Info EDUARD
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{"cz":"Info EDUARD"}
{"cz":"Měsíčník o historii a plastikovém modelářství.","en":"Monthly magazine about history and scale plastic modeling."}
12/2021
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Vol 20, December 2021Vol 20, December 2021ISSUE 142INFOINFOPage 2
INFOEDUARDEDUARDISSUE 142© Eduard - Model Accessories, 2021FREE FOR DOWNLOAD, FREE FOR DISTRIBUTION!This material may only be used for personal use. No part of the textor graphic presentations can be used in another publication in any other media formor otherwise distributed without the prior writtenpermission of Eduard - Model Accessories and authors involved.Editorial and Graphics - Marketing department, Eduard - Model Accessories, Ltd.Page 3
eduardeduardEDITORIALDECEMBER 2021KITSHISTORYBRASSINPHOTO-ETCHED SETSBIGEDRELEASEBUILTON APPROACHDecember 2021January 2022Sopwith F.1 Camel (BR.1) ProPACK 1/48Z-226MS Trenér ProPACK 1/48TORA TORA TORA! Limited edition 1/48Bf 109E-7 Weekend edition 1/48DESERT BABES Limited edition 1/72Tempest Mk.V Series 1 ProPACK 1/48MiG-21PF ProPACK 1/48TORA TORA TORA! 1/48Spitre Story: The Sweeps 1/48Trenér 1/48IA-58A Pucara 1/48Ju-88A-5 Trop 1/48Tempest Mk.II early version 1/48CONTENTSCaught With Their Pants DownTORA TORA TORA!A ight to freedomBuild, build, build!I’m training, I’m training!TAIL END CHARLIE4929834878101102116135Published by Eduard-Model Accessories, spol. s.r.o.Mírová 170, Obrnice 435 21support@eduard.com www.eduard.comPage 4
BUILD, BUILD, BUILD!The title is loosely based on the Tora Tora Tora!code as applied to modeling, including severalhundred languages of tribes that reside andmodel on Papua New Guinea*. Take it as a ge-neral instruction what to do with our new Zerothat is just being officially released today and sobegins its campaign throughout the modelingworld. There is not much sense in delving intodetail descriptions of the kit within the pages ofthis editorial. It has been known that we wereto release this kit for some six weeks now, andwith a few dozen Facebook and Instagram po-sts, currently on-going build articles, and eventhanks to today’s newsletter release, much is al-ready known about it even to those who wouldn’tbother to care about Zero just a month ago. Weare at the beginning of a long road that will seethe release of all versions of the A6M in all ourproduction lines, from Limited Editions throu-gh ProfiPacks and on to Weekend kits. As hasbeen our style to do so, we have designed andare completing molds for all the subvariants ofthe type, starting with the A6M2 Type 11 and en-ding with the A6M7. Our series will also includemy personal favorite Rufe float version and thetwo seater A6M2-K. There will be a lot of Zerokits coming out, including versions that have notbeen properly done by any other manufacturer.And we will not be saying goodbye to the line anytime soon. To research, draw, design and printtens, if not hundreds of schemes, is a job foryears, if not decades, and, to paraphrase well--known words, before we´re through with ´em,this Japanese subject will be common in themodeling 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 tofollow. I will leave a breakdown of this year’scompany performance for January’s newsletter.This year hasn’t yet ended, so let´s not draw upthe bill in the absence of the innkeeper. The mainrelease for the month of December is the afore-mentioned Zero kit released in Limited Editionline under the name “Tora Tora Tora!”. It is a DualCombo item and further details are providedwithin the pages of this newsletter further ondown. Other versions, and the sequence of theirrelease, will be described when we get to newitems planned for next year.Kits in DecemberUp to the summer, our production capacity wastaxed 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 moldsor production of new releases. In any case, workwas being done on new molds, and by the sum-mer, we had three new sets ready for testing andfine tuning. These were the Camel, the Trenerand the Zero. At the time, our stock of catalogitems had pulled itself together and we turnedour attention to some of those fine-tuning du-ties. The results are evident, and they speak forthemselves. We have been able to release thefirst new kits of all three types over the last fourmonths. All are in the Limited Edition line. InSeptember, 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 21kit. With the Tora Tora Tora! Limited Edition pac-kage, and ProfiPack editions of the Trener andCamel kits, all three of them are being offeredin December simultaneously. The latter two arenow 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 anM-137 engine. The sequence of these releases isthe result of the scheme which was introducedlast year and fine-tuned during 2021. You mayhave noticed that beginning with the Mustang,the sequence was to release the Limited Editi-on kit as the first, followed by the ProfiPack, andthen finally by Weekend kits. The typical releasestructure of any month then contains somethingfrom each line, Limited, ProfiPack and Weekend.For December, this includes one Limited Editionkit, two ProfiPacks and a Weekend Edition kit.This is complemented by another Limited Edi-tion and two ProfiPacks as re-editions for thismonth. The ProfiPacks are the Tempest Mk.VSeries 1 and a MiG-21PF, both in 1:48th scale. TheLimited Edition kit is the familiar Tornado GR.1in 1:72nd scale under the name “Desert Babes”.Back in June, this kit sold out before the end ofthe week after its release, which was enough tocontemplate a second edition. I believe that thistime around, Desert Babes will last longer thanbefore. A portion of these kits will be sold withposters depicting the nose art carried by the air-craft in the marking options. These will be thesame as those that were offered with the pre-vious 1:48th scale version of the kit of the samename. The noted Weekend kit is the Bf 109E-7 in1:48th scale. We picked out some nice markingoptions 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 definingfeatures of the E-7 were the engine used (the DB601N) and a fuel system that allowed the carria-ge of a fuselage drop tank.December AccessoriesIn the accessories line, we have, naturally, thefirst items available for the Zero, although nota lot, being at the beginning of this theme as weare. It comes in the form of a TFace mask, forboth the inner and outer clear surfaces, a 3Dprinted seat, resin wheels, bronze landing gearlegs, Space and LooK sets, steel seat belts in theZoom line, and a stencil data decal sheet in theEduard Decal line. Other accessory items, inclu-ding a 3D printed engine and PE landing flapswill be available in January, and in followingmonths as well. The engine will be released intwo versions. The first one, to be released in Ja-nuary under Catalog Number 648694, is a one--piece matter intended to be used with closedmaintenance panels cowling, as a ”ready-to-fly”configuration. The second offering of the enginewill be more detailed and complex, with separa-te pistons in a fairly classical Brassin rendition,with a complete exhaust piping and with all theequipment on the rear side of the engine and onthe firewall. Obviously, this one is intended to bedisplayed with open cowling panels. Similarly,the landing flaps will be offered as two differentproducts, one photoetched and one 3D printed. Ifthe Zero is your bag, whether you have opted forthe Limited Edition Tora Tora Tora! kit or Janua-ry’s ProfiPack, you have plenty of time to decidewhich accessories are right for your project.There will be no shortage of options anytimesoon.There are many other accessory items as well.For example, we have two Space sets that coverRemove Before Flight tags in 1:48th scale, andanother two sets covering American naval flagsin 1:350th scale. Those are also part of the Spa-EDITORIALeduard4INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 5
ce line. These are interesting concepts that formthe basis of another line of useful products. Theylook very authentic and are likely the best fabricrepresentations yet developed for the modelingindustry. At the same time, there are existingRBF sets that have proven to be extremely goodsellers, and the basic red RBF set in the paintedphotoetched line is the holder of the undisputedchampionship of accessory sellers of all time.The bronze legs are among favorites of the acce-ssory sets as well. The December list containsnot only legs for the Zero, but also for the F-4BPhantom II from Tamiya. This set is, to be ho-nest, not a cheap item, but precious gems tendnot to be, and these sets are gems. You may notbe aware of this, but we don’t manufacture thebronze legs ourselves. They are the work of asuccessful jewelry manufacturer, and consis-tent with their design, they are manufacturedwith 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 setcontains three variations of the caps used on se-veral versions of the F-4. It’s a small but usefullittle item for all who want to make model of thistype as accurate as possible.Another interesting Brassin item is the cockpitfor the Mi-24D. It is designed to fit the Zvezda kit,but may well be better suited for improving ourLimited Edition Hind D. For the Zvezda kit, it isnecessary to use a conversion set to create aproper Mi-24D from this thing, a set which hasnot yet been released. But we will release it inthe New Year, as a lone item and with the cockpitas well. The remainder of December’s releasesare shown in this newsletter, and I am leavingthem to Your self-study. I have yet to describenew items for next year, and I don’t want to tireyou all out with long descriptions of this month’sindividual releases.New Releases for 2022We live in interesting times, unfortunately formany wrong reasons. We have rampant inflati-on, a world-wide epidemic, the collapse of manyenergy companies and a list of other nasty thingsthat are beginning to accumulate on us. I can’t domuch about that, but in the lines that follow, I willinject some good news into your day. Or try to.Today, I will focus on new kits that are beingplanned for the first half of 2022. In next month’snewsletter, I will cover the latter half of the yearregarding kits, as well as expected developmentof accessory lines. I must point out though, justas has happened in the past, these things are notwritten in stone, and things can change. We havenever been able to end up with having releasedeverything at the end of a given year exactly asit was planned at its beginning. There is no rea-son to think that this will change this year. On thecontrary, I am expecting a lot of issues to crop upover the course of the year that will impact whatis being planned for the second half of it.Zeros Everywhere You LookI was thinking about how to introduce new kits.There are many of them, and typically there arefive new things being released per month, plusanother re-edition or two that rejuvenates asold-out item. I decided to start off with the starsof the list, on the basis of which new accessoryitems are also being developed. We’ll begin withthe newest one, the Zero.Already in January, we will be releasing theA6M2 Type 21 ProfiPack kit. It will be the sameversion as the one included in Tora Tora Tora!but the kit will be conceptualized a little diffe-rently. The ProfiPack kit will include parts forone model only, along with one set of photoet-ched parts and masks and marking options forfive birds. All of the aircraft that are offered inthe marking options have extremely interestinghistories spanning from Pearl Harbor to Guadal-canal, New Guinea and Indonesia, all the way tousing the worn-out Type 21s for the Kamikazemission. The main hero of this kit is the famousSaburo Sakai, a member of the no-less famousTainan Kokutai, one of the most famous Zero pi-lots of them all. The boxart depicts a well-knownfight between him and James ”Pug” Southerlandand is an event that was described by both pi-lots in detail. At the time, Southerland was withVF-5, flying off the USS Saratoga, and the eventtook 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 andSaratoga Wildcats. You will be informed furtheron 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-226Trener. The main reason is to offer as soon aspossible an alternative for those, that for onereason or another, don’t want the Limited Editi-on kit. It doesn’t matter if it’s because they don’twant two kits that the Limited Edition offers, orif the price point is too high, or, as in the case ofTora Tora Tora! the kit simply encompasses toonarrow theme spectrum.And this Limited Edition kit really encompass toonarrow 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 thiskit, we can likely expect a third. So, why not torelease another Limited Edition kit of Type 21?It’s even necessary, as it will show this Zero inall its beauty and will describe its combat careerin awesome detail spanning the years from 1941to 1945. It will be a similar story with the Profi-Pack kit, but with a slightly wider focus and witha greater variation of marking options. This hasnot yet been finalized, and we don’t know yet ifthere will be 12 or 14 options included, but thevariability in the markings and locations of theiruse 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.SpitfiresSpitfires will continue with the first Weekend kitsof 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 willbe a surprisingly colorful affair, at least when itcomes to Spitfires. We really will venture prettyfar southernly with this one, through Italy, nor-thern Africa, through Burma and into Australia.In the second quarter, we will have the ProfiPackSpitfire Mk.Vc. This will offer further possibilitiesthat we plan to take full advantage of.Of course, we don’t have just new Mk.Is andMk.Vs, but also the good ol’ Mk.VIIIs and IXs. Thefirst quarter will see the return of the 1:72nd sca-le Mk.IX in the form of Weekend kit, the Spitfire FMk.IX, also known as the Spitfire Mk.IX Early. Weexpect to release the 1:72nd scale Weekend Spit-fire Mk.VIII before the end of the first half of theyear, while in 1:48th scale we’ll see a return ofthe Spitfire HF Mk.VIII as a ProfiPack re-edition.MustangIt’s the way things go… There are those that thinkEduard keeps on churning out the same old Me-sserschmitts and Mustangs, and the other halfwants another one of each. We like releasingkits of both types. We like ‘em, and we enjoy ma-king ‘em. We believe that they not only bring joyto us, but to many modelers as well. Given thefact that the Weekend kit of the P-51D-5 has al-ready twice sold out since its introduction backin January of this year and the ProfiPack kit isalso sold out, we figure that we are on the rightpath. Both D-5s will see a re-edition in the firstquarter, and the ProfiPack will see the same inthe second quarter.The things that are getting ready for release area joy. In the ProfiPack line, this will be the post--war F-51D. We are also planning a Red TailsLimited Edition boxing. The kit is being plannedfor May. Whether this kit includes 332nd FG Mus-tangs exclusively or other USAAF Fighter Groupsin Italy remains to be seen. An overall analysis ofit will made in early 2022.Trener and the CamelIn the same fashion, the Trener family of kits willalso grow next year. In January, there will be aLimited 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 willfollow in the second quarter. To keep this familyfrom becoming a little on the monotonous side,there will be a single seat aerobatic version, theZ-526AFS appearing, first as a ProfiPack kit. Inthe first half of the year, the first Weekends willappear, the Z-226MS and the Z-526AFS. We aregetting to the Weekend kits of the Trener ratherquickly because, among other things, there is alarge amount of interest in them from within va-rious aeroclub members, of which the majorityare not even modelers. I expect the Weekendrendition of the kit will be most suited to them.The Camel will appear in the first half of the yeartwo times, both times as a ProfiPack kit. The firstwill be a Camel powered by the Clerget 9b engi-ne and the second will be a night fighter CamelComic.eduard5INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 6
And Now for Something New…We are intensively working on the molds for our1:72nd scale Avia S-199 and CS-199. We expectthe completion of the full set of molds by the endof January and the first kit should be releasedin April. This first release will again be a LimitedEdition kit and the name of the release is still tobe decided on. The kit will include both the S-199and the CS-199. As is known, the S-199 had twotypes of canopies that were used. There was aclassic type that was hinged to open sideways,inherited from the Bf 109G, and then there wasone 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 canopiescomplicated the design of the kit considerably.At least, if you want to do the project justice con-sistent with up to date standards. This obviouslyapplies to us, because up to date standards areour standards. But I won’t keep you in suspen-se any longer, the way around these problemsinvolves two separate fuselages, one for hingedcanopy and the other for the sliding hood. TheLimited Edition kit will contain both. Markingoptions will include Czechoslovak and Israeliaircraft as there are no more options. This maybe a bit monotonous as with the Tora Tora Tora!kit, but we will again choose aircraft that haveinteresting stories to tell. But the name surelywill not be based on Hebrew Tora…When We All Pull for the CauseJust in the nick of time to make the end of thefirst half of the year, we will be releasing our se-cond premiere of the year. This will be the 48thscale Wildcat, and it will be released first as aLimited Edition box dubbed ”Midway”. The finalmarking options have yet to be narrowed downin this one as well, but in all likelihood won’t belimited to just the Battle of Midway. Other sig-nificant events from the first year of the PacificWar involving the type should get some men-tion. The series of Limited Editions and Profi-Packs that will follow in the months to come willform a nice counterbalance to the Zero line. Insome months, the emphasis will end up on theJapanese and in other months, the Americans.Sometimes, both will be well represented. TheBritish will not be ignored in the least, and weare preparing a line of Wildcats that includesMartlets of various versions and, of course, theFM-1 and FM-2 will come as well. All will havetheir correct version specific components andwill not require any major surgery on the part ofthe modeler. If we are willing to go into two fu-selages for the S-199, we are not likely to cheatour 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 firsthalf of the year, including some re-releases.For January, we have the 1:48th scale TornadoECR with plastic, once again, from Revell. Someshots of this item, markings and other detailscan be found down below in this newsletter.For February, we are preparing the 1:72nd scaleHurricane 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 LimitedEdition kit. The ProfiPack Bf 109E-4 follows in asimilar way the Adlerangriff 1:72nd scale LimitedEdition kit. That one is expected in May. I will re-mind everyone that this is based on the SpecialHobby 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 bereissued as a ProfiPack kit. This will be in con-junction with the release of the MiG-15, and allversions, including the UTI MiG-15 will be re-leased as Weekend kits over the course of thefirst half of the year. It will be a similar scenewith the 1:72nd scale Spitfire Mk.IXs, as I havementioned, as well as the 48th scale Hellcats.In order to maintain our image as inveteratemanufacturer of Messerschmitts and Focke--Wulfs, we will release a Weekend edition of theBf 109G-10 WNF/Diana and will also re-releasea 48th scale ProfiPack Bf 109G-14, Bf 109E-1 andFw 190A-8/R2.USS ArizonaThe 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, wefound the needed space in a shipping container,and these will hit Hamburg about mid-Decem-ber. Because the days of receiving plastic partsin Obrnice three days after arriving in Hamburghave been relegated to the “good ol’ days”, wehave had to postpone the release of the kit fromDecember 2021 to February 2022. This is a Limi-ted Edition kit with Trumpeter plastic, comple-mented by our photoetched and 3D printed partsand turned barrels from the Polish firm Master.All is ready to go, and all we are waiting for isthat plastic. Right about now, they should be so-mewhere in the Suez Canal.eduard6INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 7
