French Spitfires in Indochina

[justplanecrazy]

Hi Guys does anyone know of a picture of the 2 options on the Carpena decal sheet as my serch of online resources has failed to work out if they were 'C' wing or 'E' wing Spits. The French used both versions of the Spitfire in Indochina, but the instructions such as they are does not indecate which they are.

My intuition is that SL568-R is an 'E' wing (I have a picture of SL653-V which is an 'E' wing) the other option (P-TE141)I am not sure of. Any help with these would be greatly apreciated. I intend using the new Airfix IX for this project.

Nick

[AnonymousFO98]

Hi Nick

not sure if these are the same as on the Model Art sheet ?

will have a looksee

some had the clipped wing broad rudder

will try and upload the instructions if it will help

[justplanecrazy]

Hi Nick

not sure if these are the same as on the Model Art sheet ?

will have a looksee

some had the clipped wing broad rudder

will try and upload the instructions if it will help

Cheers

Nick

[Old VG 33]

Hi Nick

I have not any picture of those you are looking for, but I can say that TE494 #D or ML137 #P had clipped E wing.

I made ML137 :

Patrick

[justplanecrazy]

Hi Nick

I have not any picture of those you are looking for, but I can say that TE494 #D or ML137 #P had clipped E wing.

I made ML137 :

Patrick

Nicely done, 1.48 I presume?

[Old VG 33]

Nicely done, 1.48 I presume?

No, 1/72 Hasegawa.

Patrick

[justplanecrazy]

No, 1/72 Hasegawa.

Patrick

As a 1.72 scale modeller to another, that is exceptional! I'm going to use the new Airfix kit for my Froggie Spit.

Nick

[AnonymousFO98]

Sorry nick i thought i put the instructions on the thread- have they been moved or am i going doolally?

that is a gorgeous Spit Patrick and was hoping to do that scheme myself

[Test Graham]

One point to bear in mind is that these aircraft were described as wellworn, so it's a good example to practice your weathering skills. A crisp clean "factory-fresh" scheme would not be appropriate.

[justplanecrazy]

Sorry nick i thought i put the instructions on the thread- have they been moved or am i going doolally?

that is a gorgeous Spit Patrick and was hoping to do that scheme myself

You PM'd them to me.

Nick

[justplanecrazy]

One point to bear in mind is that these aircraft were described as wellworn, so it's a good example to practice your weathering skills. A crisp clean "factory-fresh" scheme would not be appropriate.

Quite true Graham in the photo's I've found of these Spits they are all well hammered. the climate in Nam dosn't do airframes any favours at all!

Nick

[AnonymousFO98]

Thanks Nick

a senior moment then - i can cope with that, being used to it now

But there must have been a point when the camo was recently applied. not wanting to provoke btw as the weathered option sounds good to me- especially if there are pics

Edited November 22, 2009 by walrus

[Test Graham]

They were all pre-used airframes. Yes, they will have been bright and shiny at one time, when originally delivered in RAF markings to the RAF. I believe the implication in the French text is that they were fairly tatty to start with, when received. Presumably you could have a worn airframe with bright clear national markings......makes one part of it easy.

[AnonymousFO98]

Thanks Graham-

for some reason was thinking they were sent from the factory brand new.

[Old VG 33]

Hi

Here are the text I wrote when I made my French Spitfire in Indochina :

Before cutting the sprues here are a summary of the French Spitfire operations in Indochina between 1945 and 1950 :

The first Spitfires the French Air Force flew in Indochina were some Mk VIII borrowed from the RAF in Tan Son Nhut (Saigon) in Cochinchine. They were used in anger on December 13, 1945 by the GC II/7. Later GC I/7 “Provence” and GC II/7 “Nice” were re-equipped with Spitfire Mk IX, this time bought from GB. The first Tonkin operation ended in March 1946 and by this time the two squadrons flew over 600 sorties, expended 150.000 ammos and dropped 28 t of bombs with only four aircraft dammaged.

In July 1946 the 2nd Escadre,with GC I/2 “Cigognes” in Hanoï and Lang Son and GC II/2 “Alsace” in Saigon, Nha Trang and Tourane (Da Nang), replaced the 1st Escadre with the same Spitfires. Obviously the squadrons moved according to the pacification campaign in Cochinchine.

The next unit was the 4th Escadre with GC I/4 “Dauphiné” and GC II/4 “Lafayette” which was deployed for Operation “Léa” against the Viêt Minh strongholds in Haut-Tonkin in September 1947.

The last unit to fly operationally the Spitfire was the 3rd Escadre when the GC I/3 “Navarre” replaced the GC II/4 in September 1948 and the GC II/3 “Champagne” replaced the GC I/4 in January 1949.

By the beginning of 1950 the 5th Escadre started operations against the Viêt-Minh with Bell P-63s ending the Spitfire era in Indochina.

And the link to the Work in progress

Patrick

Edited November 22, 2009 by VG 33

[Jennings Heilig]

Could someone with the decal and instruction sheets for that sharkmouth one pls drop me an email (jrh at pemtel dot net).

Tks!

J

[AnonymousFO98]

Hi Jennings

wilco

might be a good idea not to have your addy on public display

[Old VG 33]

Could someone with the decal and instruction sheets for that sharkmouth one pls drop me an email (jrh at pemtel dot net).

Tks!

J

I've got the instruction sheet but as you can see the decals are on the kit.

Patrick