Airacobra Mk I, 601 Squadron

One of the fighters sent to the RAF through the Lend-Lease program was the P-39 Airacobra, which in the United Kingdom was known as the Airacobra Mk I, and although it was to begin being delivered in early 1941, Their reception was delayed when the first units of the batch were requisitioned by the USAAF for use in the desperate fight in the Pacific, so it was not until the end of that year that they began to arrive, already painted in the new Gray and Green scheme. .

The first unit to be equipped was the 601 Squadron "County of London", of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, an old unit of young Reserves with a taste for flying, and who were enrolled in some of the most expensive universities, so which was known as the "Millionary's mob".

The Airacobra proved not to be up to the needs of the RAF and was practically immediately declared unfit for service and handed over to the Russians, so these aircraft were shipped in a convoy to Murmansk and painted with the red star, sometimes only with its English codes obliterated with a single layer of paint.

The model is from Airfix, what better than a British model to represent an English plane? The paint is El Viejo Marino, all the decoration is by brush.

P-40E Warhawk, RAAF, Milne Bay battle

The Battle of Milne Bay, has been unfairly forgotten, was decisive in breaking Japanese rule in New Guinea, it was the first Japanese landing in the Pacific War, which was rejected, and all this was achieved, when the Australian forces were still in inferior conditions to the Japanese.

Air superiority was achieved with the not so good P-40E, which had been defeated in the Philippines and Java, but the Australian planes were flown with the lessons learned, by determined pilots who achieved sufficient air superiority, so that the attack planes could fulfill their function.

This model represents an airplane of the 75 Squadron, it is one of my first attempts to make a model, with decoration different from that offered by the manufacturer, it is in 1/144 and is from Lodela, the decals come from my box of remains and They have only been modified to represent the Australian insignia, the letter P is painted.

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Spitfire 1/32, Revell Lodela

In Mexico, Lodela produced two versions of the Spitfire in 1/32 scale, both were magnificent, in my opinion, the best models of that time, only surpassed by the Airfix Spitfire in 1/32, I know that Revell also produced a Seafire , but I never saw it in our country.

I leave you the boxart of both, I have it on my construction list, I intend to build it as a Spitfire Mk II, the YTL, inspired by the collection of the Necomisa modeling museum

I only have three of them, but the good thing about the Spitfire is that there are all scales, even the rarest ones, like 1/69 and 1/40.

Spitfire Mk V troop, 249 (Golden Coast) Squadron

One of the most outstanding Hurricane units of the war, was one of the last to train with this type of fighter, in May 1940, during the Battle of Britain, one of its pilots received the Victoria Cross, once the battle was over, it began offensive operations on France with Hurribombers, destined for Malta, participated in the hardest fighting on the Island, in February 1942 he transitioned to Spitfires on the battlefield, won the victory, in November he went on the offensive, on Sicily, in 1943 He was transferred to Italy and then to the Balkans, in September 1945 he transitioned again, to Mustangs, passing his Spitfires to the Yugoslavs.

Model: Spitfire Mk V trop, PM.

Scale: 1/72

Painting: El Viejo Marino (Ye olde Seaman)

Unit: 249 (Golden Coast) Squadron Malta

Code: C

Modelistic notes: Model direct from the box, from the PM brand, it is an excessively simple model, but it is the only Mk V trop that is available, it has the camouflage used in the Battle of Malta, The Old Marine paint, codes and brush insignia.

Hurricane 1/144, Revell Lodela

 

Another of Lodela's models in the seventies was the Huirricane in 1/144, belonging to the same H-1000 Series as the previous entry, it shared the same design principles, a yellow box, a magnificent Ikematsu Boxart, the simple instructions and decals for a version of 56 Squadron, code US-G, one of the participants in the Battle of Britain. This is the original box from 1978, with its label of free cement.

Tiger Moth, The Mummy

This small training plane was produced since the 1930s and is considered one of the best training planes ever, simple to build, simple to fly and very stable, it was purchased by the RAF by the hundreds, used for primary training, It was the first mount for virtually every RAF pilot during World War II.

In the desperate months of the Battle of Britain, with the German invasion looming at any moment, every RAF aircraft was prepared to fight the invasion, and the Tiger Moth was no exception, there were over 300 in schools and prepared its use as a light bomber, to attack the German beachheads if the moment presented itself, the planes were going to be piloted by the teachers and the most advanced students, in what was called Banquet Light, thinking about the idea of ​​going Combat in a slow plane, without defensive weapons and with untrained pilots is chilling. luckily it was never carried out, but that influenced the fact that the RAF Tiger Moths were camouflaged.

Later the Aviation Schools were distributed throughout the Empire, so Tiger Moths can be found all over the world, in some parts like Iraq or Singapore they did see real combat, but in general they led peaceful lives, many of them existing to date. them in civilian hands.

This model is from Airfix Lodela, I painted it with Testors yellow, which is wrong, the RAF Trainer Yellow is more orange, but that didn't matter, in the end I decorated it to represent the Tiger Moth, from the movie of the Mummy (1999) with Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser, which is painted in this exact yellow, the decals are from the model, except for the code that is by brush.