BFCIn November, we celebrated the nine years fromsetting up the BFC. In honor of that anniversary,we are releasing a new membership initiation kit,the Tempest Mk.V. The kit features two fictitiousmarkings and two historical, and a collection ofaccessories that are common to these club entrykits. With the Tempest, we see a return of Edu-ard Kleinkonnig and the two fictitious markingsmentioned. One is a “what-if” Tempest of theCzechoslovak Police, while the other illustratesa hypothetical aircraft operating from the HMSHabakuk. The ship is worthy of our Hero and wasto be built from blocks of ice, and all indicationsare that this project was taken seriously. We cansmirk over the concept, but let’s take under con-sideration the number of desperation projectsthat were meant to be taken seriously and havecome to light, and do not avoid even our industry.Historical Articles and other LiteratureThe adventures of Eduard Kleinkonnig in theRAF and the Royal Navy, including on the HMSHabakuk, are the work of Jan Bobek in his fan-tasy short ”Storm Over the Antarctic”. That willbe published in the January newsletter. And thisbrings us to today’s historical articles.The Treners are the focus of an article describingthe defection of famous aerobatic pilot LadislavBezak by Richard Plos. It’s about the defectionin 1971 from the then CSSR to West Germany. Heused his privately owned Z-226T to escape andhe managed to fit his whole family into the OK--MUA Trener. That´s one is featured as a markingoption in the kit “Trener”.The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941,from the American point of view is covered byrenowned author Paul Molesworth. His articlehas 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 byMartin Cerny ”Build Build Build”, outlining exactlythat using the Tora Tora Tora! kit. It was built overtwo days at a weekend event put on by Kaznejovmodeller´s club.In the next Eduard Info, I will inform you on theplanned releases for the latter half of 2022, so-mething about the year after that, and of all thenew innovations and plans across all our linesfor the year just about to start.As with every year previous, our e-shop will beclosed just before Christmas. Any orders thatwe receive up to December 20 will go out beforeChristmas. The retail department will be off afterthat. Resumption of retail operations is anticipa-ted for January 7, 2022.I wish you a pleasant and inspirational read ofthe following pages.Happy Modeling!Vladimir Sulc*Modeling in Papua New Guinea is part of thepopular cargo cults there. These have a connec-tion going back to World War II, when Australianand American planes and ships brought cargo toNew Guinea, a variety of useful and otherwisehard-to-reach items that could be exchangedwith Americans and Australians on the blackmarket 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 the75 years since the end of the war, passed downfrom generation to generation. To help attract it,the local population has used proven mysticalmethods, consisting of creating artifacts to su-mmon the desired cargo. A typical procedure isthe construction of a quasi-airfield at the edge ofthe jungle, created by pruning trees and opticallymodifying the terrain into an airport – however,the general characteristic of the local area isnot affected much by landscaping. This makesthese cargo airports deadly traps for small air-craft, which can try to land on such an area in theevent of a navigational error, usually with fatalconsequences. The cargo airport also includes atower, where the services of quasi-guides alter-nate. These cargo attendants are equipped withcoconut shell headphones, holding an imitationmicrophone in their hands, and patiently waitingfor the arrival of aircraft full of coveted cargo.Cargo modeling thus has a mystical form thatdoes not bring practical results in the form ofbuilt models, because even unbuilt kits will neverreach New Guinea. The truth is that this is proba-bly the most successful of New Guinea culturalexport phenomena, as various cargo projects arebeing created in our civilization across all fields,including modeling. The famous American physi-cist and Nobel laureate Richard P. Feynman oncedefined the concept of cargo science, operatednot for the purpose of achieving scientific pro-gress, but for the purpose of efficiently drawingvarious grants and state subsidies. We can ob-serve similar phenomena outside of science, andwe have several cases of successful operationsof cargo projects in our field. These are extreme-ly colorful projects that would almost be worthwriting a book about. Well, modelers themselvesin all countries of the world often show, in termsof 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 beconcluded 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!, MladáFronta, 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 theexistence of this hobby in that part of the World…eduard7INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 8
The Navy began construction of its base at PearlHarbor in 1908 and expanded it steadily over thenext decade, deepening the harbor sufficiently toaccommodate the largest vessels in the U.S. fle-et. In acknowledgement of the emergence of airpower during World War I, U.S. Army Air Corpsbases were built on Oahu to provide air defensefor Pearl Harbor. The USAAC activated the 18thPursuit Group and its three squadrons of biplanefighters at Wheeler Field, about 10 miles west ofPearl 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 100ships to Pearl Harbor to deter growing Japaneseaggression. The USAAC activated the 15th PG inDecember 1940 to bolster the air defenses forHawaii. Wheeler Field was the Army's main fi-ghter airbase.Diplomatic talks increased between the UnitedStates and Japan during the fall of 1941, but tono avail. Meanwhile, Japanese military plannerswere planning for war. Admiral Isoroku Yama-moto engineered an air attack on Pearl Harbor inhopes of taking the U.S. Navy out of the war at thebeginning. Meanwhile, invasions were plannedagainst the Philippine Islands (then an Americanpossession), 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 brokenJapan’s diplomatic radio code some monthsearlier. Nor were the Americans lacking suffici-ent military assets to defend Pearl Harbor fromaerial attack. Of 231 military aircraft stationed onthe island of Oahu, 115 were Army P-40 and P-36fighters of the 14th Pursuit Wing. Army B-17 andB-18 bombers were available for patrol duties,as were Navy PBY flying boats, and a new netof radar stations provided further aerial surve-illance.At this time, the Curtiss P-40 was the first-lineoperational fighter in the U.S. Army Air Corps’inventory, and nine pursuit squadrons in Hawaiiwere fully or partially equipped with the type. TheP-40 design had its roots in the radial-engineCurtiss P-36 Hawk fighter, which also was onstrength in Hawaii. P-40B and C models equi-pped most squadrons of the 15th and 18th pursuitgroups by December 1941.A Plum AssignmentArmy pilots considered Hawaii a plum assig-nment prior to the outbreak of the war. Theirworkdays were short, their accommodations atWheeler Field were comfortable, and there wasplenty of fun to be had during off-duty hours.Even better, they were flying the best fighterUncle Sam had at the time. Among those pilotswas 2/Lt. Francis S. Gabreski of the 45th PS/15thPG, who joined the unit fresh out of flight schoolin April 1941. Gabreski soon tamed the P-40 andwent on in 1944 to become the leading USAAFAs the United States considered its place in the world du-ring the opening decade of the 20th Century, the strategicimportance of the Hawaiian Islands became obvious. Lo-cated in the middle of the Pacic Ocean, a base in Hawaiiwould place the American Navy’s ships ve sailing dayscloser to the Asian continent than its bases on the westcoast of the U.S. Plus, Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahuwas one of the largest and best natural harbors in thePacic.TTEXEXTT: : CCARL MOARL MOLESWLLESWOORTRTHHPhoto: via Francis S. GabreskiHISTORYBurning 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 TheirPants DownPants DownUS Army Air Corps US Army Air Corpsat Pearl Harbor at Pearl Harboreduard8INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 9
ace in the European Theater, but he consideredanother pilot in his 45th PS flight, 2/Lt. EmmettS. “Cyclone” Davis, the P-40’s master. On 26 Fe-bruary 1940, Davis had been one of 30 pilots whomade Army history when they flew their P-36soff the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Enterpri-se for delivery to Wheeler Field, the first suchlaunch of Army fighters from a carrier. In 2001,he recalled his pre-war service in Hawaii:“I wasfirst assigned to the 6th PS/18th PG, then a fewweeks later I was transferred to the 45th PS/15thPG. 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 experiencedpilots who had been part of the P-36 pilots sentfrom Selfridge Field, Michigan. He was a superbpilot, and he took me under his wing and taughtme all of his clever and skillful maneuvers.”“New pilots arrived shortly after I did, Gabreskibeing one of them. He and I practiced dogfightingmany times in 1941. He became very good andcould beat most of the other pilots, but he neverbecame fine-tuned enough to defeat me. At nightwhen the pilots met in the officer´s club, dogfightchallenges were issued, and I tried to accommo-date most of them. That was at the time whensomeone made an offhand remark about goingto 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 warclouds grew darker in the fall of 1941. But whenthe Japanese attack finally came, only a handfulof them would get a chance to fight back.For all the military hardware defending PearlHarbor, the American forces were, as onenewspaper later termed it, “caught with theirpants down” by the Japanese on December 7,1941. The American Army and Navy commandersin Hawaii had received a “war warning” fromWashington, D.C., on November 27. But lackingrespect for Japan’s military capabilities and anappreciation of the destructive power of a mo-dern attack from the air, they decided that thegreatest threat to Pearl Harbor was from localsabotage. Accordingly, they had ordered fightersand bombers moved out of the protective disper-sal areas around their airfields to be bunched upon the hangar lines, where they would be easierto guard. They ordered no increase in aerial re-connaissance missions, and they placed thebattleships moored at the Ford Island piers onCondition 3, which called for partial manning ofanti-aircraft batteries while roughly a third of theships’ 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-essentialArmy personnel at Wheeler Field had been giventhe weekend off. There was a big dance at theofficer’s club that night.The devastation beginsAt 5:55 a.m. on December 7, Lt. Cmdr. MitsuoFuchida’s strike force – D3A Val dive-bombersand B5N Kate torpedo bombers escorted by A6MZero fighters – began launching from six Japa-nese carriers about 200 miles due north of Ho-nolulu. An Army radar station on the north coastof Oahu spotted the incoming formation just overan hour later, but the pursuit officer on duty mis-took the plot for a flight of B-17s due to arrivefrom California that morning and told the stationto ignore it. Much has been made over the yearsof the failure to sound the alarm, but in fact 40minutes’ warning would have made little diffe-rence in the 14th Pursuit Wing’s ability to defendPearl Harbor. For on that morning, the bulk of thefighter force was a toothless dragon, the guns ofmany P-40s and P-36s at Wheeler Field havingbeen removed for safe keeping in a locked areaof the main hanger. The time required to reinstalland load the guns, combined with the slow climbrate 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 installationsand flight line of Wheeler, then began strafing thefield. For 20 minutes they circled in a counter--clockwise direction, shooting up anything thatlooked like a worthwhile target. Later, a flight ofZeros from the second wave of the attack strafedWheeler again. Fortunately, thick, black smokerising from the burning American planes shiel-ded the aircraft of two squadrons at the west endof the flight line from view, and most of them sur-vived the attack.Vain resistanceLts. “Cyclone” Davis and “Gabby” Gabreski wereamong several pilots of the 45th PS at Wheelerwho 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-HISTORYP-36 assigned to Major Ken Walker, 18th PG commander, heads a line of P-26s at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, in 1940.Photo: Bruce K. HollowayCaught With Their Caught With TheirPants DownPants Downeduard9INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 10
HISTORYries by 1/Lt. Lewis M. Sanders and 2/Lts. Philip M.Rasmussen and Gordon H. Sterling of the 46thPS for the cost of one P-36 shot down and itspilot killed. In addition, most of the other P-36ssuffered varying degrees of battle damage.Two pilots of the 44th PS and three of the 47th PSflew a total of nine P-40 sorties during the Japa-nese raids. It is significant that the 44th and 47thsquadrons performed all the P-40 encountersbecause neither unit was based at Wheeler atthat time. Thus, both were spared the first waveof Japanese attacks. The 44th had 12 P-40s atBellows Field, but only three of its pilots were onthe base that morning. A single strafing pass byZeros about 9 a.m. killed one pilot in the cockpitof his plane on the ground and caught two P-40sjust taking off. Both were quickly shot down, withone 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 mileswest of Wheeler, where the squadron had beenundergoing gunnery training. Japanese intelli-gence was unaware of the airfield, and thereforeit was not targeted. Most officers of the 47th PShad deserted their tents at Haliewa on Saturdayin favor of more comfortable accommodations atWheeler. When the bombs began to fall on Whe-eler Sunday morning, 2/Lts. George S. Welch andKenneth M. Taylor of the 47th PS called Haliewato alert the men there to the attack and to or-der their P-40Bs prepared for flight. Then theyleaped into Taylor’s car a sped across the islandtoward the base, dodging a couple of strafingattacks on the way. Several other 47th pilots fo-llowed a few minutes later.When Welch and Taylor reached Haliewa theirplanes were ready, and they took off shortly af-ter 8:30 a.m. Unfortunately, their twin .50-calibercowl guns were not loaded because no ammu-nition for them was stored at Haliewa. As theyheaded east toward Pearl the two pilots knewthey would have to make do with just the four.30-caliber wing guns in their planes. Reachingthe Marine base at Ewa, the pair spotted about20 D3A1 Vals strafing the facility. Welch, the high--spirited son of an influential DuPont researchscientist, gave this account of his first encounterwith 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 apparentlyshooting at the ground because they didn’t see uscoming. The first one I shot down the rear gunnerdidn’t even turn around to face me. I got up closeenough to see what he was doing. I got him in afive-second burst – he burned right away.“I left and got the next plane in the circle, whichwas about 100 yards ahead of me. His reargunner was shooting at me. One bullet put a holethrough my cooling radiator, and I got one in thenose. It took three bursts of five seconds each toget him. He crashed on the beach.”Ken Taylor’s account of the flight reveals hisinexperience at air combat:“The first aircraft I shot at burst into flames im-mediately, rolled over in a ball of fire and doveinto the ground near Ewa Field. I then proceededup the string, catching the next Val, which alsowent 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, 1941 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 collectionPhoto: via Francis S. Gabreskieduard10INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 11
HISTORYon was in general disarray, and I had completelylost track of George.“I then tagged onto a third Val that was offshorenear Barbers Point. I pulled up very close to thisaircraft with the rear gunner plainly visible firingat me… Because of the close proximity, I saw thathe was killed with my first burst. However, despi-te all the hits that I was getting, this aircraft didnot burst into flames, as the others had, but star-ted a gradual descent smoking badly. AlthoughI turned for home, this plane also undoubtedlywent down at sea. It was most frustrating at thispoint to find I was out of ammunition at a timewhen these much slower aircraft were making ahasty retreat to their carrier. With more ammu-nition, or more judicious use earlier, I could havecaught and destroyed several more of them.”Repeated braveryWelch and Taylor landed at Wheeler to rearm andrefuel. At about 9:30 a.m., a flight of Vals appro-ached the base, intent on strafing, and Welchtook off immediately with another partial load ofammunition. Taylor was a few moments behindhim, just long enough for the Vals to begin theirstrafing 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 andhappened to roll out behind the next-to-last Valin the line. Taylor started firing just as the lastVal started shooting at him. Taylor took somehits, including a bullet through his left arm, butfortunately Welch dropped in line behind the Valand shot it off Taylor’s tail. Though wounded, Tay-lor chased the retreating Vals out to sea until heexpended the last of his ammunition. Welch flewto Ewa, where he spotted a lone Val and shot itdown 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 aP-36. Earlier, Dains had made two sorties in aP-40 from Haliewa and apparently shot down aJapanese bomber in a combat witnessed by per-sonnel at the Kaawa radar station. The Japaneseraiders had cleared the area by this time, but theairspace over Oahu was still a dangerous pla-ce to be. As Dains approached Wheeler Field toland, he was fired on by jumpy anti-aircraft ba-tteries at Schofield Barracks and crashed to hisdeath on the golf course.Welch was credited with four confirmed victorieson December 7, Taylor got two and Dains one. Ta-ylor and Welch still had plenty of air combat infront 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 8thFighter Group, scoring three victories on De-cember 7, 1942, exactly one year after his PearlHarbor heroics, to reach ace status. He finishedthe war with 16 victories and then became a testpilot for North American Aviation after the war.He was killed while testing an F-100 in October1954.In all, the five P-40s that got airborne during thePearl Harbor attack shot down seven Japaneseplanes while losing two of their own with one pi-lot killed. Viewed statistically, the P-40’s combatdebut in U.S. Army service might be viewed asa success. But as a practical matter, the P-40interceptor force had failed in its assigned taskto defend Pearl Harbor from air attack. Perhapsundeservedly, the P-40’s reputation received anindelible black mark, one that would darken inthe days ahead.The Japanese attack had shattered the battleshipforces of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet. Similarly,the 14th Pursuit Wing suffered 61 P-40s andP-36s destroyed plus 41 disabled. Had theJapane-se sent a third wave of attackers in theafternoon, only 38 Army fighters would havebeen available to intercept them. But theJapanese didn’t return – not on December 7,and never thereafter. The Army fightersquadrons at Hawaii quickly shifted to wartimestatus, and their lost aircraft were soonreplaced by later models of the P-40 and byBell P-39s. Hawaii became a large trainingcenter, preparing fresh Army pilots for combatassignments throughout the Pacific Theater inthe 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 redand white rudder stripes.About the AuthorCarl Molesworth worked as journalist innewspapers and magazines for nearly 40years before retiring in 2015. He also hasbeen researching and writing about WorldWar II flight operations for more than threedecades. His 15 non-fiction books on the to-pic include the latest, Flying Tiger Ace, whichwas published in 2020 by Osprey Publishing.Carl has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Englishfrom the University of Maryland. He lives inBay View, WA,USA.Photo: Francis S. Gabreskieduard11INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 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 takenin 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.HISTORYPhoto: U.S. NavyWar between Japan and the United States was a threat that both countrieshad been preparing for since the 1920s. Japan had viewed the expansionof 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 wasalso one of the reasons why Germany lost its colonies in Asia. However,the Japanese government itself saw the path to international power incolonial 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 thefollowing decade. In 1940, Japan seized French Indochina in an attemptto impose an embargo on all imports into China, including war suppliesheading from the US. This move prompted the United States to impose aretaliatory 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 Japanwanted 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 PearlHarbor that would neutralize the US naval forces in the Pacific.Planning an attackPreparations for the attack on Pearl Harbor began by Admiral IsorokuYamamoto in early 1941. As a former military attaché in Washington, hehad reservations about war with the US, but when preparations for theattack were about to begin, he took them personally. He eventually wonthe approval of the Navy High Command by, among other things, thre-atening to resign. From the summer of 1941, the attack was codenamedOperation Z, but had other names too.During 1941, the Japanese gathered intelligence in Hawaii using their ownnetwork and Abwehr agents. Although the U.S. closed the Hawaiian con-sulates belonging to Italy and Germany during the summer, the Japaneseconsulate was not closed for fear of increasing tensions with Tokyo. Thelatter was a key source for tracking the movements of vessels and UStroops in planning the attack.Yamamoto had studied the British raid on the Taranto base and even senta research team to Italy for this purpose. Yamamoto, together with RearAdmiral Kusaka and Commander Minoru Genda, planned the attack usingaircraft carriers whose planes were to strike with a surprise attack in theearly morning hours. Because of the shallow waters in the harbor, theJapanese were forced to adjust the torpedoes and practice dropping themunder these specific conditions. The Navy used Kagoshima Harbor with itsmountain 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 secondImperial Conference provided a satisfactory outcome for Japan was notachieved in diplomatic negotiations with the United States. Following theso-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 aviatorsThe 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 attackon a Russian base, as tensions between Japan and Russia over fishingissues were rising at the time. Others expected an attack on Americanbases in the Aleutians. Some, however, correctly guessed Pearl Harbor.The crews of the B5N bombers were a little uncomfortable with the darkpaint on the upper surfaces of their machines before the attack. Othersfound it ominous when they saw training torpedoes with red paint on theirwarheads being swapped for combat torpedoes with black paint beforethe formation sailed.After the crews had been told the target of the attack, the officers on someships had to assure their subordinates that the plan was in accord withthe position of the naval command. This was to prevent rumors that mig-ht have spread in connection with several coup attempts that Japan hadsuffered in the past decade. And it was also necessary to emphasize thatthe plan was prepared in concert between the Army and Navy leadership,The Japanese attack on the American base atPearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941,is one of the decisive milestones of the SecondWorld War and of the entire twentieth century. Itwas 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 aglobal economic and military power had until thenkept aloof from the war in Europe, even they werepreparing for it and supporting their future allies.TEXT: JAN BOBEKTORA TORA TORA!TORA TORA TORA!eduard2INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 13
