sanguin

Dear Gary, Catapults are a topic that crops up once in a while on the Aircraft section of Britmodeller. As far as I am aware there are no plans of British catapults (accelerators are very different, you find them on post 1945ish aircraft carriers to launch aircraft). Catapults were first developed in WW, mainly by the US Navy. We used them to launch aircraft in the 20s and the A&AEE at Farnborough did a lot of the development work up to the 1940s. Catapults have a wheeled trolley that is fired down a railway track. The aircraft sits on the trolley, the trolley runs on rails, the rails are supported by either large beams/girders or steel lattice frames. The aircraft runs its engine to full throttle, the trolley is fired down the track by either compressed air or cordite and stops when it reaches the end. The uprights fold down slightly, releasing the aircraft to hopefully fly away. Watch this, all will be made clear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsBGPjc8DF And a picture: http://www.picsearch.com/imageDetail.cgi?id=r0aBFr1eA2Za-2e5ARlChifQ07bYAzGojZPN3QJhJd0&start=1&q=Supermarine%20Walrus These threads will show you some more WW2 rocket powered catapults for merchant ships: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/47734-the-hurricat-and-cam-ship-diorama-completed/?hl=catapult http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/28936-hurricanes-on-merchant-catapult-ships/?hl=catapult White Ensign make some 1/72 etched brass German and US catapults: https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/WEM+172+Bismarck+Class+Catapult+PE+7247/5449/#.UxUVIyiPfOF https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/WEM+172+Kriegsmarine+Aircraft+Catapult+PE+7204/5397/#.UxUVSCiPfOF https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/WEM+172+WWII+USN+Battleship+Catapult+PE+7208/5401/#.UxUVeiiPfOF https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/Attack+Squadron+172+US+Navy+P6+Catapult+ASQ72001/16027/#.UxUVnSiPfOF I don't know how accurate you want to be, but they are usually very similar; the main difference is in the use of either big beams and plates or steel lattice frames. I believe that there was a fixed catapult at RAF Leuchars that was used to launch Queen Bees for the RN to shoot at and miss, long gone but there may be a picture somewhere. Any catapult must have a crane to lift the aircraft onto the trolley. Land versions may have a fixed crane by the catapult or use a mobile crane, Airfix have a 1/76 kit with a Coles crane and RAF low loader if you need one. As a MAFVA man you already know that! If you Google 'aircraft catapults' or 'Walrus catapults' there are some pictures out there. If you put a Queen Bee on the catapult then it can cover a multitude of sins, its floats will conceal much of the trolley and you are mainly left with the track..... Airfix have a nice new 1/72 Tiger Moth, I'm sure a Queen Bee variant will appear from some enterprising conversion kit supplier. I hope this is of some help, Good luck, John

Have you seen this thread from the site: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/50939-148-flying-bedstead/ That may be a man who can help you. Also this site as some photographs that may be helpful: http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?txtkeys1=Flying+Bedstead John

Dear CarLos, I have attempted to construct two Mach 2 kits in my life. An He 114 floatplane that bore little resemblance to the Swedish aircraft that I wanted to reproduce. The moulding was poor, the surface finish was.....variously textured and quite lumpy in odd places. The fit was even worse than an old Merlin Osprey kit (that means really, really bad). After some months of struggle, I gave in. it was binned. Mach 2, 1 - me, Nil. Foolishly I then tried their Vickers Valiant to make the one on which my godfather was a Crew Chief on 207 Squadron. A lot of money for something horrendous. Little matched any drawings or plans, it was twisted and distorted and had a fascinating pebble-dash surface finish. I tried, oh how I tried, but.... A second failure. Another terminal dive into the wheeliebin. Mach 2, 2 - me, Nil. I know my limitations, I was defeated. CarLos, do not buy any of those books. If you are happy that the kit looks like a Convair then keep that faith and do not challenge it with any other plans, pictures or sketches. Just build it, good luck and I do hope that you get pleasure from both the construction and the finished model. If you do then you will be a genuinely happy man! John

In the late 1950s/very early 1960s some Land Rovers in Malta had neatly painted white wheel nuts and most of the bigger trucks had both white and red, especially those of The Royal Malta Artillery. I was familiar with the RMA vehicles as we lived in Tigne Barracks at the time; even their Bofors guns were heavily 'bulled'. As an army brat I was impressed, I'd not seen anything like that in BAOR or any of the UK bases we had lived in. Even the 'light sand' paintwork was usually polished to a brilliant shine on the army transport out there. It may be a false memory, but I saw the odd Champ out there and as I recall they had red wheel nuts as well as the usual white. RN and RAF vehicles were in their respective blues, but most had white roofs and all were kept in pristine condition. Fuel filler caps were all painted, usually red, but yellow for diesels I think. I suppose it was the fag end of National Service and vehicle polishing was the norm in a place like Malta. We must do something to keep the lads busy and away from screech and the Gut...... John John

