12/2021

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  Vol 20, December 2021Vol 20, December 2021

  ISSUE 142

  INFOINFO

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  INFO

  EDUARDEDUARD

  ISSUE 142

  © Eduard - Model Accessories, 2021

  FREE FOR DOWNLOAD, FREE FOR DISTRIBUTION!

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

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

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  eduardeduard

  EDITORIAL

  DECEMBER 2021

  KITS

  HISTORY

  BRASSIN

  PHOTO-ETCHED SETS

  BIGED

  RELEASE

  BUILT

  ON APPROACH

  December 2021

  January 2022

  Sopwith F.1 Camel (BR.1) ProPACK 1/48

  Z-226MS Trenér ProPACK 1/48

  TORA TORA TORA! Limited edition 1/48

  Bf 109E-7 Weekend edition 1/48

  DESERT BABES Limited edition 1/72

  Tempest Mk.V Series 1 ProPACK 1/48

  MiG-21PF ProPACK 1/48

  TORA TORA TORA! 1/48

  Spitre Story: The Sweeps 1/48

  Trenér 1/48

  IA-58A Pucara 1/48

  Ju-88A-5 Trop 1/48

  Tempest Mk.II early version 1/48

  CONTENTS

  Caught With Their Pants Down

  TORA TORA TORA!

  A ight to freedom

  Build, build, build!

  I’m training, I’m training!

  TAIL END CHARLIE

  4

  92

  98

  34

  8

  78

  101

  102

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  135

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

  Mírová 170, Obrnice 435 21

  support@eduard.com www.eduard.com

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  BUILD, BUILD, BUILD!

  The title is loosely based on the Tora Tora Tora!

  code as applied to modeling, including several

  hundred languages of tribes that reside and

  model on Papua New Guinea*. Take it as a ge-

  neral instruction what to do with our new Zero

  that is just being officially released today and so

  begins its campaign throughout the modeling

  world. There is not much sense in delving into

  detail descriptions of the kit within the pages of

  this editorial. It has been known that we were

  to release this kit for some six weeks now, and

  with a few dozen Facebook and Instagram po-

  sts, currently on-going build articles, and even

  thanks to today’s newsletter release, much is al-

  ready known about it even to those who wouldn’t

  bother to care about Zero just a month ago. We

  are at the beginning of a long road that will see

  the release of all versions of the A6M in all our

  production lines, from Limited Editions throu-

  gh ProfiPacks and on to Weekend kits. As has

  been our style to do so, we have designed and

  are completing molds for all the subvariants of

  the type, starting with the A6M2 Type 11 and en-

  ding with the A6M7. Our series will also include

  my personal favorite Rufe float version and the

  two seater A6M2-K. There will be a lot of Zero

  kits coming out, including versions that have not

  been properly done by any other manufacturer.

  And we will not be saying goodbye to the line any

  time soon. To research, draw, design and print

  tens, if not hundreds of schemes, is a job for

  years, if not decades, and, to paraphrase well-

  -known words, before we´re through with ´em,

  this Japanese subject will be common in the

  modeling world!

  Good Evening, Ladies and Gentlemen!

  So, here we are, at the end of another year! To-

  day’s newsletter will be mostly about new re-

  leases for December, and we will begin to in-

  troduce our plans for the year that is about to

  follow. I will leave a breakdown of this year’s

  company performance for January’s newsletter.

  This year hasn’t yet ended, so let´s not draw up

  the bill in the absence of the innkeeper. The main

  release for the month of December is the afore-

  mentioned Zero kit released in Limited Edition

  line under the name “Tora Tora Tora!”. It is a Dual

  Combo item and further details are provided

  within the pages of this newsletter further on

  down. Other versions, and the sequence of their

  release, will be described when we get to new

  items planned for next year.

  Kits in December

  Up to the summer, our production capacity was

  taxed to the limit in an effort to replenish our ca-

  talog items to the point where there was virtua-

  lly nothing left for the fine-tuning of new molds

  or production of new releases. In any case, work

  was being done on new molds, and by the sum-

  mer, we had three new sets ready for testing and

  fine tuning. These were the Camel, the Trener

  and the Zero. At the time, our stock of catalog

  items had pulled itself together and we turned

  our attention to some of those fine-tuning du-

  ties. The results are evident, and they speak for

  themselves. We have been able to release the

  first new kits of all three types over the last four

  months. All are in the Limited Edition line. In

  September, it was the Camel in the ”Camel & Co.”

  kit, in November it was the ”Trener” kit, and now,

  for December, we have the A6M2 Zero Type 21

  kit. With the Tora Tora Tora! Limited Edition pac-

  kage, and ProfiPack editions of the Trener and

  Camel kits, all three of them are being offered

  in December simultaneously. The latter two are

  now more specific items , as the Camel is re-

  leased as a Bentley BR.1 engine powered speci-

  fication and the Trener kit focuses on the Z226M/

  MS, which is an upgraded version powered by an

  M-137 engine. The sequence of these releases is

  the result of the scheme which was introduced

  last year and fine-tuned during 2021. You may

  have noticed that beginning with the Mustang,

  the sequence was to release the Limited Editi-

  on kit as the first, followed by the ProfiPack, and

  then finally by Weekend kits. The typical release

  structure of any month then contains something

  from each line, Limited, ProfiPack and Weekend.

  For December, this includes one Limited Edition

  kit, two ProfiPacks and a Weekend Edition kit.

  This is complemented by another Limited Edi-

  tion and two ProfiPacks as re-editions for this

  month. The ProfiPacks are the Tempest Mk.V

  Series 1 and a MiG-21PF, both in 1:48th scale. The

  Limited Edition kit is the familiar Tornado GR.1

  in 1:72nd scale under the name “Desert Babes”.

  Back in June, this kit sold out before the end of

  the week after its release, which was enough to

  contemplate a second edition. I believe that this

  time around, Desert Babes will last longer than

  before. A portion of these kits will be sold with

  posters depicting the nose art carried by the air-

  craft in the marking options. These will be the

  same as those that were offered with the pre-

  vious 1:48th scale version of the kit of the same

  name. The noted Weekend kit is the Bf 109E-7 in

  1:48th scale. We picked out some nice marking

  options for this kit that will go against the com-

  mon perception that this was exclusively a tro-

  pical version of the Emil. It wasn’t. The defining

  features of the E-7 were the engine used (the DB

  601N) and a fuel system that allowed the carria-

  ge of a fuselage drop tank.

  December Accessories

  In the accessories line, we have, naturally, the

  first items available for the Zero, although not

  a lot, being at the beginning of this theme as we

  are. It comes in the form of a TFace mask, for

  both the inner and outer clear surfaces, a 3D

  printed seat, resin wheels, bronze landing gear

  legs, Space and LooK sets, steel seat belts in the

  Zoom line, and a stencil data decal sheet in the

  Eduard Decal line. Other accessory items, inclu-

  ding a 3D printed engine and PE landing flaps

  will be available in January, and in following

  months as well. The engine will be released in

  two versions. The first one, to be released in Ja-

  nuary under Catalog Number 648694, is a one-

  -piece matter intended to be used with closed

  maintenance panels cowling, as a ”ready-to-fly”

  configuration. The second offering of the engine

  will be more detailed and complex, with separa-

  te pistons in a fairly classical Brassin rendition,

  with a complete exhaust piping and with all the

  equipment on the rear side of the engine and on

  the firewall. Obviously, this one is intended to be

  displayed with open cowling panels. Similarly,

  the landing flaps will be offered as two different

  products, one photoetched and one 3D printed. If

  the Zero is your bag, whether you have opted for

  the Limited Edition Tora Tora Tora! kit or Janua-

  ry’s ProfiPack, you have plenty of time to decide

  which accessories are right for your project.

  There will be no shortage of options anytime

  soon.

  There are many other accessory items as well.

  For example, we have two Space sets that cover

  Remove Before Flight tags in 1:48th scale, and

  another two sets covering American naval flags

  in 1:350th scale. Those are also part of the Spa-

  EDITORIAL

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

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  ce line. These are interesting concepts that form

  the basis of another line of useful products. They

  look very authentic and are likely the best fabric

  representations yet developed for the modeling

  industry. At the same time, there are existing

  RBF sets that have proven to be extremely good

  sellers, and the basic red RBF set in the painted

  photoetched line is the holder of the undisputed

  championship of accessory sellers of all time.

  The bronze legs are among favorites of the acce-

  ssory sets as well. The December list contains

  not only legs for the Zero, but also for the F-4B

  Phantom II from Tamiya. This set is, to be ho-

  nest, not a cheap item, but precious gems tend

  not to be, and these sets are gems. You may not

  be aware of this, but we don’t manufacture the

  bronze legs ourselves. They are the work of a

  successful jewelry manufacturer, and consis-

  tent with their design, they are manufactured

  with fully up-to-date jewel making technologies.

  In the 48th scale F-4B items being released to-

  day, you will also find a set of fin caps. The set

  contains three variations of the caps used on se-

  veral versions of the F-4. It’s a small but useful

  little item for all who want to make model of this

  type as accurate as possible.

  Another interesting Brassin item is the cockpit

  for the Mi-24D. It is designed to fit the Zvezda kit,

  but may well be better suited for improving our

  Limited Edition Hind D. For the Zvezda kit, it is

  necessary to use a conversion set to create a

  proper Mi-24D from this thing, a set which has

  not yet been released. But we will release it in

  the New Year, as a lone item and with the cockpit

  as well. The remainder of December’s releases

  are shown in this newsletter, and I am leaving

  them to Your self-study. I have yet to describe

  new items for next year, and I don’t want to tire

  you all out with long descriptions of this month’s

  individual releases.

  New Releases for 2022

  We live in interesting times, unfortunately for

  many wrong reasons. We have rampant inflati-

  on, a world-wide epidemic, the collapse of many

  energy companies and a list of other nasty things

  that are beginning to accumulate on us. I can’t do

  much about that, but in the lines that follow, I will

  inject some good news into your day. Or try to.

  Today, I will focus on new kits that are being

  planned for the first half of 2022. In next month’s

  newsletter, I will cover the latter half of the year

  regarding kits, as well as expected development

  of accessory lines. I must point out though, just

  as has happened in the past, these things are not

  written in stone, and things can change. We have

  never been able to end up with having released

  everything at the end of a given year exactly as

  it was planned at its beginning. There is no rea-

  son to think that this will change this year. On the

  contrary, I am expecting a lot of issues to crop up

  over the course of the year that will impact what

  is being planned for the second half of it.

  Zeros Everywhere You Look

  I was thinking about how to introduce new kits.

  There are many of them, and typically there are

  five new things being released per month, plus

  another re-edition or two that rejuvenates a

  sold-out item. I decided to start off with the stars

  of the list, on the basis of which new accessory

  items are also being developed. We’ll begin with

  the newest one, the Zero.

  Already in January, we will be releasing the

  A6M2 Type 21 ProfiPack kit. It will be the same

  version as the one included in Tora Tora Tora!

  but the kit will be conceptualized a little diffe-

  rently. The ProfiPack kit will include parts for

  one model only, along with one set of photoet-

  ched parts and masks and marking options for

  five birds. All of the aircraft that are offered in

  the marking options have extremely interesting

  histories spanning from Pearl Harbor to Guadal-

  canal, New Guinea and Indonesia, all the way to

  using the worn-out Type 21s for the Kamikaze

  mission. The main hero of this kit is the famous

  Saburo Sakai, a member of the no-less famous

  Tainan Kokutai, one of the most famous Zero pi-

  lots of them all. The boxart depicts a well-known

  fight between him and James ”Pug” Southerland

  and is an event that was described by both pi-

  lots in detail. At the time, Southerland was with

  VF-5, flying off the USS Saratoga, and the event

  took place on August 7, 1942, over Guadalcanal.

  It wasn’t combat that only included these two pi-

  lots by any stretch but included other Zeros and

  Saratoga Wildcats. You will be informed further

  on this in upcoming historical articles and mar-

  king descriptions.

  The release of a ProfiPack kit in the month fo-

  llowing the Limited Edition one has its reasons.

  This is the same procedure as with the Z-226

  Trener. The main reason is to offer as soon as

  possible an alternative for those, that for one

  reason or another, don’t want the Limited Editi-

  on kit. It doesn’t matter if it’s because they don’t

  want two kits that the Limited Edition offers, or

  if the price point is too high, or, as in the case of

  Tora Tora Tora! the kit simply encompasses too

  narrow theme spectrum.

  And this Limited Edition kit really encompass too

  narrow theme spectrum, let’s not kid ourselves.

  But at the same time, it’s a major theme. Holly-

  wood’s already turned out two blockbuster mo-

  vies about it, and if Quentin Tarantino buys this

  kit, we can likely expect a third. So, why not to

  release another Limited Edition kit of Type 21?

  It’s even necessary, as it will show this Zero in

  all its beauty and will describe its combat career

  in awesome detail spanning the years from 1941

  to 1945. It will be a similar story with the Profi-

  Pack kit, but with a slightly wider focus and with

  a greater variation of marking options. This has

  not yet been finalized, and we don’t know yet if

  there will be 12 or 14 options included, but the

  variability in the markings and locations of their

  use will be spectacular. Everyone who is inte-

  rested in not only aircraft markings, but the sto-

  ries behind the aircraft and those who flew them,

  are in for a treat.

  Spitfires

  Spitfires will continue with the first Weekend kits

  of the Mk.Ia. In February, we’ll see another Spitfi-

  re Story release dubbed ”Southern Star”, dedica-

  ted to the tropicalized Mk.Vb and Mk.Vc. This will

  be a surprisingly colorful affair, at least when it

  comes to Spitfires. We really will venture pretty

  far southernly with this one, through Italy, nor-

  thern Africa, through Burma and into Australia.

  In the second quarter, we will have the ProfiPack

  Spitfire Mk.Vc. This will offer further possibilities

  that we plan to take full advantage of.

  Of course, we don’t have just new Mk.Is and

  Mk.Vs, but also the good ol’ Mk.VIIIs and IXs. The

  first quarter will see the return of the 1:72nd sca-

  le Mk.IX in the form of Weekend kit, the Spitfire F

  Mk.IX, also known as the Spitfire Mk.IX Early. We

  expect to release the 1:72nd scale Weekend Spit-

  fire Mk.VIII before the end of the first half of the

  year, while in 1:48th scale we’ll see a return of

  the Spitfire HF Mk.VIII as a ProfiPack re-edition.

  Mustang

  It’s the way things go… There are those that think

  Eduard keeps on churning out the same old Me-

  sserschmitts and Mustangs, and the other half

  wants another one of each. We like releasing

  kits of both types. We like ‘em, and we enjoy ma-

  king ‘em. We believe that they not only bring joy

  to us, but to many modelers as well. Given the

  fact that the Weekend kit of the P-51D-5 has al-

  ready twice sold out since its introduction back

  in January of this year and the ProfiPack kit is

  also sold out, we figure that we are on the right

  path. Both D-5s will see a re-edition in the first

  quarter, and the ProfiPack will see the same in

  the second quarter.

  The things that are getting ready for release are

  a joy. In the ProfiPack line, this will be the post-

  -war F-51D. We are also planning a Red Tails

  Limited Edition boxing. The kit is being planned

  for May. Whether this kit includes 332nd FG Mus-

  tangs exclusively or other USAAF Fighter Groups

  in Italy remains to be seen. An overall analysis of

  it will made in early 2022.

  Trener and the Camel

  In the same fashion, the Trener family of kits will

  also grow next year. In January, there will be a

  Limited Edition release dedicated to the Z-126.

  Compared to the Z-226, it will offer more histo-

  rical markings. The ProfiPack kit of the Z-126 will

  follow in the second quarter. To keep this family

  from becoming a little on the monotonous side,

  there will be a single seat aerobatic version, the

  Z-526AFS appearing, first as a ProfiPack kit. In

  the first half of the year, the first Weekends will

  appear, the Z-226MS and the Z-526AFS. We are

  getting to the Weekend kits of the Trener rather

  quickly because, among other things, there is a

  large amount of interest in them from within va-

  rious aeroclub members, of which the majority

  are not even modelers. I expect the Weekend

  rendition of the kit will be most suited to them.

  The Camel will appear in the first half of the year

  two times, both times as a ProfiPack kit. The first

  will be a Camel powered by the Clerget 9b engi-

  ne and the second will be a night fighter Camel

  Comic.

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

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  And Now for Something New…

  We are intensively working on the molds for our

  1:72nd scale Avia S-199 and CS-199. We expect

  the completion of the full set of molds by the end

  of January and the first kit should be released

  in April. This first release will again be a Limited

  Edition kit and the name of the release is still to

  be decided on. The kit will include both the S-199

  and the CS-199. As is known, the S-199 had two

  types of canopies that were used. There was a

  classic type that was hinged to open sideways,

  inherited from the Bf 109G, and then there was

  one developed by Avia before the end of the Se-

  cond World War and adopted on the S-199 pro-

  duction line as standard. You wouldn’t have gu-

  essed, but these two different types of canopies

  complicated the design of the kit considerably.

  At least, if you want to do the project justice con-

  sistent with up to date standards. This obviously

  applies to us, because up to date standards are

  our standards. But I won’t keep you in suspen-

  se any longer, the way around these problems

  involves two separate fuselages, one for hinged

  canopy and the other for the sliding hood. The

  Limited Edition kit will contain both. Marking

  options will include Czechoslovak and Israeli

  aircraft as there are no more options. This may

  be a bit monotonous as with the Tora Tora Tora!

  kit, but we will again choose aircraft that have

  interesting stories to tell. But the name surely

  will not be based on Hebrew Tora…

  When We All Pull for the Cause

  Just in the nick of time to make the end of the

  first half of the year, we will be releasing our se-

  cond premiere of the year. This will be the 48th

  scale Wildcat, and it will be released first as a

  Limited Edition box dubbed ”Midway”. The final

  marking options have yet to be narrowed down

  in this one as well, but in all likelihood won’t be

  limited to just the Battle of Midway. Other sig-

  nificant events from the first year of the Pacific

  War involving the type should get some men-

  tion. The series of Limited Editions and Profi-

  Packs that will follow in the months to come will

  form a nice counterbalance to the Zero line. In

  some months, the emphasis will end up on the

  Japanese and in other months, the Americans.

  Sometimes, both will be well represented. The

  British will not be ignored in the least, and we

  are preparing a line of Wildcats that includes

  Martlets of various versions and, of course, the

  FM-1 and FM-2 will come as well. All will have

  their correct version specific components and

  will not require any major surgery on the part of

  the modeler. If we are willing to go into two fu-

  selages for the S-199, we are not likely to cheat

  our Wildcats, are we?

  Is that Enough?

  Depends on how you slice it. This could be enou-

  gh, but modelers are a demanding breed. The-

  re are a few more projects planned for the first

  half of the year, including some re-releases.

  For January, we have the 1:48th scale Tornado

  ECR with plastic, once again, from Revell. Some

  shots of this item, markings and other details

  can be found down below in this newsletter.

  For February, we are preparing the 1:72nd scale

  Hurricane Mk.I as a ProfiPack kit. Plastic origi-

  nates from Arma, and the kit follows on the he-

  els of the virtually sold out Hurristory Limited

  Edition kit. The ProfiPack Bf 109E-4 follows in a

  similar way the Adlerangriff 1:72nd scale Limited

  Edition kit. That one is expected in May. I will re-

  mind everyone that this is based on the Special

  Hobby kit, which was the result of a collaborati-

  on between our two companies.

  Our production schedule will see a further re-

  turn of kits into our catalog that were temporari-

  ly crippled by last year’s fire. Starting in January,

  this will be the MiG-15bis in 1:72nd, which will be

  reissued as a ProfiPack kit. This will be in con-

  junction with the release of the MiG-15, and all

  versions, including the UTI MiG-15 will be re-

  leased as Weekend kits over the course of the

  first half of the year. It will be a similar scene

  with the 1:72nd scale Spitfire Mk.IXs, as I have

  mentioned, as well as the 48th scale Hellcats.

  In order to maintain our image as inveterate

  manufacturer of Messerschmitts and Focke-

  -Wulfs, we will release a Weekend edition of the

  Bf 109G-10 WNF/Diana and will also re-release

  a 48th scale ProfiPack Bf 109G-14, Bf 109E-1 and

  Fw 190A-8/R2.

  USS Arizona

  The first ship model to be issued by Eduard,

  the USS Arizona in 1:350th scale, is now ”aflo-

  at”. Despite issues in production and the now-

  -normal problems in worldwide shipping, we

  found the needed space in a shipping container,

  and these will hit Hamburg about mid-Decem-

  ber. Because the days of receiving plastic parts

  in Obrnice three days after arriving in Hamburg

  have been relegated to the “good ol’ days”, we

  have had to postpone the release of the kit from

  December 2021 to February 2022. This is a Limi-

  ted Edition kit with Trumpeter plastic, comple-

  mented by our photoetched and 3D printed parts

  and turned barrels from the Polish firm Master.

  All is ready to go, and all we are waiting for is

  that plastic. Right about now, they should be so-

  mewhere in the Suez Canal.

  eduard

  6

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 7

  BFC

  In Novemb

  er, we celebrated the nine years from

  setting up the BFC. In honor of that anniversary,

  we are releasing a new membership initiation kit,

  the Tempest Mk.V. The kit features two fictitious

  markings and two historical, and a collection of

  accessories that are common to these club entry

  kits. With the Tempest, we see a return of Edu-

  ard Kleinkonnig and the two fictitious markings

  mentioned. One is a “what-if” Tempest of the

  Czechoslovak Police, while the other illustrates

  a hypothetical aircraft operating from the HMS

  Habakuk. The ship is worthy of our Hero and was

  to be built from blocks of ice, and all indications

  are that this project was taken seriously. We can

  smirk over the concept, but let’s take under con-

  sideration the number of desperation projects

  that were meant to be taken seriously and have

  come to light, and do not avoid even our industry.

  Historical Articles and other Literature

  The adventures of Eduard Kleinkonnig in the

  RAF and the Royal Navy, including on the HMS

  Habakuk, are the work of Jan Bobek in his fan-

  tasy short ”Storm Over the Antarctic”. That will

  be published in the January newsletter. And this

  brings us to today’s historical articles.

  The Treners are the focus of an article describing

  the defection of famous aerobatic pilot Ladislav

  Bezak by Richard Plos. It’s about the defection

  in 1971 from the then CSSR to West Germany. He

  used his privately owned Z-226T to escape and

  he managed to fit his whole family into the OK-

  -MUA Trener. That´s one is featured as a marking

  option in the kit “Trener”.

  The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941,

  from the American point of view is covered by

  renowned author Paul Molesworth. His article

  has quite fitting title: Caught with a pants down.

  The attack from the Japanese viewpoint is cove-

  red by the Jan Bobek article Tora Tora Tora!.

  The Zeros that attacked Pearl Harbor from a mo-

  deling point of view are covered by the article by

  Martin Cerny ”Build Build Build”, outlining exactly

  that using the Tora Tora Tora! kit. It was built over

  two days at a weekend event put on by Kaznejov

  modeller´s club.

  In the next Eduard Info, I will inform you on the

  planned releases for the latter half of 2022, so-

  mething about the year after that, and of all the

  new innovations and plans across all our lines

  for the year just about to start.

  As with every year previous, our e-shop will be

  closed just before Christmas. Any orders that

  we receive up to December 20 will go out before

  Christmas. The retail department will be off after

  that. Resumption of retail operations is anticipa-

  ted for January 7, 2022.

  I wish you a pleasant and inspirational read of

  the following pages.

  Happy Modeling!

  Vladimir Sulc

  *

  Modeling in Papua New Guinea is part of the

  popular cargo cults there. These have a connec-

  tion going back to World War II, when Australian

  and American planes and ships brought cargo to

  New Guinea, a variety of useful and otherwise

  hard-to-reach items that could be exchanged

  with Americans and Australians on the black

  market for local products. Hence the “Cargo” co-

  nnection. At the end of the war, the influx of car-

  go ceased, but faith in its return has lasted in the

  75 years since the end of the war, passed down

  from generation to generation. To help attract it,

  the local population has used proven mystical

  methods, consisting of creating artifacts to su-

  mmon the desired cargo. A typical procedure is

  the construction of a quasi-airfield at the edge of

  the jungle, created by pruning trees and optically

  modifying the terrain into an airport – however,

  the general characteristic of the local area is

  not affected much by landscaping. This makes

  these cargo airports deadly traps for small air-

  craft, which can try to land on such an area in the

  event of a navigational error, usually with fatal

  consequences. The cargo airport also includes a

  tower, where the services of quasi-guides alter-

  nate. These cargo attendants are equipped with

  coconut shell headphones, holding an imitation

  microphone in their hands, and patiently waiting

  for the arrival of aircraft full of coveted cargo.

  Cargo modeling thus has a mystical form that

  does not bring practical results in the form of

  built models, because even unbuilt kits will never

  reach New Guinea. The truth is that this is proba-

  bly the most successful of New Guinea cultural

  export phenomena, as various cargo projects are

  being created in our civilization across all fields,

  including modeling. The famous American physi-

  cist and Nobel laureate Richard P. Feynman once

  defined the concept of cargo science, operated

  not for the purpose of achieving scientific pro-

  gress, but for the purpose of efficiently drawing

  various grants and state subsidies. We can ob-

  serve similar phenomena outside of science, and

  we have several cases of successful operations

  of cargo projects in our field. These are extreme-

  ly colorful projects that would almost be worth

  writing a book about. Well, modelers themselves

  in all countries of the world often show, in terms

  of built models, results that clearly show the pa-

  rameters of the cargo cult. That is “nil” or zero,

  as in zero models built, from which it could be

  concluded that the Zero is the most popular mo-

  del of all time. Sources: Vojtěch Novotný: Papuan

  (semi)truths, Dokořán s.r.o. Publishing House,

  2010, ISBN: 978-80-7363-279-3); Richard P. Fey-

  nman: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, Mladá

  Fronta, 1989, ISBN: 80-204-0023-0.

  But I made up the passage about cargo mode-

  ling in New Guinea, I don't have any proof of the

  existence of this hobby in that part of the World…

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  7

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 8

  The Navy began construction of its base at Pearl

  Harbor in 1908 and expanded it steadily over the

  next decade, deepening the harbor sufficiently to

  accommodate the largest vessels in the U.S. fle-

  et. In acknowledgement of the emergence of air

  power during World War I, U.S. Army Air Corps

  bases were built on Oahu to provide air defense

  for Pearl Harbor. The USAAC activated the 18th

  Pursuit Group and its three squadrons of biplane

  fighters at Wheeler Field, about 10 miles west of

  Pearl Harbor, in 1927.

  In 1940, with Japan growing increasingly expan-

  sionist in Asia, U.S. President Franklin D. Roose-

  velt ordered the entire Pacific Fleet of nearly 100

  ships to Pearl Harbor to deter growing Japanese

  aggression. The USAAC activated the 15th PG in

  December 1940 to bolster the air defenses for

  Hawaii. Wheeler Field was the Army's main fi-

  ghter airbase.

  Diplomatic talks increased between the United

  States and Japan during the fall of 1941, but to

  no avail. Meanwhile, Japanese military planners

  were planning for war. Admiral Isoroku Yama-

  moto engineered an air attack on Pearl Harbor in

  hopes of taking the U.S. Navy out of the war at the

  beginning. Meanwhile, invasions were planned

  against the Philippine Islands (then an American

  possession), the British colony at Hong Kong,

  French Indo-China, and the Dutch East Indies.

  American military leaders and President Roose-

  velt were not unaware of Japan’s hostile intenti-

  ons, because U.S. Naval intelligence had broken

  Japan’s diplomatic radio code some months

  earlier. Nor were the Americans lacking suffici-

  ent military assets to defend Pearl Harbor from

  aerial attack. Of 231 military aircraft stationed on

  the island of Oahu, 115 were Army P-40 and P-36

  fighters of the 14th Pursuit Wing. Army B-17 and

  B-18 bombers were available for patrol duties,

  as were Navy PBY flying boats, and a new net

  of radar stations provided further aerial surve-

  illance.

  At this time, the Curtiss P-40 was the first-line

  operational fighter in the U.S. Army Air Corps’

  inventory, and nine pursuit squadrons in Hawaii

  were fully or partially equipped with the type. The

  P-40 design had its roots in the radial-engine

  Curtiss P-36 Hawk fighter, which also was on

  strength in Hawaii. P-40B and C models equi-

  pped most squadrons of the 15th and 18th pursuit

  groups by December 1941.