whose rivalry was well known.Individual naval aviators took different approaches to the attack on theUS. Some welcomed the attack with enthusiasm, others saw it as an ob-ligation. There were also airmen who were seriously concerned about awar against the US or expressed resentment that the enemy would beattacked unexpectedly and that a conventional naval battle would notoccur. Most airmen considered Pearl Harbor a heavily defended targetand assumed they would not return from the raid.The Striking Force is setting sailThe core of the Striking Force, which was to attack Pearl Harbor, were sixaircraft carriers divided into three divisions: 1. Kōkū Sentai with Akagi andKaga, 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 wasthe commander of the 1st Kōkū Kantai (Air Fleet), under which the air unitsaboard 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, werecompleted just a few months ago. The battleships Hiei and Kirishima andthe heavy cruisers Tone and Chikuma were part of the group. The cruiserAbukuma cruiser, with nine modern destroyers, provided escort for theStriking 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 flightbombing. The crews of the 5th Kōkū Sentai were ordered to prepare foronly the first three tasks. If no enemy aircraft were in the air, the escortfighters were to engage in strafing ground targets, preferably attacking aslow 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 thefirst 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 Chinain 1940. All three officers served aboard the Akagi. The commander of thesecond attack wave was another veteran of fighting in China, LieutenantCommander Shigekazu Shimazaki.Vessels began to depart their ports gradually starting on November 16 andgathered in Hitokappu Bay on the remote island of Etorofu in the SouthKurils. Toward its destination in Hawaii, the Striking Force sailed in theevening of November 26. The Japanese decided to attack the target in twowaves and were prepared to send a third. The reason for dividing the airunits into several waves was primarily the long time required for logisticsand launching all the machines from the decks. Nagumo received a co-ded message on December 2, “Niitaka-yama nobore 1208” (Climb MountNiitaka 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 convoyheaded southeast. The voyage was conducted at constant risk of discove-ry of the Striking Force. If detection occurred within two days before theattack, Nagumo would return to Japan. On the eve of the attack, Japanesenaval command received word from agents in Hawaii of vessels in port,but no American aircraft carriers were present. Nevertheless, excitementabout the coming action prevailed among the crews of the Kidō Butai.After another refueling about six hundred miles north of Oahu, only thecombat vessels made their way to the target. On the mast of the Akagiflew the historic flag used by Admiral Tōgō at the Battle of Tsushima.The heavy cruisers Tone and Chikuma sent reconnaissance float planesto the area of Hawaii, and crews upon their return, confirmed previousinformation about enemy ships in the harbor.AttackAt 1 hour 30 minutes (Japanese Standard Time) the order was given tostart the engines. The first to take to the air from each ship were 43 Zerofighters, needing the shortest run-up to take off. They were followed by140 Nakajima B5N bombers and Aichi D3A dive bombers. Mitsuo Fuchidaassisted his navigation to the target by tuning in an American radio fromHawaii, which, in addition to jazz music for a relaxing Sunday morning,provided an accurate report of the weather over the target, including cloudheight and wind strength and direction. As a result, Fuchida changed hisdirection of attack. At 3 o'clock, the Japanese crews spotted Kahuku Pointon northern part of Oahu. After ten minutes, Fuchida gave the order toattack with one flare, but the fighter escort did not notice the signal. Fuchi-da then fired a second flare, but this caused a misunderstanding amongthe bomber crews. The two flares were a signal that the formation wasunder attack. As a result, the leader of the dive bombers, Lt. Cdr. KakuichiTakahashi understood that he should attack first, but the leader of thetorpedo bomber formation Lt. Cdr. Shigeharu Murata believed that he wasthe one to launch the raid according to the original plan.At 3 hours 17 minutes Fuchida, after visual contact with the target, sentthe signal “to, to, to, to”, which meant that the aircraft were launching theattack 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 shipsin the harbor first, which forced the commander of the torpedo bombersto attack under a different course and faster than planned. Some of thebombers attacked Ford Island, Hickam Field, and Wheeler, Ewa, and Ka-neohe airfields. Mitsuo Fuchida's B5N bomber formation dropped bombsHISTORYOn photograph taken in Washington, D.C. in February 1927 are seated from the left: newNaval Attaché, Capt. Isoroku Yamamoto, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Curtis D. Wilbur, formerNaval Attaché Capt. Kiyoshi Hasegawa, and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral EdwardWalter Eberle. Thanks to Eberle, completion of the aircraft carriers USS Lexington andSaratoga 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 circa1941-42, when he was commander of the 1st Air Fleet.Photo: Naval History and Heritage Commandeduard3INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 14
Photo: U.S. Naval History and Heritage CommandPhoto: Shizuo FukuiBattleship Kirishima and aircraft carrier Akagi near Sukumo Bay, Japan in April 1939, both ships participated in Pearl Harbor attack two years later.HISTORYon targets in Oahu from an altitude of 3,000 meters.Only a few American fighters tried to intervene against the attackers andwere quickly shot down. The American personnel recovered from thesheer shock and fought back with all available means. Japanese vete-rans of the first attack wave recalled after the war being surprised at howquickly the Americans were able to open fire. The Japanese airmen quick-ly became desperate, in some cases having to change course at the lastminute 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 thetarget, as he was the main commander of the raid. By this time a secondattack wave was already approaching, led by Lt. Cdr. Shimazaki, who atthe same time commanded 54 B5N bombers, a formation of 78 D3A divebombers was led by Lt. Cdr. Takashige Egusa, and escorting them were 36Zeros under the command of Lt. Shindō.Shimazaki gave the order to attack at 4 hours 25 minutes, but by thattime his aircraft were already the target of heavy anti-aircraft fire. Thetargets were shrouded in a smoke screen, or they were heavily burning.The bombers had to significantly lower their attack altitude, but this putthem at greater risk of hits from anti-aircraft artillery. Japanese airmenhad difficulty identifying targets, so they began attacking the hot spots ofdefense fire.Nagumo and his staff considered sending a third wave, but eventuallyabandoned it, mainly because of the heavy anti-aircraft fire and the factthat the sinking of the American ships had succeeded in achieving theobjectives of the operation. They sent 350 machines into action out of the414 available. In the first wave were lost three Zeros, one D3A and fiveB5N 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 withdamage. Nine midget submarine crews also lost their lives and one wascaptured. Of the 79 fighter pilots who took part in both attack waves, only17 lived to see the end of the war.The airstrike killed 2,335 members of the US armed forces and injured1,143. 68 civilians also lost their lives and 35 others sustained injuries. Inaddition to the sunken and damaged ships, nearly 350 aircraft were de-stroyed or damaged. Three civilian machines were also shot down.American aircraft carriersThe main target of the Japanese attack, the American carriers, were notattacked 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 MarineCorps bombers. After the announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor, TF12 was ordered to begin a search for the Japanese carriers. Her aircraftconducted 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 ofcommander of Carrier Air Group Lt. Cdr. Howard L. “Brigham” Young. Atthe end of the patrol, they arrived at Pearl Harbor but came under firefrom both Japanese airmen and their own gunners. Seven Dauntlesseswere shot down, eight airmen were killed and two suffered injuries.At 17.00, the USS Enterprise, based on wrong information, sent a formationof 18 Devastator bombers, 6 Dauntlesses and 6 Wildcats against the Ja-panese alliance in the wrong direction. After an unsuccessful search, thebombers returned aboard the mothership, but the Wildcats were sent toPearl Harbor and approached for a landing in the dark. Through a tragicmisunderstanding in radio communications, four of them were shot downand three pilots were killed.Zero-SenThe Japanese aircraft industry in the 1920s and early 1930s was orientedtowards the production of aircraft built under foreign licenses. However,the armed forces, especially the Navy, with regard to the specifics of theChinese and Pacific battlefields, came up with requirements that foreignaircraft designs did not offer.Due to these circumstances, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries created the Type96 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 Japaneseengineer, Jirō Horikoshi. With an engine that did not have much power, hemanaged to design a light and fast fighter with a fixed landing gear, whichat 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 requirementsfor the parameters of this machine were at first sight so extreme andsometimes contradictory that the two design teams investigated whetherthey could be relaxed. Nakajima eventually withdrew from the project, andthe parameters of the prototype were even tightened based on experienceon the Chinese battlefield. The only significant part of the aircraft whosedesign 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 forthe aircraft's skin, but also thanks to the Sakae 11 engine from Nakajima.During the flight tests, the wing surface suffered cracking during overloadand 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 excellentmaneuverability. 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 Flagis flying from her mainmast peak of battleship USS Arizona.eduard4INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 15
Photo: Shizuo FukuiHISTORYHowever, 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.Themachine was inducted into the armament in 1940 and received theofficial designation Rei shiki Kanjō sentōki (Type 0 carrier fighter), withthe “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“Zero” 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 designationsystem, the new machine was given the type designation A6M, where A6meant that it was the sixth type of carrier fighter to enter service, and Mstood for the Mitsubishi company name.Zeros, specifically the A6M2 Model 11, had been successfully deployed onthe Chinese battlefield since the summer of 1940, but their existence elu-ded Western intelligence because noone wanted to believe reports fromChinathat suggested the Japanese had a world-class fighter. Furthermodifications were made during 1941, the main one being folding wing tipsto enable easier handling on aircraft carriers. With the A6M2 Model 21fighter modified in this way, Japan entered the war with the US and otherWestern nations. Mitsubishi needed to produce other aircraft in additionto the Zero, so the Nakajima company also began licensed production inlate 1941.Zeros from the attack on Pearl HarborThe colors of Japanese aircraft from the Second World War, and especia-lly Zero fighters, has been the subject of long and complex research bothin Japan and abroad. Our main guide to the selection of decal colors andrecommended modeling paint shades is Nicholas Millman's publication“Painting the Early Zero-Sen, A Primer for Modellers & Artists”. We highlyrecommend 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 asunderstanding its appearance in quite different shades.For the shade of the hinomaru we chose a lighter variant of red than isusual among kit manufacturers. The color did darken over time, but theZeros attacking Pearl Harbor were relatively new machines. We basedthis on Millman's publication and also on the shade of red on parts of theB5N bomber in the Arizona Memorial collections.It is believed that the Zeroes involved in the attack on Pearl Harbor cameonly from Mitsubishi production. The Nakajima company did not produceits first licensed Zeros until November 1941, and the company's machinesdid not reach combat units until the spring of 1942. Therefore, the colourdetails are based on the specifics of the Mitsubishi Zeros as explainedby N. Millman. Nevertheless, we recommend that photographs of spe-cific machines are also used, for example with regard to the design ofthe warning stripes on the main landing gear covers. According to thephotographs 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 themain landing gear cover was painted with Aotake paint, not the grey painttypical of Mitsubishi machines.At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Zero fighters were marked withcolored stripes on the fuselage and code markings on the vertical tail sur-faces. The letter in the code identified the order of the respective KōkūSentai, while the Roman numeral indicated the order of the aircraft carrierwithin 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 AIIAircraft of the 2. Kōkū Sentai- Soryu: one blue stripe on the fuselage, red BI code- Hiryū: two blue stripes on the fuselage, red BII codeAircraft of the 5. Kōkū Sentai- Shōkaku: one white stripe on fuselage, red EI code- Zuikaku: two white stripes on fuselage, red EII codeFor all Zeroes of aircraft carrier Shōkaku, it is likely that the white stripeon 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.Thecommand stripes on the tail surfaces depicted this functional clas-sification:- Three stripes: the Hikōtaichō, the Group Leader of the Air Group onthe aircraft carrier, under whom all squadrons with different types onboard could fall. Organizationally, he commanded all aviation personnel.In combat action, he led the formation of the various types of aircraft ofthe respective Kōkū Sentai. However, at the time of the attack on PearlHarbor, for example, the Akagi had its own Hikōtaichō for each of its threesquadrons.- Two stripes: the Buntaichō, the Division Officer leading formation of six tonine aircraft (Chútai). Larger aircraft carriers usually had two officers withthe Buntaichō function for one type of aircraft, senior and junior.- One stripe: Shōtaichō, leader of the three-plane formation.ConclusionDuring the two waves of the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, 21 US Navyships were sunk or damaged, but 18 were recovered or repaired and re-turned to service. For example, the badly damaged battleship USS Nevadawascombat deployed in October 1942.The USS Enterprise, as one of the carriers that escaped the raid on PearlHarbor, fought in the Battle of Midway six months later and participatedin the sinking of four of the six carriers that participated in the attack onPearl Harbor.In the early months of the war in the Pacific, the Americans and their alliesrealized 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 earlyin the war.Although many in the US feared that war with Japan might occur in late1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise. As a result, the majority ofthe population came to support U.S. involvement in the war, and Americansoldiers fighting in the Pacific heard the words “Remember Pearl Harbor”many times in the years to come.AcknowledgementAuthor would like to thank to Jan Kaše, Nick Millman and Ron Werneth fortheir help in preparing this article.SourcesFUCHIDA M.: Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, the Japanese Navy'sStoryHATA I., IZAWA Y.: Japanese Naval Aces and Fighter Units in World War IILUNDSTROM J. B.: The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from PearlHarbor to MidwayLUNDSTROM J. B.: First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Figh-ter Combat from August to November 1942MIKESH R.: Zero: Combat and Development History of Japan's LegendaryMitsubishi A6M Zero FighterMILLMAN N.: A6M Zero-sen Aces 1940-42MILLMAN N.: Painting the Early Zero-SenModel Art No 378: Pearl HarborSMITH C., LAURIER J.: Pearl Harbor 1941: The day of infamyWERNETH R.: Beyond Pearl Harbor: The Untold Stories of Japan's NavalAirmenYOSHIMURA A.: Zero Fighterjacar.go.jpj-aircraft.compacificwrecks.comThe Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers Zuikaku (in front), Kaga (on the right) and Akagi are headingfor Pearl Harbor in November 1941 before the official declaration of war with American forces.eduard5INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 16
HISTORYPhoto: National ArchivesPanorama 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 theharbor. 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 theattack.The USS Arizona (BB-39) burning after the Japanese attack. The forward magazines of USS Arizona (BB-39) are exploding just aftershe 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 & MuseumPhoto: National Museum of U.S. Navy Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Navyeduard16INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 17
HISTORYThe body of a Lieutenant Fusata Iida from Sōryū Fighter Squadron who crashed withhis Zero in dive near a hangar at Kaneohe Field is buried with military honorsby U.S. troops.A monument marks the impact site of Zero pilot Lt. Iida.Mitsubishi A6M2“Zero” fighters on the aircraft carrier Akagiduring the Pearl Harborattack mission. „AI-101“ inthe background was flown during second attackwave byPO1c 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 Niihauisland. After a series of dramatic events, he was killed by one of the natives on December 13, 1941. Parts of this Zero areon display at the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor. On the engine cowling is a service plate with the name of themechanic, PO3c Akimoto. The plate contains records of the general condition of the airplane, oil for the engine, fuselagetank, wing tanks, and drop tank. The A6M2 carrier fighters were equipped with a engine Nakajima Sakae 12.The wreckage of theaircraft “AI-154” from the Akagi Fighter Squadronpiloted by PO1c Takeshi Hirano.With hisunit he first strafed JohnRodgers Field (Honolulu Airport), then attackedthe B-17 manned byCapt. Swenson.He wasfinally hit by ground fire from Hickam Field and from thedestroyer USS Helm(DD-388). The defenders were under impressionthat Hirano wasattempting an emergency landingon the street, but he hitpalm trees and crashedinto a building atFort Kamehameha.He perished,butkilled were also American soldiers hiding behindthe 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 AviationPhoto: National Museum of the U.S. NavyPhoto: Navy Department in WashingtonPhoto: U.S. Navy Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Navy Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Air ForceZero, with leaking fuel, is leaving harbor area. Zeros from the aircraft carrier Kagasecond attack wave, commanded by Lt. Yasushi Nikaido were enagaged in this area.His formation lost two pilots.eduard17INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 18
HISTORYAichi “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, pullsup after its dive over harbor.Nakajima B5N level/torpedo bombers from the Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier Kaga head towardstheir 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 offthe 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. NavyPhoto: National Museum of the U.S. NavyPhoto: US National Archives via Wenger, prostřednictvím Rona WernethaPhoto: National Museum of the U.S. Navyeduard18INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 19
