/48 ICM (481027) release 09/2020

  FM-2 1/72 Arma Hobby (73713)

  FM-2 1/72 Arma Hobby (SS713) (Zoom)

  FM-2 1/72 Arma Hobby (CX578)

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 80

  Cat. No. D32001

  Bf 108 naonal insignia

  1/32 Eduard

  Cat. No. D48050

  WILDE SAU Bf 109G-6 JG 300

  1/48 Eduard

  Cat. No. D48052

  Fw 190A-6 naonal insignia

  1/48 Eduard

  Product Page

  Product Page

  Product Page

  DECALS 08/2020

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 81

  DECALS 08/2020

  Cat. No. D48053

  Spiire Mk.I naonal insignia

  1/48 Eduard

  Cat. No. D48054

  Mi-24V/Mi-35 in Czech AF service

  1/48 Zvezda

  Cat. No. D48055

  F6F-3 part 1

  1/48 Eduard

  Product Page

  Product Page

  Product Page

  Product Page

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 82

  36439 Panther Ausf. G 1/35

  36440 Panther Ausf. G schurzen 1/35

  XT222 Panther Ausf. G 1/35

  481012 B-17G ammo feed chutes 1/48

  491058 B-17G radio compartment 1/48

  491072 B-17G wooden oors & ammo boxes 1/48

  491053 F-14D 1/48

  FE1054 F-14D seatbelts STEEL 1/48

  EX672 F-14D 1/48

  49103 Remove Before Flight STEEL

  BIG3598 Panther Ausf.G 1/35 Ryeeld Model

  BIG49256 B-17G PART III 1/48 HKM

  BIG49257 F-14D 1/48 AMK

  Product Page

  Product Page

  Product Page

  All sets included in this BIG ED are available separately,

  but with every BIG ED set you save up to 30%.

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 83

  481018 Ju 88G-6 exterior 1/48

  491099 Ju 88G-6 interior 1/48

  FE1100 Ju 88G-6 seatbelts STEEL 1/48

  EX707 Ju 88G-6 1/48

  481016 He 111Z exterior 1/48

  491090 He 111Z nose interior 1/48

  491091 He 111Z radio compartment 1/48

  FE1091 He 111Z seatbelts STEEL 1/48

  EX698 He 111Z 1/48

  73712 F-35B 1/72

  CX572 F-35B 1/72

  CX573 F-35B surface panels 1/72

  73044 Remove Before Flight STEEL

  BIG49258 Ju 88G-6 1/48 Dragon

  BIG49259 He 111Z 1/48 ICM

  BIG72159 F-35B 1/72 Academy

  Product Page

  Product Page

  Product Page

  All sets included in this BIG ED are available separately,

  but with every BIG ED set you save up to 30%.

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 84

  PE-SETS AND MASKS 08/2020

  EDUARD MASK IT FITS!

