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I'm often attracted to the 'unusual' and 'often maligned' subjects, and into this falls Blackburn's Botha. Along with the Beaufort, it was designed to a specification issued in 1935 for a torpedo bomber and general reconnaissance, twin engine, shore based machine of high performance. The result was the Beaufort remained in service as a front line aircraft. That the RAF received nearly 600 Botha's and employed them for 4 years as an advanced trainer beggars belief, a handling report from 1939 having comments such as ; "deficient in longitudinal stability and there is barely sufficient elevator control", The view forward is excellent, but the aeroplane is completely blind from either beam to the rear, the side view being restricted by the engines", "underpowered", "uncomfortable to fly : bad in pitch and yaw", and "poor view from the cockpit makes it useless as a GR aircraft". The Botha was operational with one RAF squadron for 4 months and never dropped a torpedo in anger. Its shortcomings made the Botha unsuitable for pilot training so was pressed into service as a navigation and bombing trainer. After reading the excellent 'Database' article in 'Aeroplane' magazine, I almost felt sorry for the thing! So I had to build one. This is the only kit I am aware of at present of the aircraft, by PH models, I think from the Czech Rep.(?) Very nicely cast in resin, has enough detail for me to be satisfied in this scale, very fine panel lines, the props are cast all in one piece which I am pleased about! A spare cockpit canopy and nose glazing is supplied but only one turret and one set of side blisters. There are no decals supplied. The aircraft I will try to represent is one which was stationed just up the road from where I live at RAF Morpeth. I will have to try to cobble together the markings from spares I have. No 4 Air Gunners School was formed in 1942, training mostly Polish air gunners. The type proved unpopular and was eventually replaced by Anson's. Accidents that occurred included 16th November 1942 a Botha took off from the wrong runway and collided with another, killing one and injuring another. 1943, in March alone they lost 4 more. The reason discovered was the poor view from the cockpit apart from ahead, led to collisions with 'attacking' fighters and target drogues. Enough history, here's the bits. Not starting yet, there's plenty of time.... isn't there? Davey. Here's the link to the aircraft I will be representing. http://www.neaa.co.uk/botha.html