  A Plum Assignment

  Army pilots considered Hawaii a plum assig-

  nment prior to the outbreak of the war. Their

  workdays were short, their accommodations at

  Wheeler Field were comfortable, and there was

  plenty of fun to be had during off-duty hours.

  Even better, they were flying the best fighter

  Uncle Sam had at the time. Among those pilots

  was 2/Lt. Francis S. Gabreski of the 45th PS/15th

  PG, who joined the unit fresh out of flight school

  in April 1941. Gabreski soon tamed the P-40 and

  went on in 1944 to become the leading USAAF

  As the United States considered its place in the world du-

  ring the opening decade of the 20th Century, the strategic

  importance of the Hawaiian Islands became obvious. Lo-

  cated in the middle of the Pacic Ocean, a base in Hawaii

  would place the American Navy’s ships ve sailing days

  closer to the Asian continent than its bases on the west

  coast of the U.S. Plus, Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu

  was one of the largest and best natural harbors in the

  Pacic.

  TTEXEXTT: : CCARL MOARL MOLESWLLESWOORTRTHH

  Photo: via Francis S. Gabreski

  HISTORY

  Burning aircraft and hangars on the flight line at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, produce a huge cloud of smoke following bombing and strafing attacks by Japanese naval aircraft on December 7, 1941.

  Caught With Their Caught With Their

  Pants DownPants Down

  US Army Air Corps US Army Air Corps

  at Pearl Harbor at Pearl Harbor

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  8

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 9

  ace in the European Theater, but he considered

  another pilot in his 45th PS flight, 2/Lt. Emmett

  S. “Cyclone” Davis, the P-40’s master. On 26 Fe-

  bruary 1940, Davis had been one of 30 pilots who

  made Army history when they flew their P-36s

  off the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Enterpri-

  se for delivery to Wheeler Field, the first such

  launch of Army fighters from a carrier. In 2001,

  he recalled his pre-war service in Hawaii:

  “I was

  first assigned to the 6th PS/18th PG, then a few

  weeks later I was transferred to the 45th PS/15th

  PG. When I was assigned to the 45th, the squad

  -

  ron operations officer was 1/Lt. Woodrow ‘Woo-

  dy’ Wilmot. He was one of the more experienced

  pilots who had been part of the P-36 pilots sent

  from Selfridge Field, Michigan. He was a superb

  pilot, and he took me under his wing and taught

  me all of his clever and skillful maneuvers.”

  “New pilots arrived shortly after I did, Gabreski

  being one of them. He and I practiced dogfighting

  many times in 1941. He became very good and

  could beat most of the other pilots, but he never

  became fine-tuned enough to defeat me. At night

  when the pilots met in the officer´s club, dogfight

  challenges were issued, and I tried to accommo

  -

  date most of them. That was at the time when

  s

  omeone made an offhand remark about going

  to fight the ‘Cyclone,’ and that nickname has re-

  mained with me throughout the rest of my life.”

  Davis and Gabreski were typical of the seve-

  ral hundred Army fighter pilots who were ho-

  ning their skills in the skies over Hawaii as war

  clouds grew darker in the fall of 1941. But when

  the Japanese attack finally came, only a handful

  of them would get a chance to fight back.

  For all the military hardware defending Pearl

  Harbor, the American forces were, as one

  newspaper later termed it, “caught with their

  pants down” by the Japanese on December 7,

  1941. The American Army and Navy commanders

  in Hawaii had received a “war warning” from

  Washington, D.C., on November 27. But lacking

  respect for Japan’s military capabilities and an

  appreciation of the destructive power of a mo-

  dern attack from the air, they decided that the

  greatest threat to Pearl Harbor was from local

  sabotage. Accordingly, they had ordered fighters

  and bombers moved out of the protective disper-

  sal areas around their airfields to be bunched up

  on the hangar lines, where they would be easier

  to guard. They ordered no increase in aerial re-

  connaissance missions, and they placed the

  battleships moored at the Ford Island piers on

  Condition 3, which called for partial manning of

  anti-aircraft batteries while roughly a third of the

  ships’ crews were allowed shore leave. The ra-

  dar stations were on minimum manning by inex-

  perienced or completely untrained personnel.

  And on Saturday, December 6, all non-essential

  Army personnel at Wheeler Field had been given

  the weekend off. There was a big dance at the

  officer’s club that night.

  The devastation begins

  At 5:55 a.m. on December 7, Lt. Cmdr. Mitsuo

  Fuchida’s strike force – D3A Val dive-bombers

  and B5N Kate torpedo bombers escorted by A6M

  Zero fighters – began launching from six Japa-

  nese carriers about 200 miles due north of Ho-

  nolulu. An Army radar station on the north coast

  of Oahu spotted the incoming formation just over

  an hour later, but the pursuit officer on duty mis-

  took the plot for a flight of B-17s due to arrive

  from California that morning and told the station

  to ignore it. Much has been made over the years

  of the failure to sound the alarm, but in fact 40

  minutes’ warning would have made little diffe-

  rence in the 14th Pursuit Wing’s ability to defend

  Pearl Harbor. For on that morning, the bulk of the

  fighter force was a toothless dragon, the guns of

  many P-40s and P-36s at Wheeler Field having

  been removed for safe keeping in a locked area

  of the main hanger. The time required to reinstall

  and load the guns, combined with the slow climb

  rate of the planes, would have rendered the war-

  ning moot.

  At 7:55 a.m. Fuchida gave the order to attack. Lt.

  Akira Sakamoto’s Val dive-bombers immediate-

  ly rained down their bombs on the installations

  and flight line of Wheeler, then began strafing the

  field. For 20 minutes they circled in a counter-

  -clockwise direction, shooting up anything that

  looked like a worthwhile target. Later, a flight of

  Zeros from the second wave of the attack strafed

  Wheeler again. Fortunately, thick, black smoke

  rising from the burning American planes shiel-

  ded the aircraft of two squadrons at the west end

  of the flight line from view, and most of them sur-

  vived the attack.

  Vain resistance

  Lts. “Cyclone” Davis and “Gabby” Gabreski were

  among several pilots of the 45th PS at Wheeler

  who got airborne too late to catch the withdra-

  wing Japanese attackers. But 14 Army fighter pi-

  lots did manage to engage the enemy on Decem-

  ber 7, flying a total of 18 sorties. In nine sorties,

  P-36 pilots were credited with confirmed victo-

  HISTORY

  P-36 assigned to Major Ken Walker, 18th PG commander, heads a line of P-26s at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, in 1940.

  Photo: Bruce K. Holloway

  Caught With Their Caught With Their

  Pants DownPants Down

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 10

  HISTORY

  ries by 1/Lt. Lewis M. Sanders and 2/Lts. Philip M.

  Rasmussen and Gordon H. Sterling of the 46th

  PS for the cost of one P-36 shot down and its

  pilot killed. In addition, most of the other P-36s

  suffered varying degrees of battle damage.

  Two pilots of the 44th PS and three of the 47th PS

  flew a total of nine P-40 sorties during the Japa-

  nese raids. It is significant that the 44th and 47th

  squadrons performed all the P-40 encounters

  because neither unit was based at Wheeler at

  that time. Thus, both were spared the first wave

  of Japanese attacks. The 44th had 12 P-40s at

  Bellows Field, but only three of its pilots were on

  the base that morning. A single strafing pass by

  Zeros about 9 a.m. killed one pilot in the cockpit

  of his plane on the ground and caught two P-40s

  just taking off. Both were quickly shot down, with

  one pilot killed and the other wounded.

  The 47th PS was more fortunate. Its mixed com-

  plement of 18 P-40s and P-36s were at Halie-

  wa, an auxiliary field on the coast about 10 miles

  west of Wheeler, where the squadron had been

  undergoing gunnery training. Japanese intelli-

  gence was unaware of the airfield, and therefore

  it was not targeted. Most officers of the 47th PS

  had deserted their tents at Haliewa on Saturday

  in favor of more comfortable accommodations at

  Wheeler. When the bombs began to fall on Whe-

  eler Sunday morning, 2/Lts. George S. Welch and

  Kenneth M. Taylor of the 47th PS called Haliewa

  to alert the men there to the attack and to or-

  der their P-40Bs prepared for flight. Then they

  leaped into Taylor’s car a sped across the island

  toward the base, dodging a couple of strafing

  attacks on the way. Several other 47th pilots fo-

  llowed a few minutes later.

  When Welch and Taylor reached Haliewa their

  planes were ready, and they took off shortly af-

  ter 8:30 a.m. Unfortunately, their twin .50-caliber

  cowl guns were not loaded because no ammu-

  nition for them was stored at Haliewa. As they

  headed east toward Pearl the two pilots knew

  they would have to make do with just the four

  .30-caliber wing guns in their planes. Reaching

  the Marine base at Ewa, the pair spotted about

  20 D3A1 Vals strafing the facility. Welch, the high-

  -spirited son of an influential DuPont research

  scientist, gave this account of his first encounter

  with enemy aircraft:

  “I was leading and peeled off first. Lieutenant Ta-

  ylor was about 200 yards to the rear and side, fo-

  llowing me. Their rear gunners were apparently

  s

  hooting at the ground because they didn’t see us

  coming. The first one I shot down the rear gunner

  didn’t even turn around to face me. I got up close

  enough to see what he was doing. I got him in a

  five-second burst – he burned right away.

  “I left and got the next plane in the circle, which

  was about 100 yards ahead of me. His rear

  gunner was shooting at me. One bullet put a hole

  through my cooling radiator, and I got one in the

  nose. It took three bursts of five seconds each to

  get him. He crashed on the beach.”

  Ken Taylor’s account of the flight reveals his

  inexperience at air combat:

  “The first aircraft I shot at burst into flames im-

  mediately, rolled over in a ball of fire and dove

  into the gr

  ound near Ewa Field. I then proceeded

  up the string, catching the next Val, which also

  went down quite easily. By that time the formati-

  2/Lts. Ken Taylor (left) and George Welch of the 47th PS pose for the press following the December 7, 1

  941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

  Pilots live it up at the Wheeler Field offers club, May 4, 1942. 2/Lt. Francis S. “Gabby” Gabreski (left) and 1/Lt. Emmett S.

  “Cyclone” Davis. Others unidentified.

  Photo: Molesworth collection

  Photo: via Francis S. Gabreski

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  10

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 11

  HISTORY

  on was in general disarray, and I had completely

  lost track of George.

  “I then tagged onto a third Val that was offshore

  near Barbers Point. I pulled up very close to this

  aircraft with the rear gunner plainly visible firing

  at me… Because of the close proximity, I saw that

  he was killed with my first burst. However, despi-

  te all the hits that I was getting, this aircraft did

  not burst into flames, as the others had, but star-

  ted a gradual descent smoking badly. Although

  I turned for home, this plane also undoubtedly

  went down at sea. It was most frustrating at this

  point to find I was out of ammunition at a time

  when these much slower aircraft were making a

  hasty retreat to their carrier. With more ammu-

  nition, or more judicious use earlier, I could have

  caught and destroyed several more of them.”

  Repeated bravery

  Welch and Taylor landed at Wheeler to rearm and

  refuel. At about 9:30 a.m., a flight of Vals appro-

  ached the base, intent on strafing, and Welch

  took off immediately with another partial load of

  ammunition. Taylor was a few moments behind

  him, just long enough for the Vals to begin their

  strafing runs. Taylor made his takeoff run direct-

  ly at the oncoming Japanese bombers and be-

  gan firing as soon as his wheels left the ground.

  Picking up speed, he made a tight chandelle and

  happened to roll out behind the next-to-last Val

  in the line. Taylor started firing just as the last

  Val started shooting at him. Taylor took some

  hits, including a bullet through his left arm, but

  fortunately Welch dropped in line behind the Val

  and shot it off Taylor’s tail. Though wounded, Tay-

  lor chased the retreating Vals out to sea until he

  expended the last of his ammunition. Welch flew

  to Ewa, where he spotted a lone Val and shot it

  down just off the beach at Barber’s Point.

  Welch went up a third time that morning, accom-

  panied by 2/Lt. John Dains of the 47th PS in a

  P-36. Earlier, Dains had made two sorties in a

  P-40 from Haliewa and apparently shot down a

  Japanese bomber in a combat witnessed by per-

  sonnel at the Kaawa radar station. The Japanese

  raiders had cleared the area by this time, but the

  airspace over Oahu was still a dangerous pla-

  ce to be. As Dains approached Wheeler Field to

  land, he was fired on by jumpy anti-aircraft ba-

  tteries at Schofield Barracks and crashed to his

  death on the golf course.

  Welch was credited with four confirmed victories

  on December 7, Taylor got two and Dains one. Ta-

  ylor and Welch still had plenty of air combat in

  front of them. Taylor would serve as a flight co-

  mmander in the 44th FS on Guadalcanal in 1943.

  Welch went to New Guinea to fly P-39s in the 8th

  Fighter Group, scoring three victories on De-

  cember 7, 1942, exactly one year after his Pearl

  Harbor heroics, to reach ace status. He finished

  the war with 16 victories and then became a test

  pilot for North American Aviation after the war.

  He was killed while testing an F-100 in October

  1954.

  In all, the five P-40s that got airborne during the

  Pearl Harbor attack shot down seven Japanese

  planes while losing two of their own with one pi-

  lot killed. Viewed statistically, the P-40’s combat

  debut in U.S. Army service might be viewed as

  a success. But as a practical matter, the P-40

  interceptor force had failed in its assigned task

  to defend Pearl Harbor from air attack. Perhaps

  undeservedly, the P-40’s reputation received an

  indelible black mark, one that would darken in

  the days ahead.

  The Jap

  anese attack had shattered the battleship

  forces of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet. Similarly,

  the 14th Pursuit Wing suffered 61 P-40s and

  P-36s destroyed plus 41 disabled. Had the

  Japane-se sent a third wave of attackers in the

  afternoon, only 38 Army fighters would have

  been available to intercept them. But the

  Japanese didn’t return – not on December 7,

  and never thereafter. The Army fighter

  squadrons at Hawaii quickly shifted to wartime

  status, and their lost aircraft were soon

  replaced by later models of the P-40 and by

  Bell P-39s. Hawaii became a large training

  center, preparing fresh Army pilots for combat

  assignments throughout the Pacific Theater in

  the nearly four years of war that lay ahead.

  1/Lt. John Thacker flew this P-40B, named for his girlfriend on Hawaii in 1942. The aircraft had alternating red

  and white rudder stripes.

  About the Author

  Carl Molesworth worked as journalist in

  newspapers and magazines for nearly 40

  years before retiring in 2015. He also has

  been researching and writing about World

  War II flight operations for more than three

  decades. His 15 non-fiction books on the to-

  pic include the latest, Flying Tiger Ace, which

  was published in 2020 by Osprey Publishing.

  Carl has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English

  from the University of Maryland. He lives in

  Bay View, WA,USA.

  Photo: Francis S. Gabreski

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  11

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 12

  Photograph taken from a Japanese plane during the torpedo attack on ships moored on both sides of Ford Island shortly after the beginning of the Pearl Harbor attack. Photo taken

  in eastern direction approximately, with the supply depot, submarine base and fuel tank farm in the right center. A torpedo has just hit USS West Virginia on the far side of Ford Island

  (center). Other battleships moored nearby are (from left): Nevada, Arizona, Tennessee (inboard of West Virginia), Oklahoma (torpedoed and tilting) alongside Maryland, and California.

  On the left are light cruisers Detroit and Raleigh, target and training ship Utah and seaplane tender Tangier. Raleigh and Utah have been torpedoed and Utah is tilting sharply to port.

  Japanese planes are visible in the right center (over Ford Island) and over the Navy Yard at right. U.S. Navy planes on the seaplane ramp are on fire.

  HISTORY

  Photo: U.S. Navy

  War between Japan and the United States was a threat that both countries

  had been preparing for since the 1920s. Japan had viewed the expansion

  of American spheres of influence in the Pacific since the 1890s with con

  -

  cern. In the First World War, Japan sided with the Allied Powers, and it was

  also one of the reasons why Germany lost its colonies in Asia. However,

  the Japanese government itself saw the path to international power in

  colonial expansion, which it saw as unacceptable in other states.

  Tensions between Japan and the U.S. escalated in 1931 after the Japane

  -

  se invasion of Manchuria and increased during the war in China in the

  following decade. In 1940, Japan seized French Indochina in an attempt

  to impose an embargo on all imports into China, including war supplies

  heading from the US. This move prompted the United States to impose a

  retaliatory embargo on Japan's oil exports, leading the Japanese to es

  -

  timate that its supplies would last less than two years. For some time,

  Japan had been planning the conquest of the “Southern Resource Area”

  in order to join the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” that Japan

  wanted to create.

  The strategic target of the attack was the Philippines, which was an U.S.

  protectorate at the time. Part of the plan was a preemptive attack on Pearl

  Harbor that would neutralize the US naval forces in the Pacific.

  Planning an attack

  Preparations for the attack on Pearl Harbor began by Admiral Isoroku

  Yamamoto in early 1941. As a former military attaché in Washington, he

  had reservations about war with the US, but when preparations for the

  attack were about to begin, he took them personally. He eventually won

  the approval of the Navy High Command by, among other things, thre

  -

  atening to resign. From the summer of 1941, the attack was codenamed

  Operation Z, but had other names too.

  During 1941, the Japanese gathered intelligence in Hawaii using their own

  network and Abwehr agents. Although the U.S. closed the Hawaiian con

  -

  sulates belonging to Italy and Germany during the summer, the Japanese

  consulate was not closed for fear of increasing tensions with Tokyo. The

  latter was a key source for tracking the movements of vessels and US

  troops in planning the attack.

  Yamamoto had studied the British raid on the Taranto base and even sent

  a research team to Italy for this purpose. Yamamoto, together with Rear

  Admiral Kusaka and Commander Minoru Genda, planned the attack using

  aircraft carriers whose planes were to strike with a surprise attack in the

  early morning hours. Because of the shallow waters in the harbor, the

  Japanese were forced to adjust the torpedoes and practice dropping them

  under these specific conditions. The Navy used Kagoshima Harbor with its

  mountain range surroundings as a training area similar to Hawaii.

  The landing and occupation of the Hawaiian Islands was also considered,

  but this idea was abandoned by the Japanese because of the current in

  -

  volvement of Army units in China, the planned deployment in the Philippi-

  nes and other areas in the southwest direction.

  The attack on Pearl Harbor was approved in the summer of 1941 at the Im

  -

  perial Conference. The authorization for the attack was given at a second

  Imperial Conference provided a satisfactory outcome for Japan was not

  achieved in diplomatic negotiations with the United States. Following the

  so-called Hull Note, the order to attack was given on December 1, 1941.

  However, Emperor Hirohito hesitated until the last moment to issue it.

  Japanese naval aviators

  The crews of Aichi D3A bombers, Nakajima B5N bombers and A6M2 fi

  -

  ghter pilots understood that they were preparing for a major military en-

  counter during the training of attacks on the port target. However, they es-

  timated the target differently. Many of them assumed it would be an attack

  on a Russian base, as tensions between Japan and Russia over fishing

  issues were rising at the time. Others expected an attack on American

  bases in the Aleutians. Some, however, correctly guessed Pearl Harbor.

  The crews of the B5N bombers were a little uncomfortable with the dark

  paint on the upper surfaces of their machines before the attack. Others

  found it ominous when they saw training torpedoes with red paint on their

  warheads being swapped for combat torpedoes with black paint before

  the formation sailed.

  After the crews had been told the target of the attack, the officers on some

  ships had to assure their subordinates that the plan was in accord with

  the position of the naval command. This was to prevent rumors that mig

  -

  ht have spread in connection with several coup attempts that Japan had

  suffered in the past decade. And it was also necessary to emphasize that

  the plan was prepared in concert between the Army and Navy leadership,

  The Japanese attack on the American base at

  Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941,

  is one of the decisive milestones of the Second

  World War and of the entire twentieth century. It

  was the catharsis of a long-standing crisis in Ja-

  panese–American relations and brought the Uni-

  ted States into the World War 2. United States as a

  global economic and military power had until then

  kept aloof from the war in Europe, even they were

  preparing for it and supporting their future allies.

  TEXT: JAN BOBEK

  TORA TORA TORA!TORA TORA TORA!

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 13

  whose rivalry was well known.

  Individual naval aviators took different approaches to the attack on the

  US. Some welcomed the attack with enthusiasm, others saw it as an ob

  -

  ligation. There were also airmen who were seriously concerned about a

  war against the US or expressed resentment that the enemy would be

  attacked unexpectedly and that a conventional naval battle would not

  occur. Most airmen considered Pearl Harbor a heavily defended target

  and assumed they would not return from the raid.

  The Striking Force is setting sail

  The core of the Striking Force, which was to attack Pearl Harbor, were six

  aircraft carriers divided into three divisions: 1. Kōkū Sentai with Akagi and

  Kaga, 2. Kōkū Sentai with Soryū and Hiryū and 5. Kōkū Sentai with Shóka

  -

  ku and Zuikaku. They belonged to the so-called Kidō Butai (Mobile Force)

  commanded by Vice-Admiral Chūichi Nagumo. At the same time, he was

  the commander of the 1st Kōkū Kantai (Air Fleet), under which the air units

  aboard a total of six aircraft carriers fell organizationally.

  Such a large carrier group has never been deployed in combat in the his

  -

  tory of naval operations. Two of the ships, Shōkaku and Zuikaku, were

  completed just a few months ago. The battleships Hiei and Kirishima and

  the heavy cruisers Tone and Chikuma were part of the group. The cruiser

  Abukuma cruiser, with nine modern destroyers, provided escort for the

  Striking Force. Seven tankers provided fuel and the submarines I-19, I-21,

  and I-23 sailed in the vanguard to Hawaii.

  The aircraft of the 1st and 2nd Kōkū Sentai were divided into four speciali

  -

  zations: fighter escort, torpedo attack, dive bombing, and horizontal flight

  bombing. The crews of the 5th Kōkū Sentai were ordered to prepare for

  only the first three tasks. If no enemy aircraft were in the air, the escort

  fighters were to engage in strafing ground targets, preferably attacking as

  low as possible over the terrain.

  The leader of the air attack was Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, who simul

  -

  taneously commanded the first attack wave. The fighter escort during the

  first wave was led by Lt. Shigeru Itaya, who had participated in the deve

  -

  lopment of the Zero for the Navy in the late 1930s. In the second wave, Lt.

  Saburō Shindō, who led Zer pilots into the first successful combat in China

  in 1940. All three officers served aboard the Akagi. The commander of the

  second attack wave was another veteran of fighting in China, Lieutenant

  Commander Shigekazu Shimazaki.

  Vessels began to depart their ports gradually starting on November 16 and

  gathered in Hitokappu Bay on the remote island of Etorofu in the South

  Kurils. Toward its destination in Hawaii, the Striking Force sailed in the

  evening of November 26. The Japanese decided to attack the target in two

  waves and were prepared to send a third. The reason for dividing the air

  units into several waves was primarily the long time required for logistics

  and launching all the machines from the decks. Nagumo received a co

  -

  ded message on December 2, “Niitaka-yama nobore 1208” (Climb Mount

  Niitaka 1208)”, meaning that the date of the attack was confirmed for De

  -

  cember 8 of Japanese time.

  After refueling northerly of Midway Atoll on December 4, the convoy

  headed southeast. The voyage was conducted at constant risk of discove

  -

  ry of the Striking Force. If detection occurred within two days before the

  attack, Nagumo would return to Japan. On the eve of the attack, Japanese

  naval command received word from agents in Hawaii of vessels in port,

  but no American aircraft carriers were present. Nevertheless, excitement

  about the coming action prevailed among the crews of the Kidō Butai.

  After another refueling about six hundred miles north of Oahu, only the

  combat vessels made their way to the target. On the mast of the Akagi

  flew the historic flag used by Admiral Tōgō at the Battle of Tsushima.

  The heavy cruisers Tone and Chikuma sent reconnaissance float planes

  to the area of Hawaii, and crews upon their return, confirmed previous

  information about enemy ships in the harbor.

  Attack

  At 1 hour 30 minutes (Japanese Standard Time) the order was given to

  start the engines. The first to take to the air from each ship were 43 Zero

  fighters, needing the shortest run-up to take off. They were followed by

  140 Nakajima B5N bombers and Aichi D3A dive bombers. Mitsuo Fuchida

  assisted his navigation to the target by tuning in an American radio from

  Hawaii, which, in addition to jazz music for a relaxing Sunday morning,

  provided an accurate report of the weather over the target, including cloud

  height and wind strength and direction. As a result, Fuchida changed his

  direction of attack. At 3 o'clock, the Japanese crews spotted Kahuku Point

  on northern part of Oahu. After ten minutes, Fuchida gave the order to

  attack with one flare, but the fighter escort did not notice the signal. Fuchi

  -

  da then fired a second flare, but this caused a misunderstanding among

  the bomber crews. The two flares were a signal that the formation was

  under attack. As a result, the leader of the dive bombers, Lt. Cdr. Kakuichi

  Takahashi understood that he should attack first, but the leader of the

  torpedo bomber formation Lt. Cdr. Shigeharu Murata believed that he was

  the one to launch the raid according to the original plan.

  At 3 hours 17 minutes Fuchida, after visual contact with the target, sent

  the signal “to, to, to, to”, which meant that the aircraft were launching the

  attack in full force. After another three minutes, he sent the signal “tora,

  tora, tora” (tora = tiger), confirming that the enemy had been surprised.

  The message was immediately relayed by Nagumo to Tokyo.

  Dive bombers due to a misunderstanding launched a raid on the ships

  in the harbor first, which forced the commander of the torpedo bombers

  to attack under a different course and faster than planned. Some of the

  bombers attacked Ford Island, Hickam Field, and Wheeler, Ewa, and Ka

  -

  neohe airfields. Mitsuo Fuchida's B5N bomber formation dropped bombs

  HISTORY

  On photograph taken in Washington, D.C. in February 1927 are seated from the left: new

  Naval Attaché, Capt. Isoroku Yamamoto, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Curtis D. Wilbur, former

  Naval Attaché Capt. Kiyoshi Hasegawa, and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Edward

  Walter Eberle. Thanks to Eberle, completion of the aircraft carriers USS Lexington and

  Saratoga was hurried. He also contributed to the retention of aviation units within the U.S.

  Navy after World War I.

  Photo: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

  Imperial Japanese Navy Portrait photograph of Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo taken circa

  1941-42, when he was commander of the 1st Air Fleet.

  Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

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  Photo: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command

  Photo: Shizuo Fukui

  Battleship Kirishima and aircraft carrier Akagi near Sukumo Bay, Japan in April 1939, both ships participated in Pearl Harbor attack two years later.

  HISTORY

  on targets in Oahu from an altitude of 3,000 meters.

  Only a few American fighters tried to intervene against the attackers and

  were quickly shot down. The American personnel recovered from the

  sheer shock and fought back with all available means. Japanese vete

  -

  rans of the first attack wave recalled after the war being surprised at how

  quickly the Americans were able to open fire. The Japanese airmen quick

  -

  ly became desperate, in some cases having to change course at the last

  minute to reduce the risk of being hit before the torpedoes were dropped.

  Fuchida gave the order to return at four o'clock, but he stayed over the

  target, as he was the main commander of the raid. By this time a second

  attack wave was already approaching, led by Lt. Cdr. Shimazaki, who at

  the same time commanded 54 B5N bombers, a formation of 78 D3A dive

  bombers was led by Lt. Cdr. Takashige Egusa, and escorting them were 36

  Zeros under the command of Lt. Shindō.

  Shimazaki gave the order to attack at 4 hours 25 minutes, but by that

  time his aircraft were already the target of heavy anti-aircraft fire. The

  targets were shrouded in a smoke screen, or they were heavily burning.

  The bombers had to significantly lower their attack altitude, but this put

  them at greater risk of hits from anti-aircraft artillery. Japanese airmen

  had difficulty identifying targets, so they began attacking the hot spots of

  defense fire.

  Nagumo and his staff considered sending a third wave, but eventually

  abandoned it, mainly because of the heavy anti-aircraft fire and the fact

  that the sinking of the American ships had succeeded in achieving the

  objectives of the operation. They sent 350 machines into action out of the

  414 available. In the first wave were lost three Zeros, one D3A and five

  B5N bombers. In the second wave, six Zeros and fourteen D3As were lost.