HISTORYSailors stand amid wrecked planes at the Ford Island seaplane base,watching as destroyer USS Shaw (DD-373) explodes in the centerbackground. Battleship USS Nevada (BB-36) is also visible in the middlebackground, 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 USSSaratoga (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. Markingwas changed 3-F-15 at that time. His engine was heavily damaged by friendly fire. Hehad to make dead-stick landing and was under fire even during taxiing. Plane wasrepaired 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 CommandPhoto: Photo: National Museum of the U.S. NavyPhoto: U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval AviationBurned 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 fromCalifornia and arrived when the attack was under way. On its final approach, the aircraft’smagnezium 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 whenrunning from the burning wreck.A U.S. plane shot down by a Zero (visible overhead) burns in the woods near Ewa, Oahu, Hawaii, duringthe 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 Japaneseplane 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 SquadronB-17E that arrived over Oahu during the Japanese attack.eduard19INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 20
HISTORYAerial view of "Battleship Row” mooringson the southern side of Ford Island,December 10, 1941, showing damagefrom the Japanese raid three days earlier.USS California (BB44) is shown. Note dark oil streaks onthe harbor surface,originating from the sunken battleships.Photographed atan altitude of3,000feet. During the attack, 98 men were killed and 61 were wounded on board ofUSS California. Several men were awarded theMedalof Honor for their actionsduring the attack.USS Utah (BB-31) during an ultimately unsuccessful salvage attempt. In total, 58 officers and menwere killed, 461 survived. Her rusting hulk remains in Pearl Harbor, partially above water. The menkilled when Utah sank were never removed from the wreck, and as such, she is considered a wargrave.Photo: National Museum of the U.S. NavyPhoto: NARAView of “Battleship Row” during or immediately after the Japanese raid. The capsized USSOklahoma (BB 37) is in the center, alongside USS Maryland (BB 46). Of the crew of the USSOklahoma, which capsized within two minutes, 429 men were killed or missing. Many ofthe survivors made it aboard the USS Maryland and immediately engaged in firing on theJapanese aircraft.Hangar area at Naval Air Station, Kaneohe Bay showing damage wrought by the Japanesebombing. The view looks west at an altitude of 500 feet.USS Nevada (BB-36) burning during the Japanese aerialattack. During the attack, 60 men on board were killed and109 sustained injuries. Two others died in rescue efforts. Afterrepairs, the USS Nevada participated in combat in the Pacific,Allied landings in Normandy and southern France, and at theend of the war fought off Iwojima, Okinawa and Japan.Photo: National Museum of the U.S. NavyPhoto: National ArchivesPhoto: National Museum of the U.S. Navyeduard20INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 21
HISTORYPhoto: U.S. NavyA diver as he ascends from the oily interior of thesunken battleship USS Arizona (BB 39). She wasdamaged beyond repair during the Japanese attack,but many parts have been salvaged and put to use onother 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. NavyPhoto: United States Library of CongressPhoto: National Museum of the U.S. NavyAn aerial view of the USS Arizona Memorial with a US Navy Tour Boat, USS Arizona Memorial Detachment, moored at the pier as visitors disembark tovisit and pay their respects to the Sailors and Marines who lost their lives during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.eduard21INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 22
It was a dreary, foggy Sunday morning in Decem-ber 1971. There were ve days left until ChristmasDay and only several hours until the moment whichchanged the lives of the number of people. On thatday, the former World Champion in aerobatics, Ladi-slav Bezák emigrated from than Czechoslovakia toWest Germany by air. Captain Karel Fiedler, a pilot ofthe air defense alert system, was tasked to stop Be-zák. He failed and the question remains until todayif he could not have done it or just did not want to.The name Ladislav Bezák has its place in the annals of theworld aerobatics. In 1960, ying Zlin Z 226 T at the rst ocialWorld Championship in Aerobatics in Bratislava he became wi-nner and so not only domestic but also an international aviationcelebrity. Eleven years later he was eeing the homeland withfour children and wife in his own Trener aircraft. On December19 this year it will be 50th anniversary of this event.A drama in the airBezak’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 behindthe problems and dangers which supposedly threatened him. „Iwas ying north and when I was out of audibility at the aireldI turned west. I could not climb too much, however. I was tryingto y at full power and gain speed. At the proper speed theaircraft systems are properly cooled o. But despite ying atfull power, I was not able to gain enough speed. Also, the oiltemperatures were rising, and I was losing oil pressure. So I wassweating to gain altitude for long minutes,“ recalled LadislavBezák twelve years later in an interview for „Západ” (The West)magazine for Czechoslovak emigrants living in Canada. At 13:07Bezák’s Trener was captured on Air Defense radar screens andan interceptor was scrambled from Line airport. It was a Mig--15bis ghter piloted by Capt. Karel Fiedler. What was Bezák’sTrener location at that moment is uncertain. In someinterviewshestated that the interceptor appeared while he wasaroundRakovník, on other times he stated he was nearby Cheb. That itis quite a spread…AMig 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 theborder. That corresponds to a distance own by an airplane ata speed of 160 kph in seven minutes. Therefore, captain Fiedlerdid not have too much time to engage. At 13:28 he establishedvisual contact with a target and was ordered to re a red a-re which means “follow me”. He did just that, but Bezák laterclaimed that he started to shoot right away. “He ew aboveme – and that was a mistake because I was able to keep him insight. As he was above me, I was pushing it down. My weight wasslightly negative, but my airspeed was four times lower thanhis. But he, at his speed, had no chance to shoot as long as hetried to follow my trajectory. I realized he was not an instructorand that he was not even a very good pilot. I made a sharp turnhe could not follow. He should have followed me from a longerdistance and shoot at me as at a static target. He red severalbursts, but all missed by a large margin…”After Fiedler reported that the target did not change thecourse, he was ordered to re warning shots. “At that momentcaptain Fiedler was under an extreme pressure. As an alert in-terceptor he had to be airborne within two minutes since thealarm was announced and he was obliged to complete themission. Any hesitation could result in serious consequences,including the court martial,” wrote Miroslav Lanči and StanislavBezák’s private OK-MUA as it appeared shortly before hisescape, already carrying the commercial for Becker’s avia-tion equipment (photo: Jasoň Kučera).Ladislav Bezák in the cockpit of the aerobatic Z 226 T duringthe World Championship in Aerobatics in Bratislava 1960.(photo: Milan Jančář).HISTORIEeduard22INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 23
It was a dreary, foggy Sunday morning in Decem-ber 1971. There were ve days left until ChristmasDay and only several hours until the moment whichchanged the lives of the number of people. On thatday, the former World Champion in aerobatics, Ladi-slav Bezák emigrated from than Czechoslovakia toWest Germany by air. Captain Karel Fiedler, a pilot ofthe air defense alert system, was tasked to stop Be-zák. He failed and the question remains until todayif he could not have done it or just did not want to.The name Ladislav Bezák has its place in the annals of theworld aerobatics. In 1960, ying Zlin Z 226 T at the rst ocialWorld Championship in Aerobatics in Bratislava he became wi-nner and so not only domestic but also an international aviationcelebrity. Eleven years later he was eeing the homeland withfour children and wife in his own Trener aircraft. On December19 this year it will be 50th anniversary of this event.A drama in the airBezak’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 behindthe problems and dangers which supposedly threatened him. „Iwas ying north and when I was out of audibility at the aireldI turned west. I could not climb too much, however. I was tryingto y at full power and gain speed. At the proper speed theaircraft systems are properly cooled o. But despite ying atfull power, I was not able to gain enough speed. Also, the oiltemperatures were rising, and I was losing oil pressure. So I wassweating to gain altitude for long minutes,“ recalled LadislavBezák twelve years later in an interview for „Západ” (The West)magazine for Czechoslovak emigrants living in Canada. At 13:07Bezák’s Trener was captured on Air Defense radar screens andan interceptor was scrambled from Line airport. It was a Mig--15bis ghter piloted by Capt. Karel Fiedler. What was Bezák’sTrener location at that moment is uncertain. In some interviewshe stated that the interceptor appeared while he was aroundRakovník, on other times he stated he was nearby Cheb. That itis 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 theborder. That corresponds to a distance own by an airplane ata speed of 160 kph in seven minutes. Therefore, captain Fiedlerdid not have too much time to engage. At 13:28 he establishedvisual contact with a target and was ordered to re a red a-re which means “follow me”. He did just that, but Bezák laterclaimed that he started to shoot right away. “He ew aboveme – and that was a mistake because I was able to keep him insight. As he was above me, I was pushing it down. My weight wasslightly negative, but my airspeed was four times lower thanhis. But he, at his speed, had no chance to shoot as long as hetried to follow my trajectory. I realized he was not an instructorand that he was not even a very good pilot. I made a sharp turnhe could not follow. He should have followed me from a longerdistance and shoot at me as at a static target. He red severalbursts, but all missed by a large margin…”After Fiedler reported that the target did not change thecourse, he was ordered to re warning shots. “At that momentcaptain Fiedler was under an extreme pressure. As an alert in-terceptor he had to be airborne within two minutes since thealarm was announced and he was obliged to complete themission. Any hesitation could result in serious consequences,including the court martial,” wrote Miroslav Lanči and StanislavBezák’s private OK-MUA as it appeared shortly before hisescape, already carrying the commercial for Becker’s avia-tion equipment (photo: Jasoň Kučera).Ladislav Bezák in the cockpit of the aerobatic Z 226 T duringthe 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 haveknown about a year-old case when Václav Bartoš, also a pilotfrom 5th Fighter Regiment based in Líně did not shoot downa German helicopter which intruded the Czechoslovak airspace.During the investigation he supposedly stated that he was notgoing to watch people falling o the helicopter. He was dischar-ged from the Army with immediate eect.So, the warning shots captain Fiedler red missed the targetwhich 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 warningshots either and then he heard in his headphones something hefor sure did not want to hear. The order to shoot the target down.Earlier he had reported multiple passengers on board, includingchildren. Also, people on the ground knew already who was onboard and this information may have reached Fiedler as well.What was going through the mind of this pilot who was a fatherhimself will never be fully discovered. The fact is that neitherthe second burst hit the escaping Trener which consequently hidin the low layer of clouds. Fiedler reported the outcome andwas ordered to return to the base. After 1989 the whole series ofarticles were published glorifying Bezák’s airmanship thanks towhich he “defeated” the much faster jet ghter. But the truthcould have been quite dierent… Of course Bezák was keepinghis opinion. During one interview he put even more oil into there: “I recognized his ying skills were not up to the speed, hewas unable to follow the trajectory of my aircraft. When hered for the rst time, I made a ninety degrees banking turn. Atthe speed Mig was ying he needed three minutes to turn aroundand settle himself again into the ring position. I was evadinghim ying sharp turns. He did not hit me. No wonder – as I lear-ned later his latest combat training took place 10 years ago andI already knew from my own experience from seven months longmilitary service these pilots typically logged only forty hoursper year” (Bezák served with military as a cadet at 1st FighterSquadron in České Budějovice in the role of squadron´s leaderadjutant; author’s note). Of course, it was unthinkable for anAir Defense system pilot not to have own combat training forten years...Strange hit marksAfter several years Karel Fiedler supposedly confessed to oneof his comrades that at the moment the target disappeared inthe clouds, he was relieved. Allegedly he shared with anotherone that he missed on purpose. Also Miroslav Irra mentions thisin his book “Vysoká modrá zeď – ohlédnutí druhé” (The tall bluewall – the second hindsight) published by Jakab: “Whether capt.Fiedler did not obey orders on purpose or did not act due toother circumstances remains inconclusive even though after1989 he should have conrmed he did not want to shoot Bezákdown.” Radek Folprecht wrote along those lines as well in hisarticle published in iDnes.cz (Technet section). There could nothave been any “post-revolution” Fiedler’s confessions becausehe passed away on December 13, 1986, six days short of an exactfteen’s anniversary of his “dogght” with Bezak… Supposed-ly he never spoke to anyone about his fateful scramble ight.Independently this was conrmed to the author by three of hisformer comrades and his wife Marta Fiedler.According to some sources Bezák supposedly seated his twoolder sons in the luggage space behind the pilot‘s rear seatheadrest while two younger sons were to sit on his wife’s lapin the front. Question is if two six-year old boys would t intothe so-called “con” i.e. the Trener’s sheet metal luggage com-partment behind rear seat under the ridge. Other sources statethat Bezák put one son behind his seat, another one squattedunder the rear instrument panel. Regardless of Bezák’s fami-ly layout on board no one got harmed during the interceptorattack. Bezák successfully navigated his Trener to the Nürnbergairport where he landed and applied for political asylum for thewhole family.Then the media campaign started in Germany. Several articleswere published about Bezák and his family and he also appea-red on television. “After landing in West Germany Bezák wasshowing on television the hit marks on the fuselage (we watchedit, we could get a good signal in Líně) in the area where his sonsThe front double page of the article on Bezák and his esca-pe. The photo is staged, in reality Bezák and his family didnot y like this.eduard23INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 24
were sitting. Had he been actually hit his sons would have beenwounded at least if not dead regardless the fact that NR-23 ca-nnon 23 mm high explosive bullet would have made some 50 cmdiameter hole in the fuselage skin and the airplane would nothave survived several hits like that,” stated in the aforemen-tioned book by Miroslav Irra one of the 5th Fighter Regimentmembers Zdeněk Lapka. The author includes more informationabout the ammunition in this book. “As far as I know for theair defense system alert aircraft the NR-23 cannons were loa-ded with LETT ammunition (Live Explosive Timed Tracer) whichis the auto-destructive type of ammunition since it could hitcivilian populated areas. Auto-destruction is triggered after thetracing component is burnt, no sooner than two seconds afterthe shot is red. The explosive component is either pentrit orhexogen. There was no large noticeable damage observed onBezák’s airplane after his landing. A hit by a 23 mm projectilewould have been certainly visible.Captain Karel FiedlerWho actually was the pilot who intercepted Bezák and towhom the famous acrobatic pilot in many interviews showedonly disdain and hatred? Karel Fiedler was born on February1, 1933 and he graduated from the 14th course of the Aviati-on School (October 15, 1951 – December 12, 1953). Initially heserved at 17th Fighter Regiment based at Hradčany airport yingMig-15 and Mig-15bis. In 1961 he was ordered to 5th Fighter Re-giment in Line where he converted to supersonic Mig-19 threeyears later. At the time of his confrontation with Bezák he hadown as a ghter pilot for 17 years. His colleagues have goodmemories of him. “He was a nice fellow, a sportsman, a lot offun, he played accordion and brought it with him anywherepossible, including survival training. We served together in thesame ight until 1964. Then I was transferred to Mig-19S and hewent to the interceptors, Mig-19PM. At the same time, he con-tinued ying Mig-15bis which was at that time used against slowying targets,” recalls one of the legends of Cze-choslovak Air Force, Jaroslav Krýda. Miloš Janda,who was member of Fiedler‘s ight during the60s, conrms this. “He was a humble and merryguy and a good pilot.” The last Fiedler’s ightcommander before his retirement, was MiroslavLanči 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 1971he was one of seventeen pilots of the Squadronthat did not pass the political screening. Someof them had to leave but Fiedler was allowed toCaptain Fiedler during so-called survival tra-ining, here in the company of the parachuteservice lady Eva Křížková (photo: MiroslavLanči).Group of 5th Fighter Squadron pilots. CaptainFiedler is the third from right (photo: Miro-slav Lanči).eduard24INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 25
