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1/48th Special Hobby Wirraway,, 24 Sqn, RAAF, Rabaul 1942.


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Hello Folks,

                   The Wirraway has always fascinated me and the RAAF crews who flew the type against the Japanese onslought across the Pacific were in many ways like the men who flew RAF Fairey Battles against the German Blitzkreig,...... asked to perform a task in an aircraft totally unsuited to the job. A glorified trainer, the Wirraway was employed as an interceptor fighter and also more successfully as a dive bomber and ground attack aircraft but later found its niche as an Army Co-Operation aircraft.

 

This model represents  one of the twelve Wirraway`s of 24 Sqn aircraft which helped defend Rabaul against the Japanese early in 1942, here is a the work in progress;

 

And here is a brief history of the real aircraft;

 

This model represents Wirraway A20-128 which originally served with 23 Sqn RAAF before moving on to 24 Sqn where the unit code `U' was applied. During early December 1941 24 Sqn deployed iwelve Wirraway`s and a handful of Hudson`s from Townsville in Australia on the long flight to Vunakanau and Lakunai airstrips on Rabaul island, with the Wirraway`s flying via a refuelling stop at a small airstrip at Gasmata on the coast of New Britain.

Upon arrival the unit (with only a skeleton staff of 115 from its full complement of 650 at Townsville) formed part of the small 1,400 man strong Australian garrison awaiting the arrival of the Japanese juggernaut which was sweeping across the Pacific and the first Japanese air raids took place on the 4th January 1942. Apart from two old AA guns the twelve Wirraway`s were the only air defence available but despite early warning from coast watchers they were at first unable to scramble in time to reach the height of the attacking bombers and in the preceding days a number of Australian aircraft were destroyed on the ground by bombing and only a few reinforcements were sent to replace them. Requests were made for more modern fighters but these were refused, despite a number of US P-40`s staging through Rabaul en route to the Dutch East Indies.

 It is known that A20-128 (the subject of this model) took off  from Vunakanau at 0607hrs on the 6th January 1941 crewed by F/O Bruce Anderson (OC of one of the Wirraway Flights) and P/O Butterworth to intercept a raid by nine Japanese flying boats from Truk island but the engine was damaged while straining at full throttle to climb to 12,000 feet in order to reach the raiders and before it could be repaired t was later destroyed on the ground by bombing.

A notable interception from Rabaul took place on the 17th January 1941 when the CO of 24 Sqn, Sqn Ldr Lerew took off in a Wirraway from a dispersed strip at Kavieng in a hurry wearing only his shorts, with no parachute, goggles etc in pursuit of a Kawanishi `Mavis' flying boat which had just bombed his strip,.....he reached 16,000 feet where his teeth were chattering due to the cold but he located the Mavis 8,000 feet below and dived to make a head on attack,.....damaging the flying boat and killing two crew but the enemy aircraft was too fast for him and managed to pull away and head back to Truk. Many years later after the war the Australian and Japanese pilots of this action met up.

On the 20th January 1941 the first Japanese naval `Zero' fighters appeared over Rabaul as part of a strike force of 109 carrier aircraft flying from the approaching invasion fleet and during a pitched battle that day most of the surviving Wirraway`s were destroyed. The standing patrol of two Wirraway`s were swiftly shot down when they were overwhelmed by Zeroes while those available on the ground scrambled, One crashed upon take off and within seven minutes there were no Wirraway`s left in the sky,......three had been shot down, one was strafed on the ground and two had crash landed with serious damage,..... the heroism displayed in these circumstances by the Australian`s in the face of such overwhelming odds was amazing and six of the airmen were killed, with five wounded. 24 Sqn had only one Hudson and two Wirraway`s left and the former was loaded with wounded for evacuation while the Wirraway`s took off for Lae in New Guinea (this airfield was overrun by the Japanese in February 1942!). The majority of the remaining RAAF personnel were evacuated by Catalina flying boat`s of 11 Sqn RAAF and the Japanese invasion force landed on Rabaul on the 23rd January. Although the small Australian garrison put up a heroic fight the island was soon under Japanese control and the signal sent in latin "Morituri vos salutamus" meaning "We who are about to die salute you" has gone down in ANZAC folklore.

      .   

 And if you are still with me,.....here is the model,;

 

DSCF0297DSCF0298DSCF0280DSCF0294

 

 

DSCF0277_zpswjesorfo.jpg

 

Sorry if there are too many pics,....I may have doubled up on some!

 

As usual the model is mostly brush painted, although I did cheat by using a rattle can for the silver undersides,

 

Cheers,

             Tony

Edited by tonyot
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46 minutes ago, viscount806x said:

Very nice indeed. I'm wondering what it would take to make a Harvard Mk.I from this kit but I think the canopy might be an issue.