  Fifty-five pilots were killed, none were captured, except for the ironic si

  -

  tuation of fighter pilot PO1c Nishikaichi. A total of 74 aircraft returned with

  damage. Nine midget submarine crews also lost their lives and one was

  captured. Of the 79 fighter pilots who took part in both attack waves, only

  17 lived to see the end of the war.

  The airstrike killed 2,335 members of the US armed forces and injured

  1,143. 68 civilians also lost their lives and 35 others sustained injuries. In

  addition to the sunken and damaged ships, nearly 350 aircraft were de

  -

  stroyed or damaged. Three civilian machines were also shot down.

  American aircraft carriers

  The main target of the Japanese attack, the American carriers, were not

  attacked and their location was unknown to the Japanese. The USS Sara

  -

  toga was just in San Diego, embarking her air group and USMC fighters.

  She was immediately ordered to Pearl Harbor, where she arrived on De

  -

  cember 15, and proceeded to Wake Island.

  USS Lexington sailed in Task Force 12 to Midway Atoll to transport Marine

  Corps bombers. After the announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor, TF

  12 was ordered to begin a search for the Japanese carriers. Her aircraft

  conducted intensive patrol activity until December 13, when the USS Le

  -

  xington returned to Pearl Harbor.

  The USS Enterprise sent eighteen SBD bombers under the command of

  commander of Carrier Air Group Lt. Cdr. Howard L. “Brigham” Young. At

  the end of the patrol, they arrived at Pearl Harbor but came under fire

  from both Japanese airmen and their own gunners. Seven Dauntlesses

  were shot down, eight airmen were killed and two suffered injuries.

  At 17.00, the USS Enterprise, based on wrong information, sent a formation

  of 18 Devastator bombers, 6 Dauntlesses and 6 Wildcats against the Ja

  -

  panese alliance in the wrong direction. After an unsuccessful search, the

  bombers returned aboard the mothership, but the Wildcats were sent to

  Pearl Harbor and approached for a landing in the dark. Through a tragic

  misunderstanding in radio communications, four of them were shot down

  and three pilots were killed.

  Zero-Sen

  The Japanese aircraft industry in the 1920s and early 1930s was oriented

  towards the production of aircraft built under foreign licenses. However,

  the armed forces, especially the Navy, with regard to the specifics of the

  Chinese and Pacific battlefields, came up with requirements that foreign

  aircraft designs did not offer.

  Due to these circumstances, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries created the Type

  96 naval fighter aircraft, better known as the A5M “Claude”. It was a pure

  -

  ly Japanese design. The head of the design team was a young Japanese

  engineer, Jirō Horikoshi. With an engine that did not have much power, he

  managed to design a light and fast fighter with a fixed landing gear, which

  at the time of its creation had no comparison in the speed achieved.

  In October 1937, Mitsubishi and Nakajima were approached to begin de

  -

  velopment of Prototype 12-shi Carrier-based Fighter. The requirements

  for the parameters of this machine were at first sight so extreme and

  sometimes contradictory that the two design teams investigated whether

  they could be relaxed. Nakajima eventually withdrew from the project, and

  the parameters of the prototype were even tightened based on experience

  on the Chinese battlefield. The only significant part of the aircraft whose

  design relied on foreign license was the retractable landing gear.

  In the end, Horikoshi's team managed to meet the technical specifications,

  not only thanks to the aerodynamic design and a new type of light alloy for

  the aircraft's skin, but also thanks to the Sakae 11 engine from Nakajima.

  During the flight tests, the wing surface suffered cracking during overload

  and aileron control during high-speed maneuvers had to be addressed.

  The new fighter plane had a powerful armament of two guns and two ma

  -

  chine guns, extremely long range (over 1800 kilometers) and excellent

  maneuverability. Its top speed was 533 km/h at an altitude of 4,550 m.

  Underway with President Herbert Hoover on board, March 1931. The Presidential Flag

  is flying from her mainmast peak of battleship USS Arizona.

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

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  Photo: Shizuo Fukui

  HISTORY

  However, it lacked armour and other protective features and was not allo-

  wed to fly at speeds greater than 600 km/h due to structural stability.

  The

  machine was inducted into the armament in 1940 and received the

  official designation Rei shiki Kanjō sentōki (Type 0 carrier fighter), with

  the “zero” being derived from the imperial year 2600 (1940). Japanese pi

  -

  lots usually abbreviated it as “Rei-Sen”. This is also the origin of the name

  “Zer

  o” often used by Allied pilots instead of the official code name, de-

  rived from the male name “Zeke”. As part of the Navy's aircraft designation

  s

  ystem, the new machine was given the type designation A6M, where A6

  meant that it was the sixth type of carrier fighter to enter service, and M

  stood for the Mitsubishi company name.

  Zeros, specifically the A6M2 Model 11, had been successfully deployed on

  the Chinese battlefield since the summer of 1940, but their existence elu

  -

  ded Western intelligence because no

  one wanted to believe reports from

  China

  that suggested the Japanese had a world-class fighter. Further

  modifications were made during 1941, the main one being folding wing tips

  to enable easier handling on aircraft carriers. With the A6M2 Model 21

  fighter modified in this way, Japan entered the war with the US and other

  Western nations. Mitsubishi needed to produce other aircraft in addition

  to the Zero, so the Nakajima company also began licensed production in

  late 1941.

  Zeros from the attack on Pearl Harbor

  The colors of Japanese aircraft from the Second World War, and especia

  -

  lly Zero fighters, has been the subject of long and complex research both

  in Japan and abroad. Our main guide to the selection of decal colors and

  recommended modeling paint shades is Nicholas Millman's publication

  “Painting the Early Zero-Sen, A Primer for Modellers & Artists”. We highly

  recommend everyone to read it. For example, it is a great guide to explai

  -

  ning the use of the J3 Ameirō paint that Zera was painted with, as well as

  unders

  tanding its appearance in quite different shades.

  For the shade of the hinomaru we chose a lighter variant of red than is

  usual among kit manufacturers. The color did darken over time, but the

  Zeros attacking Pearl Harbor were relatively new machines. We based

  this on Millman's publication and also on the shade of red on parts of the

  B5N bomber in the Arizona Memorial collections.

  It is believed that the Zeroes involved in the attack on Pearl Harbor came

  only from Mitsubishi production. The Nakajima company did not produce

  its first licensed Zeros until November 1941, and the company's machines

  did not reach combat units until the spring of 1942. Therefore, the colour

  details are based on the specifics of the Mitsubishi Zeros as explained

  by N. Millman. Nevertheless, we recommend that photographs of spe

  -

  cific machines are also used, for example with regard to the design of

  the warning s

  tripes on the main landing gear covers. According to the

  photographs of several machines involved in the Pearl Harbor raid (AI-

  156, AII-159 and AII-168), it cannot be ruled out that the inner surface of the

  main landing gear cover was painted with Aotake paint, not the grey paint

  typical of Mitsubishi machines.

  At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Zero fighters were marked with

  colored stripes on the fuselage and code markings on the vertical tail sur

  -

  faces. The letter in the code identified the order of the respective Kōkū

  Sen

  tai, while the Roman numeral indicated the order of the aircraft carrier

  within that Kōkū Sentai.

  Aircraft of the 1st Kōkū Sentai:

  - Akagi: one red stripe on the fuselage, red AI code

  - Kaga: two red stripes on the fuselage, red code AII

  Aircraft of the 2. Kōkū Sentai

  - Soryu: one blue stripe on the fuselage, red BI code

  - Hiryū: two blue stripes on the fuselage, red BII code

  Aircraft of the 5. Kōkū Sentai

  - Shōkaku: one white stripe on fuselage, red EI code

  - Zuikaku: two white stripes on fuselage, red EII code

  For all Zeroes of aircraft carrier Shōkaku, it is likely that the white stripe

  on the fuselage and the command stripes on the tail surfaces were outli

  -

  ned in red. Some photographs taken from a distance are not sharp enou-

  gh to show the outlines clearly. The images are often from newsreels.

  The

  command stripes on the tail surfaces depicted this functional clas-

  sification:

  - Three stripes: the Hikōtaichō, the Group Leader of the Air Group on

  the aircraft carrier, under whom all squadrons with different types on

  board could fall. Organizationally, he commanded all aviation personnel.

  In combat action, he led the formation of the various types of aircraft of

  the respective Kōkū Sentai. However, at the time of the attack on Pearl

  Harbor, for example, the Akagi had its own Hikōtaichō for each of its three

  squadrons.

  - Two stripes: the Buntaichō, the Division Officer leading fo

  rmation of six to

  nine aircraft (Chútai). Larger aircraft carriers usually had two officers with

  the Buntaichō function for one type of aircraft, senior and junior.

  - One stripe: Shōtaichō, leader of the three-plane formation.

  Conclusion

  During the two waves of the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, 21 US Navy

  ships were sunk or damaged, but 18 were recovered or repaired and re

  -

  turned to service. For example, the badly damaged battleship USS Nevada

  was

  combat deployed in October 1942.

  The USS Enterprise, as one of the carriers that escaped the raid on Pearl

  Harbor, fought in the Battle of Midway six months later and participated

  in the sinking of four of the six carriers that participated in the attack on

  Pearl Harbor.

  In the early months of the war in the Pacific, the Americans and their allies

  realized how much they had underestimated their Japanese adversaries.

  One of the main symbols of this sobering realization was the Zero fighter,

  which had developed a reputation as a nearly invincible adversary early

  in the war.

  Although many in the US feared that war with Japan might occur in late

  1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise. As a result, the majority of

  the population came to support U.S. involvement in the war, and American

  soldiers fighting in the Pacific heard the words “Remember Pearl Harbor”

  many times in the years to come.

  Acknowledgement

  Author would like to thank to Jan Kaše, Nick Millman and Ron Werneth for

  their help in preparing this article.

  Sources

  FUCHIDA M.: Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, the Japanese Navy's

  Story

  HATA I., IZAWA Y.: Japanese Naval Aces and Fighter Units in World War II

  LUNDSTROM J. B.: The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl

  Harbor to Midway

  LUNDSTROM J. B.: First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Figh

  -

  ter Combat from August to November 1942

  MIK

  ESH R.: Zero: Combat and Development History of Japan's Legendary

  Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighter

  MILLMAN N.: A6M Zero-sen Aces 1940-42

  MILLMAN N.: Painting the Early Zero-Sen

  Model Art No 378: Pearl Harbor

  SMITH C., LAURIER J.: Pearl Harbor 1941: The day of infamy

  WERNETH R.: Beyond Pearl Harbor: The Untold Stories of Japan's Naval

  Airmen

  YOSHIMURA A.: Zero Fighter

  jacar.go.jp

  j-aircraft.com

  pacificwrecks.com

  The Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers Zuikaku (in front), Kaga (on the right) and Akagi are heading

  for Pearl Harbor in November 1941 before the official declaration of war with American forces.

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

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  HISTORY

  Photo: National Archives

  Panorama view of Pearl Harbor, during the Japanese raid on 7 December 1941, with anti-aircraft shell bursts overhead. The photograph looks southwesterly from the hills behind the

  harbor. Large column of smoke in lower right center is from the burning USS Arizona (BB-39). Smoke somewhat further to the left is from the destroyers Shaw (DD-373), Cassin

  (DD-372) and Downes (DD-375), in drydocks at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard.

  Japanese Navy Type 99 Carrier Bomber (Val) drops a 250 kilogram bomb during the

  attack.

  The USS Arizona (BB-39) burning after the Japanese attack. The forward magazines of USS Arizona (BB-39) are exploding just after

  she was hit by a Japanese bomb; 1,177 Naval servicemen were killed.

  A navy photographer snapped this photograph of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7,

  1941, just as the USS Shaw exploded. The stern of the USS Nevada can be seen in the foreground.

  Photo: National Archives Photo: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library & Museum

  Photo: National Museum of U.S. Navy Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Navy

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

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  HISTORY

  The body of a Lieutenant Fusata Iida from Sōryū Fighter Squadron who crashed with

  his Zero in dive near a hangar at Kaneohe Field is buried with military honors

  by U.S. troops.

  A monument marks the impact site of Zero pilot Lt. Iida.

  Mitsubishi A6M2

  “Zero” fighters on the aircraft carrier Akagi

  during the Pearl Harbor

  attack mission. „AI-101“ in

  the background was flown during second attack

  wave by

  PO1c Tadao Kimura.

  The ship in foreground is „AI-105“ flown by PO1c Kikue Otokuni.

  Both airmen survived the war.

  The wreckage of the Zero “BII-120” of PO1c Shigenori Nishikaichi of Hiryú Fighter Squadron who landed on Niihau

  island. After a series of dramatic events, he was killed by one of the natives on December 13, 1941. Parts of this Zero are

  on display at the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor. On the engine cowling is a service plate with the name of the

  mechanic, PO3c Akimoto. The plate contains records of the general condition of the airplane, oil for the engine, fuselage

  tank, wing tanks, and drop tank. The A6M2 carrier fighters were equipped with a engine Nakajima Sakae 12.

  The wreckage of the

  aircraft “AI-154” from the Akagi Fighter Squadron

  piloted by PO1c Takeshi Hirano.

  With his

  unit he first strafed John

  Rodgers Field (Honolulu Airport), then attacked

  the B-17 manned by

  Capt. Swenson.

  He was

  finally hit by ground fire from Hickam Field and from the

  destroyer USS Helm

  (DD-388). The defenders were under impression

  that Hirano was

  attempting an emergency landing

  on the street, but he hit

  palm trees and crashed

  into a building at

  Fort Kamehameha.

  He perished,

  but

  killed were also American soldiers hiding behind

  the building: Cpl. Claude L. Bryant, Pvt. Eugene Bubb,

  Pvt. Donat George Duquette, Jr. and Pfc. Oreste DeTorre.

  Photo: U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation

  Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Navy

  Photo: Navy Department in Washington

  Photo: U.S. Navy Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Navy Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

  Zero, with leaking fuel, is leaving harbor area. Zeros from the aircraft carrier Kaga

  second attack wave, commanded by Lt. Yasushi Nikaido were enagaged in this area.

  His formation lost two pilots.

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

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  HISTORY

  Aichi “D3A” Val bomber photographed during dive just after release of bomb.

  One of the dive bombers shot down during second attack wave.

  Salvaging Japanese Navy Type 99 Carrier Bomber (Val) from the water at Pearl Harbor.

  “Val” bomber, probably from aircraft carrier Kaga photographed low over the ground, pulls

  up after its dive over harbor.

  Nakajima B5N level/torpedo bombers from the Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier Kaga head towards

  their rendez-vous point after attacking US Navy ships in Pearl Harbor during the first wave of attacks.

  Wreck of dive bomber D3A „Val“ from aicraft carrier Kaga. Anti-aircraft defense blew off

  the rear of the fuselage and dive bomber crashed next to the destroyer USS Montgomery.

  Photo: National Museum of U.S. NavyPhoto: National Museum of the U.S. NavyPhoto: National Museum of the U.S. Navy

  Photo: National Museum of the U.S. NavyPhoto: US National Archives via Wenger, prostřednictvím Rona WernethaPhoto: National Museum of the U.S. Navy

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

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  HISTORY

  Sailors stand amid wrecked planes at the Ford Island seaplane base,

  watching as destroyer USS Shaw (DD-373) explodes in the center

  background. Battleship USS Nevada (BB-36) is also visible in the middle

  background, with her bow headed toward the left.

  A heavily damaged U.S. Army Air Forces Curtiss P-40 from the 44th Pursuit Squadron at Bellows Field.

  Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighters, of Fighting Squadron Three (VF-3) On board USS

  Saratoga (CV-3) in early October 1941. Plane on the elevator is aircraft (Bureau # 3982)

  flown by Ensign Gayle Hermann to Pearl Harbor in the evening of December 7. Marking

  was changed 3-F-15 at that time. His engine was heavily damaged by friendly fire. He

  had to make dead-stick landing and was under fire even during taxiing. Plane was

  repaired and lost with VF-2 at Coral Sea.

  Photo: U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval AviationPhoto: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.Photo: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command

  Photo: Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Navy

  Photo: U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation

  Burned U.S. Army Air Forces Boeing B-17C Flying Fortress (s/n 40-2074) rests near Han-

  gar 5, Hickam Field, Oahu. It was flown to Hickam by Captain Raymond T. Swenson from

  California and arrived when the attack was under way. On its final approach, the aircraft’s

  magnezium flare box was hit by Japanese strafing and ignited. The burning plane separa-

  ted upon landing. The crew survived the crash, but a passenger was killed by strafing when

  running from the burning wreck.

  A U.S. plane shot down by a Zero (visible overhead) burns in the woods near Ewa, Oahu, Hawaii, during

  the Pearl Harbor attack, on 7 December 1941. The crashed plane is probably a USS Enterprise (CV-6)

  Douglas SBD Dauntless flown by Ensign John Vogt or Lieutenant Clarence Dickinson. A Japanese

  plane crashed in the same location, with its wreckage intermingled with that of the U.S. Navy aircraft.

  The photo was taken by Staff Sergeant Lee Embree from a U.S. Army 38th Reconnaissance Squadron

  B-17E that arrived over Oahu during the Japanese attack.

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

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  HISTORY

  Aerial view of "Battleship Row” moorings

  on the southern side of Ford Island,

  December 10, 1941, showing damage

  from the Japanese raid three days earlier.

  USS California (BB

  44) is shown. Note dark oil streaks on

  the harbor surface,

  originating from the sunken battleships.

  Photographed at

  an altitude of

  3,000

  feet. During the attack, 98 men were killed and 61 were wounded on board of

  USS California. Several men were awarded the

  Medal

  of Honor for their actions

  during the attack.

  USS Utah (BB-31) during an ultimately unsuccessful salvage attempt. In total, 58 officers and men

  were killed, 461 survived. Her rusting hulk remains in Pearl Harbor, partially above water. The men

  killed when Utah sank were never removed from the wreck, and as such, she is considered a war

  grave.

  Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Navy

  Photo: NARA

  View of “Battleship Row” during or immediately after the Japanese raid. The capsized USS

  Oklahoma (BB 37) is in the center, alongside USS Maryland (BB 46). Of the crew of the USS

  Oklahoma, which capsized within two minutes, 429 men were killed or missing. Many of

  the survivors made it aboard the USS Maryland and immediately engaged in firing on the

  Japanese aircraft.

  Hangar area at Naval Air Station, Kaneohe Bay showing damage wrought by the Japanese

  bombing. The view looks west at an altitude of 500 feet.

  USS Nevada (BB-36) burning during the Japanese aerial

  attack. During the attack, 60 men on board were killed and

  109 sustained injuries. Two others died in rescue efforts. After

  repairs, the USS Nevada participated in combat in the Pacific,

  Allied landings in Normandy and southern France, and at the

  end of the war fought off Iwojima, Okinawa and Japan.

  Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Navy

  Photo: National Archives

  Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Navy

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

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  HISTORY

  Photo: U.S. Navy

  A diver as he ascends from the oily interior of the

  sunken battleship USS Arizona (BB 39). She was

  damaged beyond repair during the Japanese attack,

  but many parts have been salvaged and put to use on

  other ships. Hawaiian women at work in the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard cutting steel in the salvage of ships sunk during the Japanese attack.

  Seamen at Kaneohe Naval Air Station decorate the graves of their fellow sailors killed at Pearl Harbor.

  One of many American recruitment posters created after December 7, 1941.

  Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Navy

  Photo: United States Library of Congress

  Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Navy

  An aerial view of the USS Arizona Memorial with a US Navy Tour Boat, USS Arizona Memorial Detachment, moored at the pier as visitors disembark to

  visit and pay their respects to the Sailors and Marines who lost their lives during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

  eduard

  21

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 22

  It was a dreary, foggy Sunday morning in Decem-

  ber 1971. There were ve days left until Christmas

  Day and only several hours until the moment which

  changed the lives of the number of people. On that

  day, the former World Champion in aerobatics, Ladi-

  slav Bezák emigrated from than Czechoslovakia to

  West Germany by air. Captain Karel Fiedler, a pilot of

  the air defense alert system, was tasked to stop Be-

  zák. He failed and the question remains until today

  if he could not have done it or just did not want to.

  The name Ladislav Bezák has its place in the annals of the

  world aerobatics. In 1960, ying Zlin Z 226 T at the rst ocial

  World Championship in Aerobatics in Bratislava he became wi-

  nner and so not only domestic but also an international aviation

  celebrity. Eleven years later he was eeing the homeland with

  four children and wife in his own Trener aircraft. On December

  19 this year it will be 50th anniversary of this event.

  A drama in the air

  Bezak’s overloaded Trener became airborne at Kladno air-

  port at 12:45 pm on December 19, 1971. The worlds‘ aeroba-

  tics champion had his whole family on board leaving behind

  the problems and dangers which supposedly threatened him. „I

  was ying north and when I was out of audibility at the aireld

  I turned west. I could not climb too much, however. I was trying

  to y at full power and gain speed. At the proper speed the

  aircraft systems are properly cooled o. But despite ying at

  full power, I was not able to gain enough speed. Also, the oil

  temperatures were rising, and I was losing oil pressure. So I was

  sweating to gain altitude for long minutes,“ recalled Ladislav

  Bezák twelve years later in an interview for „Západ” (The West)

  magazine for Czechoslovak emigrants living in Canada. At 13:07

  Bezák’s Trener was captured on Air Defense radar screens and

  an interceptor was scrambled from Line airport. It was a Mig-

  -15bis ghter piloted by Capt. Karel Fiedler. What was Bezák’

  s

  T

  rener location at that moment is uncertain. In some

  interviews

  he

  stated that the interceptor appeared while he was

  around

  Rakovník, on other times he stated he was nearby Cheb. That it

  is quite a spread…

  A

  Mig interceptor covered the distance to the target in appro-

  ximately seven minutes and most likely caught up with it so-

  mewhere around Tachov, approximately 18 kilometers from the

  border. That corresponds to a distance own by an airplane at

  a speed of 160 kph in seven minutes. Therefore, captain Fiedler

  did not have too much time to engage. At 13:28 he established

  visual contact with a target and was ordered to re a red a-

  re which means “follow me”. He did just that, but Bezák later

  claimed that he started to shoot right away. “He ew above

  me – and that was a mistake because I was able to keep him in

  sight. As he was above me, I was pushing it down. My weight was

  slightly negative, but my airspeed was four times lower than

  his. But he, at his speed, had no chance to shoot as long as he

  tried to follow my trajectory. I realized he was not an instructor

  and that he was not even a very good pilot. I made a sharp turn

  he could not follow. He should have followed me from a longer

  distance and shoot at me as at a static target. He red several

  bursts, but all missed by a large margin…”

  After Fiedler reported that the target did not change the

  course, he was ordered to re warning shots. “At that moment

  captain Fiedler was under an extreme pressure. As an alert in-

  terceptor he had to be airborne within two minutes since the

  alarm was announced and he was obliged to complete the

  mission. Any hesitation could result in serious consequences,

  including the court martial,” wrote Miroslav Lanči and Stanislav

  Bezák’s private OK-MUA as it appeared shortly before his

  escape, already carrying the commercial for Becker’s avia-

  tion equipment (photo: Jasoň Kučera).

  Ladislav Bezák in the cockpit of the aerobatic Z 226 T during

  the World Championship in Aerobatics in Bratislava 1960.

  (photo: Milan Jančář).

  HISTORIE

  eduard

  22

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 23

  It was a dreary, foggy Sunday morning in Decem-

  ber 1971. There were ve days left until Christmas

  Day and only several hours until the moment which

  changed the lives of the number of people. On that

  day, the former World Champion in aerobatics, Ladi-

  slav Bezák emigrated from than Czechoslovakia to

  West Germany by air. Captain Karel Fiedler, a pilot of

  the air defense alert system, was tasked to stop Be-

  zák. He failed and the question remains until today

  if he could not have done it or just did not want to.

  The name Ladislav Bezák has its place in the annals of the

  world aerobatics. In 1960, ying Zlin Z 226 T at the rst ocial

  World Championship in Aerobatics in Bratislava he became wi-

  nner and so not only domestic but also an international aviation

  celebrity. Eleven years later he was eeing the homeland with

  four children and wife in his own Trener aircraft. On December

  19 this year it will be 50th anniversary of this event.

  A drama in the air

  Bezak’s overloaded Trener became airborne at Kladno air-

  port at 12:45 pm on December 19, 1971. The worlds‘ aeroba-

  tics champion had his whole family on board leaving behind

  the problems and dangers which supposedly threatened him. „I

  was ying north and when I was out of audibility at the aireld

  I turned west. I could not climb too much, however. I was trying

  to y at full power and gain speed. At the proper speed the

  aircraft systems are properly cooled o. But despite ying at

  full power, I was not able to gain enough speed. Also, the oil

  temperatures were rising, and I was losing oil pressure. So I was

  sweating to gain altitude for long minutes,“ recalled Ladislav

  Bezák twelve years later in an interview for „Západ” (The West)

  magazine for Czechoslovak emigrants living in Canada. At 13:07

  Bezák’s Trener was captured on Air Defense radar screens and

  an interceptor was scrambled from Line airport. It was a Mig-

  -15bis ghter piloted by Capt. Karel Fiedler. What was Bezák’s

  Trener location at that moment is uncertain. In some interviews

  he stated that the interceptor appeared while he was around

  Rakovník, on other times he stated he was nearby Cheb. That it

  is quite a spread…

  A Mig interceptor covered the distance to the target in appro-

  ximately seven minutes and most likely caught up with it so-

  mewhere around Tachov, approximately 18 kilometers from the

  border. That corresponds to a distance own by an airplane at

  a speed of 160 kph in seven minutes. Therefore, captain Fiedler

  did not have too much time to engage. At 13:28 he established

  visual contact with a target and was ordered to re a red a-

  re which means “follow me”. He did just that, but Bezák later

  claimed that he started to shoot right away. “He ew above

  me – and that was a mistake because I was able to keep him in

  sight. As he was above me, I was pushing it down. My weight was

  slightly negative, but my airspeed was four times lower than

  his. But he, at his speed, had no chance to shoot as long as he

  tried to follow my trajectory. I realized he was not an instructor

  and that he was not even a very good pilot. I made a sharp turn

  he could not follow. He should have followed me from a longer

  distance and shoot at me as at a static target. He red several

  bursts, but all missed by a large margin…”

  After Fiedler reported that the target did not change the

  course, he was ordered to re warning shots. “At that moment

  captain Fiedler was under an extreme pressure. As an alert in-

  terceptor he had to be airborne within two minutes since the

  alarm was announced and he was obliged to complete the

  mission. Any hesitation could result in serious consequences,

  including the court martial,” wrote Miroslav Lanči and Stanislav

  Bezák’s private OK-MUA as it appeared shortly before his

  escape, already carrying the commercial for Becker’s avia-

  tion equipment (photo: Jasoň Kučera).

  Ladislav Bezák in the cockpit of the aerobatic Z 226 T during

  the World Championship in Aerobatics in Bratislava 1960.

  (photo: Milan Jančář).

  Brašna in their book “Psohlavci letectva” (Air Force Guardians)

  published by Svět křídel (World of wings). Fiedler must have

  known about a year-old case when Václav Bartoš, also a pilot

  from 5th Fighter Regiment based in Líně did not shoot down

  a German helicopter which intruded the Czechoslovak airspace.

  During the investigation he supposedly stated that he was not

  going to watch people falling o the helicopter. He was dischar-

  ged from the Army with immediate eect.

  So, the warning shots captain Fiedler red missed the target

  which by Bezák’s judgement demonstrated the pilot‘s poor skills.

  He continued maneuvering and ying in a westerly direction.

  Fiedler reported that the target did not react to the warning

  shots either and then he heard in his headphones something he

  for sure did not want to hear. The order to shoot the target down.

  Earlier he had reported multiple passengers on board, including

  children. Also, people on the ground knew already who was on

  board and this information may have reached Fiedler as well.

