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Dear BM Members.. UPDATE 09.01.2023 I know this is an old post but.. amazingly I managed to find some gun-camera film of Uncle Peter in combat on 26th March 1945 on the IWM website URL below.. somewhere around 48 mins time elapsed.. Some white flashes which maybe flak or just poor aging of the film stock.. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060025445 but here's some stills I uploaded Full description Combat Film No 7260. SGT Brown of 56 Squadron on 26/3/1945 at 1600, flying Hawker Tempest. Target: ground target. Flying Tempest V , US-G , reg NV 968 - the Squadron ORB gives details of this sortie as an 'Armed Recce GROENLO - RHEINE - MUNSTER- HAMM-HALDERN-COESFELD areas. The first ever use of Tempests in a close Support Role. Attacking German ground troops on the NE side of a railway embankment whilst Allied troops were on the other side of the embankment. The allied troops called in air support through 'LIMEJUICE' to enable them to attack. The sortie was judged to be a success with many cannon hits registered on the target. The ORB gives some map co-ordinates A0957 -A1154. Using a conversion website I can find this as the railway line running from EMPEL to HALDERN. the topography in the film looks similar so i'm happy this is the location of this attack. To say that discovering this renders me .. gob-smacked ... is an understatement! Just amazed to find this! So Up The Firebirds ! . Just wish my Uncle Peter was still with us to see this footage. Original post. Finally after some months of research and then modelling I present Ready For Inspection my uncle's Hawker Tempest Mk V of 56 (Punjab) Squadron. Tempest reg number NV-728 Squadron code "US-X". I started this build as a tribute to my Uncle, Sgt P C Brown (later promoted to W/O 2 ) I only recently found out some detailed information about his wartime RAF service. in the National Archives and from distant family members. Born in St Pancras, London on 5th June 1923 .He joined the RAF sometime in September 1942. He went to Canada under the 'The Big Plan' to learn to fly between 10th August 1943 and 26th November 1944 . In January 1945 he was at an OTU in Yorkshire, England and on the 19th March 1945 he was with 56 Squadron in Holland. His older brother Maurice was already in RAF service and flew Lancasters. Maurice finished the war a Squadron Leader. Uncle Peter with parents and brothers during his training in their back garden, Finchley , London He kept a scrapbook which my cousin has possession of during his flight training. He made this collage at the end page It turned out to be Fighters! My uncle joined the squadron at Volkel in Holland known as ALG ‘B80’on 19th March 1945. He was part of a group of 4 new pilots drafted in to the squadron as replacements. Squadron losses were appallingly high for the Tempest squadrons at this point of the war. Ground attack duties, ‘flak traps’ and a determined enemy resistance made this theatre of operations dangerous and deadly. The 56 Squadron Operations Book shows some key events during his short time with the squadron Arrival at the squadron He flew 11 sorties in various aircraft. He flew with the late great Pierre Closterman and is mentioned in his book ‘The Big Show’ by name multiple times as 'Brown'. On his first sortie he shot down a FW-190 Dora of JG 25 However on his 11th sortie on 3rd April 1945 he suffered engine failure and forced landed in to trees , the aircraft exploding in flames. He was assumed Killed In Action and reported as such. His parents recieved a dreadful telegram! It is this aircraft I depict. US-X / serial number - NV728 . W/O W DM Tuck suffered engine failure on the same sweep (but managing to land intact) and he believed that both himself and Peter Brown were hit by small arms fire on a Low level strafe damaging their cooling systems and leading to both engines seize ups. Chris Thomas interviewed Bill Tuck and this was the story he related to him. Beim Kronsberg nr BOSEL East of Friyesoythe where uncle peter sadly crashed in flames . 1945 Map of Friesothe OS 1:50,000 Sheet 92 (University of Toronto Library) I have not discovered what happened after he crashed exactly yet. He was held as a POW and was reunited with Bill Tuck in a POW camp of sorts. I do know he's mentioned as back in the squadron in August 1945. He was still in Germany in October 1946 .I should find out these details from his MOD full service record once i get them. Uncle Peter shortly after VE Day You can see the facial burns and marks from his crash in this picture. Uncle Peter on a Tempest ( Quite possibly a 56 Squadron aircraft) At dispersal with 56 Squadron pilots.. 2nd from right in foreground..smoking His discharge papers. my cousin has posessoin of these documents and his Pilots wings ! I reproduce the picture of the aircraft I’ve depicted NV 728 ( I don’t own the copyright of this picture but will remove it from the post if the owners object) US-X at Volkel Holland circa 19th March 1945 The build… The build was relatively stress free. However I did tread on and cracked the canopy but Revell were kind enough to quickly replace this! Well done indeed.. that’s what I call good service! I enjoyed the build and am indebted to many BM members for their encouragement, help and advice! THANKS ! Here’s the pics of the finished model . Enjoy! (I hope to pose it in a diorama at some point in the future too.. but that’s for another time!) As the aircraft was pretty much new I've kept the weathering to what I think is appropriate.. less is more I always think anyway. I coated the model with two coats of HG laminate protective coating after painting and after applying the decals. I'm very impressed with this gloss coat.. less sticky and gummy than model varnish and I brushed it on .. will use it again! Had to take pics indoors as its as it's been raining heavily here all weekend! But I used a daylight simulation bulb . The Rebecca Transponder aerial I made from a guitar string and set in the fuselage by heating it up! Volkel was a muddy airfield so I did some European earth wash where it would have perhaps splashed up! Clearly being a pilot attracts the opposite sex! Uncle Peter 3rd from right - Post War in Germany probably at Celle