  JX255 Sea Gladiator 1/32 ICM

  JX256 A-26B Invader 1/32 Hobby Boss

  JX257 A-26B Invader TFace 1/32 Hobby Boss

  JX258 Bf 108 1/32 Eduard

  EX704 Do 217J-1/2 1/48 ICM

  EX709 Spiire Mk.I TFace 1/48 Eduard

  EX713 Spiire Mk.I 1/48 Eduard

  CX575 La-5 early 1/72 Clear Prop

  CX576 Su-35S 1/72 Great Wall Hobby

  CX577 F-14A 1/72 Great Wall Hobby

  CX578 FM-2 1/72 Arma Hobby

  XT226 Brummbär 1/35 Academy

  JX255

  JX257

  JX257

  JX258

  CX575

  CX577 CX578

  CX576

  EX704

  JX256

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 85

  KITS

  7096 L-29 Delfín 1/72 ProPACK

  11142 VERY LONG RANGE: Tales of Iwojima 1/48 Limited edition

  11143 THE SPITFIRE STORY: The Few 1/48 Limited edition

  3404 Bf 108 1/32 Weekend edition

  4453 Avia B.534 IV. Series 1/144 Super44

  PE-SETS

  32453 A-26B Invader undercarriage 1/32 Hobby Boss

  32969 Sea Gladiator 1/32 ICM

  32970 A-26B Invader cockpit interior 1/32 Hobby Boss

  32971 Bf 108 Weekend 1/32 Eduard

  36446 U.S. Millitary Tractor 1/35 Airx

  36447 KV-1 1/35 Tamiy

  36448 Brummbär 1/35 Academy

  36449 Brummbär schurzen 1/35 Academy

  481024 Do 217J-1/2 exterior 1/48 ICM

  481025 Do 217J-1/2 landing aps 1/48 ICM

  481026 Spitre Mk.I landing aps 1/48 Eduard

  491110 Do 217J-1/2 1/48 ICM

  72705 L-29 1/72 Eduard

  73713 FM-2 1/72 Arma Hobby

  73714 Su-35S 1/72 Great Wall Hobby

  73715 F-14A 1/72 Great Wall Hobby

  ZOOMS

  33254 PT-17 Kaydet 1/32 Roden

  33255 PT-17 Kaydet seatbelts STEEL 1/32 Roden

  FE1097 Mi-24V 1/48 Zvezda

  FE1098 Mi-24V seatbelts STEEL 1/48 Zvezda

  FE1101 Mi-24V black interior (Mi-35) 1/48 Zvezda

  FE1102 Spitre Mk.I 1/48 Airx

  FE1103 Spitre Mk.I seatbelts STEEL 1/48 Airx

  FE1104 Hurricane Mk.I 1/48 Airx

  FE1105 Hurricane Mk.I seatbelts STEEL 1/48 Airx

  FE1106 Bf 110D 1/48 Dragon

  FE1107 Bf 110D seatbelts STEEL 1/48 Dragon

  FE1108 SBD-1 1/48 Academy

  FE1109 SBD-1 seatbelts STEEL 1/48 Academy

  MASKS

  JX255 Sea Gladiator 1/32 ICM

  JX256 A-26B Invader 1/32 Hobby Boss

  JX257 A-26B Invader TFace 1/32 Hobby Boss

  JX258 Bf 108 1/32 Eduard

  EX704 Do 217J-1/2 1/48 ICM

  EX709 Spitre Mk.I TFace 1/48 Eduard

  EX713 Spitre Mk.I 1/48 Eduard

  CX575 La-5 early 1/72 Clear Prop

  CX576 Su-35S 1/72 Great Wall Hobby

  CX577 F-14A 1/72 Great Wall Hobby

  CX578 FM-2 1/72 Arma Hobby

  XT226 Brummbär 1/35 Academy

  BIGED

  BIG3598 Panther Ausf.G 1/35 Ryeeld Model

  BIG49256 B-17G PART III 1/48 HKM

  BIG49257 F-14D 1/48 AMK

  BIG49258 Ju 88G-6 1/48 Dragon

  BIG49259 He 111Z 1/48 ICM

  BIG72159 F-35B 1/72 Academy

  BRASSIN

  644063 Spitre Mk.I early LööK 1/48 Eduard

  644064 Spitre Mk.I late LööK 1/48 Eduard

  648571 P-51D 75gal drop tanks 1/48 Eduard

  648572 P-51D 108gal drop tanks 1/48 Eduard

  648574 UB-32A-24 rocket launcher 1/48

  648575 B8V20 rocket launcher 1/48

  648576 9K114 Sturm missiles 1/48

  648577 P-51D Bazooka rocket launcher 1/48 Eduard

  648578 Spitre Mk.I cockpit 1/48 Eduard

  648579 Spitre Mk.I wheels 1/48 Eduard

  648580 Spitre Mk.I exhaust stacks 1/48 Eduard

  648581 Spitre Mk.I gun bays 1/48 Eduard

  648583 Bf 109G Eberspächer acoustic pipes 1/48 Eduard

  672244 US 1000lb bombs 1/72

  672245 US torpedo Mk.13 1/72

  LookPLUS

  644060 Bf 109G-6 LööKplus 1/48 Eduard

  644061 P-400 LööKplus 1/48 Eduard

  DECALS

  D32001 Bf 108 national insignia 1/32 Eduard

  D48050 WILDE SAU Bf 109G-6 JG 300 1/48 Eduard

  D48052 Fw 190A-6 national insignia 1/48 Eduard

  D48053 Spitre Mk.I national insignia 1/48 Eduard

  D48054 Mi-24V/Mi-35 in Czech AF service 1/48

  D48055 F6F-3 part 1 1/48

  August 2020

  Releases

• Page 86

  BUILT

  P-38G Tamiya 1/48

  Eduard Goodies

  postavil Paolo Portuesi

  #648545 cockpit (Brassin)

  #648515 wheels (Brassin)

  #648533 nose gun bay (Brassin)

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 87

  BUILT

  #648533 nose gun bay (Brassin)

  #648519 superchargers (Brassin)

  #EX667 TFace (maska)

  #648521 undercarriage legs BRONZE (Brassin)