  What was going through the mind of this pilot who was a father

  himself will never be fully discovered. The fact is that neither

  the second burst hit the escaping Trener which consequently hid

  in the low layer of clouds. Fiedler reported the outcome and

  was ordered to return to the base. After 1989 the whole series of

  articles were published glorifying Bezák’s airmanship thanks to

  which he “defeated” the much faster jet ghter. But the truth

  could have been quite dierent… Of course Bezák was keeping

  his opinion. During one interview he put even more oil into the

  re: “I recognized his ying skills were not up to the speed, he

  was unable to follow the trajectory of my aircraft. When he

  red for the rst time, I made a ninety degrees banking turn. At

  the speed Mig was ying he needed three minutes to turn around

  and settle himself again into the ring position. I was evading

  him ying sharp turns. He did not hit me. No wonder – as I lear-

  ned later his latest combat training took place 10 years ago and

  I already knew from my own experience from seven months long

  military service these pilots typically logged only forty hours

  per year” (Bezák served with military as a cadet at 1st Fighter

  Squadron in České Budějovice in the role of squadron´s leader

  adjutant; author’s note). Of course, it was unthinkable for an

  Air Defense system pilot not to have own combat training for

  ten years...

  Strange hit marks

  After several years Karel Fiedler supposedly confessed to one

  of his comrades that at the moment the target disappeared in

  the clouds, he was relieved. Allegedly he shared with another

  one that he missed on purpose. Also Miroslav Irra mentions this

  in his book “Vysoká modrá zeď – ohlédnutí druhé” (The tall blue

  wall – the second hindsight) published by Jakab: “Whether capt.

  Fiedler did not obey orders on purpose or did not act due to

  other circumstances remains inconclusive even though after

  1989 he should have conrmed he did not want to shoot Bezák

  down.” Radek Folprecht wrote along those lines as well in his

  article published in iDnes.cz (Technet section). There could not

  have been any “post-revolution” Fiedler’s confessions because

  he passed away on December 13, 1986, six days short of an exact

  fteen’s anniversary of his “dogght” with Bezak… Supposed-

  ly he never spoke to anyone about his fateful scramble ight.

  Independently this was conrmed to the author by three of his

  former comrades and his wife Marta Fiedler.

  According to some sources Bezák supposedly seated his two

  older sons in the luggage space behind the pilot‘s rear seat

  headrest while two younger sons were to sit on his wife’s lap

  in the front. Question is if two six-year old boys would t into

  the so-called “con” i.e. the Trener’s sheet metal luggage com-

  partment behind rear seat under the ridge. Other sources state

  that Bezák put one son behind his seat, another one squatted

  under the rear instrument panel. Regardless of Bezák’s fami-

  ly layout on board no one got harmed during the interceptor

  attack. Bezák successfully navigated his Trener to the Nürnberg

  airport where he landed and applied for political asylum for the

  whole family.

  Then the media campaign started in Germany. Several articles

  were published about Bezák and his family and he also appea-

  red on television. “After landing in West Germany Bezák was

  showing on television the hit marks on the fuselage (we watched

  it, we could get a good signal in Líně) in the area where his sons

  The front double page of the article on Bezák and his esca-

  pe. The photo is staged, in reality Bezák and his family did

  not y like this.

  eduard

  23

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 24

  were sitting. Had he been actually hit his sons would have been

  wounded at least if not dead regardless the fact that NR-23 ca-

  nnon 23 mm high explosive bullet would have made some 50 cm

  diameter hole in the fuselage skin and the airplane would not

  have survived several hits like that,” stated in the aforemen-

  tioned book by Miroslav Irra one of the 5th Fighter Regiment

  members Zdeněk Lapka. The author includes more information

  about the ammunition in this book. “As far as I know for the

  air defense system alert aircraft the NR-23 cannons were loa-

  ded with LETT ammunition (Live Explosive Timed Tracer) which

  is the auto-destructive type of ammunition since it could hit

  civilian populated areas. Auto-destruction is triggered after the

  tracing component is burnt, no sooner than two seconds after

  the shot is red. The explosive component is either pentrit or

  hexogen. There was no large noticeable damage observed on

  Bezák’s airplane after his landing. A hit by a 23 mm projectile

  would have been certainly visible.

  Captain Karel Fiedler

  Who actually was the pilot who intercepted Bezák and to

  whom the famous acrobatic pilot in many interviews showed

  only disdain and hatred? Karel Fiedler was born on February

  1, 1933 and he graduated from the 14th course of the Aviati-

  on School (October 15, 1951 – December 12, 1953). Initially he

  served at 17th Fighter Regiment based at Hradčany airport ying

  Mig-15 and Mig-15bis. In 1961 he was ordered to 5th Fighter Re-

  giment in Line where he converted to supersonic Mig-19 three

  years later. At the time of his confrontation with Bezák he had

  own as a ghter pilot for 17 years. His colleagues have good

  memories of him. “He was a nice fellow, a sportsman, a lot of

  fun, he played accordion and brought it with him anywhere

  possible, including survival training. We served together in the

  same ight until 1964. Then I was transferred to Mig-19S and he

  went to the interceptors, Mig-19PM. At the same time, he con-

  tinued ying Mig-15bis which was at that time used against slow

  ying targets,” recalls one of the legends of Cze-

  choslovak Air Force, Jaroslav Krýda. Miloš Janda,

  who was member of Fiedler‘s ight during the

  60s, conrms this. “He was a humble and merry

  guy and a good pilot.” The last Fiedler’s ight

  commander before his retirement, was Miroslav

  Lanči and he too describes him in a similar way:

  “We were buddies, he was a merry guy and pro-

  fessionally very good and reliable pilot.”

  In the coming period of political “normaliza-

  tion” Karel Fiedler had a rough time. In 1971

  he was one of seventeen pilots of the Squadron

  that did not pass the political screening. Some

  of them had to leave but Fiedler was allowed to

  Captain Fiedler during so-called survival tra-

  ining, here in the company of the parachute

  service lady Eva Křížková (photo: Miroslav

  Lanči).

  Group of 5th Fighter Squadron pilots. Captain

  Fiedler is the third from right (photo: Miro-

  slav Lanči).

  eduard

  24

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 25

  were sitting. Had he been actually hit his sons would have been

  wounded at least if not dead regardless the fact that NR-23 ca-

  nnon 23 mm high explosive bullet would have made some 50 cm

  diameter hole in the fuselage skin and the airplane would not

  have survived several hits like that,” stated in the aforemen-

  tioned book by Miroslav Irra one of the 5th Fighter Regiment

  members Zdeněk Lapka. The author includes more information

  about the ammunition in this book. “As far as I know for the

  air defense system alert aircraft the NR-23 cannons were loa-

  ded with LETT ammunition (Live Explosive Timed Tracer) which

  is the auto-destructive type of ammunition since it could hit

  civilian populated areas. Auto-destruction is triggered after the

  tracing component is burnt, no sooner than two seconds after

  the shot is red. The explosive component is either pentrit or

  hexogen. There was no large noticeable damage observed on

  Bezák’s airplane after his landing. A hit by a 23 mm projectile

  would have been certainly visible.

  Captain Karel Fiedler

  Who actually was the pilot who intercepted Bezák and to

  whom the famous acrobatic pilot in many interviews showed

  only disdain and hatred? Karel Fiedler was born on February

  1, 1933 and he graduated from the 14th course of the Aviati-

  on School (October 15, 1951 – December 12, 1953). Initially he

  served at 17th Fighter Regiment based at Hradčany airport ying

  Mig-15 and Mig-15bis. In 1961 he was ordered to 5th Fighter Re-

  giment in Line where he converted to supersonic Mig-19 three

  years later. At the time of his confrontation with Bezák he had

  own as a ghter pilot for 17 years. His colleagues have good

  memories of him. “He was a nice fellow, a sportsman, a lot of

  fun, he played accordion and brought it with him anywhere

  possible, including survival training. We served together in the

  same ight until 1964. Then I was transferred to Mig-19S and he

  went to the interceptors, Mig-19PM. At the same time, he con-

  tinued ying Mig-15bis which was at that time used against slow

  ying targets,” recalls one of the legends of Cze-

  choslovak Air Force, Jaroslav Krýda. Miloš Janda,

  who was member of Fiedler‘s ight during the

  60s, conrms this. “He was a humble and merry

  guy and a good pilot.” The last Fiedler’s ight

  commander before his retirement, was Miroslav

  Lanči and he too describes him in a similar way:

  “We were buddies, he was a merry guy and pro-

  fessionally very good and reliable pilot.”

  In the coming period of political “normaliza-

  tion” Karel Fiedler had a rough time. In 1971

  he was one of seventeen pilots of the Squadron

  that did not pass the political screening. Some

  of them had to leave but Fiedler was allowed to

  Captain Fiedler during so-called survival tra-

  ining, here in the company of the parachute

  service lady Eva Křížková (photo: Miroslav

  Lanči).

  Group of 5th Fighter Squadron pilots. Captain

  Fiedler is the third from right (photo: Miro-

  slav Lanči).

  Z-226T, OK-MUA, No. 370, Ladislav Bezák,

  Kladno aireld, 1971

  stay and continue ying. After the December 19, 1971 incident

  there was a whole series of investigations and testimonies of all

  participants which did not help captain Fiedler’s shaky position.

  “Every single political ocer was all over him, but he held his

  own and they let him y,” recalls Jaroslav Krýda and adds that

  none of his colleagues ever asked him what had happened in

  the air at that time. “He did not speak about it, and we did not

  ask him. Above all we were compassionate with him. We were

  all scared to death by the thought that during the alert system

  service we would have to re at an unarmed airplane with civi-

  lians on board. It was our nightmare, every time we were sche-

  duled for readiness.”

  Karel Fiedler ultimately converted to Mig-21 and was even

  promoted to Major rank. Finally, it was not his “failure” re-

  garding the Bezák incident, but quite dierent reason, which

  ended his career of military pilot. His daughter was in contact

  with dissent and later signed anti-communist anti-establishment

  Charter 77. Two years later, in 1979, forty-six years old Major

  Fiedler was discharged from the Air Force. He got a civilian job

  selling pumps in Bezruc street in Pilsen (the store is still there

  today). On December 13, 1986 he went to play tennis and during

  the break on the bench he suddenly collapsed and passed away.

  Diagnosis was a heart attack… Bezak’s comment on Fiedler’s

  lack of skill and particularly about pilots’ low annual ight time

  was one out of a series of nonsense he supplied the media with.

  In reality, especially at 5th Fighter Regiment, pilots ew quite

  a lot for “socialistic” army. “Decidedly more in comparison to

  my service at Bechyně. The plan was 80 hours per year, but

  some pilots logged as much as 120 hours” recalls Miroslav Lanči

  and points out that this quota was fully used for intense training

  including aerobatics and dogghting.

  Aerobatic pilot Ladislav Bezák

  Ladislav Bezák was born in 1932 in Prague. During the war he

  lived with his family in Slovakia (his father was Slovak), later he

  was trained as a tool-maker and through skydiving and gliding

  got to powered ying. He became an instructor and fell in love

  with aerobatics… He ew with Kladno Aero Club, later joined

  the “Chrudim Box” ying team. In 1959 he participated in the

  aerobatic competition for the rst time. He placed fourth in the

  domestic championship, a year later the second (after Jiří Blá-

  ha) and the same year in Bratislava he became the rst ocial

  World Champion in aerobatics. Many sources state that it was on

  this occasion he performed his invention, so-called “lomcovák”

  maneuver but veterans recall he had tried it for the rst time

  in Kladno in 1957. By the way Bezák became the world champi-

  on two months after graduating from the College of Agriculture

  (major agricultural mechanization). In 1963 he was nominated

  to participate in the Lockheed Aerobatic Trophy in England

  (Z 226 T OK-MFJ) for the rst time, in 1964 he was third in the

  same competition with the converted Zlin Z 226 AS (OK-MFJ) and

  in 1965 he presented the new type Z 526 (OK-SND) and was third

  again. He continued with aerobatic ying and at the same time

  he trained foreign customers who bought Zlin airplane. Thanks

  to it he was building his network of connections abroad inc-

  luding the “West”. He possessed an entrepreneurial spirit and

  decided to build his own Trener. He started to hunt for the parts

  he could build it from. After many ups and downs he succeeded.

  He completed the aircraft and obtained all necessary permits in

  an uneasy period shortly after the invasion of the “friendly” tro-

  op into Czechoslovakia at the end of October 1968 (read more

  about private Treners in inserted article).

  In 1970 the situation was getting tougher and political “nor-

  malization” brought back various political evaluations for all pi-

  lots, including the hobby ones. Bezák did not like it and did not

  keep his opinions for himself. He was a ČSA (Czechoslovak Airli-

  nes) pilot, used to y to the “West”, maintained contacts with

  fellow western acrobats and aviators in general. All that was

  a thorn in the heel for the “apparatchiks”. “I realized that my

  chances to survive were slim. I ew my airplane in an airshow in

  Germany but left it behind. My mechanic drove me back home in

  a car. The authorities could not nationalize the airplane in that

  case, of course, but they did not let me travel abroad either.

  My instructor’s and inspector’s certications were recalled -

  I was employed by the State Aviation Administration - and they

  let me y domestic ights only, and only from the right seat,”

  said Bezák later in Canada. As per his account he had learnt

  from his friends about a list of 25 politically unreliable ČSA pi-

  lots who would be “grounded” and then red. According to his

  own words he feared that communists would ultimately put him

  in jail. “Then my superiors told me that they would leave me

  alone but to demonstrate my goodwill I was to bring the airplane

  back. So I performed in an airshow in West Germany and ew

  it back home. It was Friday midnight. A message reached me

  that all those unreliable pilots were withdrawn from the ight

  schedules and on Monday were to report to the director. Some

  of my friends indicated that instead of interviewing with the di-

  rector I would be arrested. The communists learnt I knew about

  it and changed the arrest timing to Sunday midday. At that time,

  we lived in Hostouň, midway between Prague and Kladno. The

  airplane was parked at Kladno airport, the only private aircraft

  in the whole communist block (which was not true, author’s

  note). Based on this information I realized that the circle around

  me is being tightened. The dice were cast, and I decided to ee

  the country.

  Moments before escape

  As per Bezáks own account on Saturday morning he found out

  that someone had damaged his navigational instruments which

  could not stop him despite the inclement weather. He was

  condent, he had own a lot. “I led a local ight permission

  request but was told from the control that local ights were

  canceled due to the military exercise.” On Sunday morning then

  he drove his family to a eld and set for the airport and took

  o for, this time approved, local ight. He landed on the eld,

  boarded the family and a few pieces of luggage and attempted

  to take o. He failed due to overloaded Trener and wet and soft

  surface, so he sent his wife and children to wait at the Kladno

  airport runway end. “There were already a lot of people ming-

  ling around me. But some guys went for a snack, and I sent some

  Bezak‘s Z 226 T, which was most probably based on the „cancelled“ Z 226 B OK-J-

  FA (serial no. 830), supplemented by a number of parts. The picture shows it in the

  form when it did not yet carry on the fuselage the advertisement of Becker Avionics,

  a manufacturer of aeronautical radionavigation equipment. It remained for a long

  time with the G-BEZA registration in the UK, last seen sometime in 2019 dismantled,

  stored in wooden crates and in deplorable condition somewhere in Germany.

  eduard

  25

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 26

  guys to get a Christmas tree.” Jason Kucera, a young aero club

  member than and up until today still an active pilot-examiner,

  was at the airport on that day. “I remember how we opened

  the hangar doors and pushed his airplane out. He ew away, as

  it turned out later, to board his family on the eld but did not

  manage to take o so instructed his wife to wait for him at the

  runway end which is slightly uphill. He typically taxied to that

  place before take-o to make radio contact with Prague area

  control since it could not be established from the area in front

  of hangar. After the landing we asked him whether he is going to

  conduct any more ying but he answered he was packing it up

  so we left to have a lunch.”

  During his rst attempt to take o with family on board Bezák

  slightly damaged the wing. Therefore, he performed a quick x

  and after the area cleared, he started the engine and taxied

  towards the woods where his wife with children were waiting.

  “Since I had the concrete runway available now, slightly slo-

  ping, I managed to get airborne.” Bezák’s claims in emigration

  were frequently contradictory, sometimes inaccurate or even

  laughable (such as his claim about ultrasound cannons at the

  border). His statement about the concrete runway at Kladno

  aireld belongs to the last category. They have never had it, and

  don’t have it now, which doesn’t change the fact that Bezák ma-

  naged to get airborne at 12:45 pm. It was about a fty-minute

  ight to Nürnberg ahead of the family. The abstract to the post-

  1989 television document about Bezák stated that “he fended

  o combat Mig-17 attacks for an unbelievable forty minutes”.

  If we omit the inaccurate ghter type, in reality Bezák’s encoun-

  ter with captain Fiedler lasted some ve or six minutes only...

  Years after the escape

  Bezák’s family was granted political asylum within three days

  and one of his friends, a German aerobatic pilot, let them stay

  in his house near Hannover. Bezák got a job at Henschel compa-

  ny but was red in three months. He was not doing as well as he

  expected. For a while he ew charter ights, repaired aircraft

  for some time or ran a pub. He was having problems with his

  Trener’s registration. In Germany he only obtained a temporary

  matriculation (D-EMUD) but in the end he registered the airpla-

  ne in Great Britain (G-BEZA). He felt he was not appreciated in

  Germany therefore since 1974 he has been trying to relocate to

  Canada. He received the permit in 1982 but the rest of the fami-

  ly had settled in Germany already, so he left with his son Roman

  only, seventeen years old at that time. Later they were joined

  by another son, Andre. In Canada Bezák kept ying, even coa-

  ched the Canadian national aerobatic team. He lived in Collin-

  gwood (Ontario) on the shore of Lake Huron where he was also

  running a guest house. The place was supposed to become an

  aviation center, even with its own runway. However not all plans

  materialized and then came November 1989 in Czechoslovakia…

  The post-revolution times brought a satisfaction for Bezák

  in the form of rehabilitation. For some reason he was even

  awarded a military rank of Lt. Colonel and became an hono-

  rary member of the Military Headquarters. However, a lot of

  people were surprised after his return. They said a completely

  dierent person came back. Arrogant and unpleasant… “When

  he emigrated, we had to clean out his house. I don’t know why

  it fell on us, aero club members, but such were the orders.

  He had a fully furnished workshop we had to remove all the

  equipment and store it. Then it was sitting there for the next

  thirty years, no one used it and when Bezák returned not only

  did he want everything back, which was okay, but was also de-

  manding the lease payment for those thirty years. It was rather

  strange behavior from our point of view,” recalls Jasoň Kučera

  and goes on: “Completely dierent person has returned, and I

  know from German friends from the aero club at Elchingen air-

  port (EDPA) where he had his aircraft based for some time and

  taught aerobatics, that they gradually parted with him there

  too. They didn‘t want to specify, but they just stopped working

  with him.“

  In the 60s though Bezák had a lot of friends and fans at home.

  “He was such a down-to-the-ground, straightforward guy. And

  we rooted for him so much during the World Championship in

  Bratislava,” recalls the former aerobatic pilot Jirina Lockero-

  va-Stoklasova. Bezak’s behavior surprised also in 1993, when he

  demanded a free overhaul of his then already stored Z 226 from

  the company ZLÍN-AVION service, claiming that it would bring

  them commercial success. His ofer was turned down politely…

  Reportedly, he was also turned down by the Chrudim Four when

  he oered to y with them again.

  Bezák in his OK-MUA during an air show

  (photo: Milan Jančář).

  eduard

  26

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 27

  guys to get a Christmas tree.” Jason Kucera, a young aero club

  member than and up until today still an active pilot-examiner,

  was at the airport on that day. “I remember how we opened

  the hangar doors and pushed his airplane out. He ew away, as

  it turned out later, to board his family on the eld but did not

  manage to take o so instructed his wife to wait for him at the

  runway end which is slightly uphill. He typically taxied to that

  place before take-o to make radio contact with Prague area

  control since it could not be established from the area in front

  of hangar. After the landing we asked him whether he is going to

  conduct any more ying but he answered he was packing it up

  so we left to have a lunch.”

  During his rst attempt to take o with family on board Bezák

  slightly damaged the wing. Therefore, he performed a quick x

  and after the area cleared, he started the engine and taxied

  towards the woods where his wife with children were waiting.

  “Since I had the concrete runway available now, slightly slo-

  ping, I managed to get airborne.” Bezák’s claims in emigration

  were frequently contradictory, sometimes inaccurate or even

  laughable (such as his claim about ultrasound cannons at the

  border). His statement about the concrete runway at Kladno

  aireld belongs to the last category. They have never had it, and

  don’t have it now, which doesn’t change the fact that Bezák ma-

  naged to get airborne at 12:45 pm. It was about a fty-minute

  ight to Nürnberg ahead of the family. The abstract to the post-

  1989 television document about Bezák stated that “he fended

  o combat Mig-17 attacks for an unbelievable forty minutes”.

  If we omit the inaccurate ghter type, in reality Bezák’s encoun-

  ter with captain Fiedler lasted some ve or six minutes only...

  Years after the escape

  Bezák’s family was granted political asylum within three days

  and one of his friends, a German aerobatic pilot, let them stay

  in his house near Hannover. Bezák got a job at Henschel compa-

  ny but was red in three months. He was not doing as well as he

  expected. For a while he ew charter ights, repaired aircraft

  for some time or ran a pub. He was having problems with his

  Trener’s registration. In Germany he only obtained a temporary

  matriculation (D-EMUD) but in the end he registered the airpla-

  ne in Great Britain (G-BEZA). He felt he was not appreciated in

  Germany therefore since 1974 he has been trying to relocate to

  Canada. He received the permit in 1982 but the rest of the fami-

  ly had settled in Germany already, so he left with his son Roman

  only, seventeen years old at that time. Later they were joined

  by another son, Andre. In Canada Bezák kept ying, even coa-

  ched the Canadian national aerobatic team. He lived in Collin-

  gwood (Ontario) on the shore of Lake Huron where he was also

  running a guest house. The place was supposed to become an

  aviation center, even with its own runway. However not all plans

  materialized and then came November 1989 in Czechoslovakia…

  The post-revolution times brought a satisfaction for Bezák

  in the form of rehabilitation. For some reason he was even

  awarded a military rank of Lt. Colonel and became an hono-

  rary member of the Military Headquarters. However, a lot of

  people were surprised after his return. They said a completely

  dierent person came back. Arrogant and unpleasant… “When

  he emigrated, we had to clean out his house. I don’t know why

  it fell on us, aero club members, but such were the orders.

  He had a fully furnished workshop we had to remove all the

  equipment and store it. Then it was sitting there for the next

  thirty years, no one used it and when Bezák returned not only

  did he want everything back, which was okay, but was also de-

  manding the lease payment for those thirty years. It was rather

  strange behavior from our point of view,” recalls Jasoň Kučera

  and goes on: “Completely dierent person has returned, and I

  know from German friends from the aero club at Elchingen air-

  port (EDPA) where he had his aircraft based for some time and

  taught aerobatics, that they gradually parted with him there

  too. They didn‘t want to specify, but they just stopped working

  with him.“

  In the 60s though Bezák had a lot of friends and fans at home.

  “He was such a down-to-the-ground, straightforward guy. And

  we rooted for him so much during the World Championship in

  Bratislava,” recalls the former aerobatic pilot Jirina Lockero-

  va-Stoklasova. Bezak’s behavior surprised also in 1993, when he

  demanded a free overhaul of his then already stored Z 226 from

  the company ZLÍN-AVION service, claiming that it would bring

  them commercial success. His ofer was turned down politely…

  Reportedly, he was also turned down by the Chrudim Four when

  he oered to y with them again.

  Bezák in his OK-MUA during an air show

  (photo: Milan Jančář).

  Until his late age Bezák harbored a deep hatred towards those

  who in 1971 wanted to stop his escape. “I simply call a pilot

  and all his military commanders the murderers,” he stated re-

  peatedly. A documentary about him was lmed in late nineties

  in Czech Republic in which he went with a camera crew to see

  Mrs. Marta Fiedler to curse her out because of her husband. “So-

  mebody rang the bell I answered the door and the camera po-

  inted at me immediately and Bezák was screaming at me that

  my husband was a murderer who wanted to kill his whole family.

  I begged them to stop lming and to leave but they would not

  listen,” recalls Marta Fiedler and by the tone of her voice one

  can tell it was a very unpleasant experience for her. “He better

  should have thanked my husband that he let him y because he

  would have never red at civilians and children” she added con-

  dently. Many people found the aforementioned documentary

  rather disgusting and parted any contacts with him.

  Privately owned Trener aircraft

  in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

  JHow did Bezák managed to acquire his own Trener then? Accor-

  ding to some veterans in summer 1968 he towed a fuselage of

  OK-JAF aircraft behind his car from Kroměříž. It was a Z 226 B

  prototype, rebuilt from Z-126 serial number 830. After testing

  the aircraft was allocated to Svazarm which in 1956 assigned

  it to Kroměříž Aero Club. On July 19, 1968, it was erased from

  the registry supposedly for the purpose of Bezák’s acquisition.

  He obtained all other necessary parts and in his family house

  in Hostouň rebuilt it to Z 226 T standard. The great mystery re-

  mains how he arrived at serial number 370. That one had already

  been assigned, the aircraft ocially manufactured with this se-

  rial was exported to Hungary and can be still found there today.

  It is not clear why Bezák did not keep the number 830. At any

  rate after many “duels” with authorities in the end of October

  1968 the aircraft was entered into the registry under OK-MUA

  matriculation (also non-standard for Treners).

  The biggest problem turned out to be an operation permit for

  a private radio transmitter which he of course needed in order to

  operate the airplane. Supposedly he had to submit the request

  even with the Central Committee of the Communist Party.

  “At that Central Committee they treated me as if I had stolen

  a missile with a nuclear head,” Bezák recalled fourteen years

  later in an article published in emigrants’ magazine Západ (The

  West).

  Bezák became the very rst private owner of Trener in Czecho-

  slovakia. Not the only one though. The same trick pulled o Jiří

  Stoklasa as well, another outstanding aerobatic pilot at that

  time. The third private Trener belonged to a ČSA pilot František

  Altner. Stoklasa acquired his Trener Z 526 F (OK-ZSA) in a similar

  way as Bezák, i.e. sourcing the parts in a variety of places and

  manners. Ultimately the aircraft was assembled directly at the

  manufacturer. “He for example came home and I told him we

  needed to repair a roof to which he responded it had to wait sin-

  ce he just purchased landing gear for Trener,” recalls his former

  wife Jiřina Lockerová-Stoklasová. František Altner on the other

  hand bought a discharged Z 126 (OK-DVG) from Liberec Aero

  Club. After the overhaul it was registered as OK-EKA.

  Both Altner and Stoklasa however lost their Treners aft Bezák’s

  emigration. They were banned from ying hem and therefore

  forced to sell them. Former Altner’s OK-EKA ies today in Pří-

  bram, after the necessary overhaul it was registered as OK-DVG

  again and sports a military camouage with the code UC-38. The

  fate of Stoklasa´s amboyantly painted OK-ZSA is rather sad. On

  May 24, 1997, pilot Petr Štěpánek crashed it near Moravská Tře-

  bová and was killed.

  In 2018 Ladislav Bezak passed away in Bühne, Germany. And

  as one of the long-time Trener pilots here said: “There was no

  obituary anywhere, no one noticed it. Nobody talked to him for

  many years in fact.”

  Sources

  magazine West issue 6/1983

  Miroslav Irra, Vysoká modrá zeď – Ohlédnutí druhé

  (Jakab 2021, ISBN: 978-80-7648-021-6)

  Miroslav Lanči, Stanislav Brašna, Psohlavci letectva

  (Svět křídel 2015, ISBN: 978-80-87567-79-1)

  www.gonzoaviation.com

  www.iDnes.cz

  Husband and wife

  Stoklasa in front of

  their private Z 526

  F OK-ZSA (photo:

  archive of Jiřina

  Lockerová-Stokla-

  sová).

  eduard

  27

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 28

  Photographs: KPM Kaznejov

  By coincidence we had agreed on another group build, the

  members agreed as well so there was no obstacle to launch-

  ing the project Zero. This time we opted for a team work and

  each member of the group of four was working on an specific

  assignment. Upon my arrival on Friday night Mira Bilek has

  completed one unpainted cockpit and was getting ready to

  start another one. Vlad Suma glued the separate wing panels

  into the bottom part of the wing and put together the wheel

  wells. Johnny Hanzlicek in the meantime prepared the hori-

  zontal tail surfaces, glued together the engines, drop tanks

  and some other small details. And this process went on until

  we reached the painting stage. I’m not sure why the guys left

  this for myself however I overheard the muffled voice coming

  somewhere from the rear: “…let the club president mess it up

  himself!”