were sitting. Had he been actually hit his sons would have beenwounded at least if not dead regardless the fact that NR-23 ca-nnon 23 mm high explosive bullet would have made some 50 cmdiameter hole in the fuselage skin and the airplane would nothave survived several hits like that,” stated in the aforemen-tioned book by Miroslav Irra one of the 5th Fighter Regimentmembers Zdeněk Lapka. The author includes more informationabout the ammunition in this book. “As far as I know for theair defense system alert aircraft the NR-23 cannons were loa-ded with LETT ammunition (Live Explosive Timed Tracer) whichis the auto-destructive type of ammunition since it could hitcivilian populated areas. Auto-destruction is triggered after thetracing component is burnt, no sooner than two seconds afterthe shot is red. The explosive component is either pentrit orhexogen. There was no large noticeable damage observed onBezák’s airplane after his landing. A hit by a 23 mm projectilewould have been certainly visible.Captain Karel FiedlerWho actually was the pilot who intercepted Bezák and towhom the famous acrobatic pilot in many interviews showedonly disdain and hatred? Karel Fiedler was born on February1, 1933 and he graduated from the 14th course of the Aviati-on School (October 15, 1951 – December 12, 1953). Initially heserved at 17th Fighter Regiment based at Hradčany airport yingMig-15 and Mig-15bis. In 1961 he was ordered to 5th Fighter Re-giment in Line where he converted to supersonic Mig-19 threeyears later. At the time of his confrontation with Bezák he hadown as a ghter pilot for 17 years. His colleagues have goodmemories of him. “He was a nice fellow, a sportsman, a lot offun, he played accordion and brought it with him anywherepossible, including survival training. We served together in thesame ight until 1964. Then I was transferred to Mig-19S and hewent to the interceptors, Mig-19PM. At the same time, he con-tinued ying Mig-15bis which was at that time used against slowying targets,” recalls one of the legends of Cze-choslovak Air Force, Jaroslav Krýda. Miloš Janda,who was member of Fiedler‘s ight during the60s, conrms this. “He was a humble and merryguy and a good pilot.” The last Fiedler’s ightcommander before his retirement, was MiroslavLanči 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 1971he was one of seventeen pilots of the Squadronthat did not pass the political screening. Someof them had to leave but Fiedler was allowed toCaptain Fiedler during so-called survival tra-ining, here in the company of the parachuteservice lady Eva Křížková (photo: MiroslavLanči).Group of 5th Fighter Squadron pilots. CaptainFiedler is the third from right (photo: Miro-slav Lanči).Z-226T, OK-MUA, No. 370, Ladislav Bezák,Kladno aireld, 1971stay and continue ying. After the December 19, 1971 incidentthere was a whole series of investigations and testimonies of allparticipants which did not help captain Fiedler’s shaky position.“Every single political ocer was all over him, but he held hisown and they let him y,” recalls Jaroslav Krýda and adds thatnone of his colleagues ever asked him what had happened inthe air at that time. “He did not speak about it, and we did notask him. Above all we were compassionate with him. We wereall scared to death by the thought that during the alert systemservice 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 evenpromoted to Major rank. Finally, it was not his “failure” re-garding the Bezák incident, but quite dierent reason, whichended his career of military pilot. His daughter was in contactwith dissent and later signed anti-communist anti-establishmentCharter 77. Two years later, in 1979, forty-six years old MajorFiedler was discharged from the Air Force. He got a civilian jobselling pumps in Bezruc street in Pilsen (the store is still theretoday). On December 13, 1986 he went to play tennis and duringthe break on the bench he suddenly collapsed and passed away.Diagnosis was a heart attack… Bezak’s comment on Fiedler’slack of skill and particularly about pilots’ low annual ight timewas one out of a series of nonsense he supplied the media with.In reality, especially at 5th Fighter Regiment, pilots ew quitea lot for “socialistic” army. “Decidedly more in comparison tomy service at Bechyně. The plan was 80 hours per year, butsome pilots logged as much as 120 hours” recalls Miroslav Lančiand points out that this quota was fully used for intense trainingincluding aerobatics and dogghting.Aerobatic pilot Ladislav BezákLadislav Bezák was born in 1932 in Prague. During the war helived with his family in Slovakia (his father was Slovak), later hewas trained as a tool-maker and through skydiving and glidinggot to powered ying. He became an instructor and fell in lovewith aerobatics… He ew with Kladno Aero Club, later joinedthe “Chrudim Box” ying team. In 1959 he participated in theaerobatic competition for the rst time. He placed fourth in thedomestic championship, a year later the second (after Jiří Blá-ha) and the same year in Bratislava he became the rst ocialWorld Champion in aerobatics. Many sources state that it was onthis occasion he performed his invention, so-called “lomcovák”maneuver but veterans recall he had tried it for the rst timein 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 nominatedto participate in the Lockheed Aerobatic Trophy in England(Z 226 T OK-MFJ) for the rst time, in 1964 he was third in thesame competition with the converted Zlin Z 226 AS (OK-MFJ) andin 1965 he presented the new type Z 526 (OK-SND) and was thirdagain. He continued with aerobatic ying and at the same timehe trained foreign customers who bought Zlin airplane. Thanksto it he was building his network of connections abroad inc-luding the “West”. He possessed an entrepreneurial spirit anddecided to build his own Trener. He started to hunt for the partshe could build it from. After many ups and downs he succeeded.He completed the aircraft and obtained all necessary permits inan uneasy period shortly after the invasion of the “friendly” tro-op into Czechoslovakia at the end of October 1968 (read moreabout 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 notkeep his opinions for himself. He was a ČSA (Czechoslovak Airli-nes) pilot, used to y to the “West”, maintained contacts withfellow western acrobats and aviators in general. All that wasa thorn in the heel for the “apparatchiks”. “I realized that mychances to survive were slim. I ew my airplane in an airshow inGermany but left it behind. My mechanic drove me back home ina car. The authorities could not nationalize the airplane in thatcase, of course, but they did not let me travel abroad either.My instructor’s and inspector’s certications were recalled -I was employed by the State Aviation Administration - and theylet me y domestic ights only, and only from the right seat,”said Bezák later in Canada. As per his account he had learntfrom his friends about a list of 25 politically unreliable ČSA pi-lots who would be “grounded” and then red. According to hisown words he feared that communists would ultimately put himin jail. “Then my superiors told me that they would leave mealone but to demonstrate my goodwill I was to bring the airplaneback. So I performed in an airshow in West Germany and ewit back home. It was Friday midnight. A message reached methat all those unreliable pilots were withdrawn from the ightschedules and on Monday were to report to the director. Someof my friends indicated that instead of interviewing with the di-rector I would be arrested. The communists learnt I knew aboutit and changed the arrest timing to Sunday midday. At that time,we lived in Hostouň, midway between Prague and Kladno. Theairplane was parked at Kladno airport, the only private aircraftin the whole communist block (which was not true, author’snote). Based on this information I realized that the circle aroundme is being tightened. The dice were cast, and I decided to eethe country.Moments before escapeAs per Bezáks own account on Saturday morning he found outthat someone had damaged his navigational instruments whichcould not stop him despite the inclement weather. He wascondent, he had own a lot. “I led a local ight permissionrequest but was told from the control that local ights werecanceled due to the military exercise.” On Sunday morning thenhe drove his family to a eld and set for the airport and tooko for, this time approved, local ight. He landed on the eld,boarded the family and a few pieces of luggage and attemptedto take o. He failed due to overloaded Trener and wet and softsurface, so he sent his wife and children to wait at the Kladnoairport runway end. “There were already a lot of people ming-ling around me. But some guys went for a snack, and I sent someBezak‘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 theform when it did not yet carry on the fuselage the advertisement of Becker Avionics,a manufacturer of aeronautical radionavigation equipment. It remained for a longtime 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.eduard25INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 26
guys to get a Christmas tree.” Jason Kucera, a young aero clubmember than and up until today still an active pilot-examiner,was at the airport on that day. “I remember how we openedthe hangar doors and pushed his airplane out. He ew away, asit turned out later, to board his family on the eld but did notmanage to take o so instructed his wife to wait for him at therunway end which is slightly uphill. He typically taxied to thatplace before take-o to make radio contact with Prague areacontrol since it could not be established from the area in frontof hangar. After the landing we asked him whether he is going toconduct any more ying but he answered he was packing it upso we left to have a lunch.”During his rst attempt to take o with family on board Bezákslightly damaged the wing. Therefore, he performed a quick xand after the area cleared, he started the engine and taxiedtowards 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 emigrationwere frequently contradictory, sometimes inaccurate or evenlaughable (such as his claim about ultrasound cannons at theborder). His statement about the concrete runway at Kladnoaireld belongs to the last category. They have never had it, anddon’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-minuteight to Nürnberg ahead of the family. The abstract to the post-1989 television document about Bezák stated that “he fendedo 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 escapeBezák’s family was granted political asylum within three daysand one of his friends, a German aerobatic pilot, let them stayin 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 heexpected. For a while he ew charter ights, repaired aircraftfor some time or ran a pub. He was having problems with hisTrener’s registration. In Germany he only obtained a temporarymatriculation (D-EMUD) but in the end he registered the airpla-ne in Great Britain (G-BEZA). He felt he was not appreciated inGermany therefore since 1974 he has been trying to relocate toCanada. He received the permit in 1982 but the rest of the fami-ly had settled in Germany already, so he left with his son Romanonly, seventeen years old at that time. Later they were joinedby 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 alsorunning a guest house. The place was supposed to become anaviation center, even with its own runway. However not all plansmaterialized and then came November 1989 in Czechoslovakia…The post-revolution times brought a satisfaction for Bezákin the form of rehabilitation. For some reason he was evenawarded a military rank of Lt. Colonel and became an hono-rary member of the Military Headquarters. However, a lot ofpeople were surprised after his return. They said a completelydierent person came back. Arrogant and unpleasant… “Whenhe emigrated, we had to clean out his house. I don’t know whyit fell on us, aero club members, but such were the orders.He had a fully furnished workshop we had to remove all theequipment and store it. Then it was sitting there for the nextthirty years, no one used it and when Bezák returned not onlydid he want everything back, which was okay, but was also de-manding the lease payment for those thirty years. It was ratherstrange behavior from our point of view,” recalls Jasoň Kučeraand goes on: “Completely dierent person has returned, and Iknow from German friends from the aero club at Elchingen air-port (EDPA) where he had his aircraft based for some time andtaught aerobatics, that they gradually parted with him theretoo. They didn‘t want to specify, but they just stopped workingwith 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. Andwe rooted for him so much during the World Championship inBratislava,” recalls the former aerobatic pilot Jirina Lockero-va-Stoklasova. Bezak’s behavior surprised also in 1993, when hedemanded a free overhaul of his then already stored Z 226 fromthe company ZLÍN-AVION service, claiming that it would bringthem commercial success. His ofer was turned down politely…Reportedly, he was also turned down by the Chrudim Four whenhe oered to y with them again.Bezák in his OK-MUA during an air show(photo: Milan Jančář).eduard26INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 27
guys to get a Christmas tree.” Jason Kucera, a young aero clubmember than and up until today still an active pilot-examiner,was at the airport on that day. “I remember how we openedthe hangar doors and pushed his airplane out. He ew away, asit turned out later, to board his family on the eld but did notmanage to take o so instructed his wife to wait for him at therunway end which is slightly uphill. He typically taxied to thatplace before take-o to make radio contact with Prague areacontrol since it could not be established from the area in frontof hangar. After the landing we asked him whether he is going toconduct any more ying but he answered he was packing it upso we left to have a lunch.”During his rst attempt to take o with family on board Bezákslightly damaged the wing. Therefore, he performed a quick xand after the area cleared, he started the engine and taxiedtowards 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 emigrationwere frequently contradictory, sometimes inaccurate or evenlaughable (such as his claim about ultrasound cannons at theborder). His statement about the concrete runway at Kladnoaireld belongs to the last category. They have never had it, anddon’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-minuteight to Nürnberg ahead of the family. The abstract to the post-1989 television document about Bezák stated that “he fendedo 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 escapeBezák’s family was granted political asylum within three daysand one of his friends, a German aerobatic pilot, let them stayin 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 heexpected. For a while he ew charter ights, repaired aircraftfor some time or ran a pub. He was having problems with hisTrener’s registration. In Germany he only obtained a temporarymatriculation (D-EMUD) but in the end he registered the airpla-ne in Great Britain (G-BEZA). He felt he was not appreciated inGermany therefore since 1974 he has been trying to relocate toCanada. He received the permit in 1982 but the rest of the fami-ly had settled in Germany already, so he left with his son Romanonly, seventeen years old at that time. Later they were joinedby 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 alsorunning a guest house. The place was supposed to become anaviation center, even with its own runway. However not all plansmaterialized and then came November 1989 in Czechoslovakia…The post-revolution times brought a satisfaction for Bezákin the form of rehabilitation. For some reason he was evenawarded a military rank of Lt. Colonel and became an hono-rary member of the Military Headquarters. However, a lot ofpeople were surprised after his return. They said a completelydierent person came back. Arrogant and unpleasant… “Whenhe emigrated, we had to clean out his house. I don’t know whyit fell on us, aero club members, but such were the orders.He had a fully furnished workshop we had to remove all theequipment and store it. Then it was sitting there for the nextthirty years, no one used it and when Bezák returned not onlydid he want everything back, which was okay, but was also de-manding the lease payment for those thirty years. It was ratherstrange behavior from our point of view,” recalls Jasoň Kučeraand goes on: “Completely dierent person has returned, and Iknow from German friends from the aero club at Elchingen air-port (EDPA) where he had his aircraft based for some time andtaught aerobatics, that they gradually parted with him theretoo. They didn‘t want to specify, but they just stopped workingwith 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. Andwe rooted for him so much during the World Championship inBratislava,” recalls the former aerobatic pilot Jirina Lockero-va-Stoklasova. Bezak’s behavior surprised also in 1993, when hedemanded a free overhaul of his then already stored Z 226 fromthe company ZLÍN-AVION service, claiming that it would bringthem commercial success. His ofer was turned down politely…Reportedly, he was also turned down by the Chrudim Four whenhe oered 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 thosewho in 1971 wanted to stop his escape. “I simply call a pilotand all his military commanders the murderers,” he stated re-peatedly. A documentary about him was lmed in late ninetiesin Czech Republic in which he went with a camera crew to seeMrs. 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 thatmy husband was a murderer who wanted to kill his whole family.I begged them to stop lming and to leave but they would notlisten,” recalls Marta Fiedler and by the tone of her voice onecan tell it was a very unpleasant experience for her. “He bettershould have thanked my husband that he let him y because hewould have never red at civilians and children” she added con-dently. Many people found the aforementioned documentaryrather disgusting and parted any contacts with him.Privately owned Trener aircraftin the Czechoslovak Socialist RepublicJHow did Bezák managed to acquire his own Trener then? Accor-ding to some veterans in summer 1968 he towed a fuselage ofOK-JAF aircraft behind his car from Kroměříž. It was a Z 226 Bprototype, rebuilt from Z-126 serial number 830. After testingthe aircraft was allocated to Svazarm which in 1956 assignedit to Kroměříž Aero Club. On July 19, 1968, it was erased fromthe registry supposedly for the purpose of Bezák’s acquisition.He obtained all other necessary parts and in his family housein Hostouň rebuilt it to Z 226 T standard. The great mystery re-mains how he arrived at serial number 370. That one had alreadybeen assigned, the aircraft ocially 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 anyrate after many “duels” with authorities in the end of October1968 the aircraft was entered into the registry under OK-MUAmatriculation (also non-standard for Treners).The biggest problem turned out to be an operation permit fora private radio transmitter which he of course needed in order tooperate the airplane. Supposedly he had to submit the requesteven with the Central Committee of the Communist Party.“At that Central Committee they treated me as if I had stolena missile with a nuclear head,” Bezák recalled fourteen yearslater in an article published in emigrants’ magazine Západ (TheWest).Bezák became the very rst private owner of Trener in Czecho-slovakia. Not the only one though. The same trick pulled o JiříStoklasa as well, another outstanding aerobatic pilot at thattime. The third private Trener belonged to a ČSA pilot FrantišekAltner. Stoklasa acquired his Trener Z 526 F (OK-ZSA) in a similarway as Bezák, i.e. sourcing the parts in a variety of places andmanners. Ultimately the aircraft was assembled directly at themanufacturer. “He for example came home and I told him weneeded to repair a roof to which he responded it had to wait sin-ce he just purchased landing gear for Trener,” recalls his formerwife Jiřina Lockerová-Stoklasová. František Altner on the otherhand bought a discharged Z 126 (OK-DVG) from Liberec AeroClub. After the overhaul it was registered as OK-EKA.Both Altner and Stoklasa however lost their Treners aft Bezák’semigration. They were banned from ying hem and thereforeforced to sell them. Former Altner’s OK-EKA ies today in Pří-bram, after the necessary overhaul it was registered as OK-DVGagain and sports a military camouage with the code UC-38. Thefate of Stoklasa´s amboyantly painted OK-ZSA is rather sad. OnMay 24, 1997, pilot Petr Štěpánek crashed it near Moravská Tře-bová and was killed.In 2018 Ladislav Bezak passed away in Bühne, Germany. Andas one of the long-time Trener pilots here said: “There was noobituary anywhere, no one noticed it. Nobody talked to him formany years in fact.”Sourcesmagazine West issue 6/1983Miroslav 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.comwww.iDnes.czHusband and wifeStoklasa in front oftheir private Z 526F OK-ZSA (photo:archive of JiřinaLockerová-Stokla-sová).eduard27INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 28
Photographs: KPM KaznejovBy coincidence we had agreed on another group build, themembers agreed as well so there was no obstacle to launch-ing the project Zero. This time we opted for a team work andeach member of the group of four was working on an specificassignment. Upon my arrival on Friday night Mira Bilek hascompleted one unpainted cockpit and was getting ready tostart another one. Vlad Suma glued the separate wing panelsinto the bottom part of the wing and put together the wheelwells. Johnny Hanzlicek in the meantime prepared the hori-zontal tail surfaces, glued together the engines, drop tanksand some other small details. And this process went on untilwe reached the painting stage. I’m not sure why the guys leftthis for myself however I overheard the muffled voice comingsomewhere from the rear: “…let the club president mess it uphimself!”No issues (except those self-induced)The new hot Eduard release looks very nice, delicate panellines and fully riveted surfaces look simply great even thoughthe rivets disappear in some areas due to the limits of theinjection moulding technology. Therefore after gluing andsanding the fuselages we restored the riveting on the upperand lower sides of the fuselage. Nothing more was necessa-ry. The other parts show very high level of detailing. Cockpitrepresentation in plastic is amazing, some may want to addcouple of wires though. Also the engine looks nice conside-ring how much o fit will be seen after the installation. Herewe slightly deviated from our original intention to build the kitjust out of the box. We glued pieces of brass tubing on theignition harness conduit and attached lead wires to them torepresent spark plugs cables. A radial engine just cannot bewithout them!No hiccup during the building, woth mentioning is coming tomy 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 schemeD (blue fuselage bands) into scheme K (blue bands as well).I overlooked it during the night, flipped one page more in theAfter our quite successful group buildof four Treners by our club membereswe were offered to build the surprisenew release from Eduard, A6M2 Zerokit, the limited edition Tora Tora Tora!TEXT:MARTIN ČERNÝBuild,build,build!HISTORYeduard28INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 29