Cheers,.....well you would need to square off the bottom of the rudder,.....there is an unobstructed top decking included in the kit but you`d obviously need a 2 bladed prop as well and a new rear section for the canopy as the section in the kit is different. There are probably loads more differences that I cannot think of too,....probably best to go down the resin conversion route? MDC did a nice set but I`m not sure if it is still available and Belcher Bits do one too, does this help?

http://www.belcherbits.com/lines/kits/bk9.htm

Image result for model harvard Mk.I CONVERSION

bk9_web.jpg

Cheers

          Tony  

Edited by tonyot
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1 hour ago, tonyot said:

Cheers,.....well you would need to square off the bottom of the rudder,.....there is an unobstructed top decking included in the kit but you`d obviously need a 2 bladed prop as well and a new rear section for the canopy as the section in the kit is different. There are probably loads more differences that I cannot think of too,....probably best to go down the resin conversion route? MDC did a nice set but I`m not sure if it is still available and Belcher Bits do one too, does this help?

http://www.belcherbits.com/lines/kits/bk9.htm

Image result for model harvard Mk.I CONVERSION

bk9_web.jpg

Cheers

          Tony  

Thanks for that Tony. I have the MDC conversion but I think it is a bit lacking according to another thread here on BM. Belcher Bits Harvard conversions are not sold or stocked by any European dealers according to Mr. Belcher and being quite pricey would no doubt attract eye watering customs charges as well as postage from Canada. I think that the SH Wirraway kit conversion would definitely be a good economic proposition (by comparison) even if having also to buy an Italeri (for e.g.) kit as a donor for a prop and canopy (assuming that would be suitable??). I have canvassed Petr of SH to see if he might consider a slight revision of the Wirraway kit to give us a Harvard I but I haven't heard back from him so far.  Cheers, NB

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25 minutes ago, viscount806x said:

Thanks for that Tony. I have the MDC conversion but I think it is a bit lacking according to another thread here on BM. Belcher Bits Harvard conversions are not sold or stocked by any European dealers according to Mr. Belcher and being quite pricey would no doubt attract eye watering customs charges as well as postage from Canada. I think that the SH Wirraway kit conversion would definitely be a good economic proposition (by comparison) even if having also to buy an Italeri (for e.g.) kit as a donor for a prop and canopy (assuming that would be suitable??). I have canvassed Petr of SH to see if he might consider a slight revision of the Wirraway kit to give us a Harvard I but I haven't heard back from him so far.  Cheers, NB

No worries,.....I worked it out at around £37 including postage from Canada which is for the conversion set plus an Occidental base kit (around £25 in the shops here)  and Mike is quite good at putting `relevant' info for customs,.. if you know what I mean

Cheers

           Tony

Edited by tonyot
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Very nice as always your models are.

I've learnt some new details about use of Wirraways as fighters against Japaneese in New Guinea...Thanks for this story :)

Cheers

J-W

 

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16 hours ago, Silver Fox said:

Great work as always Tony. Good to see you up and modelling.

 

Viscount806. I f you can wait for Telford Mike B usually has a a stand and if you pre order  there is no customs charge or postage.

Thanks SF

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17 hours ago, tonyot said:

No worries,.....I worked it out at around £37 including postage from Canada which is for the conversion set plus an Occidental base kit (around £25 in the shops here)  and Mike is quite good at putting `relevant' info for customs,.. if you know what I mean

Cheers

           Tony

Thanks for the info Tony and I know what you mean in the last bit.

Nige B

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Great version of an subject close to my heart.

 

I find it interesting...is it an RAAF aircraft with very RAF looking markings.

 

Was that how the early RAAF aircraft were marked.

 

Irrespective great back story and terrific build

 

Well done

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9 minutes ago, Winenut said:

Great version of an subject close to my heart.

 

I find it interesting...is it an RAAF aircraft with very RAF looking markings.

 

Was that how the early RAAF aircraft were marked.

 

Irrespective great back story and terrific build

 

Well done

Thanks Winenut,......yes the RAAF wore red white and blue roundels at the start of WW2 and eventually got rid of the red areas so that they did not get confused with Japanese markings. After studying lots of photos I found that the pre war applied roundel colours were quite bright compared to the dull wartime colours; Here is a piece of surviving fuselage fabric from a Wirraway;

Image result for milne bay wirraway

And here is a photo of the actual aircraft that I have tried to depict;

Wirraway_A20_128_T_23_Sqn_Brisbane_via_t

 

Cheers

           Tony

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Really nice job on that Tony, I keep meaning to get one for myself for the collection. I might just do, now. Excellent!

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Another cracker Tony.. I still cannot fathom how you manage to produce as many completed kits as you do (even when you are laid off with a bad back!!).

I'm really liking this North American / CAC Trainer theme very much.

 

Cheers... Dave.

 

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Lovely, just lovely! In 1979 while on a trip to Rabaul, I saw and took pics of the wrecked Wirraways of the RAAF, in a mission near Vunakanau where a lot of items were put together as a Museum of some kind.

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2 hours ago, Zigomar said:

Lovely, just lovely! In 1979 while on a trip to Rabaul, I saw and took pics of the wrecked Wirraways of the RAAF, in a mission near Vunakanau where a lot of items were put together as a Museum of some kind.

Cheers Zigomar,....I`d love to see those photos,.....I didn`t realise that there was any surviving Wirraway wreckage at Rabaul.!

 

9 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Another cracker Tony.. I still cannot fathom how you manage to produce as many completed kits as you do (even when you are laid off with a bad back!!).

I'm really liking this North American / CAC Trainer theme very much.

 

Cheers... Dave.

 

Thanks Dave,......I`m just laid up on the settee, bored and with a tea tray in front of me. The pain from my back isn`t so bad now when I`m lying down and so I`m just modelling to keep me sane! Glad you like the trainer theme,..... I`ve got a few more planned yet! I just missed out on a 2nd hand Monogram Texan kit at the model shop on Saturday,......grrrr!!

 

Cheers

            Tony

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