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 88

  BUILT

  CM.170 Magister 1/48 AMK

  Eduard Goodies

  built by Angelo Lodetti

  Sest used:

  Cat. No. 49721 CM.170 Magister S.A. (PE-Set)

  Cat. No. FE721 CM.170 Magister S.A. (PE-Set)

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 89

  BUILT

  Spitre Mk.XVI cockpit

  1/48 Eduard

  built by Angelo Lodetti

  Product Page

  Cat. No. 648206

  eduard

  89

  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 90

  BIG49260 Mi-24V 1/48 Zvezda

  BIG49261 Mi-24 black interior (Mi-35) 1/48 Zvezda

  BIG49262 Bf 110D 1/48 Dragon

  BIG49263 Spiire Mk.I 1/48 Airx

  BIG49264 Hurricane Mk.I 1/48 Airx

  BIG49265 SBD-1 1/48 Academy

  632158 US 1000lb bombs 1/32

  632159 A-26 Invader wheels 1/32 Hobby Boss

  634019 A-26B LööK 1/32 Hobby Boss

  644062 Tiger Moth LööK 1/48 Airx

  644065 Hurricane Mk.I LööK 1/48 Airx

  648563 GBU-31(V)3B JDAM 1/48

  648566 SUU-20 dispenser w/ BDU-33 & Mk.76 bombs 1/48

  648568 US torpedo Mk.13 1/48

  648585 Mi-24V/VP Pitot tubes 1/48 Zvezda

  648586 Mi-24VP GSh-23 cannon 1/48 Zvezda

  648587 Mi-24V 9A624 machine gun 1/48 Zvezda

  648588 Il-2 exhaust stacks 1/48 Zvezda

  648589 Spiire Mk.I undercarriage legs BRONZE 1/48 Eduard

  672246 AIM-132 ASRAAM 1/72

  644066 Spiire Mk.I early LööKplus 1/48 Eduard

  644067 Spiire Mk.I late LööKplus 1/48 Eduard

  BIG ED (September)

  BRASSIN (September)

  LöökPlus (September)

  BIG49263

  BIG49260

  BIG49262

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  SEPTEMBER 2020

  BRASSIN

  634019 A-26B LööK 1/32 Hobby Boss

  PRELIMINARY IMAGES

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 91

  644062 Tiger Moth LööK 1/48 Airx

  644065 Hurricane Mk.I LööK 1/48 Airx

  BRASSIN

  SEPTEMBER 2020

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  PRELIMINARY IMAGES

  PRELIMINARY IMAGES

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 92

  632158 US 1000lb bombs 1/32

  632159 A-26 Invader wheels 1/32 Hobby Boss

  BRASSIN

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  SEPTEMBER 2020

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 93

  648563 GBU-31(V)3B JDAM 1/48

  BRASSIN

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  648566 SUU-20 dispenser w/ BDU-33 & Mk.76 bombs 1/48

  SEPTEMBER 2020

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 94

  648585 Mi-24V/VP Pitot tubes 1/48 Zvezda

  BRASSIN

  648568 US torpedo Mk.13 1/48

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  SEPTEMBER 2020

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 95

  648586 Mi-24VP GSh-23 cannon 1/48 Zvezda

  BRASSIN

  648587 Mi-24V 9A624 machine gun 1/48 Zvezda

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  SEPTEMBER 2020

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 96

  648589 Spitre Mk.I undercarriage legs BRONZE 1/48 Eduard

  BRASSIN

  648588 Il-2 exhaust stacks 1/48 Zvezda

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  SEPTEMBER 2020

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 97

  672246 AIM-132 ASRAAM 1/72

  BRASSIN

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  SEPTEMBER 2020

  eduard

  97

  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 98

  BRASSIN

  644066 Spitre Mk.I early LööKplus 1/48 Eduard

  Collection of 4 sets for Spitre Mk.I in 1/48 scale by Eduard.

  - LööK set (pre-painted Brassin dashboard & Steelbelts),

  - TFace painting mask,

  - undercarriage wheels,

  - exhaust stacks.

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  SEPTEMBER 2020

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 99

  BRASSIN

  644067 Spitre Mk.I late LööKplus 1/48 Eduard

  Collection of 4 sets for Spitre Mk.I in 1/48 scale by Eduard.

  - LööK set (pre-painted Brassin dashboard & Steelbelts),

  - TFace painting mask,

  - undercarriage wheels,

  - exhaust stacks.

