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Pre/during WWII NMF airliners? 1/72


wellsprop

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Hi all,

I'm looking for any Dakota operated by BOAC before/during WWII (with NMF finish).

Thus far I have only found G-AGHF, shown in NMF pre-war. Would any DC-3's have been operated during the war in NMF and would they have had a large rear cargo door or a stabdard passenger door?

Anyone got/know of any pictures of DC-3's operated by BOAC in WWII?

Thanks,
Ben

Edited by wellsprop
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They would have all had camouflage. The cargo door is a C-47 feature, so at least the early BOAC DC-3s will not have had this. Possibly BOAC will later have received some C-47s with this. It is also possible that some of the impressed DC-3s may have had the passenger door on the starboard side. I don't know the history of the individual aircraft and (sorry) don't have the spare time at the moment to sort through the 4-volume Air Britain DC-3 histories...

Edited by Graham Boak
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I didn't think that any British airlines operated DC-3s before 1939. Aer Lingus had some on order and managed to get them out of Holland (they were being assembled by Fokker) just before the Germans invaded.

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Thanks for the replies all :)

Shame there aren't many shiny WWII/pre war airliners. I may do a Dak in camo flying for BOAC, or I'll look for a pre war NMF airliner.

I'll throw this one over to you guys for inspiration, any good NMF airliners before/during WWII in the UK? The Dh89 is an option!

Ben

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The De Haviiland DH86 and DH89 were predominately of wooden construction, so not much natural metal on show - apart from the engine cowlings and undercarriage fairings. They do look nice in their silver doped colours though.

I think most of the all metal airliners in use pre-war by the British airlines have been mentioned. You do need to check whether the silver finish you are looking at in a photo is genuine unpainted metal or whether it is aluminium paint or dope.

Another silver coloured airliner used by Imperial Airways was the Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta - although I think that was painted silver.

Edited by Eric Mc
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I didn't think that any British airlines operated DC-3s before 1939. Aer Lingus had some on order and managed to get them out of Holland (they were being assembled by Fokker) just before the Germans invaded.

Sadly only one DC-3 EI-ACA was delivered from Fokker before the invasion there were reports ACB was impressed into service by the Luftwaffe not sure how through that is. ACA was written off at Shannon in June 1946 following a engine fire thankfully without serious injury

regards

Eamonn

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There is a well known picture of EI-ACA in camouflage colours but carrying large registration letters. It's a black and white picture of course so I'm not sure what the colours really were. Was the underside bright orange?

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Or how about the British Airways Ju-52? ( G-AFAP ) Not sure if it was transferred to BOAC in 1939. Have always had a fascination with these aircraft.

Saw a great 1930's documentary on the Lufthansa service down to Italy. The starboard bulkhead seat had a shelf that could unfold from the bulkhead, with a typewriter attached. The corporate exec. could dictate to his secretary as they winged their way over the Alps. Don't know why that impressed me so much, but that little titbit always stayed with me.

Cheers,

Mike

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Or how about the British Airways Ju-52? ( G-AFAP ) Not sure if it was transferred to BOAC in 1939. Have always had a fascination with these aircraft.

Saw a great 1930's documentary on the Lufthansa service down to Italy. The starboard bulkhead seat had a shelf that could unfold from the bulkhead, with a typewriter attached. The corporate exec. could dictate to his secretary as they winged their way over the Alps. Don't know why that impressed me so much, but that little titbit always stayed with me.

Cheers,

Mike

Now that's a good idea! I'll have a look into it.

Ben

Edited by wellsprop
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I thought they did they had done the odd 1/72 kit.

I have an old Aircraft Models 1/144 Atalanta. This does mean that you could, in 1/144 at least, have a fairly nice little collection of pre-war 1930s airliners -

Junkers Ju52

Junkers G38

De Havilland Albatross

Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta

Armstrong Whitworth Ensign

Handley Page HP42

Douglas DC-3

Any others?

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I thought they did they had done the odd 1/72 kit.

I have an old Aircraft Models 1/144 Atalanta. This does mean that you could, in 1/144 at least, have a fairly nice little collection of pre-war 1930s airliners -

Junkers Ju52

Junkers G38

De Havilland Albatross

Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta

Armstrong Whitworth Ensign

Handley Page HP42

Douglas DC-3

Any others?

Perhaps they did do the odd issue, but the vast majority of their output is 1/144. Worth a check on their web site?

You can get the trimotor Dewoitine, from Fresin (I think), maybe some of the other French examples too. AZ (or was it Legato then?) did a Fokker/Avia/Avro 10. I don't attempt to keep track of all the more exotic 1/144, it's amazing what is around in odd corners, but I suspect you could find an Fw200. Isn't there a DC-2 kit? The British could perhaps do with an Anson (Avro 19), but I don't know about that.

Was the Atlanta used in Europe or only in India? That's certainly where they ended up.

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