TEXT:MARTIN ČERNÝinstructions and here we go. These two schemes are the onlyones out of all offered in the kit that feature identical fuse-lage bands and no stripes on the vertical tail surfaces. Allmarkings i.e. identifications, fuselage and tail stripes wereairbrushed The only decals used were the numerals for thevertical tail surfaces.The second “mini-blunder” occured after the models werecompleted. Vlad Suma was busy taking pictures while therest of us was enjoying the models on display at which pointI made a statememt: “Gentlemen, something is wrong…”As we learned the engine cowlings got swapped. Not only thatbut landing gear covers were reversed as well!In the hurry that followed the propellers, cowlings and landinggear covers were stripped of the models and glued back on tocorrespond to the correct marking. Vlad was very unhappy toerase the pictures he had taken and start all over. Despite thehiccup all ended well, we enjoyed the building and I dare to saythat 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 insertsor completing the engine cowling (very little glue is needed infact). The parts‘ fit is amazing to the point that the panel lineshad to be lightly restored at the glued joint.• One more notice about panel inserts. In Vlad’s case theywere not leveled and had to be adjusted using the file. Withoutmodification they ended up slightly below the surroundingsurfaces. Some micro flash or edge in the wing cut out couldbe blamed. Dry fitting here is a must.• Careful assembly of the wheel wells. All has to fit tightlywithout any gaps otherwise a problem with assembling thewing and consequent mating with the fuselage can occur. Thesub-assembly is demanding precise and clean work.• While mating the wing with the fuselage it seemed they willnot fit but squeezing the fuselage in the cockpit area will helpand all fits just perfectly. The same is true about the horizontaltail surfaces. The fit into the opening is tight but once pushedin there is no need for glue. The fit of the separate controlsurfaces 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 sowe had to scratch-built it using layers of the UV glue. Other-wise everything fits precisely. Great feature of the navigationlights to be glued on the wing surface is the rod fitting into thewing opening. That is superb. Just a tiny drop of glue and pushthe part in.• Cons: one of the fuselage-mounted machine guns featuredshort-shot lever of cocking mechanism, gunsight glass on theclear sprue was short-shot as well. Small sink marks on thecontrol 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: C72Yellow stripes on the vertical tail surfaces: C58 + C113 (1:1)Wing walkways: GX03.HISTORYeduard29INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 30
Photographs: KPM KaznejovSo I started to prepare myself for a phone call with Vla-dimir. After his usual greating „Howdy Mart“ I carefullyaskedhim if there was a possibility to obtain missingsprues E, at least in their pre-production form, so as wecould complete the models of Trener. The following re-sponse caught me by surprise: „Why not and how aboutan additional complete kit“? What now? A quick phoneconference with club members and I made an arrange-ment. It’s decided: we’ll try to build four Treners at ourgroup build meeting!All the fun commenced on Friday October 16 at 5pm witha clear objective to have four completely built and pain-ted Treners by Sunday midday. We were driven by theenthusiasm which was in several minutes replaced bya little stress caused by the kit instructions, parts com-bination, coloration varied by the versions so the headstarted to spin. The situation is probably best describedby Mila Bilek exclamation: „Man, these instructions arepain in the neck!“ This is our very first piece of advice: grab a colored pencil or a marker, circle the letter ofthe camouflaged you have chosen in all further buildingOn October 2nd Eduard compa-ny organized an modelers‘ eventin Pilsen-Line where several ofour club members helped withrunning it. During our club me-eting guys gave me a box withincomplete Trener model kitsacompanied by a lovely dedica-tion from Vladimir Sulc. Fondlethem and enjoy, it said. We star-ted to inspect them and brain--storm: „ this could be great forour group building session co-ming up in two weeks“ one ofthe guys said. „I love it“, addedanother one. „I want this ca-mouflage“, countered yet ano-ther club member.TEXT:MARTIN ČERNÝI’m training,I’m training!HISTORYeduard30INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 31
steps and then black everything else out. Without thisprecaution you will either „get lost in the translation“or waste time finding what you actually need. It did notseem so, and we believed it will be an „easy build“, butthe 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 otherhandgluing cockpit into the fuselage was a breeze. Atthis stage we did not follow the instructions rigorouslybut glued one side-panel with the floor into one half ofthe fuselage, second side-panel into the other half of thefuselage, buttoned up the fuselage and cemented it withthe ultra thin glue. All fitted together as it was suppo-sed to. And so I could have gone on and on about othersub-assemblies but Vladimir would most likely havestopped me without „wearing white gloves“. In short: thekit 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.Thecamouflages were assigned as follows:Bohumir Bilek: Z-226T, OK-MUA, pilot Ladislav Bezak,the first offical World Champion in aerobatics. In 1971 heemigrated to Germany with his whole family flying thisaircraft.Jan Hanzlicek: Z-226MS, OK-LMG, Rakovnik airport,2020Vladimir Suma: Z-226T, HA-TRM, Tokol airport, Hungary,2021Martin Cerny: Z-226B, OK-MPJ, Kladno airport in 70s.Summary of the build experiences:1. The instructions miss the color call out for the fireextinguisher 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 edge3. Positioning of the centroplane (part H38) has to bysymmetrical otherwise one half of the wing will fit per-fectly on the bottom but the other half of the wing willfeature a visible gap4. After gluing the parts E48 (a structure behind theseat) these partially extend above the edge of the ma-ting surface in the cut out for a rear instrument panelcoaming.The guides in the side panels need to adjustedor pins on E48 parts thinned.5. Gluing of the horizontal tail surfaces: you need to sanddown flat the mating surfaces on the parts E29+E33 andE31+E35, they are bulging.6. In the „D“ scheme do not use the front part H24 as perinstructions but use H22 instead. The cut out for the frontexhaust is missing on the mask.7. The wingtips: drill out the hand-holds for the aircraftground handling-they are missing from the instructions.8. The starboard landing gear leg does not fit into thewing cut out, light sanding around the perimeter will fixthis.9. Wheels + parts: there is a very tight fit, if the parts areprimed or painted in a thicker layer they cannot be easilyassembled. 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 themtogether the assembly looks a bit strange but that isaccurate in fact. The wheel features a center groove andside guides to help the aircraft maintain its track on thesoft surfaces.11. Elevator control links: to add several spares to thesprue would come handy, they fly off the tweezers easilyand are difficult to findHISTORYeduard31INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 32
12. Fuel gauges on the wings: according to the instruc-tions we are to glue the clear parts K2+K3 in the last butnotleast step but decals application is shown only in ca-mouflage schemes i.e. to place them on the clear parts.We do not recommend to glue the clear parts, apply fuelgauges after full painting together with other decals andapply the clear parts in the end, or apply UV glue or epo-xid.13. C34 Sky Blue is too light for OK-LMG scheme, in rea-lity and according to the photographs C65 Bright Blue isa better match and also frequently uses for other appli-cations.14. For some folks decals feature rather large excessof the varnish („Mart“ thinks unnecessarily large). A lotof water on the model surface is necessary during theapplication but do not use setting solution at this stage.That can be applied after the decals are set and dry. Ifsetting solution is applied earlier the varnish edges onthe 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 greencolor in the band marking on the Hungarian aircraft. Inthe OK-LMG scheme the blue wedge of the national flagis actually blue color of the airframe. The decal is lightblue and sticks out like a sore thumb. We cut out thiswedge and applied the decal as such, without its bluesection. We recommend to add to the decal sheet oneflag without the blue wedge for this particular scheme.16. Mask sheet: a gremlin must have messed with themasks application. In the camouflage „C“ mask nr.3 is tobe applied on the starboard side of the rudder but theinstructions state nr.2 again i.e. the same as for the portside. In the scheme „J“ mask nr.20 is to be used on thestarboard side of the engine cowling but the instructionsstate mask nr.12 instead. And the mask nr.4 is nowhereto be found in the instructions, nevertheless can be usedfor the arc in front of the canopy in the scheme „D“.The mask sheet contains some basic masks for selectcamouflage schemes however the wedges for the Hun-garian aircraft engine markings are sorely missing. Themasking is „yet another pain in the neck“. We encou-rage the manufacturer to at least provide mask outlinesschematic in scale that can be downloaded. Especiallythe wedges for the wings and horizontal tail surfaces orwedges for the Hungarian airplane. This simple aid willhelp creating home-made masks from tape. If possibleprovide this in the upcoming issue of the kit if the similarcolor schemes are planned for it.And that’s all my friends. Despite the issues describedabove 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 anddetailing of the interiors and exteriors of each aircraftcontained in the kit markings was enormous. For thisreason, 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 nextedition ofthe Trener, Profipack MS version, the coloringof the fire extinguisher will be mentioned, the procedu-re for assembling the fuel gauges will be corrected andothermodifications, 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 thethingsdiscovered by Kaznějov club guys have found du-ring their build in the instructions on the web.HISTORYeduard32INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 33
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KITS 12/2021B6420, F/Cdr Richard Pearman Minifie, No. 1(N) Squadron RNAS, Téteghem, France, March 1918B7270, Capt. Arthur R. Brown, No. 9(N) Sqn RNAS, Bertangles, France, April 1918Melbourne-born R. P. Minifie was the sixth most successful Australian fighter of World War I, as he scored 21 victories, most ofthem flying Sopwith Triplane. Only last four ones he achieved flying this Camel. Minifie joined the ranks of the RNAS (Royal NavalAir Service) on June 11, 1916, and after his pilot training he became a member of No. 1(N) Sqn in December. He achieved his firstvictory on April 29, 1917, when he shot down an Albatros D.III near Epinoy. On March 17, 1918, Minifie led an offensive patrol flyingthis Camel. He did not return, as he had to make emergency landing behind enemy lines, being taken a POW subsequently. Hismachine was burned on the ground, according to some sources it was set on fire by Minifie himself. It is not clear whether helanded due to the engine malfunction or was shot down in combat with Pfalzs of Jasta 47w. Camel B6420 was manufacturedby 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. Weare leaning towards mid-blue mid and rear fuselage area with white greyhound and a red field behind the cockpit. However, it ispossible 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 1917Canadian Raymond Collishaw was the most successful RNAS ace with his 60 kills. His aerial combat career began in January1916 when he was posted to the Naval Wing No. 3, flying the Sopwith 1½ Strutters. Here he achieved his first two victories. InFebruary 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 chosethe name “Black Maria”. After a holiday in Canada, already an ace with 38 kills, he took command of Seaplane DefenceSquadron 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 thename “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 thata bullet fired by Australian ground machine gunners killed the Red Baron, Brown was the one who chased the most famousGerman fighter down at the time and fired on him as well. Brown became an RNAS pilot in November 1915, but several healthproblems prevented him from combat activity until April 1917, when he was assigned to No. 9(N) Sqn RNAS. He did not stay longwith this unit, however, and changed in quick succession Nos. 11, 4, and 11 Sqn again, where he scored his first kill with SopwithPup 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 arest, he returned to the unit in February 1918. He was appointed a flight commander at the time he took over this Camel, built bythe Clayton & Shuttleworth factory. With it he scored three more victories during March and April, before on April 21 he swoopeddown on Richthofen, who was chasing Lt. May with his Fokker Dr.I. Nine days after his tenth and most famous kill, Brown washospitalized with the flu and nerve problems. He went on to serve as an instructor and never returned to combat. On July 15, heeven fainted in flight, crashed, and suffered serious head injuries. It took five years for him to fully recover. Brown died of a heartattack on March 9, 1944.eduard35INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 36
KITS 12/2021B3781, FSL Aubrey B. Ellwood, No. 3(N) Squadron RNAS, Saint-Pol, France, July 1917B6398, Ernest L. Foot, No. 1 School of Special Flying, RAF Gosport, October 1918A. 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 andserved 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 secondvictory (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 wastaken POW, the aircraft was destroyed. Camel B3781 was of Sopwith factory production with red hearts painted on the wings andfuselage 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 250aircraft. In October 1917 it was assigned to No. 1(N) Sqn. Here it had a few unlucky moments, such as a ground collision withanother aircraft (March 11, 1918) or a collision with a cow on edge of airfield during a training flight (April 7, 1918). Pilots scoredtwelve 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 headof Cleopatra in a black field and a snake winding along the back of the machine were added. According to the photographs takenfrom both sides, it seems there was a two-headed and two-tailed red snake painted. The area of the fuselage around the cockpitis usually depicted as red, but according to photographs it is possible the wooden parts were left in their natural color and onlythe canvas behind cockpit was red. It is up to modeler to choose.eduard36INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 37
KITS 12/2021OVERTREESSopwith F.1 CamelCat. No. 82171X1/48Product pageProduct pageCat. No. 82171-LEPT1Recommended 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. 644116Cat. No. 648677Cat. No. 648659eduard37INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 38
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Camel SwagBFCB7184, FSL Hubert St. J. E. Youens, No. 3(N) Squadron RNAS, Bray Dunes, France, January 1918B7184, Oblt. Otto Kissenberth, Jasta 23, Epinoy, France, May 1918On January 23, 1918, eight Camels from No. 3(N) Squadron RNAS took off for offensive patrol at the Ostende – Torhout - Roulersline. 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, forcedhim to land was Carl Degelow, later commander of Jasta 40 and also the last pilot to be awarded Pour le Mérite during the GreatWar. The flight letter of B7184 remains unknown, as no photograph of this machine exists, partly because it was lost just ninedays 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 excludedas possibility for B7184 as well.The Camel B7184 captured on January 23, 1918, was just slightly damaged and Luftstreitkräfte took the opportunity to flight-testthe near-new condition enemy aircraft in the months following the incident. After the testing had been finalized, the Camel wasused by Jasta 23 commanding officer Otto Kissenberth. German pilot even achieved a victory flying it when he shot down S.E.5aon 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 wereoverpainted with white on the upper side of the top wing and with light yellow on the bottom of the lower wing while fuselagecockades 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.eduard39INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 40
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KITS 12/2021OK-JCA, No. 839, Gliding Aerobatic Club, Benešov airfield, Czech Republic, 2020OK-MPA, No. 246, Aero Club Frýdlant nad Ostravicí, Czech Republic, 2019OK-JGT, No. 804, private owners, Rakovník airfield, Czech Republic, 2021This 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 MilošRamert brought it in 2012. There, the exhaust silencer was fitted due to the proximity of Benešov town, as well as the touristicarea 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 fadedout significantly. For the appearance of the aircraft as it was used during its Jičín era, you may use the full-color decal of thefigure (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 rearcontrols 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, togetherwith other necessary changes it was brought to the standard of Z-226MS. The aircraft was used in various gliding contests asthe tow, two of them, the Euroglide 2008 and 2012 are commemorated by stickers on the left side of the vertical fin. The exhaustsilencer 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). Theaircraft was manufactured as Z-126 and served with various Aero Clubs in the Central Bohemia region. For some time, it wasused by Aero Club operating from international airport Praha – Ruzyně. It was modified to the Z-226MS standard in 1998 andbrought by group of private owners later. They operate it from the Rakovník airfield today.eduard41INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 42
KITS 12/2021OK-LLR, No. 133, civic club owner, Sazená airfield, Czech Republic, 2015OK-IFJ, No. 750, Zbraslavice Aero Club, Czech Republic 2020OK-KNN, No. 41-09, Vysoké Mýto Aero Club, Czech Republic, 2013Bright red color of this Trenér is work of Igor Rumanovský, who made the paintwork in May 2005 at the Nitra airfield. The aircraftwas in possession of Aero Club Banská Bystrica and based at the nearby airfield Sliač. For some time, the OM-LLR, as it wasmatriculated in Slovakia, served at the Očová airfield, and then was sold to Czech Republic in 2011. The new owner was and stillis the civic club Podřipská historická letka (translates as Historic flight of the Říp mountain foothills). At the present, the aircraftis non-airworthy and stored due to the ground accident damage in 2019. Repair is planned as the airframe still has a lot of flighthours 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 thetime 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 lossof 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 washanded over to Točná Aero Club in 1967 and two years later to Dvůr Králové Aero Club. Starting from 1976 it serves with VysokéMýto Aero Club until today. During third overhaul, finished in June 1981, the aircraft was rebuilt to the Z-226M standard andlater to Z-226MS. On November 25, 2013, the engine malfunction forced pilot to conduct emergency landing on the field near toKroměříž city. The aircraft was undamaged, but during the engine change another overhaul was made. Due to the minor damageto 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. Itflies with the white rudder until today.eduard42INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 43
KITS 12/2021OVERTREESZ-126T/226 TRENÉRCat. No. 82181X1/48Product pageProduct pageCat. No. 82182-LEPT1Recommended for Z-226MS Trenér644120 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. 644120Cat. No. 3DL48045Cat. No. 648679eduard43INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 44
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KITS 12/2021Lt. Cdr. Shigeru Itaya, Akagi Fighter Squadron, first attack waveDuring the first wave Itaya led 43 Zero fighters, including 9 from Akagi. Itaya's own Akagi formation shot down one sightseeingand 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 survivethe attack. Itaya's wingman, PO1c Hirano, was hit by anti-aircraft over Fort Kamehameha and hit an obstacle while flying lowover the ground, killing himself and four American soldiers. Itaya was born in 1909 and graduated from the Naval Academy in1929. From November 1936, he was the Buntaichō of the Ryūjo Fighter Squadron for one year. He then served with the 15th and12th Kōkūtai and from January 1940 he was Buntaichō of the Hiryū Fighter Squadron. In November 1940 he took over this positionon 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. Hewas 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 waveKaga sent nine Zeros in the first wave of the attack on Pearl Harbor under command of Lt. Yoshio Shiga. His formation destroyed21 aircraft at Hickam. Six of them were credited to PO2c Yamamoto, who had previously shot down a yellow-painted civilianPiper J-3 on a sighseeing flight. The two men on board were killed. Lt. Shiga lowered Yamamoto's rank one notch and called himan idiot bastard. Yamamoto had served as a fighter pilot since 1934 and had seen combat in China with the aircraft carrier Hōshōand 12th Kōkūtai. During the Battle of Midway, he shot down five bombers. After Kaga was hit, Yamamoto landed aboard Hiryūand while escorting bomber he claimed four fighters including F4F flown by “Jimmy” Thatch, commander of VF-3. In the fall of1942 he served on the carrier Zuihō and was promoted to the rank of Warrant Officer. In May 1944, he was transferred to theYokosuka Kōkūtai and participated in the defense of Iwo Jima. He was killed in the defense of Japan on November 24, 1944. Afterhis aircraft was hit by a B-29 gunner, Yamamoto bailed out, but his parachute did not open. He achieved 13 aerial victories andthe rank of Lieutenant junior grade.eduard45INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 46