I finally got round to making a ETO Diorama.. I did this for a 1:32nd Trumpeter P47 D I did over Xmas.. I couldn't resist posing this Tempest on it too.. Post script Uncle Peter sadly died aged 60. He was a professional photographer. I attended his funeral as an adult. He talked to myself and my brother one Xmas when we were children candidly about his RAF experiences and got out his Flight log and snapshot albums. I have a picture of uncle Peter holding me as a baby at my christening. His joy for life is palpable on his face. I think he determined to make the world a better place and he did so with great gusto. He loved children and maybe he saw in them a better, more peaceful future for the World. He did much work for charity after the war, Masonic charity, a Rotarian, and a hospital visitor for many years. What an inspiration to others! I regret not having the opportunity to speak with him at length as an adult about his wartime service. So I respectfully offer this build as a tribute to him and also my late father (he got me started in to model making!) I hope my uncle would be proud of my efforts. I started this project back in November. A labour of love and as a tribute to"The Greatest Generation" I pay tribute to the German pilots also. NO less brave than their RAF counterparts. Rest In Peace Uncle Peter! Addendum Finally today after waiting nearly 6 months the RAF historical branch have sent me Uncle Peter's records! Some interesting facts are revealed! He joined the RAF in Dec 1941 but was immeadiately put on the Reserve! I guess they had a lot of pilots in training already! He started his training some 11 months later. I noted that he had been in The ATC as a boy so clearly he wanted to be a Pilot. All my previous research is confirmed. What happened after he crashed on 4/4/45? He was repatriated to the UK on 11 April 1945 and was sent to two hospitals At RAF Wroughton near Swindon, Wilts and then RAF Cosford. This was the main hospital for Repatriated POWs. After he recovered enough from his burns he was sent to a Personell Reception Centre and then a Dispatch Centre returning with the Temporay Rank of Flight Sgt to 56 Squadron on 12 July 1945. His last posting was then to a HQ Staff unit - 84 group at 35 Wing in Germany. . I still feel humbled by what I know of his service. What a man! UPDATE Today i have been contacted by a german crash site researcher who with his aviation history club members investigate crash sites and have managed to return 20 pilots remains to their families. This was quite astounding. He has been researching crash sites in the area where my uncle's plane landed and is very interested in investigating it further. This is quite astounding news for me as i've always dreamt of recovering some parts of NV-728. Maybe this could lead to this being achieved? The German crash Site Researcher has been in contact with me again providing detailed bios and some pictures of the 5 German pilots shot down during the engagement between 56 and 80 Squadron on 22nd March 1945, during which my uncle achieved his aerial victory. This new information has come from German archives. For this i am indebted to Volker and his associates. I need to do some translation and further research myself to try and narrow down who was the most likely pilot who fell to his guns. It's another part of the overall story to tell. As i've said before i think these young Germans were no less brave and deserve to have their stories remembered in equal measure as my Uncle's story. Another piece of the puzzle... I was doing some web searches the other day and found a reference to Uncle Peter and a Canadian Sea Hurricane X 11a he damaged in a forced landing accident. His name and Service number and the aircraft's Reg number together.. This was from the RAF Commands.com data base... it has to be him! I searched online and amazingly found the actual remains of the Hurricane mentioned for sale in 2008 by Bonhams the famous auction house. Their provenance states "The Hurricane later received minor damage while with No. 1 Operational Training Unit at Bagotville, Quebec, when RAF P/O Bailey hit a tree while on a low flying exercise. He was uninjured and the aircraft was repaired on unit. This occurred on 14th June 1944. On the 1st August 1944, Sgt Brown was forced to make an emergency landing in a field two miles south of St. Gedion, one mile east of range, while on an ‘Air to Sleeve’ exercise, landing with wheels up after apparent engine failure at 18.30 hours. The aircraft was designated as having been damaged sufficiently to require returning to the repair depot. Sgt Brown was uninjured" Bonhams Picture for sale of Hurricane Reg Number BW 853 RCAF Now i do know he was in Canada training on this date! And there are two pics of him with Hurricanes i know of. https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/16252/lot/319/ It's amazing to actually see something my uncle flew in still in existence. Kind Regards Andy

Morning all, I've finished one! This is the Sword Spitfire XIV in 1/72. It took longer than I would have liked but came out OK in the end. The only modifications were to take the tail off and add about 1mm in length at the fuselage/tail join (not sure it was worth it to be honest), and tinker with the rear cockpit section to place the line between the glazing and the fuselage at the correct height (the kit has it too low). I also added the separation hooks for the slipper tank, and nabbed some spare exhausts from an old Special Hobby kit - the Sword ones are a bit messy. The main colours are Xtracrylix, with masking using the blu-tack sausages method. Fiddly but works well. The decals are a mixture of the kit's (roundels and stencils) and Xtradecals. In researching the subject I found the instructions by Aviaology for their 1/48 decals very useful, in that they have a photo which highlights the faded original serial number and the small repainted one at the base of the fin. So I replicated that with decals from the spares box. The model represents the 402 (Canadian) Squadron aircraft flown by Flt Lt Brian MacConnell in March 1945. I quite like the late 2nd TAF scheme with type C1 roundels all round, overpainted Sky fuselage band and black spinner. Anyway, some pictures: Justin