Try this link for some images: http://aircraftwalkaround.hobbyvista.com/tunnan/tunnan.htm which come from this very useful site that also has another Tunnan walkaround that my iMac refuses to open......it does not fraternise lightly with Adobe stuff nowadays: http://aircraftwalkaround.hobbyvista.com/walkindex.html#ground Some other stuff, few images but a history: http://www.x-plane.org/home/urf/aviation/text/29tunnan.htm All the best, John

The ETPS Gripen is in Swedish markings, rather boring greys with low vis Kronmarken. It is based in Sweden and as far as I know the ETPS courses fly it there, not in the UK. This link tells you more(and the models are good, too): http://www.gengriz.co.uk/2013/Jan%2013.htm This picture shows the 'non-product-placed' current scheme: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanair/7357327504/

Thank you Thomas, I have sent you a pm. about the Aiirwaves set. As to the die cast, sadly not my scene for aircraft. I have a few 1/43rd die casts of Can Am cars (and a couple of not-very-well-made-by-me resin kits too). But thanks for noting what was on eBay for me. John

The law of the market, charge as much as the customer will pay.....but I suspect that the Cyberhobby kits will be discounted sometime in the future, if the dealers can afford to do it. Just out of a very particular interest, is the Cyberhobby HC4 undercarriage structure accurate compared with either the Airways white metal set or, for those who are rather particular, the Real Thing? Lacking either Airways or Cyber bits but looking to handcraft the strut,'wing' and wheels for an HC4 to place on a Revell kit, any comments/dimensions/drawings would be helpful. I have so far failed to find any really useful diagrams of the Junglie undercarriage but may soon have the opportunity to measure the Cyberhobby bits from a completed kit. Then again, if anybody has any HC4 undercarriage bits going spare from the non-HC4 version, please let me know! Thanks, John

A a mechanical Luddite I may not be well qualified to comment, why not have the smaller diameter contra-rotors but with the Darts/Tynes driving through gearboxes and following the Sea Mosquito method with left and right handed propulsion propellors-all torque is neutralised in all dimensions. Simples. So why was I not asked about this 60 years ago? John

My reference to 'A mere £100' was serious- I know that currently the kit is advertised at £130-145. Harvey who runs the shop usually has his stock with a bit of discount, if I recall correctly the GT40 was originally sold for £120. He reduced it to £100 some months ago as he had nobody who wanted it around Faversham. I am but a very satisfied customer of that rapidly-disappearing thing, the LHS. The Hobby Shop in Faversham does kits, railways, paints, diecasts etc etc. Use it or lose it, that is why my loft is extremely well insulated! John

For a mere £100 this shop has one in stock....... http://www.hobb-e-mail.com/tru05403-reduced.html John

More than twenty years ago a friend called Dennis Toone built a radio control flying scale model of a Flying Flea, about six foot wingspan with a painstakingly steamed laminated main spar to get the constant curve on the mainplane. It was beautifully finished. It took him about a year to complete the project and was a replica of one of the few British ones that were successfully flown. The Pou-de-Ciel was probably the most widely known homebuilt microlight (as we now call it) ever, hundreds of sets of plans were sold in the late 1930s and post war. Of the few that were completed most crashed, often with serious or fatal consequences for the pilot. The CAA actually banned the design in the UK. Sadly, like most of the real thing, Dennis' replica stalled badly on a trial 'ground hop' and broke the spar at the central pivot for the mainplane. Dennis built an unattractive but durable box section to repair the break, made one successful flight to prove that it could be done and never flew it again. However, he was asked to display it locally for an Arts and Crafts exhibition and so I built a 1/72 replica from the long-gone Aeroclub kit, same markings as those Dennis chose and accompanied by a hand-crafted minature Mr Toone lovingly fettling his machine. It was a nice kit and much appreciated by the visitors as we displayed them together, my tiny version beneath the wing of its giant brother and entitled: 'Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.' Sorry, we could not resist using that line! Dennis is no longer alive, his daughter found the Flea (and his other aircraft) broken up in his loft and the control gear removed; my 'Littler Flea' had vanished, too. Ben, enjoy your scratchbuilding and keep on looking at more microlights, there are huge range of them in varying unlikely shapes and spindliness to test your skills. John

Not military, I know, but how about three decks of small windows and Ryanair on the fin..... Sanguin, an O'Leary frequent flyer.

PM on the way to you, viscount. I have a spare Aeroclub Vintage Pair T11 XH304 sheet for you if you want it.... John

I bet it really upsets the local fishermen.....