KITS 12/2021PO1c Kazuo Muranaka, Hiryū Fighter Squadron, first attack waveLt. Masaji Suganami, Sōryū Fighter Squadron, first attack waveIn the first wave, eight Zeros from Sōryū, led by Suganami, attacked Wheeler and Ewa airfields. They destroyed 27 aircraft onthe ground and shot down five planes in combat. Suganami then lost orientation, so he decided to return over the target andsacrifice himself. However, he encountered other planes and returned to the carrier. After graduating Naval Academy in 1933, heserved in 13th and Tsukuba Kōkūtais. He led fighters on the carrier Ryūjō till November 1941, after that Sōryū fighters until June1942. At the Battle of Midway, in the first attack wave, his formation shot down six American fighters. From July 1942 he servedas Hikōtaichō of fighters at Genzan Kōkūtai (later Kōkūtai 252). Suganami went missing on November 14, 1942 while escortingRear Admiral Tanaka's destroyers off Guadalcanal. Six Zeros under his command provided the 4th CAP. They first attempted toattack 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 joinedthe attack on SBDs from VB-10 and later, before running out of fuel, shot down Lt. Col. “Joe” Bauer, commander of VMF-212 andMedal 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 atEwa 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 inthe unit's first two victories. In August 1941, he was transferred to Suzuka Kōkūtai and in November of that year was assignedaboard Hiryū. During the Battle of Midway, he was sole pilot to escort Hiryū bombers throughout the action. After return hetook off on a combat air patrol and shot down three planes. His Zero was hit and he was rescued by destroyer Nowaki. Afterrecovering, Muranaka served on the aircraft carriers Shōkaku and Jun'yō. He fought over Guadalcanal and took part in the Battleof Santa Cruz. In 1944 he served as an instructor in Japan with the Tokushima Kōkūtai and in Singapore with the 11th Kōkūtai. In1945 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.eduard46INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 47
KITS 12/2021Lt. Tadashi Kaneko, Shōkaku Fighter Squadron, first attack waveThe Shōkaku sent in first wave five Zeros under command of Lt. Kaneko. They destroyed 35 aircraft at Kaneohe airfield and hitthree others at Bellows. During the 2nd attack wave, fighters from Shōkaku patrolled over the carriers. Kaneko had commandedthe fighter Shótai aboard the aircraft carrier Ryūjo since 1937. He became well known in the Japanese press after his successfulattack 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 shotdown 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 engagedin a battle on his own initiative, shootting down two torpedo planes. From October 1942 he fought over Guadalcanal as Hikōtaichōof the aircraft carrier Hiyō's fighters. In early November he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. During a patrolon 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 waveThe aircraft carrier Zuikaku sent in the first wave five Zeros under the command of Lt. Satō. He escorted the bombers in the raidon 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 onthe 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 June1942 he took over fighters as Hikōtaichō on the carrier Zuihō. He participated in the Battle of Santa Cruz, and in the 2nd phaseSatō's formation shot down four aircraft. In April 1943, Zuihó participated in Operation “I”-go in the New Guinea and SolomonIslands area. Satō was killed during Operation “Ro”-go on November 11, 1943 in aerial combat over Bougainville.eduard47INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 48
KITS 12/2021PO1c Tetsuzō Iwamoto, Zuikaku Fighter Squadron, patrol during the first attack waveLt. Saburō Shindō, Akagi Fighter Squadron, second attack waveDuring 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. Fromthe summer of 1942 he served as an instructor in Japan. From March 1943, he participated in patrolling in the Kuril Islands withKōkūtai 281. In November he was transferred to Rabaul to Kōkūtai 204 and later to Kōkūtai 253. In February 1944 he participatedfrom Truk Atoll in the interceptions of B-24 bombers. In June 1944 he was transferred to Japan and from the autumn of that yearas member of Kōkūtai 252 he he took part in battles from bases in Taiwan and the Philippines. By the end of the war, he wasserving with Kōkūtai 203 and participated in the battle for Okinawa. He achieved rank Lieutenant (junior grade) and passed awayin 1955. Iwamoto is credited with 80 victories, but in his war diary, there were 202 successful attacks on enemy aircraft recordedby him.During the second wave, fighter escort of thirty-six Zeros was led by Lt. Shindō. Nine Akagi Zeros met no resistance in the airand destroyed two aircraft at Hickam. Shindō was born in 1911 and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1929. He was assignedto the Omura Kōkūtai in 1935 and a year later went to the aircraft carrier Kaga. In 1940, he served in China with the 12th Kōkūtaiduring combat trials of the A6M2 fighter. Under his command, the first combat engagement occurred on September 13, resultingin 27 victories without loss. In November 1940, Shindō was transferred to the 14th Kōkūtai in Hanoi. From April to December 1941he was the Buntaichō of the Akagi fighters, but had to be hospitalized after the attack on Pearl Harbor. After recovering, he wasappointed commander of Tokushima Kōkūtai in April 1942. From November 1942, as Hikōtaichō at Kōkūtai 582, he was involvedin the fighting over Guadalcanal. From July 1943, he was Hikōtaichō with the Kōkūtai 204 in the same area. In late 1943 and early1944, 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.eduard48INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 49
KITS 12/2021PO1c Yoshikazu Nagahama, Kaga Fighter Squadron, second attack wavec/n 3277, Lt. Fusata Iida, Sōryū Fighter Squadron, second attack waveThe nine Zeros of the aircraft carrier Kaga were led in the second wave by Lt. Yasushi Nikaidō and destroyed six and ten aircraftrespectively at Hickam and Wheeler field. PO1c Nagahama, who had served on Kaga since 1939, took part in the attack. Duringthe raid on Darwin on February 19, 1942 he scored five victories in one combat sortie. As first he shot down a Catalina fromPatrol Wing 10. Unable to find his formation, he attacked five P-40s from the 33rd PS alone, shooting down four of them and thensetting 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 theUSS Hornet. He took part in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons while aboard Zuikaku. During a patrol on August 26 he shareddestruction of Catalina from VP-14 (damaged as well on December 7, 1941). During the Battle of Santa Cruz on October 26 heshared 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 destroyedsix flying boats. On return flight Iida signaled that he was running out of fuelBecause of that he returned and decided to crash hisaircraft into a hangar at Kaneohe, but missed the target. Iida's flight hood was returned to his relatives in 1999 by the daughter ofMr. 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 hisZero 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 fromthe 45th FS, Iida's formation lost two more Zeros and one suffered serious damage. Two P-36s were shot down. Iida was bornon December 2, 1913. He first served as an instructor with the Kasumigaura Kōkūtai, and in September 1940 he was assigned tothe 12th Kōkūtai in China, which tested Zero fighters in combat. In a raid on Chengdu on October 26, his formation claimed tenaircraft without loss. Nevertheless, Iida expressed his disapproval of the way the war against China was being conducted. FromSeptember 1941, he served as Buntaichō of the aircraft carrier Sōryū's fighters until December 7, 1941.eduard49INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 50
KITS 12/2021c/n 2266, PO1c Shigenori Nishikaichi, Hiryū Fighter Squadron, second attack waveHiryū sent nine Zeros under the command of Lt. Sumio Nōno. His pilots attacked Kaneohe and Bellows bases, claiming twodestroyed aircraft and one car. Zero of PO1c Nishikaichi was running low on fuel and he was looking for a rescue submarineoff 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 gunfrom the aircraft, set the machine on fire and threatened to kill the natives to force the return of the secret documents. Duringthe December 13, he and a helper captured Mr. Benjamin Kanahele and his wife. A scuffle ensued during which Kanahele wasshot three times by the pilot, but became so enraged that he killed him against a wall. The pilot's helper, Mr. Harada, committedsuicide. It is known as the Niihau Incident. Mr. Kanahele received the Purple Heart and the Medal of Merit from the President ofthe United States. Nishikaichi, whose fate was unknown to the Japanese side, was posthumously promoted two grades. Parts ofZero are on display at the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor. On the engine cover there was a service plate with the name ofthe mechanic PO3c Akimoto painted.PO1c Yukuo Hanzawa, Shōkaku Fighter Squadron, patrol during the second attack waveFighters from Shōkaku did not participate in the second attack wave on Pearl Harbor. Instead, 12 aircraft from Shōkaku patrolledsuccessively over the carrier group under the command of Lt. Masao Iizuka. PO1c Hanzawa led the 1st Shōtai on patrol. At thattime, 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 damagedcarrier 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.eduard50INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 51
OVERTREESA6M2 Cat. No. 82211X1/48Product pageKITS 12/2021Recommended for TORA TORA TORA!481076 A6M2 landing flaps (PE-Set) 01/2022 releaseFE1238 A6M2 seatbelts STEEL (PE-Set)644128 A6M2 LööK (Brassin)648693 A6M2 wheels (Brassin)648694 A6M2 engine PRINT (Brassin) 01/2022 release648695 A6M undercarriage legs BRONZE (Brassin)648698 A6M2 seat PRINT (Brassin)3DL48050 A6M2 SPACE (3D Decal Set)EX821 A6M2 TFace (Mask)Product pageCat. No. 11155-LEPT1Cat. No. 644128Cat. No. 648698Cat. No. 648695eduard51INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 52
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KITS 12/2021Bf 109E-7/B, 8./ZG 1, Belgorod, Soviet Union, June 1942Bf 109E-7/Z, WNr. 7677 F, Oblt. Josef Priller, CO of 1./JG 26, St. Omer, France, June 1941The III. Gruppe, of which the 8. Staffel was a part, was established in January 1942 in Lechfeld and was equipped like the otherGruppe Zerstörergeschwader 1 with Bf 109E aircraft. Its first deployment followed from May 1942 on the Eastern Front. Here itflew first from Belgorod field airfield, followed by a move to Kutejnikovo airfield in July. In August there was a further change ofoperation, 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 originallybeen 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 51when 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 totalnumber of victories kept growing. On December 20, 1941, his successes were rewarded and Priller was decorated with Knight´sCross 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 managerof Riegele brewery in Augsburg, Germany. He died of heart attack on May 20, 1961. His aircraft sported standard Luftwaffe fightercamouflage of the time, consisting of the colors of RLM 71/02/65 and yellow rudder as well as engine cowling. The fuselage wasgiven the markings of JG 26 affiliation, the pilot's personal marking of a heart-shaped ace with the name of his future wife plusthe 1. Staffel JG 26 emblem of an eagle.eduard59INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 60
KITS 12/2021Bf 109E-7/Trop, Hptm. Erich Gerlitz, CO of 2./JG 27, Ain-el-Gazala, Libya, summer 1941Bf 109E-7, WNr. 3523, Lt. Wolf-Dietrich Widowitz, 5./JG 5, Petsamo (nowadays Pechenga, Russia),Finland, April 1942Erich 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 tookcommand of 2./JG 27, with which he subsequently participated in the deployment in Africa. During his time with JG 27 in Africahe 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 enoughheight for the parachute to open. Bf 109E-7s used in North Africa were fitted with a desert filter, reducing the amount of finedust particles in the air intake of the engine. The camouflage used on the European battlefield was replaced by paints to bettercamouflage 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/Tropstandard. 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 camouflagewas repainted in the RLM 74/75/76 colors, and the engine cowling received yellow paint. The serial number was covered withtape when the camouflage colors were applied, but its base color remained original. The WNr. 3523 was sent to JG 5 on March22, 1942, the following day it became the personal mount of Lt. Wolf-Dietrich Widowitz. Its appearance in northern Europe wasshort-lived. On April 4, 1942, while escorting a Bf 110 the unit was attacked by four Mk.IIb Hurricanes from the 2nd GIAP wasWidowitz forced to make an emergency landing on the frozen lake of Shonlgul-javr (Finland). Widowitz was rescued with minorinjuries, 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 thePlanes of Fame Museum in Chino, California.eduard60INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 61
Bf 109E-7, WNr. 3523, Lt. Wolf-Dietrich Widowitz, 5./JG 5, Petsamo (nowadays Pechenga, Russia),Finland, April 1942KITS 12/2021FE703 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-7Cat. No. 644024Cat. No. 648472Cat. No. 648474eduard61INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 62
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KITS 12/2021ZA452, Gulf Killer, No. 20 Squadron, Tabuk AB,Saudi Arabia, 1991ZA465, Foxy Killer, No. 16 Squadron, Tabuk AB,Saudi Arabia, 1991ZD715, Luscious Lizzie!, No. 31 Squadron,Dhahran AB, Saudi Arabia, 1991ZD719, Check Six, No. 9 Squadron, Dhahran AB,Saudi Arabia, 1991eduard63INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 64
KITS 12/2021ZD739, Armoured Charmer, No. 9 Squadron,Tabuk AB, Saudi Arabia, 1991ZD809, Awesome Annie, No. 617 Squadron,Muharraq AB, Bahrain, 1991ZD890, No. 9 Squadron, Muharraq AB, Bahrain, 1991ZD892, Helen, No. 617 Squadron, Muharraq,Bahrain, 1991eduard64INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 65
OVERTREESTornado GR.1Cat. No. 2137X1/72Product pageKITS 12/2021Recommended for DESERT BABES672266 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 pageCat. No. 2137-LEPT1Cat. No. 672270Cat. No. 672271Cat. No. 672265Cat. No. 672274eduard65INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 66
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KITS 12/2021JN766, No. 486 (RNZAF) Squadron, RAF Station Castle Camp, Great Britain, April 1944JN751, W/Cdr Roland P. Beamont, DSO, DFC & bar, CO of No. 150 Wing, RAF Station Bradwell Bay, Great Britain, April 1944JN755, No. 3 Squadron, Newchurch, Great Britain, May 1944No. 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, andthe unit was one of first to receive the Tempest Mk. Vs. New aircraft began to arrive through January and February of 1944. Theunit 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 widthof the white segments was 24 inches, and the black ones were to be 12 inches wide. The stripes were deleted from Typhoons onFebruary 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, wherehe flew during the Battle of France and Battle of Britain. From May 1941, he served with No. 79 Squadron, and in December of thesame year, on completion of his tour, he joined the Hawker factory as a test pilot. In June 1942 he joined No. 56 Squadron flyingTyphoons. 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 February1944, 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 Beamontmade use of this privilege and his personal Tempest carried the letters R and B. Beneath the windscreen on the right side of thefuselage 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. Asa component of the British Expeditionary Force, it fought over Belgium and France. When back to the Great Britain, the squadronwas tasked with patrol duties over the Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow and from April 1941 it operated over southern Englandas 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 Englandagainst the V-1 flying bombs instead. When the V-1 launch sites were over-run, it was one of the Tempest squadrons transferredto 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, thestandard camouflaged Tempests did not carry the black and white ID stripes. The code QO was assigned by No. 3 Squadron untilJune 5, 1944, when they were replaced by the JF code.eduard67INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 68
KITS 12/2021JN751, W/Cdr Roland P. Beamont DSO, DFC & bar, CO of No. 150 Wing, Newchurch, Great Britain, June 1944JN763, No. 486 (RNZAF) Squadron, Newchurch, Great Britain, June 1944JN765, No. 3 Squadron, Newchurch, Great Britain, June 1944In 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 weretasked 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 themost suitable aircraft for the task. At the end of September 1944, the entire unit led by Beamont moved to liberated Europe. OnOctober 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 July1944 was awarded a bar to his DSO in recognition of his successful leadership of the Tempest wing which had destroyed morethan 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 andwhite 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 werecredited with the destruction of 223,5 of them. After the threat of these attacks had decreased, No. 486 Squadron, along withits 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 wereintended to support Operation Overlord (the invasion of Normandy) and received the invasion stripes on the rear fuselage andwings 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 allthe 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 “InvasionStripes” were also added to JN765 aircraft prior to the operation. Groundcrew painted the bottom section of the main landinggear cover black, apparently in error.eduard68INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 69
KITS 12/2021OVERTREESTempest Mk.V Series 1Cat. No. 82121X1/48Product pageProduct pageCat. No. 82121-LEPT1Recommended for Tempest Mk.V Series 148976 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 (Brassin648500 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. 644006Cat. No. 648416Cat. No. 648446Cat. No. 648417eduard69INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 70
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KITS 12/2021No. 4326, 921th Fighter Regiment, Noi Bai AB, Democratic Republic of Vietnam, late 60s/early 70sc/n 761008, Jagdfliegergeschwader 2, Trollenhagen Air Base, German Democratic Republic, late 80sSoviet Air Force, České Budějovice Air Base, Czechoslovakia, late August 1968This aircraft was delivered to Vietnam in 1966 and served as a part of 921st Fighter Regiment. Thirteen red stars painted on thenose 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 thisparticular 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 wasput out of service in 1988 and scrapped shortly afterwards despite a plan to sell it to Iran. This MiG became well know thanks toa propaganda movie. The fuselage number was changed to 'Red 1851' for filming. The Q-badge painted on the left side of the noseindicated 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 theinvasion of Czechoslovakia in August, 1968. Two red bands on the tail marked aircraft that were used during Operation Danube.eduard71INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 72
KITS 12/2021702nd UAP, Chernigov Air Base, Soviet Union, 1980sOne 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 ChernigovHigher Military Aviation School of Pilots along with three more school regiments. This color profile is based on a black and whitephoto.1. Pułk Lotnictwa Myśliwskiego, Siły Powietrzne, Minsk Mazowiecki Air Base, Poland, 1980sThis MiG-21PF is one of the aircraft displayed in the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw. It was accepted by the Polish Air Forceduring 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 badgedepicting a mermaid is painted on both sides of the nose.eduard72INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 73
KITS 12/2021OVERTREESMiG-21PFCat. No. 8244X1/48Product pageProduct pageCat. No. 8236-LEPT1Recommended for MiG-21PFFE953 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. 644089Cat. No. 644096Cat. No. 648136Cat. No. 648144eduard73INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 74
New Activation product of theBunny Fighter Club membership.Tempest Mk.V1/48 Cat. No. BFC111Plastic parts EduardPhoto-etched setPaiting mask6 markingsBrassin: yes, two different typesof wheels, landing flaps, dust filterwith eyelid, intake ring and RP-3 60lbrockets3D decals for main and sidewalkinstrument and control panels withphoto-etched details and seat belts.Product pageBFCeduard74INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 75