  No issues (except those self-induced)

  The new hot Eduard release looks very nice, delicate panel

  lines and fully riveted surfaces look simply great even though

  the rivets disappear in some areas due to the limits of the

  injection moulding technology. Therefore after gluing and

  sanding the fuselages we restored the riveting on the upper

  and lower sides of the fuselage. Nothing more was necessa-

  ry. The other parts show very high level of detailing. Cockpit

  representation in plastic is amazing, some may want to add

  couple of wires though. Also the engine looks nice conside-

  ring how much o fit will be seen after the installation. Here

  we slightly deviated from our original intention to build the kit

  just out of the box. We glued pieces of brass tubing on the

  ignition harness conduit and attached lead wires to them to

  represent spark plugs cables. A radial engine just cannot be

  without them!

  No hiccup during the building, woth mentioning is coming to

  my mind. I mean as far as Eduard is concerned.

  On the other hand we suffered from two blunders, well “mi-

  ni-blunders” to sound more optimistic. I somehow subconci-

  ousely transformed the initially selected camouflage scheme

  D (blue fuselage bands) into scheme K (blue bands as well).

  I overlooked it during the night, flipped one page more in the

  After our quite successful group build

  of four Treners by our club memberes

  we were offered to build the surprise

  new release from Eduard, A6M2 Zero

  kit, the limited edition Tora Tora Tora!

  TEXT:

  MARTIN ČERNÝ

  Build,

  build,

  build!

  HISTORY

  eduard

  28

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 29

  TEXT:

  MARTIN ČERNÝ

  instructions and here we go. These two schemes are the only

  ones out of all offered in the kit that feature identical fuse-

  lage bands and no stripes on the vertical tail surfaces. All

  markings i.e. identifications, fuselage and tail stripes were

  airbrushed The only decals used were the numerals for the

  vertical tail surfaces.

  The second “mini-blunder” occured after the models were

  completed. Vlad Suma was busy taking pictures while the

  rest of us was enjoying the models on display at which point

  I made a statememt: “Gentlemen, something is wrong…”

  As we learned the engine cowlings got swapped. Not only that

  but landing gear covers were reversed as well!

  In the hurry that followed the propellers, cowlings and landing

  gear covers were stripped of the models and glued back on to

  correspond to the correct marking. Vlad was very unhappy to

  erase the pictures he had taken and start all over. Despite the

  hiccup all ended well, we enjoyed the building and I dare to say

  that the kit can be basically completed during the weekend.

  The total building time, including delays, was 26 hours.

  Summary

  • Excellent surface details

  • Highly detailed cockpit

  • Precise gluing is paramout, for example on panel inserts

  or completing the engine cowling (very little glue is needed in

  fact). The parts‘ fit is amazing to the point that the panel lines

  had to be lightly restored at the glued joint.

  • One more notice about panel inserts. In Vlad’s case they

  were not leveled and had to be adjusted using the file. Without

  modification they ended up slightly below the surrounding

  surfaces. Some micro flash or edge in the wing cut out could

  be blamed. Dry fitting here is a must.

  • Careful assembly of the wheel wells. All has to fit tightly

  without any gaps otherwise a problem with assembling the

  wing and consequent mating with the fuselage can occur. The

  sub-assembly is demanding precise and clean work.

  • While mating the wing with the fuselage it seemed they will

  not fit but squeezing the fuselage in the cockpit area will help

  and all fits just perfectly. The same is true about the horizontal

  tail surfaces. The fit into the opening is tight but once pushed

  in there is no need for glue. The fit of the separate control

  surfaces is superb.

  • The position lights just love to spring off the tweezers ne-

  ver to be found again. Some spares on the sprue will be cer-

  tainly welcome. Honza lost the tail light to a carpet monster so

  we had to scratch-built it using layers of the UV glue. Other-

  wise everything fits precisely. Great feature of the navigation

  lights to be glued on the wing surface is the rod fitting into the

  wing opening. That is superb. Just a tiny drop of glue and push

  the part in.

  • Cons: one of the fuselage-mounted machine guns featured

  short-shot lever of cocking mechanism, gunsight glass on the

  clear sprue was short-shot as well. Small sink marks on the

  control surfaces parts. Fixing it is not worth the effort though.

  • Camouflage color was mixed as per instructions.

  Paint used for airbrushing the markings (all GSI Mr.Color):

  Hinomaru: C07 + C58 (1:1)

  Red band on the fuselage: C07 + C114 (1:1)

  Blued band on the fuselage: C72

  Yellow stripes on the vertical tail surfaces: C58 + C113 (1:1)

  Wing walkways: GX03.

  HISTORY

  eduard

  29

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 30

  Photographs: KPM Kaznejov

  So I started to prepare myself for a phone call with Vla-

  dimir. After his usual greating „Howdy Mart“ I carefully

  asked

  him if there was a possibility to obtain missing

  sprues E, at least in their pre-production form, so as we

  could complete the models of Trener. The following re

  -

  sponse caught me by surprise: „Why not and how about

  an additional complete kit“? What no

  w? A quick phone

  conference with club members and I made an arrange-

  ment. It’s decided: we’ll try to build four Treners at our

  gr

  oup build meeting!

  All the fun commenced on Friday October 16 at 5pm with

  a clear objective to have four completely built and pain

  -

  ted Treners by Sunday midday. We were driven by the

  enthusias

  m which was in several minutes replaced by

  a little stress caused by the kit instructions, parts com-

  bination, coloration varied by the versions so the head

  s

  tarted to spin. The situation is probably best described

  by Mila Bilek exclamation: „Man, these instructions are

  pain in the neck!“ This is our very first piece of advice

  : grab a colored pencil or a marker, circle the letter of

  the camouflaged you have chosen in all further building

  On October 2nd Eduard compa-

  ny organized an modelers‘ event

  in Pilsen-Line where several of

  our club members helped with

  running it. During our club me-

  eting guys gave me a box with

  incomplete Trener model kits

  acompanied by a lovely dedica-

  tion from Vladimir Sulc. Fondle

  them and enjoy, it said. We star-

  ted to inspect them and brain-

  -storm: „ this could be great for

  our group building session co-

  ming up in two weeks“ one of

  the guys said. „I love it“, added

  another one. „I want this ca-

  mouflage“, countered yet ano-

  ther club member.

  TEXT:

  MARTIN ČERNÝ

  I’m training,

  I’m training!

  HISTORY

  eduard

  30

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 31

  steps and then black everything else out. Without this

  precaution you will either „get lost in the translation“

  or waste time finding what you actually need. It did not

  seem so, and we believed it will be an „easy build“, but

  the cocpits were completed in rather long 3.5 hours,

  fully completed, including the washes. That is surpris

  -

  ingly lengthy process for a sport airplane. On the other

  hand

  gluing cockpit into the fuselage was a breeze. At

  this stage we did not follow the instructions rigorously

  but glued one side-panel with the floor into one half of

  the fuselage, second side-panel into the other half of the

  fuselage, buttoned up the fuselage and cemented it with

  the ultra thin glue. All fitted together as it was suppo

  -

  sed to. And so I could have gone on and on about other

  s

  ub-assemblies but Vladimir would most likely have

  stopped me without „wearing white gloves“. In short: the

  kit builds well, there are a few tiny glitches here and the-

  re though. Another „painful situation“ occurs while mas-

  king some of the more challenging markings.

  The

  camouflages were assigned as follows:

  Bohumir Bilek: Z-226T, OK

  -

  MUA, pilot Ladislav Bezak,

  the first offical World Champion in aerobatics. In 1971 he

  emigrated to Germany with his whole family flying this

  aircraft.

  Jan Hanzlicek: Z-226MS, OK

  -

  LMG, Rakovnik airport,

  2020

  Vladimir Suma: Z-226T, HA

  -

  TRM, Tokol airport, Hungary,

  2021

  Martin Cerny: Z-226B, OK

  -

  MPJ, Kladno airport in 70s.

  Summary of the build experiences:

  1. The instructions miss the color call out for the fire

  extinguisher located on the front bulkhead (part E13)

  2. In order to position the little box correctly (part H11)

  you need to drill holes along the floor edge

  3. Positioning of the centroplane (part H38) has to by

  symmetrical otherwise one half of the wing will fit per

  -

  fectly on the bottom but the other half of the wing will

  f

  eature a visible gap

  4. After gluing the parts E48 (a structure behind the

  seat) these partially extend above the edge of the ma-

  ting surface in the cut out for a rear instrument panel

  coaming.

  The guides in the side panels need to adjusted

  or pins on E48 parts thinned.

  5. Gluing of the horizontal tail surfaces: you need to sand

  down flat the mating surfaces on the parts E29+E33 and

  E31+E35, they are bulging.

  6. In the „D“ scheme do not use the front part H24 as per

  instructions but use H22 instead. The cut out for the front

  exhaust is missing on the mask.

  7. The wingtips: drill out the hand-holds for the aircraft

  ground handling-they are missing from the instructions.

  8. The starboard landing gear leg does not fit into the

  wing cut out, light sanding around the perimeter will fix

  this.

  9. Wheels + parts: there is a very tight fit, if the parts are

  primed or painted in a thicker layer they cannot be easily

  assembled. It’s sufficient to push the discs into the tyres.

  Do it on a softer surface. They will hold without glue.

  10. The tail wheel consists of two parts. After gluing them

  together the assembly looks a bit strange but that is

  accurate in fact. The wheel features a center groove and

  side guides to help the aircraft maintain its track on the

  soft surfaces.

  11. Elevator control links: to add several spares to the

  sprue would come handy, they fly off the tweezers easily

  and are difficult to find

  HISTORY

  eduard

  31

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 32

  12. Fuel gauges on the wings: according to the instruc-

  tions we are to glue the clear parts K2+K3 in the last but

  not

  least step but decals application is shown only in ca-

  mouflage schemes i.e. to place them on the clear parts.

  W

  e do not recommend to glue the clear parts, apply fuel

  gauges after full painting together with other decals and

  apply the clear parts in the end, or apply UV glue or epo

  -

  xid.

  1

  3. C34 Sky Blue is too light for OK

  -

  LMG scheme, in rea-

  lity and according to the photographs C65 Bright Blue is

  a better match and al

  so frequently uses for other appli-

  cations.

  1

  4. For some folks decals feature rather large excess

  of the varnish („Mart“ thinks unnecessarily large). A lot

  of water on the model surface is necessary during the

  application but do not use setting solution at this stage.

  That can be applied after the decals are set and dry. If

  setting solution is applied earlier the varnish edges on

  the large marking decals will shrink quite a bit.

  15. The colors of the national flag are rather dull, pastel

  -

  -like by our opinion. The same is true about the green

  color in the band marking on the Hungarian aircraft. In

  the OK

  -

  LMG scheme the blue wedge of the national flag

  is actually blue color of the airframe. The decal is light

  blue and sticks out like a sore thumb. We cut out this

  wedge and applied the decal as such, without its blue

  section. We recommend to add to the decal sheet one

  flag without the blue wedge for this particular scheme.

  16. Mask sheet: a gremlin must have messed with the

  masks application. In the camouflage „C“ mask nr.3 is to

  be applied on the starboard side of the rudder but the

  instructions state nr.2 again i.e. the same as for the port

  side. In the scheme „J“ mask nr.20 is to be used on the

  starboard side of the engine cowling but the instructions

  state mask nr.12 instead. And the mask nr.4 is nowhere

  to be found in the instructions, nevertheless can be used

  for the arc in front of the canopy in the scheme „D“.

  The mask sheet contains some basic masks for select

  camouflage schemes however the wedges for the Hun

  -

  garian aircraft engine markings are sorely missing. The

  mas

  king is „yet another pain in the neck“. We encou-

  rage the manufacturer to at least provide mask outlines

  s

  chematic in scale that can be downloaded. Especially

  the wedges for the wings and horizontal tail surfaces or

  wedges for the Hungarian airplane. This simple aid will

  help creating home-made masks from tape. If possible

  provide this in the upcoming issue of the kit if the similar

  color schemes are planned for it.

  And that’s all my friends. Despite the issues described

  above the kit is very nice, go ahead and buy it. Maybe,

  one day, we will have Zlin Z-42/142 and Z-43 as well.

  What does Eduard say?

  Getting the Trener to perfection proved to be a cha

  -

  llenge, and the number of combinations in coloring and

  detail

  ing of the interiors and exteriors of each aircraft

  contained in the kit markings was enormous. For this

  reason, we did make a few mistakes in the instructions.

  Some of them we found out ourselves, others were re

  -

  ported to us by the modelers themselves. In the next

  edition of

  the Trener, Profipack MS version, the coloring

  of the fire extinguisher will be mentioned, the procedu

  -

  re for assembling the fuel gauges will be corrected and

  other

  modifications, some not mentioned in the article,

  will be also added. We won't do anything with the alrea

  -

  dy printed instructions, but we will at least include the

  things

  discovered by Kaznějov club guys have found du-

  ring their build in the instructions on the web.

  HISTORY

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 33

  HISTORY

  eduard

  33

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 34

  KITS 12/2021

  Product page

  Sopwith F.1 Camel (BR.1) 1/48 Cat. No. 82171

  Plastic parts Eduard

  Photo-etched set

  Paiting mask

  5 markings

  eduard

  34

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 35

  KITS 12/2021

  B6420, F/Cdr Richard Pearman Minifie, No. 1(N) Squadron RNAS, Téteghem, France, March 1918

  B7270, Capt. Arthur R. Brown, No. 9(N) Sqn RNAS, Bertangles, France, April 1918

  Melbourne-born R. P. Minifie was the sixth most successful Australian fighter of World War I, as he scored 21 victories, most of

  them flying Sopwith Triplane. Only last four ones he achieved flying this Camel. Minifie joined the ranks of the RNAS (Royal Naval

  Air Service) on June 11, 1916, and after his pilot training he became a member of No. 1(N) Sqn in December. He achieved his first

  victory on April 29, 1917, when he shot down an Albatros D.III near Epinoy. On March 17, 1918, Minifie led an offensive patrol flying

  this Camel. He did not return, as he had to make emergency landing behind enemy lines, being taken a POW subsequently. His

  machine was burned on the ground, according to some sources it was set on fire by Minifie himself. It is not clear whether he

  landed due to the engine malfunction or was shot down in combat with Pfalzs of Jasta 47w. Camel B6420 was manufactured

  by Sopwith factory and was accepted into No. 1(N) Sqn RNAS on November 9, 1917. Unlike the then current marking of the unit,

  the B6420 received an unusually colorful livery. According to the only known B&W photo, several conclusions can be drawn. We

  are leaning towards mid-blue mid and rear fuselage area with white greyhound and a red field behind the cockpit. However, it is

  possible that the wooden parts around the cockpit area were also painted red. It is up to the modeler to choose.

  B6390, F/Cdr Raymond Collishaw, Seaplane Defence Squadron RNAS, December 1917

  Canadian Raymond Collishaw was the most successful RNAS ace with his 60 ki

  lls. His aerial combat career began in January

  1916 when he was posted to the Naval Wing No. 3, flying the Sopwith 1½ Strutters. Here he achieved his first two victories. In

  February 1917 he was transferred to No. 3(N) Sqn where he achieved two more kills flying Pup, but by April 1 he reported to No.

  10(N) Sqn to take command of B Flight. Here he switched to the Sopwith Triplane and established the legendary “Black Flight”

  with fellow Canadians. Their aircraft had their noses painted in black and were given “black” names as well. Collishaw chose

  the name “Black Maria”. After a holiday in Canada, already an ace with 38 kills, he took command of Seaplane Defence

  Squadron in November 1917, where he also achieved his first victory with Camel using this B6390. On January 23, 1918,

  Collishaw assumed command of No. 3(N) Sqn, where he remained until October 21, when he was withdrawn from combat duty.

  After the war he inc-reased his score as commander of No. 47 Sqn by another kill in fighting against the Bolsheviks in Russia.

  He died on September 28, 1976, in Canada. The Camel B6390, like most of Collishaw's aircraft, had black nose and bore the

  name “Black Maria”. It was taken over by FSL J. A. Moyle, and on January 15 it was shot down over the Channel with FSL E. G.

  Wilkinson in cockpit. The pilot was picked by the destroyer HMS Myngs, while the aircraft sank.

  Canadian Arthur Brown made himself famous with his victory over Manfred von Richthofen. Although it is perceived today that

  a bullet fired by Australian ground machine gunners killed the Red Baron, Brown was the one who chased the most famous

  German fighter down at the time and fired on him as well. Brown became an RNAS pilot in November 1915, but several health

  problems prevented him from combat activity until April 1917, when he was assigned to No. 9(N) Sqn RNAS. He did not stay long

  with this unit, however, and changed in quick succession Nos. 11, 4, and 11 Sqn again, where he scored his first kill with Sopwith

  Pup on July 17. In September he returned to No. 9(N) Sqn. By the end of October, he had managed five kills and after taking a

  rest, he returned to the unit in February 1918. He was appointed a flight commander at the time he took over this Camel, built by

  the Clayton & Shuttleworth factory. With it he scored three more victories during March and April, before on April 21 he swooped

  down on Richthofen, who was chasing Lt. May with his Fokker Dr.I. Nine days after his tenth and most famous kill, Brown was

  hospitalized with the flu and nerve problems. He went on to serve as an instructor and never returned to combat. On July 15, he

  even fainted in flight, crashed, and suffered serious head injuries. It took five years for him to fully recover. Brown died of a heart

  attack on March 9, 1944.

  eduard

  35

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 36

  KITS 12/2021

  B3781, FSL Aubrey B. Ellwood, No. 3(N) Squadron RNAS, Saint-Pol, France, July 1917

  B6398, Ernest L. Foot, No. 1 School of Special Flying, RAF Gosport, October 1918

  A. B. Ellwood, son of Reverend C. E. Ellwood, joined the Royal Navy in June 1916. In April 1917 he was posted to No. 3(N) Sqn and

  served with this unit until May 1918 (by which time it had been redesignated No. 203 Sqn). Ellwood achieved a total of ten kills,

  the first of them when flying this Camel B3781 on June 27, 1917. His victim was an unspecified German floatplane. On his second

  victory (January 30, 1918) he was already flying another Camel (B6408), as B3781 had been seriously damaged in a crash by J. W.

  P. Ambrose on August 27, 1917. However, the aircraft was repaired, assigned to No. 9(N) Sqn at the end of October, and in Febru-

  ary 1918 was credited to No. 10(N) Sqn. Here it was shot down with FSL G. T. Steeves behind controls on March 18. Steeves was

  taken POW, the aircraft was destroyed. Camel B3781 was of Sopwith factory production with red hearts painted on the wings and

  fuselage during service with No. 3(N) Sqn. The upper wing hearts are clearly visible on the photo of crashed aircraft.

  As colourful as the B6398 Camel was, so too was its combat career. It was manufactured by Sopwith as part of a batch of 250

  aircraft. In October 1917 it was assigned to No. 1(N) Sqn. Here it had a few unlucky moments, such as a ground collision with

  another aircraft (March 11, 1918) or a collision with a cow on edge of airfield during a training flight (April 7, 1918). Pilots scored

  twelve kills flying B9368, six of which were credited to S. M. Kinkead, with W. R. May scoring his first two kills and R. C. B. Bra-

  ding scoring four, all during September 1918. At the end of the war the aircraft was assigned to No. 1 School of Special Flying,

  where it was taken over as a personal machine by E. L. Foot (5 kills). He had it decorated with Egyptian motifs. A stylized head

  of Cleopatra in a black field and a snake winding along the back of the machine were added. According to the photographs taken

  from both sides, it seems there was a two-headed and two-tailed red snake painted. The area of the fuselage around the cockpit

  is usually depicted as red, but according to photographs it is possible the wooden parts were left in their natural color and only

  the canvas behind cockpit was red. It is up to modeler to choose.

  eduard

  36

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 37

  KITS 12/2021

  OVERTREES

  Sopwith F.1 Camel

  Cat. No. 82171X

  1/48

  Product page

  Product page

  Cat. No. 82171-LEPT1

  Recommended for Sopwith F.1 Camel (BR.1)

  FE1215 Sopwith Camel seatbelts STEEL (PE

  -

  Set)

  644116 Sopwith Camel LööK (Brassin)

  648657 Sopwith Camel wheels type 1 (Brassin)

  648658 Sopwith Camel wheels type 2 (Brassin)

  648659 Sopwith Camel seat (Brassin)

  648660 Sopwith Camel Vickers Mk.I gun (Brassin)

  648674 Sopwith Camel Rotherham air pumps (Brassin)

  648662 Sopwith Camel 20lb bomb carrier (Brassin)

  648677 Sopwith Camel Bentley engine (Brassin)

  648661 Sopwith Camel US Colt Vickers gun (Brassin)

  3DL48038 Sopwith Camel SPACE (3D Decal set)

  Cat. No. 644116

  Cat. No. 648677

  Cat. No. 648659

  eduard

  37

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 38

  BFC113

  Camel Swag

  1/48, Cat. No. BFC113

  Complete Sopwith F.1 Camel (BR.1) kit

  (ProPACK Cat. No. 82171)

  Unique decal for Camel B7184 from

  the RAF and from the captivity

  in Germany.

  BFC

  BFC MEMBERS ONLYBFC MEMBERS ONLY

  Product page

  eduard

  38

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 39

  Camel Swag

  BFC

  B7184, FSL Hubert St. J. E. Youens, No. 3(N) Squadron RNAS, Bray Dunes, France, January 1918

  B7184, Oblt. Otto Kissenberth, Jasta 23, Epinoy, France, May 1918

  On January 23, 1918, eight Camels from No. 3(N) Squadron RNAS took off for offensive patrol at the Ostende – Torhout - Roulers

  line. Britons encountered a formation of four D.F.W.'s escorted by several D.IIIa Pfalzs from Jasta 7 over the Houthulst Forest

  (Forêt D'Houthulst). In the ensuing battle, one of the Camels crash-landed behind enemy lines. It was Camel flown by Flight Sub-

  -Lieutenant Hubert St. John Edgerley Youens, a twenty year old inexperienced pilot. The one who, according to records, forced

  him to land was Carl Degelow, later commander of Jasta 40 and also the last pilot to be awarded Pour le Mérite during the Great

  War. The flight letter of B7184 remains unknown, as no photograph of this machine exists, partly because it was lost just nine

  days after it was taken into service on January 14, 1918. The marking of B7184 is usually compared to another Camel, the B7275,

  which bore the letter P in the blue field. However, this one joined No. 3(N) Sqn in March 1918, so the P letter cannot be excluded

  as possibility for B7184 as well.

  The Camel B7184 captured on January 23, 1918, was just slightly damaged and Luftstreitkräfte took the opportunity to flight-test

  the near-new condition enemy aircraft in the months following the incident. After the testing had been finalized, the Camel was

  used by Jasta 23 commanding officer Otto Kissenberth. German pilot even achieved a victory flying it when he shot down S.E.5a

  on May 16, 1918. It was his twentieth and last kill. Two weeks later he crashed this Camel shortly after take-off and severe inju-

  ries prevented him from return to combat action. The German livery is reasonably well documented. The British cockades were

  overpainted with white on the upper side of the top wing and with light yellow on the bottom of the lower wing while fuselage

  cockades disappeared under black fields on the fuselage sides. It is interesting the eagle symbol of the No.3(N) Sqn was re-

  tained. The horizontal stabilizer was given white and black stripe, the marking of Jasta 23.

  eduard

  39

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 40

  KITS 12/2021

  Product page

  Z-226MS Trenér 1/48 Cat. No. 82182

  Plastic parts Eduard

  Photo-etched set

  Paiting mask

  6 markings

  eduard

  40

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 41

  KITS 12/2021

  OK

  -

  JCA, No. 839, Gliding Aerobatic Club, Benešov airfield, Czech Republic, 2020

  OK

  -

  MPA, No. 246, Aero Club Frýdlant nad Ostravicí, Czech Republic, 2019

  OK

  -

  JGT, No. 804, private owners, Rakovník airfield, Czech Republic, 2021

  This aircraft was manufactured as Z-126 version and got the matriculation OK

  -

  JHJ. It was rebuilt as Z-226M and MS later in 1999.

  At the same time Jičín Aero Club bought it and used as a towing aircraft until 2012. The next user, Gliding Aerobatic Club of Miloš

  Ramert brought it in 2012. There, the exhaust silencer was fitted due to the proximity of Benešov town, as well as the touristic

  area around the Konopiště castle. On the rudder, the sticker with Rumcajz illustration was placed by Jičín Aero Club members,

  as the city is Centrepoint of the fairy-tale about this fictional person. At the time it was sold to GAC the sticker was already faded

  out significantly. For the appearance of the aircraft as it was used during its Jičín era, you may use the full-color decal of the

  figure (marked by “a” suffix). The spinner was blue at the time and exhaust was not fitted with the silencer.

  Trenér No. 246 was manufactured in 1958 and was registered in December the same year as the Z-226B towing special with rear

  controls only. It flies with the Frýdlant nad Ostravicí Aero Club from 2009, when it was brought from Havlíčkův Brod Aero Club.

  During overhaul in 1989 the M-137 engine was installed and the V-503A automatic pitch-control propeller as well. Thus, together

  with other necessary changes it was brought to the standard of Z-226MS. The aircraft was used in various gliding contests as

  the tow, two of them, the Euroglide 2008 and 2012 are commemorated by stickers on the left side of the vertical fin. The exhaust

  silencer was installed by Frýdlant Aero Club to keep the noise levels low.

  Unusual colors of the OK

  -

  JGT make it very attractive, and the matriculation gave it the nickname „Jogurt“ (yoghurt in Czech). The

  aircraft was manufactured as Z-126 and served with various Aero Clubs in the Central Bohemia region. For some time, it was

  used by Aero Club operating from international airport Praha – Ruzyně. It was modified to the Z-226MS standard in 1998 and

  brought by group of private owners later. They operate it from the Rakovník airfield today.

  eduard

  41

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 42

  KITS 12/2021

  OK

  -

  LLR, No. 133, civic club owner, Sazená airfield, Czech Republic, 2015

  OK

  -

  IFJ, No. 750, Zbraslavice Aero Club, Czech Republic 2020

  OK

  -

  KNN, No. 41-09, Vysoké Mýto Aero Club, Czech Republic, 2013

  Bright red color of this Trenér is work of Igor Rumanovský, who made the paintwork in May 2005 at the Nitra airfield. The aircraft

  was in possession of Aero Club Banská Bystrica and based at the nearby airfield Sliač. For some time, the OM

  -

  LLR, as it was

  matriculated in Slovakia, served at the Očová airfield, and then was sold to Czech Republic in 2011. The new owner was and still

  is the civic club Podřipská historická letka (translates as Historic flight of the Říp mountain foothills). At the present, the aircraft

  is non-airworthy and stored due to the ground accident damage in 2019. Repair is planned as the airframe still has a lot of flight

  hours to the end of its life cycle.

  No. 750 Trenér was manufactured in 1954 as Z-126 and rebuilt to the Z-226MS standard during its second main overhaul. At the

  time the aircraft also got the present colors, which are the design of Jiří Hodan, pilot and renowned modeler. The aircraft experi-

  enced engine malfunction during the tow on July 1, 2012. Pilot, after hearing the massive bang from the engine, experienced loss

  of power and vibrations. After glider release, he stopped the engine and conducted emergency landing on the airfield success-

  fully.

  The towing workhorse of the Vysoké Mýto Aero Club was produced as Z-126 in 1956 and first served with Slaný Aero Club. It was

  handed over to Točná Aero Club in 1967 and two years later to Dvůr Králové Aero Club. Starting from 1976 it serves with Vysoké

  Mýto Aero Club until today. During third overhaul, finished in June 1981, the aircraft was rebuilt to the Z-226M standard and

  later to Z-226MS. On November 25, 2013, the engine malfunction forced pilot to conduct emergency landing on the field near to

  Kroměříž city. The aircraft was undamaged, but during the engine change another overhaul was made. Due to the minor damage

  to the rudder the fabric cover was changed in 2014 and it was left white without the blue stripes as on the rest of the aircraft. It

  flies with the white rudder until today.

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 43

  KITS 12/2021

  OVERTREES

  Z-126T/226 TRENÉR

  Cat. No. 82181X

  1/48

  Product page

  Product page

  Cat. No. 82182-LEPT1

  Recommended for Z-226MS Trenér

  644120 Z-226 Trener LööK (Brassin)

  648679 Z-126/226 Trener wheels (Brassin)

  3DL48045 Z-226 SPACE (3D Decal Set)

  D48092 Z-226 stencils (Decal Set)

  D48097 Z-126/226/326/526 cockpit placards (Decal Set)

  EX805 Z-226 TFace (Mask)

  Cat. No. 644120

  Cat. No. 3DL48045

  Cat. No. 648679

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 44

  KITS 12/2021

  Product page

  1/48 Cat. No. 11155

  Dual Combo

  TORA TORA TORA!

