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Just finished, the latest addition to my RAF Ouston project, and if you wonder what 'desert camouflage' was doing in Northumberland in 1941, read on ...... BE588, G, 232 Sqdn, Ouston, Nov 1941 (19) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr BE588, G, 232 Sqdn, Ouston, Nov 1941 (15) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr BE588, G, 232 Sqdn, Ouston, Nov 1941 (13) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr BE588, G, 232 Sqdn, Ouston, Nov 1941 (9) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr BE588, G, 232 Sqdn, Ouston, Nov 1941 (5) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr BE588, G, 232 Sqdn, Ouston, Nov 1941 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr 232 Squadron at RAF Ouston, Northumberland received these new built aircraft from August 1941, prior to 50 pilots and their aircraft embarking on 11th November for the Middle East to join the Desert Air Force. However, at Cape Town the squadron and the aircraft were diverted to Singapore where Malaya had just been invaded by the Japanese. Aircraft BE588 arrived at Singapore on 13th January 1942, crated on the SS Sussex, and by 17th January it was ready for operations with 232 Squadron. On 21st January Pilot Officer John Gorton (RAAF) took it into combat on his first sortie, and took hits from a Japanese fighter. The engine failed but he managed to make RAF Kallang for a forced landing where the undercarraige collapsed and the aircraft flipped over. P/O Gorton suffered serious facial injuries and was evacuated on a ship for Jakarta, which was then sunk by a Japanese submarine. Gorton was rescued with others from a lifeboat and eventually made it to Australia. Sir John Grey Gorton GCMG, AC, CH was the nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1968 to 1971, and his face remained disfigured from his crash in BE588. The curious thing is, I just wanted to add a 232 Sqdn Hurricane IIb (with twelve guns) to the aircraft types based at Ouston. I searched for photos on the web, but only found two taken at Singapore, photos taken by the Japanese of abandoned aircraft. That looks like 'desert camouflage' I thought, how can that be? So I went all through the RAF serials lists and found 30 Mk.IIb's issued newly built to 232 Squadron, presumably at Ouston. All 30 had been lost around Singapore by February 1942, eight shot down, eleven crashed, nine lost, and two missing. Complete carnage. There is not much recorded about 232 Squadron, which is hardly surprising given their brief existence, but the story emerged of their embarkation to join the Desert Air Force and diversion en-route to end up in Singapore. The Japanese photos confirm that the Hurricanes arrived still in 'Desert' colours, no squadron codes carried just individual aircraft letters. The red prop spinners had been overpainted black, but otherwise the aircraft were 'as built' and delivered to Ouston. In choosing which one to model I wanted one that had been shot down, and it had to be an 'even number' serial to give a 'Type A' camouflage pattern. So BE588 was the first one on the delivery list that met my criteria. I had no information as to which individual letter it carried (if any at Ouston), but as it was the 7th one to be delivered I gave it the seventh letter 'G', and this also made it look similar to one of the Japanese photos (of BE208 'O'). The Japanese photos also show both sides of the abandoned Hurricanes, and it does seem odd that the individual aircraft letters were painted as if they were part of a full squadron code which had either been removed, or was maybe to be added later. The aircraft in the photos show no sign of any re-painting, and one source states that no squadron codes were carried when at Ouston. With the model completed I was writing up its history and decided to have another look to see if the name of the pilot was known. That is when I discovered that I had picked a future Prime Minister's aircraft, and not only that, his surname began with the letter 'G'. His published history confirms that he was one of 50 pilots who were trained in England to become a new Wing in the Desert Air Force.