NV994, S/Ldr Pierre Clostermann, No. 3 Squadron, No. 122 Wing, B.152 Fassberg, Germany, June 1945EJ762, F/Lt. David C. Fairbanks, No. 274 Squadron, B.80 Volkel, the Netherlands, November 1944Davis Charles Farbainks, a native of Ithaca, New York, joined the RCAF on his second attempt after graduating of high schoolin February 1941, to which he remained loyal throughout the war and after its end. Training was followed by service with No. 13SFTS, for which he served as a flight instructor for a year. He was then transferred to No. 501 Squadron flying Mk.V Spitfires andbased 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 heshot down two V-1 missiles and 11 1/2 enemy aircraft before being shot down and captured himself on February 28, 1945. Afterthe end of World War II, he flew Vampires and T-33s during his employment with Sperry Gyroscopes at the RCAF Auxiliary, thenbecame 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 timemay have been the addition of the famous red spinner. This was unlikely to have been added during hostilities as, followingmany 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 flyingcreature and Stonehenge, which was near their first base) to all their Tempests and Clostermann decorated NV994 with hisscoreboard (including some kills which he had been able to confirm after the war finished) and the name ‘Le Grand Charles’ inhonour of General Charles de Gaulle. He flew this aircraft through June 1945 and took it to B.160 Kastrup, near Copenhagen. A bigair display for the Danish people was planned for the July 1, 1945 and went ahead despite bad weather. Clostermann flew JF-ENV994 in a formation flypast but was unable to land at Kastrup due the bad weather. He managed to land at nearby Vaerlose, asmaller grass airfield but NV994 was damaged in an accident (nature unknown).BFCeduard75INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 76
JN751, W/Cdr Roland P. Beamont, DSO, DFC & bar, CO of No. 150 Wing, RAF Station Bradwell Bay, Great Britain, April 1944JN751, W/Cdr Roland P. Beamont DSO, DFC & bar, CO of No. 150 Wing, Newchurch, Great Britain, June 1944Roland 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, wherehe flew during the Battle of France and Battle of Britain. From May 1941, he served with No. 79 Squadron, and in December of thesame year, on completion of his tour, he joined the Hawker factory as a test pilot. In June 1942 he joined No. 56 Squadron flyingTyphoons. 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 February1944, 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 Beamontmade use of this privilege and his personal Tempest carried the letters R and B. Beneath the windscreen on the right side of thefuselage 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 Sqnhad 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 aircover 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 thetask. At the end of September 1944, the entire unit led by Beamont moved to liberated Europe. On October 12, Beamont´s aircraft was hitby 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 recognitionof his successful leadership of the Tempest wing which had destroyed more than 600 V-1s (32 by Beamont himself). After the war, hecontinued 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.BFCeduard76INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 77
Ens. Eduard „Bunny“ Kleinkönnig, Naval Detachment of No. 486 Squadron RNZAF,Aircraft Carrier HMS Habbakuk, Antarctica, summer 1946/1947Police Chief Sgt. Eduard Kleinkönnig, OK-BFC, Police Air Patrol Unit, Czechoslovak Police Air Force,Žatec, 1947 - 1950This machine was flown by the legendary Czech pilot in the international crew of the aircraft carrier HMS Habbakuk during thebattles 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 areminder of the rescue of Kleinkönnig's flight leader. After being shot down into the sea, he was attacked by killer whales, butKleinkönnig 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 forattacking 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 originallyto 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 outattacks on Czech breweries in order to destabilise the new communist regime.BFCeduard77INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 78
12/2021LööK set - Brassin pre-painted dashboard andSTEEL seatbelts for Chipmunk T.10 in 1/48 scale.Easy to assemble, replaces plasc parts.Recommended kit: AirxSet contains:- resin: 2 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted- painng mask: noLööK set - Brassin pre-painted dashboard andSTEEL seatbelts for A6M2 in 1/48 scale. Easy toassemble, replaces plasc parts.Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- resin: 4 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted- painng mask: no644130Chipmunk T.10 LööK1/48 Airx644128A6M2 LööK1/48 EduardProduct pageProduct pageeduard78INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 79
Brassin set - the US Colt Vickers gun for So-pwith Camel in 1/48 scale. The set consistsof two guns. Easy to assemble, replacesplasc parts. Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- resin: 4 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: yes- painng mask: noLööK set - Brassin pre-painted dashboardand STEEL seatbelts for CH-47A in 1/48scale. Easy to assemble, replaces plascparts. Recommended kit: Hobby BossSet contains:- resin: 1 part- decals: no- photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted- painng mask: no648661Sopwith Camel US Colt Vickers gun1/48 Eduard644133CH-47A LööK1/48 Hobby BossBRASSIN 12/2021Product pageProduct pageeduard79INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 80
BRASSIN 12/2021Brassin set - the undercarriage wheels forA6M2 in 1/48 scale. The set consists ofthe main wheels and a tail wheel. Easy toassemble, replaces plasc parts.Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- resin: 3 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painng mask: yesBrassin set - the 800kg bomb for Nakaji-ma B5N2 bomber in 1/48 scale. The setconsists of 1 bomb.Set contains:- resin: 1 part- decals: no- photo-etched details: yes- painng mask: no648693A6M2 wheels1/48 Eduard648689B5N2 800kg bomb1/48 HasegawaProduct pageProduct pageeduard80INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 81
Brassin set - the cockpit for Mi-24Din 1/48 scale.Recommended kit: ZvezdaSet contains:- resin: ca 64 parts- decals: yes- photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted- painng mask: noBrassin set - the undercarriage legs for A6M in1/48 scale. The set consists of the main under-carriage legs and wheel well doors. The legsare made of bronze. Easy to assemble, replacesplasc parts. Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- resin: 6 parts- decals: yes- photo-etched details: no- painng mask: no- bronze: 2 parts648697Mi-24D cockpit1/48 Eduard648695A6M undercarriage legs BRONZE1/48 EduardBRASSIN 12/2021Product pageProduct pageeduard81INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 82
BRASSIN 12/2021Brassin set - the undercarriage wheels for Chipmu-nk T.10 in 1/48 scale. The set consists of the mainwheels. Easy to assemble, replaces plasc parts.Recommended kit: AirxSet contains:- resin: 2 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painng mask: yesBrassin set - the seat for A6M2 in 1/48 scale.Made by direct 3D prinng. Easy to assemble,replaces plasc parts.Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- 3D print: 1 part- decals: no- photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted- painng mask: no648699Chipmunk T.10 wheels1/48 Airx648698A6M2 seat PRINT1/48 EduardProduct pageProduct pageeduard82INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 83
Brassin set - the undercarriage legs forF-4B in 1/48 scale. The set consists of themain and nose undercarriage legs andwheel well doors. The legs are made ofbronze. Easy to assemble, replaces plascparts. Recommended kit: TamiyaSet contains:- resin: 5 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painng mask: no- bronze: 3 partsBrassin set - the undercarriage wheels forF/A-18E in 1/48 scale. The set consists ofthe main wheels and nose wheels. Easy toassemble, replaces plasc parts.Recommended kit: MENGSet contains:- resin: 6 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painng mask: yes648700F-4B undercarriage legs BRONZE1/48 Tamiya648701F/A-18E wheels1/48 MengBRASSIN 12/2021Product pageProduct pageeduard83INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 84
BRASSIN 12/2021Brassin set - the n caps for F-4B in 1/48scale. Made by direct 3D prinng.Recommended kit: TamiyaSet contains:- 3D print: 2 parts- decals: no- photo-etched details: no- painng mask: noBrassin set - the ejecon seat for F/A-18Ein 1/48 scale. Easy to assemble, replacesplasc parts. Recommended kit: MENGSet contains:- resin: 3 parts- decals: yes- photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted- painng mask: no648704F-4B n caps PRINT1/48 Tamiya64702F/A-18E ejection seat1/48 MengProduct pageProduct pageeduard84INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 85
Brassin set - an opcally guided bomb GBU--15(V)21/B in 1/72 scale. The set consists of 2bombs. Compable with F-4E, F-15E, F-16C/D,F-111C/F, B-52D.Set contains:- resin: 12 parts- decals: yes- photo-etched details: no- painng mask: no672273GBU-15(V)21/B1/72BRASSIN 12/2021Product pageeduard85INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 86
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Collection of 4 sets for Tempest Mk.II in 1/48 scale.Recommended kit: Eduard / Speacial Hobby- cockpit- undercarriage wheels- exhaust stacks- landing aps PRINTAll sets included in this BIG SIN are available separately,but with every BIG SIN set you save up to 30%.SIN64875Tempest Mk.II ESSENTIAL1/48 EduardBRASSIN 12/2021Product pageeduard89INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 90
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FOTOLEPTY DECEMBER 2021USS 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-111/350 Trumpetereduard92INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 93
PHOTO-ETCHED 12/2021TBF-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-1C1/48 Academyeduard93INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 94
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Die alten Kanonen 1/24 MengCat. No. D24002Product pageDECAL SET 12/2021Fokker Dr.I, 479/17, Ltn. August Raben, CO of Jasta 18,Montingen, France, October 1918Fokker Dr.I, 450/17, Ltn. Josef Jacobs, Jasta 7,Rumbeke, Belgium, March 1918Fokker Dr.I, 503/17, Ltn. Hans Körner, Jasta 19,Balatre, Belgium, April 1918Fokker Dr.I, 557/17, Ltn. Rudolf Klimke, Jasta 27,Halluin-Ost, France, May 1918eduard96INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 97
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491217 Ar 234B 1/48FE1218Ar 234B seatbelts STEEL 1/48EX085Ar 234B Blitz 1/48481069 Mirage 2000D exterior 1/48491221Mirage 2000D 1/48FE1222 Mirage 2000D seatbelts STEEL 1/48EX325Mirage 2000B/D/N 1/48BIG49309 Ar 234B 1/48 Hobby 2000/HasegawaBIG49310 Mirage 2000D 1/48 KineticAll sets included in this BIG ED are available separately,but with every BIG ED set you save up to 30%.Product pageProduct pageeduard98INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 99
72717 Hurricane Mk.IIc landing aps 1/7273753Hurricane Mk.IIc 1/72CX607Hurricane Mk.IIc 1/7272715 Vulcan B.2 bomb bay 1/7272716Vulcan B.2 undercarriage 1/7273748 Vulcan B.2 1/72CX604Vulcan B.2 1/72BIG72166 Hurricane Mk.IIc 1/72 ZvezdaBIG72167 Vulcan B.2 1/72 AirxAll sets included in this BIG ED are available separately,but with every BIG ED set you save up to 30%.Product pageProduct pageeduard99INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 100
MASKS 12/2021EDUARD MASK IT FITS!JX282 F/A-18F 1/32 RevellJX283 F/A-18F TFace 1/32 RevellEX819 TBF-1C 1/48 AcademyEX820 TBF-1C TFace 1/48 AcademyEX821 A6M2 TFace 1/48 EduardCX610 F4F-4 1/72 Arma HobbyCX611 P-38M 1/72 Hobby 2000/DragonCX612 P-38J 1/72 Hobby 2000/DragonCX613 Ar 234C 1/72 Hobby 2000/DragonCX614 F-4C 1/72 Fine MoldsCX615 F-4J 1/72 Fine MoldsEX820EX819EX821EX821CX612CX613CX612 CX613EX820EX819EX820CX610CX610CX615CX615JX282 JX282JX283 JX283eduard100INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 101
KITS82171 Sopwith F.1 Camel (BR.1) 1/48 ProPACK82182Z-226MS Trenér 1/48 ProPACK11155TORA TORA TORA!1/48Limited edition84178Bf 109E-7 1/48 Weekend edition2137DESERT BABES (re-release) 1/72 Limited edition82121Tempest Mk.V Series 1 (re-release) 1/48 ProPACK8236MiG-21MF (re-release) 1/48ProPACKPE-SETS53276 USS Intrepid CV-11 pt.5 1/350 Trumpeter53277Akagi rear columns1/350 Hasegawa32474 F/A-18F exterior 1/32 Revell32992F/A-18F interior1/32 Revell481071TBF-1C exterior1/48 Academy481072TBF-1C landing aps1/48 Academy481073P-40N landing aps 1/48 Academy481074SBD-5 landing aps 1/48 Revell491232TBF-1C interior 1/48 Academy491234P-40N 1/48 Academy491236SBD-5 1/48 Revell73755F4F-4 1/72 Arma Hobby73756Ar 234C 1/72 Hobby 2000/Dragon73757F-4C 1/72 Fine Molds73758F-4J 1/72 Fine MoldsZOOMS33290 F/A-18F 1/32 Revell33291F/A-18F seatbelts STEEL 1/32 RevellFE1232 TBF-1C 1/48 AcademyFE1233TBF-1C seatbelts STEEL1/48 AcademyFE1234P-40N 1/48 AcademyFE1235P-40N seatbelts STEEL 1/48 AcademyFE1236SBD-5 1/48 RevellFE1237SBD-5 seatbelts STEEL 1/48 RevellFE1238A6M2 seatbelts STEEL 1/48 EduardSS755F4F-4 1/72 Arma HobbySS756Ar 234C 1/72 Hobby 2000/DragonSS757F-4C 1/72 Fine MoldsSS758F-4J 1/72 Fine MoldsMASKSJX282 F/A-18F 1/32 RevellJX283F/A-18F TFace1/32 RevellEX819 TBF-1C 1/48 AcademyEX820TBF-1C TFace1/48 AcademyEX821A6M2 TFace1/48 EduardCX610F4F-4 1/72 Arma HobbyCX611P-38M 1/72 Hobby 2000/DragonCX612P-38J 1/72 Hobby 2000/DragonCX613Ar 234C 1/72 Hobby 2000/DragonCX614F-4C 1/72 Fine MoldsCX615F-4J 1/72 Fine MoldsBIGED SETSBIG49309 Ar 234B 1/48 Hobby 2000/HasegawaBIG49310Mirage 2000D1/48 KineticBIG72166Hurricane Mk.IIc 1/72 ZvezdaBIG72167 Vulcan B.21/72 AirxBRASSINS644128 A6M2 LööK 1/48 Eduard644130Chipmunk T.10 LööK1/48 Airx644133CH-47A LööK 1/48 Hobby Boss648661Sopwith Camel US Colt Vickers gun1/48 Eduard648689B5N2 800kg bomb1/48 Hasegawa648693A6M2 wheels1/48 Eduard648695A6M undercarriage legs BRONZE1/48 Eduard648697Mi-24D cockpit1/48 Zvezda648698A6M2 seat PRINT1/48 Eduard648699Chipmunk T.10 wheels1/48 Airx648700F-4B undercarriage legs BRONZE 1/48 Tamiya648701F/A-18E wheels 1/48 Meng648702F/A-18E ejection seat 1/48 Meng648704F-4B n caps PRINT 1/48 Tamiya672273GBU-15(V)21/B1/72LookPLUS644131 Ar 234B LööKplus 1/48 Hobby 2000/Hasegawa644132Z-226 LööKplus 1/48 EduardBIGSINSIN64875 Tempest Mk.II ESSENTIAL 1/48 EduardDECAL SETSD24002 Die alten Kanonen 1/24 MengD48097 Z-126/226/326/526 cockpit placards 1/48 EduardD48098 A6M2 stencils 1/48 EduardSPACE3DL48050 A6M2 SPACE 1/48 Eduard3DL48051 Remove Before Flight (white) SPACE 1/483DL48052 Remove Before Flight (black) SPACE1/483DL53001 US ensign ag WWII SPACE1/3503DL53002 US ensign ag modern SPACE1/350December 2021ReleasePage 102
BUILTTORA TORA TORA! 1/48built by Robert SzwarcRobert SzwarcCat. No. 11155Kamo Feduard102INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 103
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BUILTeduard104INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 105
BUILTLt. Masao Satō, Zuikaku Fighter Squadron, first attack waveThe aircraft carrier Zuikaku sent in the first wave five Zeros under the command of Lt. Satō. He escorted the bombers in the raid on KaneoheNaval 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 1941to January 1942, as the so-called Buntaichō, he commanded fighters aboard the Zuikaku, and in May he began serving in that capacity on theaircraft 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 inOperation “I”-go in the New Guinea and Solomon Islands area. Satō was killed during Operation “Ro”-go on November 11, 1943 in aerial combatover Bougainville.eduard105INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 106
BUILTbuilt by Patrik PěchaCat. No. 11153Kamo E1/48eduard106INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 107
BUILTBM324, F/Lt Bernard Dupérier (Baron Léon Sternberg de Armella), No. 340(Free French) Squadron, RAF Westhampnett, West Sussex, Great Britain,July 1942Bernard Dupérier, whose real name was Leon Sternberg de Armella, enlisted in the Free French Air Force in New York on January 15, 1941under 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. FromDecember 1942 he served at FAFL Headquarters. From August 30, 1943 he was given command of No. 341 (Free French) Squadron (GC III/2Alsace) and from September 1943 he commanded the Biggin Hill Wing. On June 25, 1944 he was parachuted to Bretagne where he acted asa commander of 3. Headquarters of FFI. On August 6, 1944, during the liberation of the city of Saint-Brieuc he was severely wounded. Hereturned to the duty in April 1945. After the hostilities he worked in several positions including Air France director. In 1958 he entered the worldof politics and in 1962 became the member of Parliament. The white stripes on the nose and horizontal tail surfaces of his BM324, in which hescored two victories, pertain to the cancelled invasion operation Rutter scheduled for July 7, 1942. This markings are mistakenly attributed tothe operation Jubilee in which No. 340 (Free French) Squadron also took part.Product pageeduard107INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 108
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BUILTZ-226MS, OK-KMR, No. 19-08, private owner, Praha-Letňany airfield, Czech Republic 2020This Trener was originally manufactured as the Z-226B and like many other aircraft of this version, it was gradually converted to the Z-226Mand 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. Thelatter 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 withanti-epidemic measures. The “Blaník” inscription on the port side of the fuselage refers to the aircraft's primarily towing history (L-13 Blaník isa school glider).eduard109INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 110
BUILTIA-58A Pucara 1/48Set used:Built by Matthias Becker#491196 general set#FE1196 interior (Zoom)#FE1197 seatbelts STEEL (Zoom)#EX788 (Mask)eduard110INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 111
BUILTeduard111INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 112
BUILT1/48Built by Oliver PeisslSet used:#49750 interior#49751 seatbeltsJu-88A-5 Tropeduard112INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 113
BUILT#49750 interior#49751seatbeltsFFG-57 USS Reuben JamesBuiltby Petr ŠvihovecSet used:#17520 Life buoy#53150 USS Oliver H. Perry FFG-7#53180USN ensign flag modern STEEL1/350 Academyeduard113INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 114
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BUILTMW835, W/Cdr Charles H. Dyson, Wing Commander Flying Southern Sector, RAF Middle Wallop, Hamshire, United Kingdom, April 1946Charles 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. 33Sqn and carried out attacks on Arab insurgents in Palestine (from Ramla base). His part in these operations earned him a DFC. He remainedin 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 themall 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 thisachievement 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 onMarch 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 Egyptbut 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 therest of the war instructing and commanding Armament Practice Campsand squadrons within Tactical Exercise Units.After the war he remained in the service untilOctober 1963. By the time he became WingCommander of the Southern Sector of FighterCommand, he had taken over the aircraft of R.P. Beamont and added stylized lightning bolton the fuselage - a most unusual marking onRAF aircraft at that time. The colors of it wereprobably yellow and red and the personal codewas white. After a short period of time, thelightning bolt was removed, leaving only a redwedge with no trim; the spinner was now halfblack/half white whereas it is thought it maypreviously have been yellow. For unknownreasons, the main undercarriage covers werereplaced, thereby disrupting the serial numberon the lower wing surfaces.eduard115INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 116
BIG5363 US Intrepid CV-11 PART I 1/350 TrumpeterBIG33139 AH-1G late 1/32 ICMBIG49311 CH-47A 1/48 Hobby BossBIG49312 Chipmunk T.10 1/48 AirxBIG49313 F/A-18E 1/48 Hobby Boss644119 Z-126 Trener LööK 1/48 Eduard644136 Tornado ECR LööK 1/48 Eduard/Revell648694 A6M2 engine PRINT 1/48 Eduard648705 Z-226 Trener cockpit PRINT 1/48 Eduard648707 F-16 wheels early 1/48 Tamiya648708 F-16 wheels late 1/48 Tamiya648709 F-4B ejecon seats early PRINT 1/48 Tamiya648711 Sopwith Camel Gnome engine PRINT 1/48 Eduard648712 SBD-5 twin machine gun 1/48Accurate Miniatures/Academy/Revell648713 SBD-5 wheels 1/48 Accurate Miniatures/Academy/Revell648714 Panzerschreck 1 for Fw 190F PRINT 1/48 Eduard648715 TSPJ pod PRINT 1/48 Eduard/Revell672277 Brish 1000lb retarded bombs 1/72644135 ChipmunkT.10 LööKplus 1/48 Airx644137 F-4B LööKplus 1/48 TamiyaSIN64878 Spiire Mk.Va/b ESSENTIAL 1/48 EduardBIG ED (January)BRASSIN (January)LöökPlus (January)BIGSIN (January)BIG49311BIG33139BIG49313ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHJANUARY 2022BRASSIN644119 Z-126 Trener LööK 1/48 EduardPRELLIMINARYeduard116INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 117
644136 Tornado ECR LööK 1/48 Eduard/Revell648694 A6M2 engine PRINT 1/48 EduardBRASSINJANUARY 2022ON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHPRELLIMINARYeduard117INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 118
648705 Z-226 Trener cockpit PRINT 1/48 Eduard648707 F-16 wheels early 1/48 TamiyaON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHBRASSINJANUARY 2022eduard118INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 119
648708 F-16 wheels late 1/48 Tamiya648709 F-4B ejection seats early PRINT 1/48 TamiyaBRASSINON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHJANUARY 2022eduard119INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 120
648711 Sopwith Camel Gnome engine PRINT 1/48 Eduard648712 SBD-5 twin machine gun 1/48 Accurate Miniatures/Academy/RevellON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHBRASSINJANUARY 2022eduard120INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 121
648714 Panzerschreck 1 for Fw 190F PRINT 1/48 Eduard648713 SBD-5 wheels 1/48 Accurate Miniatures/Academy/RevellBRASSINON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHON APPROACHJANUARY 2022eduard121INFO Eduard - December 2021Page 122