  Plastic parts Eduard

  Photo-etched set

  Paiting mask

  12 markings

  eduard

  44

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 45

  KITS 12/2021

  Lt. Cdr. Shigeru Itaya, Akagi Fighter Squadron, first attack wave

  During the first wave Itaya led 43 Zero fighters, including 9 from Akagi. Itaya's own Akagi formation shot down one sightseeing

  and three training aircraft. Then, at Hickam and Ewa bases, they destroyed about 25 aircraft and also attacked incoming B-17s.

  Itaya's wingmen damaged and set fire to a B-17C from 7th BG of Capt. Swenson´s crew with one passenger who did not survive

  the attack. Itaya's wingman, PO1c Hirano, was hit by anti-aircraft over Fort Kamehameha and hit an obstacle while flying low

  over the ground, killing himself and four American soldiers. Itaya was born in 1909 and graduated from the Naval Academy in

  1929. From November 1936, he was the Buntaichō of the Ryūjo Fighter Squadron for one year. He then served with the 15th and

  12th Kōkūtai and from January 1940 he was Buntaichō of the Hiryū Fighter Squadron. In November 1940 he took over this position

  on the aircraft carrier Akagi, in April 1941 he was appointed Hikōtaichō and remained in this position until the Battle of Midway.

  He was killed on July 24, 1944 in the Kuril Islands, at that time serving as a member of the staff of the Naval 51st KōkūSentai. He

  was flying aboard a G3M bomber towards Paramushir and was accidentally shot down by a Ki-43 fighter.

  c/n probably 2236, PO2c Akira Yamamoto, Kaga Fighter Squadron, first attack wave

  Kaga sent nine Zeros in the first wave o

  f the attack on Pearl Harbor under command of Lt. Yoshio Shiga. His formation destroyed

  21 aircraft at Hickam. Six of them were credited to PO2c Yamamoto, who had previously shot down a yellow-painted civilian

  Piper J-3 on a sighseeing flight. The two men on board were killed. Lt. Shiga lowered Yamamoto's rank one notch and called him

  an idiot bastard. Yamamoto had served as a fighter pilot since 1934 and had seen combat in China with the aircraft carrier Hōshō

  and 12th Kōkūtai. During the Battle of Midway, he shot down five bombers. After Kaga was hit, Yamamoto landed aboard Hiryū

  and while escorting bomber he claimed four fighters including F4F flown by “Jimmy” Thatch, commander of VF-3. In the fall of

  1942 he served on the carrier Zuihō and was promoted to the rank of Warrant Officer. In May 1944, he was transferred to the

  Yokosuka Kōkūtai and participated in the defense of Iwo Jima. He was killed in the defense of Japan on November 24, 1944. After

  his aircraft was hit by a B-29 gunner, Yamamoto bailed out, but his parachute did not open. He achieved 13 aerial victories and

  the rank of Lieutenant junior grade.

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 46

  KITS 12/2021

  PO1c Kazuo Muranaka, Hiryū Fighter Squadron, first attack wave

  Lt. Masaji Suganami, Sōryū Fighter Squadron, first attack wave

  In the fi

  rst wave, eight Zeros from Sōryū, led by Suganami, attacked Wheeler and Ewa airfields. They destroyed 27 aircraft on

  the ground and shot down five planes in combat. Suganami then lost orientation, so he decided to return over the target and

  sacrifice himself. However, he encountered other planes and returned to the carrier. After graduating Naval Academy in 1933, he

  served in 13th and Tsukuba Kōkūtais. He led fighters on the carrier Ryūjō till November 1941, after that Sōryū fighters until June

  1942. At the Battle of Midway, in the first attack wave, his formation shot down six American fighters. From July 1942 he served

  as Hikōtaichō of fighters at Genzan Kōkūtai (later Kōkūtai 252). Suganami went missing on November 14, 1942 while escorting

  Rear Admiral Tanaka's destroyers off Guadalcanal. Six Zeros under his command provided the 4th CAP. They first attempted to

  attack a “beautiful formation” of B-17s. After that attack on ten F4Fs from VF-10 brought them four victories. On return Su-

  ganami, over the protests of his subordinates, separated from the formation and headed southwesterly. He apparently joined

  the attack on SBDs from VB-10 and later, before running out of fuel, shot down Lt. Col. “Joe” Bauer, commander of VMF-212 and

  Medal of Honor recipient.

  Hiryū sent in the first wave of the attack on Pearl Harbor six Zeros under command of Lt. Okajima. They set 27 aircraft on fire at

  Ewa Field. Okajima's first wingman was PO1c Muranaka. He completed his training in August 1938 and after serving with Saeki,

  Óita and Ómura Kōkútai, he was transferred to the 14th Kōkútai in August 1939 in China. During December 27, he participated in

  the unit's first two victories. In August 1941, he was transferred to Suzuka Kōkūtai and in November of that year was assigned

  aboard Hiryū. During the Battle of Midway, he was sole pilot to escort Hiryū bombers throughout the action. After return he

  took off on a combat air patrol and shot down three planes. His Zero was hit and he was rescued by destroyer Nowaki. After

  recovering, Muranaka served on the aircraft carriers Shōkaku and Jun'yō. He fought over Guadalcanal and took part in the Battle

  of Santa Cruz. In 1944 he served as an instructor in Japan with the Tokushima Kōkūtai and in Singapore with the 11th Kōkūtai. In

  1945 he served as Ensign on N1K2-J fighters at Hikōtai 701 as part of the elite Kōkūtai 343. He achieved six certain and three pro-

  bable victories. After the war he joined the JSDF and attained the rank of Major.

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 47

  KITS 12/2021

  Lt. Tadashi Kaneko, Shōkaku Fighter Squadron, first attack wave

  The Shōkaku sent in first wave five Zeros under command of Lt. Kaneko. They destroyed 35 aircraft at Kaneohe airfield and hit

  three others at Bellows. During the 2nd attack wave, fighters from Shōkaku patrolled over the carriers. Kaneko had commanded

  the fighter Shótai aboard the aircraft carrier Ryūjo since 1937. He became well known in the Japanese press after his successful

  attack on the Chinese fighters near Shanghai on August 22, 1937. In the following years he served with the 15th and 12th Kōkūtai,

  and later with the Ómura and Mihoro Kōkūtai. In September 1941 he became Buntaichō of the fighters on the Shōkaku. He shot

  down three Hurricanes during the attack on Trincomalee on April 9, 1942. In May 1942 he was appointed Hikōtaichō of the 6th Kō-

  kūtai, which was to be based at Midway Atoll. During the Battle of Midway, Kaneko and his men were aboard Akagi and engaged

  in a battle on his own initiative, shootting down two torpedo planes. From October 1942 he fought over Guadalcanal as Hikōtaichō

  of the aircraft carrier Hiyō's fighters. In early November he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. During a patrol

  on November 11, he shot down three F4Fs from VMF-121. In total he claimed at least eight victories. Kaneko was killed on No-

  vember 14 in combat with SBDs from VB-10, his Zero was set on fire by gunner ACRM Gordon C. Gardner.

  Lt. Masao Satō, Zuikaku Fighter Squadron, first attack wave

  The aircraft carrier Zuikaku sent i

  n the first wave five Zeros under the command of Lt. Satō. He escorted the bombers in the raid

  on Kaneohe Naval Air Station. As they met no resistance in the air, his fighter pilots destroyed over 32 aircraft on the ground.

  During the 2nd attack wave, Zuikaku fighters patrolled the carriers. Satō was a veteran of 12th Kōkūtai in China and served on

  the board of Akagi. From September 1941 to January 1942, as the so-called Buntaichō, he commanded fighters aboard the Zuika-

  ku, and in May he began serving in that capacity on the aircraft carrier Kaga until her sinking at the Battle of Midway. From June

  1942 he took over fighters as Hikōtaichō on the carrier Zuihō. He participated in the Battle of Santa Cruz, and in the 2nd phase

  Satō's formation shot down four aircraft. In April 1943, Zuihó participated in Operation “I”-go in the New Guinea and Solomon

  Islands area. Satō was killed during Operation “Ro”-go on November 11, 1943 in aerial combat over Bougainville.

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  PO1c Tetsuzō Iwamoto, Zuikaku Fighter Squadron, patrol during the first attack wave

  Lt. Saburō Shindō, Akagi Fighter Squadron, second attack wave

  During the first wave of the attack on Pearl Harbor Zuikaku launched six Zeros to patrol the vicinity of the carriers. PO1c Iwamo-

  to led the 2nd Shōtai during this mission. At the time, he was the most successful naval fighter ace with 14 victories from com-

  bats over China with 12th Kōkūtai. In 1942, he took part in battles in the Indian Ocean and Coral Sea with his plane No. 102. From

  the summer of 1942 he served as an instructor in Japan. From March 1943, he participated in patrolling in the Kuril Islands with

  Kōkūtai 281. In November he was transferred to Rabaul to Kōkūtai 204 and later to Kōkūtai 253. In February 1944 he participated

  from Truk Atoll in the interceptions of B-24 bombers. In June 1944 he was transferred to Japan and from the autumn of that year

  as member of Kōkūtai 252 he he took part in battles from bases in Taiwan and the Philippines. By the end of the war, he was

  serving with Kōkūtai 203 and participated in the battle for Okinawa. He achieved rank Lieutenant (junior grade) and passed away

  in 1955. Iwamoto is credited with 80 victories, but in his war diary, there were 202 successful attacks on enemy aircraft recorded

  by him.

  During the second wave, fighter escort of thirty-six Zeros was led by Lt. Shindō. Nine Akagi Zeros met no resistance in the air

  and destroyed two aircraft at Hickam. Shindō was born in 1911 and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1929. He was assigned

  to the Omura Kōkūtai in 1935 and a year later went to the aircraft carrier Kaga. In 1940, he served in China with the 12th Kōkūtai

  during combat trials of the A6M2 fighter. Under his command, the first combat engagement occurred on September 13, resulting

  in 27 victories without loss. In November 1940, Shindō was transferred to the 14th Kōkūtai in Hanoi. From April to December 1941

  he was the Buntaichō of the Akagi fighters, but had to be hospitalized after the attack on Pearl Harbor. After recovering, he was

  appointed commander of Tokushima Kōkūtai in April 1942. From November 1942, as Hikōtaichō at Kōkūtai 582, he was involved

  in the fighting over Guadalcanal. From July 1943, he was Hikōtaichō with the Kōkūtai 204 in the same area. In late 1943 and early

  1944, he led fighters of the aircraft carrier Ryūhō and later served with Kōkūtai 653 and 203 in the defense of Taiwan, the Phili-

  ppines, and Japan. At the end of the war, he was Hikōtaichō at Tsukuba Kōkūtai. Shindó passed away in 2000.

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  PO1c Yoshikazu Nagahama, Kaga Fighter Squadron, second attack wave

  c/n 3277, Lt. Fusata Iida, Sōryū Fighter Squadron, second attack wave

  The nine Zeros of the aircraft carrier Kaga were led in the second wave by Lt. Yasushi Nikaidō and destroyed six and ten aircraft

  respectively at Hickam and Wheeler field. PO1c Nagahama, who had served on Kaga since 1939, took part in the attack. During

  the raid on Darwin on February 19, 1942 he scored five victories in one combat sortie. As first he shot down a Catalina from

  Patrol Wing 10. Unable to find his formation, he attacked five P-40s from the 33rd PS alone, shooting down four of them and then

  setting another flying boat afloat on fire. Other Kaga fighters apparently attacked the same P-40s. During the Battle of Midway,

  Nagahama took part in the first attack wave, and after his return, he participated in the destruction of the Devastators from the

  USS Hornet. He took part in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons while aboard Zuikaku. During a patrol on August 26 he shared

  destruction of Catalina from VP-14 (damaged as well on December 7, 1941). During the Battle of Santa Cruz on October 26 he

  shared several victories over F4Fs, including Lt. (jg) Paul Landry of VF-72. Nagahama was killed in an accident on September 6,

  1943 in Japan while on duty at Tsuiki Kōkūtai. He is credited with 10 (or 13) victories and achieved the rank of Chief Petty Officer.

  In the second attack wave, Sōryū sent nine Zeros under the command of Lt. Fusata Iida against Kaneohe airfield and destroyed

  six flying boats. On return flight Iida signaled that he was running out of fuelBecause of that he returned and decided to crash his

  aircraft into a hangar at Kaneohe, but missed the target. Iida's flight hood was returned to his relatives in 1999 by the daughter of

  Mr. Sam Chun, who took it off from Iida´s head after the crash. His body was buried with military honors and he was posthu-

  mously promoted two grades. There is also testimony that Iida did not believe in the success of the war against the US and his

  Zero was not low on fuel. There is now a memorial at the site of the crash. Due to the ground fire and attacks of P-36 pilots from

  the 45th FS, Iida's formation lost two more Zeros and one suffered serious damage. Two P-36s were shot down. Iida was born

  on December 2, 1913. He first served as an instructor with the Kasumigaura Kōkūtai, and in September 1940 he was assigned to

  the 12th Kōkūtai in China, which tested Zero fighters in combat. In a raid on Chengdu on October 26, his formation claimed ten

  aircraft without loss. Nevertheless, Iida expressed his disapproval of the way the war against China was being conducted. From

  September 1941, he served as Buntaichō of the aircraft carrier Sōryū's fighters until December 7, 1941.

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  c/n 2266, PO1c Shigenori Nishikaichi, Hiryū Fighter Squadron, second attack wave

  Hiryū sent nine Zeros under the command of Lt. Sumio Nōno. His pilots attacked Kaneohe and Bellows bases, claiming two

  destroyed aircraft and one car. Zero of PO1c Nishikaichi was running low on fuel and he was looking for a rescue submarine

  off Niihau Island without success. After belly landing he was captured by a Hawaiian native who took his papers and weapon.

  The pilot persuaded several residents of Japanese descent to cooperate and managed to get free. He dismantled machine gun

  from the aircraft, set the machine on fire and threatened to kill the natives to force the return of the secret documents. During

  the December 13, he and a helper captured Mr. Benjamin Kanahele and his wife. A scuffle ensued during which Kanahele was

  shot three times by the pilot, but became so enraged that he killed him against a wall. The pilot's helper, Mr. Harada, committed

  suicide. It is known as the Niihau Incident. Mr. Kanahele received the Purple Heart and the Medal of Merit from the President of

  the United States. Nishikaichi, whose fate was unknown to the Japanese side, was posthumously promoted two grades. Parts of

  Zero are on display at the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor. On the engine cover there was a service plate with the name of

  the mechanic PO3c Akimoto painted.

  PO1c Yukuo Hanzawa, Shōkaku Fighter Squadron, patrol during the second attack wave

  Fi

  ghters from Shōkaku did not participate in the second attack wave on Pearl Harbor. Instead, 12 aircraft from Shōkaku patrolled

  successively over the carrier group under the command of Lt. Masao Iizuka. PO1c Hanzawa led the 1st Shōtai on patrol. At that

  time, he had nearly three years of operational service under his belt, including a tour of duty with the 12th Kōkūtai in China. Han-

  zawa gained fame on May 8, 1942 during the Battle of the Coral Sea when he landed on the smoke-covered deck of a damaged

  carrier without help of arresting wire. He was killed in action at the Battle of Santa Cruz on October 26, 1942 in a duel with Lt.

  “Ken” Bliss, the Blue 29 section leader of VF-72, USS Hornet. Hanzawa attacked Bliss from behind, severely damaging his Wild-

  cat. Apparently believing that Bliss was bailing out, he pulled up in front of him, but the American shot him down at that moment.

  Bliss ditched and survived. Hanzawa held the rank of Warrant Officer at that time.

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 51

  OVERTREES

  A6M2 Cat. No. 82211X

  1/48

  Product page

  KITS 12/2021

  Recommended for TORA TORA TORA!

  481076 A6M2 landing flaps (PE

  -

  Set) 01/2022 release

  FE1238 A6M2 seatbelts STEEL (PE

  -

  Set)

  644128 A6M2 LööK (Brassin)

  648693 A6M2 wheels (Brassin)

  648694 A6M2 engine PRINT (Brassin) 01/2022 release

  648695 A6M undercarriage legs BRONZE (Brassin)

  648698 A6M2 seat PRINT (Brassin)

  3DL48050 A6M2 SPACE (3D Decal Set)

  EX821 A6M2 TFace (Mask)

  Product page

  Cat. No. 11155-LEPT1

  Cat. No. 644128

  Cat. No. 648698

  Cat. No. 648695

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 52

  KITS 12/2021

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 53

  KITS 12/2021

  A

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 54

  KITS 12/2021

  B

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 55

  KITS 12/2021

  C

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 56

  KITS 12/2021

  D

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 57

  KITS 12/2021

  E

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 58

  KITS 12/2021

  Bf 109E-7 1/48 Cat. No. 84178

  Plastic parts Eduard

  Photo-etched set - bomb tails

  4 markings

  Product page

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 59

  KITS 12/2021

  Bf 109E-7/B, 8./ZG 1, Belgorod, Soviet Union, June 1942

  Bf 109E-7/Z, WNr. 7677 F, Oblt. Josef Priller, CO of 1./JG 26, St. Omer, France, June 1941

  The III. Gruppe, of which the 8. Staffel was a part, was established in January 1942 in Lechfeld and was equipped like the other

  Gruppe Zerstörergeschwader 1 with Bf 109E aircraft. Its first deployment followed from May 1942 on the Eastern Front. Here it

  flew first from Belgorod field airfield, followed by a move to Kutejnikovo airfield in July. In August there was a further change of

  operation, the unit was first equipped with the problematic Me 210s and its new area of operation was North Africa.

  Like the other ZG 1 aircraft, the Messerschmitt Bf 109Es of the 8. Staffel had a wasp painted on the nose, which had originally

  been the marking of the SKG 210 unit, from which the I. and II. Gruppe ZG 1 were formed by renaming in January 1942.

  Josef ”Pips“ Priller was born on July 27, 1915, in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. In 1935, he joined Wehrmacht, and as soon as one year later,

  in October 1936, he started to attend the fighter pilot training. He managed his first shot down as a commander of 6. Staffel JG 51

  when he downed a Spitfire above Dunkerque on May 28, 1940. In November 1940, he was appointed a commander of the 1./JG 26.

  On December 6, 1941, he became commander of III./JG 26, from January 11, 1943, he led the whole Jagdgeschwader 26. His total

  number of victories kept growing. On December 20, 1941, his successes were rewarded and Priller was decorated with Knight´s

  Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. On January 28, 1945, he was appointed a post of an Inspekteur der Jagd-

  flieger Ost, where he remained till the end of WWII. Priller’s total score of shot downs was 101 enemy aircraft, all of them achie-

  ved in the Western Front. After the war he married Johanna Riegele, the proprietor of a brewery and became general manager

  of Riegele brewery in Augsburg, Germany. He died of heart attack on May 20, 1961. His aircraft sported standard Luftwaffe fighter

  camouflage of the time, consisting of the colors of RLM 71/02/65 and yellow rudder as well as engine cowling. The fuselage was

  given the markings of JG 26 affiliation, the pilot's personal marking of a heart-shaped ace with the name of his future wife plus

  the 1. Staffel JG 26 emblem of an eagle.

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  Bf 109E-7/Trop, Hptm. Erich Gerlitz, CO of 2./JG 27, Ain-el-Gazala, Libya, summer 1941

  Bf 109E-7, WNr. 3523, Lt. Wolf-Dietrich Widowitz, 5./JG 5, Petsamo (nowadays Pechenga, Russia),

  Finland, April 1942

  Erich Gerlitz, originally from Linz, Austria, began his military aviation career in the Austrian Air Force in 1930. In 1935 he com-

  pleted his studies at the Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt. After the Anschluss of Austria, he continued flying with the Luft-

  waffe. At the beginning of World War II, he commanded 3./JG 51, followed by service with JG 2 and JG 1. On April 17, 1941 he took

  command of 2./JG 27, with which he subsequently participated in the deployment in Africa. During his time with JG 27 in Africa

  he added to his previous three kills another 13, two more kills achieved in III./JG 53 which he commanded from May 20, 1942.

  The last kill was achieved by Maj. Gerlitz in I./JG 5, which he commanded from January 25, 1944. Death caught him on March 16,

  1944, when he was shot down during a dogfight with a P-47. He bailed out from his damaged Bf 109G-6 but did not have enough

  height for the parachute to open. Bf 109E-7s used in North Africa were fitted with a desert filter, reducing the amount of fine

  dust particles in the air intake of the engine. The camouflage used on the European battlefield was replaced by paints to better

  camouflage the aircraft during their deployment on that continent.

  Originally produced as the Bf 109E-1, this aircraft was withdrawn in the second half of 1940 for upgrade to the Bf 109E-7/Trop

  standard. It means apart of all the necessary equipment it was also camouflaged with RLM79 paint on the upper and side sur-

  faces, while the lower surfaces were sprayed with RLM 78 paint. Although it was prepared for service in the hot African skies,

  there is no record of the aircraft operating in Africa. It was sent to JG 5 operating in northern Europe instead. The camouflage

  was repainted in the RLM 74/75/76 colors, and the engine cowling received yellow paint. The serial number was covered with

  tape when the camouflage colors were applied, but its base color remained original. The WNr. 3523 was sent to JG 5 on March

  22, 1942, the following day it became the personal mount of Lt. Wolf-Dietrich Widowitz. Its appearance in northern Europe was

  short-lived. On April 4, 1942, while escorting a Bf 110 the unit was attacked by four Mk.IIb Hurricanes from the 2nd GIAP was

  Widowitz forced to make an emergency landing on the frozen lake of Shonlgul-javr (Finland). Widowitz was rescued with minor

  injuries, some of the instruments and weapons were removed from the aircraft and the rest was left in place. In August 2003,

  a rescue operation was launched during which the Messerschmitt was recovered from the water, treated and is currently at the

  Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California.

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• Page 61

  Bf 109E-7, WNr. 3523, Lt. Wolf-Dietrich Widowitz, 5./JG 5, Petsamo (nowadays Pechenga, Russia),

  Finland, April 1942

  KITS 12/2021

  FE703 Bf 109E-7 Trop Weekend (PE

  -

  Set)

  644024 Bf 109E LööK (Brassin)

  648058 Bf 109E wheels (Brassin)

  648472 Bf 109E cockpit & radio compartment (Brassin)

  648473 Bf 109E fuselage guns (Brassin)

  648474 Bf 109E engine (Brassin)

  EX400 Bf 109E-4/E-7 Weekend (Mask)

  Recommended for Bf 109E-7

  Cat. No. 644024

  Cat. No. 648472

  Cat. No. 648474

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 62

  KITS 12/2021

  Product page

  1/72 Cat. No. 2137

  DESERT BABES

  Re-release

  Plastic parts Revell

  Photo-etched set

  Paiting mask

  6 markings

  Brassin seats and wheels

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 63

  KITS 12/2021

  ZA452, Gulf Killer, No. 20 Squadron, Tabuk AB,

  Saudi Arabia, 1991

  ZA465, Foxy Killer, No. 16 Squadron, Tabuk AB,

  Saudi Arabia, 1991

  ZD715, Luscious Lizzie!, No. 31 Squadron,

  Dhahran AB, Saudi Arabia, 1991

  ZD719, Check Six, No. 9 Squadron, Dhahran AB,

  Saudi Arabia, 1991

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  KITS 12/2021

  ZD739, Armoured Charmer, No. 9 Squadron,

  Tabuk AB, Saudi Arabia, 1991

  ZD809, Awesome Annie, No. 617 Squadron,

  Muharraq AB, Bahrain, 1991

  ZD890, No. 9 Squadron, Muharraq AB, Bahrain, 1991

  ZD892, Helen, No. 617 Squadron, Muharraq,

  Bahrain, 1991

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 65

  OVERTREES

  Tornado GR.1

  Cat. No. 2137X

  1/72

  Product page

  KITS 12/2021

  Recommended for DESERT BABES

  672266 ALARM missiles (Brassin)

  672265 Sky Shadow ECM pod (Brassin)

  672268 CPU-123 Paveway II (Brassin)

  672269 BOZ-107 pod (Brassin)

  672270 Tornado GR.1 exhaust nozzles (Brassin)

  672267 TIALD pod (Brassin)

  672271 JP233 dispenser (Brassin)

  672274 Tornado GR.1 cockpit (Brassin)

  Product page

  Cat. No. 2137-LEPT1

  Cat. No. 672270

  Cat. No. 672271

  Cat. No. 672265

  Cat. No. 672274

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 66

  KITS 12/2021

  Product page

  Re-release

  Tempest Mk.V Series 1 1/48 Cat. No. 82121

  Plastic parts Eduard

  Photo-etched set

  Paiting mask

  6 markings

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 67

  KITS 12/2021

  JN766, No. 486 (RNZAF) Squadron, RAF Station Castle Camp, Great Britain, April 1944

  JN751, W/Cdr Roland P. Beamont, DSO, DFC & bar, CO of No. 150 Wing, RAF Station Bradwell Bay, Great Britain, April 1944

  JN755, No. 3 Squadron, Newchurch, Great Britain, May 1944

  No. 486 Squadron was established on March 7, 1942 at Kirton in Lindsey manned almost exclusively by New Zealanders. Initially,

  the unit was equipped with Hurricanes, replaced by Hawker Typhoons later. The unit’s impressive record was acknowledged, and

  the unit was one of first to receive the Tempest Mk. Vs. New aircraft began to arrive through January and February of 1944. The

  unit became part of the No. 150 Wing armed with the Tempest subsequently and was deemed fully combat ready in April 1944.

  The camouflage schemes of the new Tempests were composed of the so-called Day Fighter Scheme, with Dark Green and Oce-

  an Grey upper and side surfaces and Medium Sea Grey lower surfaces. At this time, the bottom surfaces of the wings of Typho-

  ons and Tempests were marked with black and white stripes helping easier identification of friendly aircraft. The specified width

  of the white segments was 24 inches, and the black ones were to be 12 inches wide. The stripes were deleted from Typhoons on

  February 7, 1944 but Tempests carried them until April 20, 1944.

  Roland Prosper Beamont was born on August 10, 1920 in Enfield in the County of Middlesex, and aviation captured his imagina-

  tion at an early age. In 1939, he underwent pilot training and was assigned to No. 87 Squadron, equipped with Hurricanes, where

  he flew during the Battle of France and Battle of Britain. From May 1941, he served with No. 79 Squadron, and in December of the

  same year, on completion of his tour, he joined the Hawker factory as a test pilot. In June 1942 he joined No. 56 Squadron flying

  Typhoons. Subsequently, he was assigned to No. 609 Squadron equipped with the same type as its CO in October 1942. In mid-

  -May 1943, Beamont returned to Hawker, where he took part in trials of the Typhoon and its successor, the Tempest. In February

  1944, he was named CO of No. 150 Wing, made up of No. 3, 56 and 486 Squadrons intended to be equipped with the Hawker Tem-

  pest. One of the perks of being a Wing Commander was to be allowed to use one´s initials for an aircraft code. W/Cdr Beamont

  made use of this privilege and his personal Tempest carried the letters R and B. Beneath the windscreen on the right side of the

  fuselage was the Wing Commander insignia.

  No. 3 Squadron was formed in 1912 and at the beginning of the Second World War was equipped with the Hawker Hurricanes. As

  a component of the British Expeditionary Force, it fought over Belgium and France. When back to the Great Britain, the squadron

  was tasked with patrol duties over the Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow and from April 1941 it operated over southern England

  as a night fighter unit. In February 1943, the unit was re-equipped with the Hawker Typhoon and a year later with the Tempest.

  Armed with these “beasts”, the unit prepared itself for the invasion to the Europe but was held back to defend southern England

  against the V-1 flying bombs instead. When the V-1 launch sites were over-run, it was one of the Tempest squadrons transferred

  to the European mainland to support advancing Allied troops all the way to the end of the war. No. 3 Squadron stayed in Ger-

  many until May 1999 as part of the British Air Forces of Occupation (BAFO), 2nd TAF and RAF Germany. From April 20, 1944, the

  standard camouflaged Tempests did not carry the black and white ID stripes. The code QO was assigned by No. 3 Squadron until

  June 5, 1944, when they were replaced by the JF code.