Some more pictures for you: http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/valiant/walkaround.php http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?91497-Cockpit-collection-Rayleigh-in-Essex John

Does this help you: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/73820-building-and-correcting-the-airfix-valiant-b1/ From this site. Good luck. John

John Rawlings invaluable Coastal, Support and Special Squadrons gives a host of numbers. Not all ASR Squadrons were equipped with both Defiants and Ansons; 279, 283, 284, 292 and 293 had neither type listed by Rawlings. 275 Squadron Defiant I (May 42- Aug 43) N3423; T3920 Anson I (March 43- Aug 44) AX645; EG492, PV:F; LT592, PV:O 276 Squadron Defiant I, II (May 42- May 43) N3372, AQ:T; T3929; T4051 AQ:N; AA296 Anson I (Mar 43- May 44) R3443, AQ; EG499; EG505, AQ 277 Squadron Defiant I (May 42- May 43) N1561; V1117; AA254; AA312 278 Squadron Anson I (Feb 43- July 44) DG809; EF985, MY:F; LT592 MY 280 Squadron Anson I (Feb 42- Oct 43) AX607, YF:Y; AX623, YF:G; AX645, YF:F; DG877, YF:J; DG917, YF:A 281 Squadron Defiant I (April 42- June 43) N1613; N3481; T4036 Anson I (April 43- Nov 43) EG467, FA:F; EG560; NK589 282 Squadron Anson I (March 43- Jan 44) DJ617; EG540; EG555; EG583 As with the ASR Spitfires, this is going to be a compilation of data from a wide range of sources. John

There isn't a lot on ASR Defiants out there, but this link may be useful: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/rec.models.scale/Ov2XyVqtau4 As to the Ansons, I know nothing but there is a not so helpful picture here: http://www.cebudanderson.com/downdrink%201.htm This isn't in any way definitive, but someone thinks it should be TSS: http://www.rafweb.org/SqnMark271-299.htm Interesting stuff. John

These links may be of interest to some of you: http://www.aircrew-saltire.org/lib115.htm http://www.cebudanderson.com/downdrink5.htm I found them as part of my interest in 277 Squadron who had a very busy Flight based at Hawkinge. John

Edgar, my thanks for that extremely helpful bit of information. I never really understood why 277 seemed to use red codes (as I and others interpreted photos) but other ASR units seemingly didn't. The switch to yellow was not apparently completed all at once, some aircraft seemed to continue with their existing sky or red codes until quite late in 1943 from the few images I have seen. The thought of an ASR Lysander, Walrus or a fairly high-houred Anson fighting their way out of trouble is quite boggling; even a Spitfire II or V in 1943 was not really competitive. Their Airships assuming sky codes implied 'keep off' fighting prowess for a Walrus must have seriously terrified the Luftwaffe.... John

Direct from Rawlings 'Coastal, Support and Special Squadrons' book : 275 Squadron Spitfire Vb (Jan-April 1943 and April 44-February 45) BL294; BM448 276 Squadron Spitfire IIa (April 42-May 43) P7366; P8131, AQ:C Spitfire Vb (April 43-Jun 45) P8565; BL495; EN841 Hurricane II Dec 41-?? 42) Z3672; BE510 277 Squadron Spitfire IIa (Dec 42-May May 44) P8030; P8179, BA:T Spitfire Vb (May 44- Feb 45) P8705, BA:C; AD366, BA:Z; BM510 278 Squadron Spitfire Vb (April 44- Feb 45) R6965, MY:P; AD562, MY:V 279 Squadron Hurricane IIC, IV (April 45-Jun 45) KX180, RL:K; KX878, RL:U; KZ322, RL:S; KZ383, RL:N; LB651 This cites all Spitfires as IIa or Vb; it must be assumed that most or even all of the IIa versions were actually IIc conversions. This is going to be one of those 'collate the information from a wide range of sources' exercises. Is it reasonably safe to assume that all ASR Spitfires and Hurricanes had yellow codes after about 1943 or thereabouts? Early in the war the codes seemed to be dull red (for 277 at least). John

Dear Mick, You have posted this in the 'Interwar' section of Military Aircraft, not the 'Classic' section of Civil Aircraft where you have left the messages that you now think you have lost. Your original GeeBee posts are still in the 'Classic' section and have not been removed. Let he who is innocent cast the first stone.......been there, got that particular guilty t-shirt more than once. Perhaps some kind Britmodeller forum-meister will move the message above to the correct area for you. Best wishes, John

Frank, Have you seen this clip from the 1936 film 'Things To Come': http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&feature=related&v=AaTP6FawLgU&hl=en-GB Go to 8 minutes 10 seconds and have a careful look at the dogfight. I think it is the Fury intermediate G-ABSE . Wheel spats, extended radiator, silver finish and civil markings and none seem to be underwing..... I hope this is of some help, All the best, John

The frequently shown air-to-air photo of DW-K also shows part of DW-O. The fin flash appears to be reversed on DW-O with blue leading instead of red. This was mentioned in Aeroplane (January and April 2010) but only as a possible "erks mispaint". Does anybody know anything more, was the error repeated to starboard as well? Tamiya only show the 'normal' starboard side on their 1/48th Mk1a kit..... Also it may be worth looking at this Brimodeller site if you have not seen it already about BoB 610 Spitfires: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/51045-bob-spitfire-i-of-610-squadron-colours/ John