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  SEPTEMBER 2020

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 100

  PE-SETS

  53259 Bismarck part 1 1/350 Trumpeter

  32454 A-26B bomb bay 1/32 Hobby Boss

  32972 A-26B rear interior 1/32 Hobby Boss

  32973 PZL P.11c 1/32 IBG

  481027 Do 217J-1/2 undercarriage 1/48 ICM

  481028 B-26C Invader bomb bay 1/48 ICM

  481029 B-26C Invader undercarriage & exterior 1/48 ICM

  481030 B-25D exterior 1/48 Revell

  491113 B-26C Invader 1/48 ICM

  491114 B-26C Invader nose interior 1/48 ICM

  491115 P-38H 1/48 Tamiya

  491117 B-25D 1/48 Revell

  491119 O-2A 1/48 ICM

  72707 Sunderland Mk.III exterior 1/72 Special Hobby

  72708 Sunderland Mk.III bomb bay 1/72 Special Hobby

  72709 Sunderland Mk.III maintenance plaorms 1/72 Special Hobby

  73717 P-51B/C 1/72 Hasegawa/Hobby 2000

  73718 D.520 1/72 Hasegawa/Hobby 2000

  73721 Sunderland Mk.III interior 1/72 Special Hobby

  ZOOMS

  33261 PZL P.11c 1/32 IBG

  33262 PZL P.11c seatbelts STEEL 1/32 IBG

  FE1113 B-26C Invader 1/48 ICM

  FE1114 B-26C Invader seatbelts STEEL 1/48 ICM

  FE1115 P-38H 1/48 Tamiya

  FE1116 P-38H seatbelts STEEL 1/48 Tamiya

  FE1117 B-25D 1/48 Revell

  FE1118 B-25D seatbelts STEEL 1/48 Revell

  FE1119 O-2A 1/48 ICM

  FE1120 O-2A seatbelts STEEL 1/48 ICM

  SS717 P-51B/C 1/72 Hasegawa/Hobby 2000

  SS718 D.520 1/72 Hasegawa/Hobby 2000

  SS719 F-14 F.O.D. 1/72 Great Wall Hobby

  SS720 MiG-21PFM Weekend 1/72 Eduard

  SS721 Sunderland Mk.III 1/72 Special Hobby

  MASKS

  JX259 PZL P.11c 1/32 IBG

  EX714 B-25D 1/48 Revell

  EX715 B-25D TFace 1/48 Revell

  EX716 B-26C Invader 1/48 ICM

  EX717 B-26C Invader TFace 1/48 ICM

  EX718 O-2A 1/48 ICM

  EX719 P-38H 1/48 Tamiya

  EX720 P-38H TFace 1/48 Tamiya

  CX579 B-25B 1/72 Airx

  CX580 P-51B/C Malcolm Hood canopy 1/72 Hasegawa/Hobby 2000

  CX581 D.520 1/72 Hasegawa/Hobby 2000

  CX582 Sunderland Mk.III 1/72 Special Hobby

  CX583 MiG-21PFM 1/72 Eduard

  DECALS

  D32002 Bf 108 Taifun 1/32 Eduard

  D48051 WILDE SAU Bf 109G-6 JG 301/302 1/48 Eduard

  D48056 Mi-24V around the World 1/48 Zvezda

  D48057 F6F-3 part 2 1/48 Eduard

  D48058 F6F-3 stencils 1/48 Eduard

  D48059 F6F-5 stencils 1/48 Eduard

  D48060 Mi-24V stencils Czech 1/48 Zvezda

  D48061 Mi-24V stencils Russian & English 1/48 Zvezda

  PE-SETS and Masks

  SEPTEMBER 2020

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 101

  KITS

  MiG-21PFM

  Cat. No. 7454

  1/72

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  No. 6173, 927th Fighter Regiment, Phúc Yên AB, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 1979

  4401, 3rd Squadron, 1st Fighter Regiment, České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia,

  rst half of 1969 – second half of 1970

  SEPTEMBER 2020

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 102

  KITS

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  Adlerangriff

  Cat. No. 11107 1/ 3 2

  SEPTEMBER 2020

  eduard

  102

  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 103

  KITS

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  Adlerangriff

  Cat. No. 11107 1/ 3 2

  SEPTEMBER 2020

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 104

  KITS

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  Adlerangriff Dual Combo

  Cat. No. 11144 1/ 4 8

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  KITS

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  Adlerangriff Dual Combo

  Cat. No. 11144 1/ 4 8

  SEPTEMBER 2020

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  INFO Eduard - August 2020

• Page 106

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