Smithy

I just had a squizz in Paul Lucas' Battle for Britain colours booklet and it doesn't give an actual date, just "on the outbreak of war".

@Johnson Charlie, I just thought that I'm not going to use my decals for Taffy's SE from my 1/72 Pheon sheet so if you want them whizz be a PM and I'll send them to you. Maybe that helps a little bit, Tim

Absolute easiest? Probably an Eduard Dr.I or D.VII. Slightly more skill needed but if you've been modelling awhile you could also easily tackle a 1/72 Roden Dr.I (or their F.I if you'd rather go Voss or Wolff as many do) - they're not difficult either and end up very nicely. All good suggestions from the other members above. One thing with building WWI aircraft, you may very well get bitten by the bug as the challenge of building and rigging them can become quite addictive. From a modelling standpoint they're intensely satisfying as well because they're far more of a challenge than a WWII monoplane, as a result when you finish one the feeling of achievement is much greater, at least it is for me.

This is something I have dealt with in the past when researching relatives, one who flew Spits with 64 and then 92 Sqns and the another who flew Tiffies with 175. I had photos of some aircraft but wanted to know codes of others. It's often easy to find serial numbers for aircraft flown via the squadron ORBs. The vast majority of ORBs though list serials and not the individual squadron code, to find this you need a photo or very often logbooks of those pilots who flew that aircraft/serial number. Most - not all - RAF pilots often wrote the individual code letter for the aircraft rather than the serial in their logbooks. So your first step is to try and find logbooks of other members of the same flight that your relative flew in. You can do this through several methods: the squadron association is a good place to start (if the squadron has one) to get in touch with other relatives; another is to post a request on specialist aviation history fora such as 12 O'clock High (I made contact with two other relatives from the same flights as my relatives which enabled me to find the individual aircraft codes to serial numbers by correlating their relatives' logbooks with serial numbers from the ORBs). It takes time but with patience and a bit of luck you'll find the information you're after if you make contact with the right people. Hope that helps a little, Tim

Can't help with Brewster specific things but 71 is an interest of mine so back to the original poster's request... I went through all my Eagle squadron books including memoirs (and I have most) and have not found one photo of the squadron's three Brewsters at Church Fenton. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, they were with the squadron for effectively less than a week. Combined with the fact that Sqn Ldr Churchill wasn't at all happy with being given them, I seriously doubt they carried any squadron codes. Too short a time and the CO's obvious desire to be rid of them means to me that they would not have been assigned squadron codes. Just something which I thought might help Selwyn's request.

All are from X4422. In terms of actual location on the airframe, no idea. X4422 was completely destroyed as it crashed into the ground at high speed after being shot down.

Late here but C1117 was a completely standard Viper powdered SE5a built by the Royal Aircraft Factory, one of a batch of a 100 that they supplied. Standard 200hp Viper W.4A engine, standard prop seen on Vipers and normal exhausts.

Haven't been on here in absolute years as modelling has taken a back seat over the last few years. But I'd dragged my Hall of Shame SE5a build out to do some work and wandered over here and saw this and specifically the heads-up from Troy. In terms of the photos from Shoreham I could only find one. I can't find the others. Sadly all those years ago they sent me also a comparison with a part painted in the standard interior green from a mid-war Spit and it was obvious that the pieces from X4422 were brighter and greener. Here's the photo that I could find on my hard drive, If it was me and you're doing a very earlier production Spit I'd do the interior a greener and brighter shade than the normal interior grey-green. Caveat - that's just my opinion. Anyway with that said here's the image I still have...

That is the one I recommend for a first book on the air war over the Western Front in WWI and especially that edition which has a wonderful amount of photos and illustrations.

Without doubt "Winged Victory". There's a damn good reason why copies of it were changing hands within the RAF at the start of WWII for astronomical sums. Regarded then as the most accurate recounting of what it was like to be a scout/fighter pilot at the time and it still is one of the most truthful and honest today.

Very late to the party here. I have one and yes they are sought after. A fair price for one which is untouched (so not started) is around $US1,200 to $US1,500 depending on box condition. They are a magnificent kit, one of the best of its kind. I think as a modeller you'll really regret it if you sell it. These are real Holy Grail kits so it might be worth forgetting everything else you have in the stash and building it.

Haven't been on here in years so apologies for the tardy response. Here we go with Al's Spits during 1940... The first Kiwi was just named "Kiwi" not "Kiwi I" and was N3180, coded KL-B The next was "Kiwi II" (P9390), coded KL-B. The third and last was "Kiwi III" (R6981), coded KL-B. For further information, the best reference for Al's Kiwis is Gerard Morris' "Spitfire: The New Zealand Story". HTH, Tim

Ah I see. However it's usually better to go to the owner or holder of the original (in this case the IWM) to get the correct information regarding an image.

Don't know where you got that information from. The image is in the IWM's collection and with the caption: "Spitfire Mk Is of 'A' Flight, No. 602 Squadron running up their engines at Drem in Scotland, March 1940. The foreground aircraft has the name 'Bogus' painted beneath the cockpit." It's been reproduced in quite a number of books too and comes from a series of images which were made during a press visit to 602 when they were stationed at Drem. Very possibly!

Spot on Peter. One could also be "a Bogus" so a person/thing who had been caught out as a sham or a dodgy fellow or thing.