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  JN751, W/Cdr Roland P. Beamont DSO, DFC & bar, CO of No. 150 Wing, Newchurch, Great Britain, June 1944

  JN763, No. 486 (RNZAF) Squadron, Newchurch, Great Britain, June 1944

  JN765, No. 3 Squadron, Newchurch, Great Britain, June 1944

  In May 1944, No. 150 Wing was deemed operational, although only Nos. 3 and 486 Sqn were equipped with Tempests, while No.

  56 Sqn had to wait for them until late June 1944 and used the Spitfire Mk. IXs in the interim. The Tempests of No. 150 Wing were

  tasked with air cover over the battlefield and attack enemy ground targets at the time of the invasion. Starting from mid-June,

  the situation changed, as the protection of southern England from V-1 attacks emerged as a priority and the Tempest was the

  most suitable aircraft for the task. At the end of September 1944, the entire unit led by Beamont moved to liberated Europe. On

  October 12, Beamont´s aircraft was hit by flak and due to a damaged radiator, the pilot had to belly-land it behind enemy lines.

  He spent the remainder of the war in captivity. Over the course of the Second World War, Beamont claimed nine kills and in July

  1944 was awarded a bar to his DSO in recognition of his successful leadership of the Tempest wing which had destroyed more

  than 600 V-1s (32 by Beamont himself). After the war, he continued as a test pilot and flew, among others, the Meteor, Vampire,

  Canberra, Lighting and the, most notably, the impressive TSR-2. He retired in August 1979 and died on November 19, 2001.

  Two days before the invasion of Europe, Beamont's aircraft received the prescribed “Special Markings” - 18-inch wide black and

  white stripes encircling the rear fuselage and wings.

  No. 486 Squadron, a component of No. 150 Wing, was tasked with ground attack, but from mid-June 1944 to early Septem-

  ber 1944, it was fully occupied with intercepting V-1 flying bombs launched from occupied Europe. The Squadron's pilots were

  credited with the destruction of 223,5 of them. After the threat of these attacks had decreased, No. 486 Squadron, along with

  its sister units, moved to liberated territory and up to the end of the war it was tasked with supporting advancing British units.

  The unit was disbanded on October 12, 1945 at RAF Dunsfold. On June 5, 1944, the squadron would receive aircraft, which were

  intended to support Operation Overlord (the invasion of Normandy) and received the invasion stripes on the rear fuselage and

  wings in the form of 18-inch wide black and white bands. These were applied in haste and could be quite inaccurate and scruffy.

  Photographic evidence shows stiffeners added to the rear section of the fuselage in form of fishplates (on this aircraft and all

  the other Tempests featured in this box).

  In early June 1944, No. 3 Squadron's code was changed from QO to JF which was used until August 1945. The so-called “Invasion

  Stripes” were also added to JN765 aircraft prior to the operation. Groundcrew painted the bottom section of the main landing

  gear cover black, apparently in error.

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 69

  KITS 12/2021

  OVERTREES

  Tempest Mk.V Series 1

  Cat. No. 82121X

  1/48

  Product page

  Product page

  Cat. No. 82121-LEPT1

  Recommended for Tempest Mk.V Series 1

  48976 Tempest Mk.V upgrade set (PE

  -

  Set)

  48977 Tempest Mk.V landing flaps (PE

  -

  Set)

  FE943 Tempest Mk.V seatbelts STEEL (PE

  -

  Set)

  BIG49212 Tempest Mk.V (PE

  -

  Set)

  644006 Tempest Mk.V LööK (Brassin)

  644038 Tempest Mk.V w/ early wheels LööKplus (Brassin)

  644039 Tempest Mk.V w/ late wheels LööKplus (Brassin)

  648416 Tempest Mk.V cockpit (Brassin)

  648417 Tempest Mk.V engine (Brassin)

  648418 Tempest Mk.V exhaust stacks (Brassin)

  648419 Tempest Mk.V gun bays (Brassin)

  648420 Tempest Mk.V wheels early (Brassin)

  648446 Tempest Mk.V undercarriage legs BRONZE (Brassin)

  648499 Tempest Mk.V intake ring (Brassin

  648500 Tempest Mk.V dust filter w/ eyelid (Brassin)

  SIN64856 Tempest Mk.V w/ late wheels ESSENTIAL (Brassin)

  SIN64858 Tempest Mk.V ADVANCED (Brassin)

  D48030 Tempest Mk.V stencil (Decal Set)

  D48031 Tempest roundels early (Decal Set)

  D48032 Tempest roundels late (Decal Set)

  EX628 Tempest Mk.V TFace (Mask)

  Cat. No. 644006

  Cat. No. 648416

  Cat. No. 648446

  Cat. No. 648417

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 70

  KITS 12/2021

  Product page

  Re-release

  MiG-21PF 1/48 Cat. No. 8236

  Plastic parts Eduard

  Photo-etched set

  Paiting mask

  5 markings

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 71

  KITS 12/2021

  No. 4326, 921th Fighter Regiment, Noi Bai AB, Democratic Republic of Vietnam, late 60s/early 70s

  c/n 761008, Jagdfliegergeschwader 2, Trollenhagen Air Base, German Democratic Republic, late 80s

  Soviet Air Force, České Budějovice Air Base, Czechoslovakia, late August 1968

  This aircraft was delivered to Vietnam in 1966 and served as a part of 921st Fighter Regiment. Thirteen red stars painted on the

  nose depict victories gained by the pilots who flew this aircraft. One of them was Nguyen Van Coc, the most successful Vietna-

  mese fighter ace with nine confirmed kills to his credit. He downed F-4B BuNo. 151485 on May 7, 1968 while at the controls of this

  particular MiG. ‘Red 4326' is currently displayed in Air Force museum in Hanoi.

  East German air force received this MiG on May 1, 1965. The aircraft was flown by JG 8, JG 9 and finally by JG 2. The aircraft was

  put out of service in 1988 and scrapped shortly afterwards despite a plan to sell it to Iran. This MiG became well know thanks to

  a propaganda movie. The fuselage number was changed to 'Red 1851' for filming. The Q-badge painted on the left side of the nose

  indicated that the ground personnel responsible for this aircraft were recognized for the high quality of their work.

  On August 21, 1968, Warsaw Pact armed forces led by the Soviet Union began to occupy Czechoslovakia. This act, coded Opera-

  tion 'Danube', led to the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia lasting over twenty years. The MiG-21PF 'Red 40' participated in the

  invasion of Czechoslovakia in August, 1968. Two red bands on the tail marked aircraft that were used during Operation Danube.

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 72

  KITS 12/2021

  702nd UAP, Chernigov Air Base, Soviet Union, 1980s

  One of the school aviation regiments that flew from air bases located in the Ukraine was 702th UAP. This aircraft was photo-

  graphed at Chernigov Air Base in the eighties, although the regiment was based in Umani. 702nd UAP was a part of Chernigov

  Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots along with three more school regiments. This color profile is based on a black and white

  photo.

  1. Pułk Lotnictwa Myśliwskiego, Siły Powietrzne, Minsk Mazowiecki Air Base, Poland, 1980s

  This MiG-21PF is one of the aircraft displayed in the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw. It was accepted by the Polish Air Force

  during early January, 1965, and served with various fighter regiments. The last military unit that flew 'Red 0615' was the 1st Figh-

  ter Regiment (1. plm). The aircraft is listed here from 1971 to 1974 and from March 1980 till the end of August 1988. The unit badge

  depicting a mermaid is painted on both sides of the nose.

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 73

  KITS 12/2021

  OVERTREES

  MiG-21PF

  Cat. No. 8244X

  1/48

  Product page

  Product page

  Cat. No. 8236-LEPT1

  Recommended for MiG-21PF

  FE953 MiG-21PF seatbelts STEEL (PE

  -

  Set)

  644089 MiG-21PF LööK (Brassin)

  644096 MiG-21PF grey LööK (Brassin)

  644101 MiG-21PF LööKplus (Brassin)

  644108 MiG-21PF grey LööKplus (Brassin)

  648040 RS-2US / AA-1 Alkali (Brassin)

  648125 R-3S / AA-2 Atoll-A (Brassin)

  648136 S-24 rocket (Brassin)

  648144 MiG-21PF interior (Brassin)

  SIN64816 MiG-21PF (Brassin)

  D48021 MiG-21PF stencils (Decal set)

  EX532 MiG-21PF with canopy seal (Mask)

  EX637 MiG-21PF TFace (Mask)

  Cat. No. 644089

  Cat. No. 644096

  Cat. No. 648136

  Cat. No. 648144

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 74

  New Activation product of the

  Bunny Fighter Club membership.

  Tempest Mk.V

  1/48 Cat. No. BFC111

  Plastic parts Eduard

  Photo-etched set

  Paiting mask

  6 markings

  Brassin: yes, two different types

  of wheels, landing flaps, dust filter

  with eyelid, intake ring and RP-3 60lb

  rockets

  3D decals for main and sidewalk

  instrument and control panels with

  photo-etched details and seat belts.

  Product page

  BFC

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 75

  NV994, S/Ldr Pierre Clostermann, No. 3 Squadron, No. 122 Wing, B.152 Fassberg, Germany, June 1945

  EJ762, F/Lt. David C. Fairbanks, No. 274 Squadron, B.80 Volkel, the Netherlands, November 1944

  Dav

  is Charles Farbainks, a native of Ithaca, New York, joined the RCAF on his second attempt after graduating of high school

  in February 1941, to which he remained loyal throughout the war and after its end. Training was followed by service with No. 13

  SFTS, for which he served as a flight instructor for a year. He was then transferred to No. 501 Squadron flying Mk.V Spitfires and

  based at that time at RAF Hawkinge. He shot down his first opponent, a Bf 109, near Le Havre on June 8, 1944. During the rear-

  mament of No. 501 Squadron to Tempests, he was transferred to No. 274 Squadron, also armed with Tempest Mk.Vs. On these he

  shot down two V-1 missiles and 11 1/2 enemy aircraft before being shot down and captured himself on February 28, 1945. After

  the end of World War II, he flew Vampires and T-33s during his employment with Sperry Gyroscopes at the RCAF Auxiliary, then

  became a test pilot for De Havilland Canada in 1955. The “Terror of the Rhine” or Foob, as he was called by his comrades in No.

  274 Squadron, retired to the skies in 1975.

  Another photo, at No. 3 Sqn’s next station, B.152 Fassberg, probably very soon after VE

  -

  Day, shows the only change at that time

  may have been the addition of the famous red spinner. This was unlikely to have been added during hostilities as, following

  many misidentification incidents and attacks by Allied aircraft, 2nd TAF had very strict rules on markings; spinners were in-

  variably painted black. Later in May, No. 3 Sqn added their unit badge (a cockatrice on a monolith, representing an early flying

  creature and Stonehenge, which was near their first base) to all their Tempests and Clostermann decorated NV994 with his

  scoreboard (including some kills which he had been able to confirm after the war finished) and the name ‘Le Grand Charles’ in

  honour of General Charles de Gaulle. He flew this aircraft through June 1945 and took it to B.160 Kastrup, near Copenhagen. A big

  air display for the Danish people was planned for the July 1, 1945 and went ahead despite bad weather. Clostermann flew JF

  -

  E

  NV994 in a formation flypast but was unable to land at Kastrup due the bad weather. He managed to land at nearby Vaerlose, a

  smaller grass airfield but NV994 was damaged in an accident (nature unknown).

  BFC

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 76

  JN751, W/Cdr Roland P. Beamont, DSO, DFC & bar, CO of No. 150 Wing, RAF Station Bradwell Bay, Great Britain, April 1944

  JN751, W/Cdr Roland P. Beamont DSO, DFC & bar, CO of No. 150 Wing, Newchurch, Great Britain, June 1944

  Roland Prosper Beamont was born on August 10, 1920 in Enfield in the County of Middlesex, and aviation captured his imagina-

  tion at an early age. In 1939, he underwent pilot training and was assigned to No. 87 Squadron, equipped with Hurricanes, where

  he flew during the Battle of France and Battle of Britain. From May 1941, he served with No. 79 Squadron, and in December of the

  same year, on completion of his tour, he joined the Hawker factory as a test pilot. In June 1942 he joined No. 56 Squadron flying

  Typhoons. Subsequently, he was assigned to No. 609 Squadron equipped with the same type as its CO in October 1942. In mid-

  -May 1943, Beamont returned to Hawker, where he took part in trials of the Typhoon and its successor, the Tempest. In February

  1944, he was named CO of No. 150 Wing, made up of No. 3, 56 and 486 Squadrons intended to be equipped with the Hawker Tem-

  pest. One of the perks of being a Wing Commander was to be allowed to use one´s initials for an aircraft code. W/Cdr Beamont

  made use of this privilege and his personal Tempest carried the letters R and B. Beneath the windscreen on the right side of the

  fuselage was the Wing Commander insignia.

  In May 1944, No. 150 Wing was deemed operational, although only Nos. 3 and 486 Sqn were equipped with Tempests, while No. 56 Sqn

  had to wait for them until late June 1944 and used the Spitfire Mk. IXs in the interim. The Tempests of No. 150 Wing were tasked with air

  cover over the battlefield and attack enemy ground targets at the time of the invasion. Starting from mid-June, the situation changed,

  as the protection of southern England from V-1 attacks emerged as a priority and the Tempest was the most suitable aircraft for the

  task. At the end of September 1944, the entire unit led by Beamont moved to liberated Europe. On October 12, Beamont´s aircraft was hit

  by flak and due to a damaged radiator, the pilot had to belly-land it behind enemy lines. He spent the remainder of the war in captivity.

  Over the course of the Second World War, Beamont claimed nine kills and in July 1944 was awarded a bar to his DSO in recognition

  of his successful leadership of the Tempest wing which had destroyed more than 600 V-1s (32 by Beamont himself). After the war, he

  continued as a test pilot and flew, among others, the Meteor, Vampire, Canberra, Lighting and the, most notably, the impressive TSR-2.

  He retired in August 1979 and died on November 19, 2001. Two days before the invasion of Europe, Beamont's aircraft received the pre-

  scribed “Special Markings” - 18-inch wide black and white stripes encircling the rear fuselage and wings.

  BFC

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 77

  Ens. Eduard „Bunny“ Kleinkönnig, Naval Detachment of No. 486 Squadron RNZAF,

  Aircraft Carrier HMS Habbakuk, Antarctica, summer 1946/1947

  Police Chief Sgt. Eduard Kleinkönnig, OK

  -

  BFC, Police Air Patrol Unit, Czechoslovak Police Air Force,

  Žatec, 1947 - 1950

  This machine was flown by the legendary Czech pilot in the international crew of the aircraft carrier HMS Habbakuk during the

  battles against the Luftwaffe over Antarctica in the summer of 1946-1947. The letter K is the individual designation of Klein-

  könnig's machine. He had his girlfriend painted on the side of the aircraft. The sharkmouth was added to the aircraft later, as a

  reminder of the rescue of Kleinkönnig's flight leader. After being shot down into the sea, he was attacked by killer whales, but

  Kleinkönnig fought off the predators. The naval scheme was painted on the unit's machines during the voyage to Antarctica.

  Rabbit skulls were painted on all of the unit's machines in honor of Kleinkönnig. The machine was equipped with missiles for

  attacking od enemy jets during take-off.

  After returning to Czechoslovakia, Kleinkönnig was assigned in his native Žatec to the Police Air Patrol Unit, which was originally

  to receive Spitfires. However, thanks to Kleinkönnig and his contacts, British Tempests were obtained for this unit. After Febru-

  ary 1948, the unit was mainly engaged in the defence of the Žatec brewery and the surrounding hop farms. The CIA carried out

  attacks on Czech breweries in order to destabilise the new communist regime.

  BFC

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 78

  12/2021

  LööK set - Brassin pre-painted dashboard and

  STEEL seatbelts for Chipmunk T.10 in 1/48 scale.

  Easy to assemble, replaces plasc parts.

  Recommended kit: Airx

  Set contains:

  - resin: 2 parts

  - decals: no

  - photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted

  - painng mask: no

  LööK set - Brassin pre-painted dashboard and

  STEEL seatbelts for A6M2 in 1/48 scale. Easy to

  assemble, replaces plasc parts.

  Recommended kit: Eduard

  Set contains:

  - resin: 4 parts

  - decals: no

  - photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted

  - painng mask: no

  644130

  Chipmunk T.10 LööK

  1/48 Airx

  644128

  A6M2 LööK

  1/48 Eduard

  Product page

  Product page

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 79

  Brassin set - the US Colt Vickers gun for So-

  pwith Camel in 1/48 scale. The set consists

  of two guns. Easy to assemble, replaces

  plasc parts. Recommended kit: Eduard

  Set contains:

  - resin: 4 parts

  - decals: no

  - photo-etched details: yes

  - painng mask: no

  LööK set - Brassin pre-painted dashboard

  and STEEL seatbelts for CH-47A in 1/48

  scale. Easy to assemble, replaces plasc

  parts. Recommended kit: Hobby Boss

  Set contains:

  - resin: 1 part

  - decals: no

  - photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted

  - painng mask: no

  648661

  Sopwith Camel US Colt Vickers gun

  1/48 Eduard

  644133

  CH-47A LööK

  1/48 Hobby Boss

  BRASSIN 12/2021

  Product page

  Product page

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 80

  BRASSIN 12/2021

  Brassin set - the undercarriage wheels for

  A6M2 in 1/48 scale. The set consists of

  the main wheels and a tail wheel. Easy to

  assemble, replaces plasc parts.

  Recommended kit: Eduard

  Set contains:

  - resin: 3 parts

  - decals: no

  - photo-etched details: no

  - painng mask: yes

  Brassin set - the 800kg bomb for Nakaji-

  ma B5N2 bomber in 1/48 scale. The set

  consists of 1 bomb.

  Set contains:

  - resin: 1 part

  - decals: no

  - photo-etched details: yes

  - painng mask: no

  648693

  A6M2 wheels

  1/48 Eduard

  648689

  B5N2 800kg bomb

  1/48 Hasegawa

  Product page

  Product page

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 81

  Brassin set - the cockpit for Mi-24D

  in 1/48 scale.

  Recommended kit: Zvezda

  Set contains:

  - resin: ca 64 parts

  - decals: yes

  - photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted

  - painng mask: no

  Brassin set - the undercarriage legs for A6M in

  1/48 scale. The set consists of the main under-

  carriage legs and wheel well doors. The legs

  are made of bronze. Easy to assemble, replaces

  plasc parts. Recommended kit: Eduard

  Set contains:

  - resin: 6 parts

  - decals: yes

  - photo-etched details: no

  - painng mask: no

  - bronze: 2 parts

  648697

  Mi-24D cockpit

  1/48 Eduard

  648695

  A6M undercarriage legs BRONZE

  1/48 Eduard

  BRASSIN 12/2021

  Product page

  Product page

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 82

  BRASSIN 12/2021

  Brassin set - the undercarriage wheels for Chipmu-

  nk T.10 in 1/48 scale. The set consists of the main

  wheels. Easy to assemble, replaces plasc parts.

  Recommended kit: Airx

  Set contains:

  - resin: 2 parts

  - decals: no

  - photo-etched details: no

  - painng mask: yes

  Brassin set - the seat for A6M2 in 1/48 scale.

  Made by direct 3D prinng. Easy to assemble,

  replaces plasc parts.Recommended kit: Eduard

  Set contains:

  - 3D print: 1 part

  - decals: no

  - photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted

  - painng mask: no

  648699

  Chipmunk T.10 wheels

  1/48 Airx

  648698

  A6M2 seat PRINT

  1/48 Eduard

  Product page

  Product page

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 83

  Brassin set - the undercarriage legs for

  F-4B in 1/48 scale. The set consists of the

  main and nose undercarriage legs and

  wheel well doors. The legs are made of

  bronze. Easy to assemble, replaces plasc

  parts. Recommended kit: Tamiya

  Set contains:

  - resin: 5 parts

  - decals: no

  - photo-etched details: no

  - painng mask: no

  - bronze: 3 parts

  Brassin set - the undercarriage wheels for

  F/A-18E in 1/48 scale. The set consists of

  the main wheels and nose wheels. Easy to

  assemble, replaces plasc parts.

  Recommended kit: MENG

  Set contains:

  - resin: 6 parts

  - decals: no

  - photo-etched details: no

  - painng mask: yes

  648700

  F-4B undercarriage legs BRONZE

  1/48 Tamiya

  648701

  F/A-18E wheels

  1/48 Meng

  BRASSIN 12/2021

  Product page

  Product page

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 84

  BRASSIN 12/2021

  Brassin set - the n caps for F-4B in 1/48

  scale. Made by direct 3D prinng.

  Recommended kit: Tamiya

  Set contains:

  - 3D print: 2 parts

  - decals: no

  - photo-etched details: no

  - painng mask: no

  Brassin set - the ejecon seat for F/A-18E

  in 1/48 scale. Easy to assemble, replaces

  plasc parts. Recommended kit: MENG

  Set contains:

  - resin: 3 parts

  - decals: yes

  - photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted

  - painng mask: no

  648704

  F-4B n caps PRINT

  1/48 Tamiya

  64702

  F/A-18E ejection seat

  1/48 Meng

  Product page

  Product page

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 85

  Brassin set - an opcally guided bomb GBU-

  -15(V)21/B in 1/72 scale. The set consists of 2

  bombs. Compable with F-4E, F-15E, F-16C/D,

  F-111C/F, B-52D.

  Set contains:

  - resin: 12 parts

  - decals: yes

  - photo-etched details: no

  - painng mask: no

  672273

  GBU-15(V)21/B

  1/72

  BRASSIN 12/2021

  Product page

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 86

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 87

  Collection of 3 sets for Ar 234B in 1/48 scale.

  Recommended kit: Hobby 2000 / Hasegawa

  - LööK set (pre-painted Brassin dashboard & Steelbelts)

  - TFace painting mask

  - undercarriage wheels

  644131

  Ar 234B LööKplus

  1/48 Hasegawa/Hobby 2000

  BRASSIN 12/2021

  Product page

  eduard

  87

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 88

  BRASSIN 12/2021

  Collection of 3 sets for Z-226 in 1/48 scale.

  Recommended kit: Eduard

  - LööK set (pre-painted Brassin dashboards & Steelbelts)

  - TFace painting mask

  - undercarriage wheels

  644132

  Z-226 LööKplus

  1/48 Eduard

  Product page

  eduard

  88

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 89

  Collection of 4 sets for Tempest Mk.II in 1/48 scale.

  Recommended kit: Eduard / Speacial Hobby

  - cockpit

  - undercarriage wheels

  - exhaust stacks

  - landing aps PRINT

  All sets included in this BIG SIN are available separately,

  but with every BIG SIN set you save up to 30%.

  SIN64875

  Tempest Mk.II ESSENTIAL

  1/48 Eduard

  BRASSIN 12/2021

  Product page

  eduard

  89

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 90

  SPACE 12/2021

  for 1/48 kit Eduard

  1/48

  1/48

  3DL48050 A6M2 SPACE

  3DL48051 Remove Before Flight (white) SPACE

  3DL48052 Remove Before Flight (black) SPACE

  Product page

  Product page

  Product page

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 91

  1/350

  1/350

  3D53001 US ensign flag WWII SPACE

  3D53002 US ensign flag modern SPACE

  Product page

  Product page

  SPACE 12/2021

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 92

  FOTOLEPTY DECEMBER 2021

  USS Intrepid CV-11 pt.1 1/350 Trumpeter (53272)

  USS Intrepid CV-11 pt.2 1/350 Trumpeter (53273)

  USS Intrepid CV-11 pt.3 1/350 Trumpeter (53274)

  USS Intrepid CV-11 pt.4 1/350 Trumpeter (53275)

  USS Intrepid CV-11 pt.5 1/350 Trumpeter (53276)

  USS Intrepid CV-11 pt.5 1/350 Trumpeter (53276)

  USS Intrepid CV-11

  1/350 Trumpeter

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 93

  PHOTO-ETCHED 12/2021

  TBF-1C exterior 1/48 Academy (481071)

  TBF-1C landing aps 1/48 Academy (481072)

  TBF-1C interior 1/48 Academy (491232)

  TBF-1C 1/48 Academy (FE1232) (Zoom)

  TBF-1C seatbelts STEEL 1/48 Academy (FE1233) (Zoom)

  TBF-1C 1/48 Academy (EX819) (Mask)

  TBF-1C TFace 1/48 Academy (EX820) (Mask)

  TBF-1C

  1/48 Academy

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 94

  PHOTO-ETCHED 12/2021

  P-40N

  1/48 Academy

  P-40N landing aps 1/48 Academy (481073)

  P-40N 1/48 Academy (491234)

  P-40N 1/48 Academy (FE1234) (Zoom)

  P-40N seatbelts STEEL 1/48 Academy (FE1234) (Zoom)

  P-40N 1/48 Academy (EX817) (Mask)

  P-40N TFace 1/48 Academy (EX818) (Mask)

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 95

  PHOTO-ETCHED 12/2021

  F-4J

  1/72 Fine Molds

  F-4J 1/72 Fine Molds (73758)

  F-4J 1/72 Fine Molds (SS758) (Zoom)

  F-4J 1/72 Fine Molds (CX615) (Mask)

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 96

  Die alten Kanonen 1/24 Meng

  Cat. No. D24002

  Product page

  DECAL SET 12/2021

  Fokker Dr.I, 479/17, Ltn. August Raben, CO of Jasta 18,

  Montingen, France, October 1918

  Fokker Dr.I, 450/17, Ltn. Josef Jacobs, Jasta 7,

  Rumbeke, Belgium, March 1918

  Fokker Dr.I, 503/17, Ltn. Hans Körner, Jasta 19,

  Balatre, Belgium, April 1918

  Fokker Dr.I, 557/17, Ltn. Rudolf Klimke, Jasta 27,

  Halluin-Ost, France, May 1918

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 97

  Trenér cockpit placards

  A6M2 stencils

  1/48 Eduard

  1/48 Eduard

  Cat. No. D48097

  Cat. No. D48098

  DECAL SET 12/2021

  Product page

  Product page

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 98

  491217 Ar 234B 1/48

  FE1218

  Ar 234B seatbelts STEEL 1/48

  EX085

  Ar 234B Blitz 1/48

  481069 Mirage 2000D exterior 1/48

  491221

  Mir

  age 2000D 1/48

  FE1222 Mirage 2000D seatbelts STEEL 1/48

  EX325

  Mir

  age 2000B/D/N 1/48

  BIG49309 Ar 234B 1/48 Hobby 2000/Hasegawa

  BIG49310 Mirage 2000D 1/48 Kinetic

  All sets included in this BIG ED are available separately,

  but with every BIG ED set you save up to 30%.

  Product page

  Product page

  eduard

  98

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 99

  72717 Hurricane Mk.IIc landing aps 1/72

  73753

  Hurricane Mk.IIc 1/72

  CX607

  Hurricane Mk.IIc 1/72

  72715 Vulcan B.2 bomb bay 1/72

  72716

  V

  ulcan B.2 undercarriage 1/72

  73748 Vulcan B.2 1/72

  CX604

  V

  ulcan B.2 1/72

  BIG72166 Hurricane Mk.IIc 1/72 Zvezda

  BIG72167 Vulcan B.2 1/72 Airx

  All sets included in this BIG ED are available separately,

  but with every BIG ED set you save up to 30%.

  Product page

  Product page

  eduard

  99

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 100

  MASKS 12/2021

  EDUARD MASK IT FITS!

  JX282 F/A-18F 1/32 Revell

  JX283 F/A-18F TFace 1/32 Revell

  EX819 TBF-1C 1/48 Academy

  EX820 TBF-1C TFace 1/48 Academy

  EX821 A6M2 TFace 1/48 Eduard

  CX610 F4F-4 1/72 Arma Hobby

  CX611 P-38M 1/72 Hobby 2000/Dragon

  CX612 P-38J 1/72 Hobby 2000/Dragon

  CX613 Ar 234C 1/72 Hobby 2000/Dragon

  CX614 F-4C 1/72 Fine Molds

  CX615 F-4J 1/72 Fine Molds

  EX820

  EX819

  EX821

  EX821

  CX612

  CX613

  CX612 CX613

  EX820

  EX819

  EX820

  CX610

  CX610

  CX615

  CX615

  JX282 JX282

  JX283 JX283

  eduard

  100

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 101

  KITS

  82171 Sopwith F.1 Camel (BR.1) 1/48 ProPACK

  82182

  Z-226MS Trenér 1/48 ProPACK

  11155

  T

  ORA TORA TORA!

  1/48

  Limited edition

  84178

  Bf 109E-7 1/48 Weekend edition

  2137

  DESERT BABES (re-release) 1/72 Limited edition

  82121

  Tempest Mk.V Series 1 (re-release) 1/48 ProPACK

  8236

  MiG-21MF (re-release) 1/48

  Pr

  oPACK

  PE-SETS

  53276 USS Intrepid CV-11 pt.5 1/350 Trumpeter

  53277

  Akagi rear columns

  1/350 Haseg

  awa

  32474 F/A-18F exterior 1/32 Revell

  32992

  F/A-18F interior

  1/32 R

  evell

  481071

  TBF-1C e

  xterior

  1/48 Academ

  y

  481072

  TBF-1C landing aps

  1/48 Academ

  y

  481073

  P-40N landing aps 1/48 Academ

  y

  481074

  SBD-5 landing aps 1/48 R

  evell

  491232

  TBF-1C interior 1/48 Academ

  y

  491234

  P-40N 1/48 Academ

  y

  491236

  SBD-5 1/48 R

  evell

  73755

  F4F-4 1/72 Ar

  ma Hobby

  73756

  Ar 234C 1/72 Hob

  by 2000/Dragon

  73757

  F-4C 1/72 Fine Molds

  73758

  F-4J 1/72 Fine Molds

  ZOOMS

  33290 F/A-18F 1/32 Revell

  33291

  F/A-18F seatbelts STEEL 1/32 R

  evell

  FE1232 TBF-1C 1/48 Academy

  FE1233

  TBF-1C seatbelts STEEL

  1/48 Academ

  y

  FE1234

  P-40N 1/48 Academ

  y

  FE1235

  P-40N seatbelts STEEL 1/48 Academ

  y

  FE1236

  SBD-5 1/48 R

  evell

  FE1237

  SBD-5 seatbelts STEEL 1/48 R

  evell

  FE1238

  A6M2 seatbelts STEEL 1/48 Eduard

  SS755

  F4F-4 1/72 Ar

  ma Hobby

  SS756

  Ar 234C 1/72 Hob

  by 2000/Dragon

  SS757

  F-4C 1/72 Fine Molds

  SS758

  F-4J 1/72 Fine Molds

  MASKS

  JX282 F/A-18F 1/32 Revell

  JX283

  F/A-18F TF

  ace

  1/32 R

  evell

  EX819 TBF-1C 1/48 Academy

  EX820

  TBF-1C TF

  ace

  1/48 Academ

  y

  EX821

  A6M2 TF

  ace

  1/48 Eduard

  CX610

  F4F-4 1/72 Ar

  ma Hobby

  CX611

  P-38M 1/72 Hob

  by 2000/Dragon

  CX612

  P-38J 1/72 Hob

  by 2000/Dragon

  CX613

  Ar 234C 1/72 Hob

  by 2000/Dragon

  CX614

  F-4C 1/72 Fine Molds

  CX615

  F-4J 1/72 Fine Molds

  BIGED SETS

  BIG49309 Ar 234B 1/48 Hobby 2000/Hasegawa

  BIG49310

  Mir

  age 2000D

  1/48 Kinetic

  BIG72166

  Hurricane Mk.IIc 1/72 Zvezda

  BIG72167 Vulcan B.2

  1/72 Airx

  BRASSINS

  644128 A6M2 LööK 1/48 Eduard

  644130

  Chipm

  unk T.10 LööK

  1/48 Airx

  644133

  CH-47A LööK 1/48 Hobby Boss

  648661

  Sop

  with Camel US Colt Vickers gun

  1/48 Eduard

  648689

  B5N2 800kg bomb

  1/48 Haseg

  awa

  648693

  A6M2 wheels

  1/48 Eduard

  648695

  A6M undercarriag

  e legs BRONZE

  1/48 Eduard

  648697

  Mi-24D coc

  kpit

  1/48 Zv

  ezda

  648698

  A6M2 seat PRINT

  1/48 Eduard

  648699

  Chipm

  unk T.10 wheels

  1/48 Airx

  648700

  F-4B undercarriage legs BRONZE 1/48 T

  amiya

  648701

  F/A-18E wheels 1/48 Meng

  648702

  F/A-18E ejection seat 1/48 Meng

  648704

  F-4B n caps PRINT 1/48 T

  amiya

  672273

  GB

  U-15(V)21/B

  1/72

  LookPLUS

  644131 Ar 234B LööKplus 1/48 Hobby 2000/Hasegawa

  644132

  Z-226 LööKplus 1/48 Eduard

  BIGSIN

  SIN64875 Tempest Mk.II ESSENTIAL 1/48 Eduard

  DECAL SETS

  D24002 Die alten Kanonen 1/24 Meng

  D48097 Z-126/226/326/526 cockpit placards 1/48 Eduard

  D48098 A6M2 stencils 1/48 Eduard

  SPACE

  3DL48050 A6M2 SPACE 1/48 Eduard

  3DL48051 Remove Before Flight (white) SPACE 1/48

  3DL48052 R

  emove Before Flight (black) SPACE

  1/48

  3DL53001 US ensign ag WWII SP

  ACE

  1/350

  3DL53002 US ensign ag moder

  n SPACE

  1/350

  December 2021

  Release

• Page 102

  BUILT

  TORA TORA TORA! 1/48

  built by Robert SzwarcRobert Szwarc

  Cat. No. 11155

  Kamo F

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 103

  BUILT

  Product page

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 104

  BUILT

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 105

  BUILT

  Lt. Masao Satō, Zuikaku Fighter Squadron, first attack wave

  The aircraft c

  arrier Zuikaku sent in the first wave five Zeros under the command of Lt. Satō. He escorted the bombers in the raid on Kaneohe

  Naval Air Station. As they met no resistance in the air, his fighter pilots destroyed over 32 aircraft on the ground. During the 2nd attack wave,

  Zuikaku fighters patrolled the carriers. Satō was a veteran of 12th Kōkūtai in China and served on the board of Akagi. From September 1941

  to January 1942, as the so-called Buntaichō, he commanded fighters aboard the Zuikaku, and in May he began serving in that capacity on the

  aircraft carrier Kaga until her sinking at the Battle of Midway. From June 1942 he took over fighters as Hikōtaichō on the carrier Zuihō. He par-

  ticipated in the Battle of Santa Cruz, and in the 2nd phase Satō's formation shot down four aircraft. In April 1943, Zuihó participated in

  Operation “I”-go in the New Guinea and Solomon Islands area. Satō was killed during Operation “Ro”-go on November 11, 1943 in aerial combat

  over Bougainville.

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 106

  BUILT

  built by Patrik Pěcha

  Cat. No. 11153

  Kamo E

  1/48

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 107

  BUILT

  BM324, F/Lt Bernard Dupérier (Baron Léon Sternberg de Armella), No. 340

  (Free French) Squadron, RAF Westhampnett, West Sussex, Great Britain,

  July 1942

  Bernard Dupérier, whose real name was Leon Sternberg de Armella, enlisted in the Free French Air Force in New York on January 15, 1941

  under his mother’s maiden name. Having served with No. 242 and No. 615 Squadrons RAF, in October 1941 he joined No. 340 (Free French)

  Squadron (GC II/4 Ille-de-France) as a B Flight (Versailles) leader. As of May 1, 1942 he assumed command of the whole squadron. From

  December 1942 he served at FAFL Headquarters. From August 30, 1943 he was given command of No. 341 (Free French) Squadron (GC III/2

  Alsace) and from September 1943 he commanded the Biggin Hill Wing. On June 25, 1944 he was parachuted to Bretagne where he acted as

  a commander of 3. Headquarters of FFI. On August 6, 1944, during the liberation of the city of Saint-Brieuc he was severely wounded. He

  returned to the duty in April 1945. After the hostilities he worked in several positions including Air France director. In 1958 he entered the world

  of politics and in 1962 became the member of Parliament. The white stripes on the nose and horizontal tail surfaces of his BM324, in which he

  scored two victories, pertain to the cancelled invasion operation Rutter scheduled for July 7, 1942. This markings are mistakenly attributed to

  the operation Jubilee in which No. 340 (Free French) Squadron also took part.

  Product page

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 108

  BUILT

  1/48

  Built by Robert Szwarc

  Cat. No. 11152

  Kamo J

  Product page

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 109

  BUILT

  Z-226MS, OK

  -

  KMR, No. 19-08, private owner, Praha-Letňany airfield, Czech Republic 2020

  This Trener was originally manufactured as the Z-226B and like many other aircraft of this versi

  on, it was gradually converted to the Z-226M

  and MS versions. It was first time registered on April 26, 1957 and was flown by the Podhořany Aero Club, before sold to a private owner. The

  latter still operates it today at the Prague-Letňany airport. The former inscription Aeroklub Podhořany was removed from the aircraft, other-

  wise the colouring remained unchanged. In the “pandemic” year 2020, the owner put as a prank a warning sticker calling for compliance with

  anti-epidemic measures. The “Blaník” inscription on the port side of the fuselage refers to the aircraft's primarily towing history (L-13 Blaník is

  a school glider).

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 110

  BUILT

  IA-58A Pucara 1/48

  Set used:

  Built by Matthias Becker

  #491196 general set

  #FE1196 interior (Zoom)

  #FE1197 seatbelts STEEL (Zoom)

  #EX788 (Mask)

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 111

  BUILT

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  111

  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 112

  BUILT

  1/48

  Built by Oliver Peissl

  Set used:

  #49750 interior

  #49751 seatbelts

  Ju-88A-5 Trop

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 113

  BUILT

  #49750 interior

  #49751

  seatbelts

  FFG-57 USS Reuben James

  Builtby Petr Švihovec

  Set used:

  #17520 Life buoy

  #53150 USS Oliver H. Perry FFG-7

  #53180

  USN ensign flag modern STEEL

  1/350 Academy

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 114

  Built by Patrik Pěcha

  Cat. No. 82124

  Product page

  BUILT

  Tempest Mk.II early version

  1/48

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 115

  BUILT

  MW835, W/Cdr Charles H. Dyson, Wing Commander Flying Southern Sector, RAF Middle Wallop, Hamshire, United Kingdom, April 1946

  Charles Harold Dyson was born in Jhansi, India (July 8, 1913) and began his RAF career in 1937. After training he became a member of No. 33

  Sqn and carried out attacks on Arab insurgents in Palestine (from Ramla base). His part in these operations earned him a DFC. He remained

  in the Middle East after the outbreak of WWII and on December 11, 1940, he encountered a group of six Italian Cr.42s and reportedly shot them

  all down. However, he had to make an emergency landing himself, returning to the unit six days later. Dyson received a Bar to his DFC for this

  achievement to which he added two more Cr.42 kills. The No. 33 Sqn moved to Greece and Dyson was shot down there by an Italian G.50 on

  March 23 and then by AA fire on April 5. He managed to bail out in both cases. After the fall of Greece, Dyson served as a fighter pilot in Egypt

  but was not involved in any further combat action. Following his return to the UK he had short spells with the CGS and AFD and then spent the

  rest of the war instructing and commanding Armament Practice Camps

  and squadrons within Tactical Exercise Units.

  After the war he remained in the service until

  October 1963. By the time he became Wing

  Commander of the Southern Sector of Fighter

  Command, he had taken over the aircraft of R.

  P. Beamont and added stylized lightning bolt

  on the fuselage - a most unusual marking on

  RAF aircraft at that time. The colors of it were

  probably yellow and red and the personal code

  was white. After a short period of time, the

  lightning bolt was removed, leaving only a red

  wedge with no trim; the spinner was now half

  black/half white whereas it is thought it may

  previously have been yellow. For unknown

  reasons, the main undercarriage covers were

  replaced, thereby disrupting the serial number

  on the lower wing surfaces.

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 116

  BIG5363 US Intrepid CV-11 PART I 1/350 Trumpeter

  BIG33139 AH-1G late 1/32 ICM

  BIG49311 CH-47A 1/48 Hobby Boss

  BIG49312 Chipmunk T.10 1/48 Airx

  BIG49313 F/A-18E 1/48 Hobby Boss

  644119 Z-126 Trener LööK 1/48 Eduard

  644136 Tornado ECR LööK 1/48 Eduard/Revell

  648694 A6M2 engine PRINT 1/48 Eduard

  648705 Z-226 Trener cockpit PRINT 1/48 Eduard

  648707 F-16 wheels early 1/48 Tamiya

  648708 F-16 wheels late 1/48 Tamiya

  648709 F-4B ejecon seats early PRINT 1/48 Tamiya

  648711 Sopwith Camel Gnome engine PRINT 1/48 Eduard

  648712 SBD-5 twin machine gun 1/48

  Accurate Miniatures/Academy/Revell

  648713 SBD-5 wheels 1/48 Accurate Miniatures/Academy/Revell

  648714 Panzerschreck 1 for Fw 190F PRINT 1/48 Eduard

  648715 TSPJ pod PRINT 1/48 Eduard/Revell

  672277 Brish 1000lb retarded bombs 1/72

  644135 Chipmunk

  T.10 LööKplus 1/48 Airx

  644137 F-4B LööKplus 1/48 Tamiya

  SIN64878 Spiire Mk.Va/b ESSENTIAL 1/48 Eduard

  BIG ED (January)

  BRASSIN (January)

  LöökPlus (January)

  BIGSIN (January)

  BIG49311

  BIG33139

  BIG49313

  ON APPROACH

  ON APPROACH

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  JANUARY 2022

  BRASSIN

  644119 Z-126 Trener LööK 1/48 Eduard

  PRELLIMINARY

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 117

  644136 Tornado ECR LööK 1/48 Eduard/Revell

  648694 A6M2 engine PRINT 1/48 Eduard

  BRASSIN

  JANUARY 2022

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  PRELLIMINARY

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 118

  648705 Z-226 Trener cockpit PRINT 1/48 Eduard

  648707 F-16 wheels early 1/48 Tamiya

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  BRASSIN

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 119

  648708 F-16 wheels late 1/48 Tamiya

  648709 F-4B ejection seats early PRINT 1/48 Tamiya

  BRASSIN

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 120

  648711 Sopwith Camel Gnome engine PRINT 1/48 Eduard

  648712 SBD-5 twin machine gun 1/48 Accurate Miniatures/Academy/Revell

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  BRASSIN

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 121

  648714 Panzerschreck 1 for Fw 190F PRINT 1/48 Eduard

  648713 SBD-5 wheels 1/48 Accurate Miniatures/Academy/Revell

  BRASSIN

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 122

  648715 TSPJ pod PRINT 1/48 Eduard/Revell

  672277 British 1000lb retarded bombs 1/72

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  BRASSIN

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 123

  644135 Chipmunk T.10 LööKplus 1/48 Airx

  Collection of 3 sets for Chipmunk T.10 in 1/48 scale.

  Recommended kit: Airx

  - LööK set (pre-painted Brassin dashboards & Steelbelts)

  - TFace painting mask

  - undercarriage wheels

  ON APPROACH

  ON APPROACH

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  BRASSIN

  JANUARY 2022

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 124

  644137 F-4B LööKplus 1/48 Tamiya

  Collection of 3 sets for F-4B in 1/48 scale.

  Recommended kit: Tamiya

  - LööK set (pre-painted Brassin dashboards & Steelbelts)

  - TFace painting mask

  - undercarriage wheels

  BRASSIN

  ON APPROACH

  ON APPROACH

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 125

  SIN64878 Spitre Mk.Va/b ESSENTIAL 1/48 Eduard

  Collection of 4 sets for Spitre Mk.Va/b in 1/48 scale.

  Recommended kit: Eduard

  - cockpit

  - undercarriage wheels

  - exhaust stacks

  - undercarriage legs BRONZE

  All sets included in this BIG SIN are available separately,

  but with every BIG SIN set you save up to 30%.

  ON APPROACH

  ON APPROACH

  ON APPROACHON APPROACH

  BRASSIN

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 126

  PE-SETS

  53278 USS Gato SS-212 1941 1/350 Hobby Boss

  32475 P-51D-15 exterior 1/32 Revell

  32993 P-51D-15 interior 1/32 Revell

  481075 F-14A late exterior 1/48 Tamiya

  481076 A6M2 landing aps 1/48 Eduard

  491239 F-14A late interior 1/48 Tamiya

  491240 OV-10A 1/48 ICM

  72718 C-130J-30 exterior 1/72 Zvezda

  73759 C-130J-30 interior 1/72 Zvezda

  73760 C-130J-30 cargo oor 1/72 Zvezda

  73761 C-130J-30 cargo seatbelts 1/72 Zvezda

  73762 C-130J-30 cargo interior 1/72 Zvezda

  73763 Mosquito B Mk.XVI 1/72 Airx

  ZOOMS

  33292 P-51D-15 1/32 Revell

  FE1239 F-14A late 1/48 Tamiya

  FE1240 OV-10A 1/48 ICM

  FE1241 OV-10A seatbelts STEEL 1/48 ICM

  SS759 C-130J-30 1/72 Zvezda

  SS763 Mosquito B Mk.XVI 1/72 Airx

  MASKS

  JX284 P-51D TFace 1/32 Revell

  EX822 B-17G TFace 1/48 HKM

  EX823 La-11 1/48 Hobby Boss

  EX824 Tornado ECR TFace 1/48 Eduard/Revell

  EX825 OV-10A 1/48 ICM

  EX826 OV-10A TFace 1/48 ICM

  EX827 Z-126 TFace 1/48 Eduard

  CX616 P-43 1/72 Dora Wings

  CX617 C-130J-30 1/72 Zvezda

  CX618 Mosquito B Mk.XVI 1/72 Airx

  DECAL SETS

  D32017 A6M2 stencils 1/32 Tamiya

  D48099 F-14 stencils 1/48 Tamiya

  D72037 A6M2 stencils 1/72 Tamiya/Airx/Hasegawa

  SPACE

  3DL48044 Z-126 SPACE 1/48 Eduard

  3DL48053 MiG-21PF grey SPACE 1/48 Eduard

  3DL48054 MiG-21PF SPACE 1/48 Eduard

  3DL48055 Bf 109E-7 SPACE 1/48 Eduard

  3DL48056 Tornado ECR SPACE 1/48 Eduard/Revell

  3DL48057 F-14A late SPACE 1/48 Tamiya

  PE-Sets, Masks, Decal sets and SPACE

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 127

  STAVEBNICE

  ČERVENEC 2021

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  A6M2 Zero Type 21

  Cat. No. 82212

  1/48

  KITS

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  c/n 5379, PO1c Tsuguo Matsuyama, Hiryū Fighter Squadron,

  aircraft carrier Hiryū, December 7, 1941

  PO1c Saburō Sakai, Tainan Kōkūtai, Lakunai airfield,

  Rabaul, New Britain island, August 1942

  PO2c Kōtarō Koyae, Zuihō Fighter Squadron, Rabaul,

  New Britain island, April 1943

  Lt. Nobuo Miyatake, Kamikaze Tokubetsu Kōgekitai,

  1. Shichisei-tai, Kanoya airbase, Japan, April 1944

  Lt. Kunio Kanzaki, CO of Hikōtai 311 of Kōkūtai 381,

  Kendari airfield, Celebes island, May 1944

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 128

  TORNADO ECR

  STAVEBNICE

  ČERVENEC 2021

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  Cat. No. 11154

  1/48

  KITS

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  NEDOKONČENO

  NEDOKONČENO

  NEDOKONČENO

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 129

  Z-126 TRENÉR

  STAVEBNICE

  ČERVENEC 2021

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  KITS

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  Cat. No. 11156

  Dual Combo

  1/48

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 130

  Z-126 TRENÉR

  KITS

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 131

  Spitfire Mk.Ia

  KITS

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  1/48

  Cat. No. 84179

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 132

  MiG-21SMT

  KITS

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  Cat. No. 84180

  1/48

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 133

  STAVEBNICE

  ČERVENEC 2021

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  MiG-15bis

  Cat. No. 7059

  Re-release

  1/72

  KITS

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  c/n 613234, kpt. Oldřich Paldus, 15th Fighter Regiment,

  Czechoslovak Air Force, Cottbus Airfield,

  German Democratic Republic, August 30, 1957

  c/n 1315376, ex 64th IAK, Soviet Union, Mid 1950s

  Maj. Mikhail Ivanovich Mikhin, 518th IAP, North Korea, May 1953

  c/n 0320138, 1st Squadron, 101st Reconnaissance

  Regiment, Szolnok, Hungary, 1972

  No. 20 Squadron, Egypt., Late 1950s / Early 1960s

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 134

  STAVEBNICE

  ČERVENEC 2021

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  Cat. No. 84172

  Re-release

  1/48

  KITS

  ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACH

  44-13761, flown by Capt. Jack M. Ilfrey, 79th FS, 20th FG,

  8th AF, USAAF Station 367 Kings Cliffe,

  Northamptonshire, Great Britain, Autumn 1944

  44-13317, flown by Capt. Donald R. Emerson, 336th FS,

  4th FG, 8th AF, USAAF Station 356 Debden, Essex,

  Great Britain, September 1944

  44-13316, flown by Leonard K. Carson, 362nd FS,

  357th FG, 8th AF, USAAF Station 373 Leiston, Suffolk,

  Great Britain, June 1944

  44-13597, flown by Lt. William E. Fowler, 487th FS, 352nd FG, 8th AF, USAAF Station 141 Bodney, Norfolk, Great Britain, September 1944

  P-51D-5

  JANUARY 2022

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021

• Page 135

  MY AVIATION LEGENDS

  There are certainly different paths to an interest

  in aviation history and scale modeling. Mine, as

  with many other people, was set by memoirs of

  famous aviators. I'm talking about the legends

  that influenced me when I was a teenager. Fa-

  mous aviator is a relative term, it can vary by

  country of origin, cultural background, or per-

  sonal preference of the individual.

  My initial, almost thrilling experience was Pie-

  rre Clostermann's The Big Show. In the mid-

  -1980s, a friend of mine in high school lent me

  this novel, and I would say that to that day I have

  read few books that have drawn me into the plot

  as much as The Big Show. The battles against

  the Luftwaffe, the mentions of names like “von

  Graf” and Nowotny, the final stage actions over

  Germany, that all shaped my interest in aerial-

  war. The Big Show was published in Czechoslo-

  vakia for the first time in 1968, and then again

  in 1970, before the so-called normalization (and

  associated censorship) began to restrict or ban

  such a venture. Borrowing the book and taking

  notes therefore had a bit of a conspiratorial air.

  I understood that it was far from easy during the

  clashes with the Luftwaffe and the German ar-

  med forces. Some of the movies on Czechoslo-

  vak TV and in the cinemas at the time portrayed

  the adversaries a bit like targets for a practice,

  but I didn't really go to believe it at all.

  Also, our Czechoslovakian compatriots, for-

  mer World War Two airmen and also authors of

  memoirs like Antonín Liška or František Fajtl

  were heroes for me. I understood it took a lot

  of courage to go into exile and fight against

  the enemy that occupied their native country.

  Surviving the post-war communist camps was

  usually as difficult, as to survive German POW

  camps. If not even worse… This was double true

  in the case of Fajtl, who became RAF Squadron

  Leader and managed to return to the UK after

  being shot down over occupied Europe. In 1944,

  he commanded the Czechoslovak independent

  fighter regiment that was operating Soviet fi-

  ghter planes in the rear of the enemy during the

  Slovak National Uprising. With a story like that,

  a movie producer might have fired the scree-

  nwriter because he felt that such a story could

  not happen. Fajtl also ended up in a communist

  concentration camp after the war.

  Later I managed to get hold of the book “Slou-

  žím vlasti” (I Serve My Country) from 1950,

  illustrated by famous Czech painter Zdeněk Bu-

  rian. It was written by Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub.

  It interested me a lot because he was the most

  successful Allied fighter pilot with 62 victories

  to his credit. I liked the book very much, it sho-

  wed between the lines that it was not easy to

  fight against Luftwaffe even from 1943, because

  that was the time Kozhedub arrived to the front-

  lines. I liked the guy a lot, and still I do.

  Another high school classmate helped me to get

  access to an unusual book. It was published by

  Czechoslovak magazine Letectví a kosmonauti-

  ka (Aviation and Space) as a series in 1968 and

  1969. The author was a Japanese naval fighter

  pilot Saburō Sakai. There were many interes-

  ting books that were allowed to be published in

  our country in late 1960s. Of course, there were

  limits, which is why the book was not published

  under its original title “Samurai!” but as “Zera

  and Pacifikem” (Zeros over the Pacific). These

  exotic memories came to me on photocopied

  pages almost twenty years after their publicati-

  on which was still the era, when “xeroxes” were

  strictly controlled in order to avoid copying of

  any anti-state printed matter. Sakai's memoirs

  were published in shortened form here, but they

  were almost as fascinating as Clostermann´s

  The Big Show to me. Saburō Sakai may have

  been on the opposite side of the barricade from

  the Allied airmen, but for many reasons that are

  captured in the lines of his memoirs, he has be-

  come a legend to me. And he had two more vic-

  tories to his credit than Kozhedub. The needle of

  my aviation compass pointed to Japan, and still

  partly points there today.

  At the end of 1989, the communist regime

  collapsed in our country, and anything could be

  published. On the other way, many people star-

  ted to ignore everything of the Soviet origin,

  which is usually synonymous with Russian by

  many here. I come from anti-communist family,

  so I understand their mood, but I also feel it's

  just not fair in case of the service and sacrifices

  of Soviet airmen.

  When the book “Křídla v boji” (Wings in Combat),

  written by fighter pilot Alexander Ivanovich Po-

  kryshkin, came out in 1990, I jumped on it. He

  had been flying since the beginning of the war,

  which was June 1941 in his case. It was written

  about him that he had 59 victories and was se-

  cond in the ranking to Kozhedub. I devoured

  the memoirs, taking notes as I went through it.

  If I remember correctly, the book could count

  about 75 of Pokryshkin's individual victories!

  I was impressed and felt a little sorry for him

  too. I had the feeling that his combat results

  were crossed off from above.

  Thirty years have passed since then and I have

  read many more memoirs, publications, and do-

  cuments, I met war veterans and wrote a little

  too. I also experienced many surprises during

  this period of life.

  Clostermann used for some parts of his book

  other people's reports, accounts, or experien-

  ces as if he had experienced these himself. The

  number of his victories was less than originally

  reported. And whether he had all the command

  posts he recounts in his novel is still discussed

  today. The confrontation with contemporary re-

  cords is indeed interesting.

  Saburō Sakai didn't have 64 victories and even

  stated several times that he didn't know whe-

  re that number came from. He said himself that

  he might have scored approximately 28 victo-

  ries in total. Historical records available today

  show that such a number roughly corresponds

  to actuality if we add up all kind of victories he

  achieved alone or in collaboration with other

  pilots. Some of the events described in the En-

  glish edition of his memoirs did not happen and

  Sakai did not authorize them. For example, the

  group aerobatics over an enemy airfield is pro-

  bably a fabrication.

  In the past decade, historians from the former

  Soviet Union have taken a close look at newly

  available contemporary records. It seems that

  Ivan Kozhedub achieved as many as 64 indivi-

  dual victories, but Pokryshkin, originally the

  second one in the order, shot down only 45

  opponents. Today it is known that there were

  five other fighter pilots on the list between the

  two. To my surprise, one of them even had more

  than 60 individual kills. His name was Grigory

  Andreevich Rechkalov.

  Analyses of air battles and comparisons of clai-

  med victories with losses of the opponents are

  a separate chapter. This is an important and ad-

  venturous discipline, but I do not want to men-

  tion it here. We could get bogged down in argu-

  ments about how many planes Erich Hartmann

  actually shot down, or how many Luftwaffe pla-

  nes were downed by Czechoslovak fighters, for

  example.

  Does this all mean that Clostermann, Sakai or

  Pokryshkin are less of legends for me today?

  Not at all. Regardless of whether serious re-

  search and critical insight reduces or increases

  the actual number of victories, their memoirs

  are still great and powerful stories worth rea-

  ding, studying, and passing on. And while doing

  that it is an opportunity to experience own re-

  search story as a result.

  Jan Bobek

  eduard

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  INFO Eduard - December 2021