Hockeyboy76 Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 (edited) House of Commons 4 June 1940.Prime Minister Winston Churchill gives his speech "Wars are not won by evacuations"Dunkirk is still fresh in the nations memory. The RAF has been given a slatting by the stranded soldiers on the beach. Churchill knows that to fight the Battle of Britain he needs the RAF. He needs the public to believe in the RAF. In this speech he says"We must be careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations. But there was a victory inside this deliverance, which should be noted. It was gained by the Air Force. Many of our soldiers coming back have not seen the Air Force at work; they only saw the bombers which escaped its protective attack. They underrate its achievements. I have heard much talk of this; that is why I go out of my way to say this."Later on in this speech he says"May it not also be that the cause of civilisation itself will be defended by the skill and devotion of a few thousand airmen? There has never been, I suppose, in all the world, in all the history of war, such an opportunity for youth. The Knights of the Round Table, the Crusaders, all fall back into the past - not only distant but prosaic; these young men, going forth every morn to guard their native land and all that we stand for, holding in their hands these instruments of colossal and shattering power, of whom it may be said that Every morn bought forth a noble chance And every chance bought forth a noble knight,deserve our gratitude, as do all the brave men who, in so many ways and on so many occasions, are ready, and continue ready to give life and all for their native land."The flowing is taken from the Obituaries section of The Independent Newspaper 29 June 2009 written by David McKittrick"Although Wing Commander Kenneth William Mackenzie shot down a number of German planes during and after the Battle of Britain, he will always be remembered for one particular incident over the English Channel.He was flying a Hawker Hurricane, its ammunition spent. His quarry was a Messerschmitt 109 fighter which tried to evade him by diving almost to sea level, intent on heading for France and safety. Mackenzie knocked it into the sea by the extraordinarily dangerous move very definitely not recommended in any training manual of using his planes wing to shear its tail off, sending it spiralling out of control. When the German plane went into the waves, Mackenzie nursed his damaged craft back to England, crash-landing in a field near Folkestone in Kent.His highly unorthodox manoeuvre earned him a Distinguished Flying Cross for skill and gallantry, the awed admiration of colleagues, and the nickname of Super Mac. The incident instantly established him as one of the aces of 501 Squadron, which he had joined ess than two weeks earlier.On the same October 1940 day as he downed the Messerschmitt, he had already shared in another kill over London docks and attacked a further plane. In all, he was to destroy at least eight enemy planes, including half a dozen Messerschmitts and a number of bombers, before being taken prisoner. Even in captivity, he proved a handful for the Germans, making numerous escape attempts." My build will be Airfixs new 1/48 Hurricane of P/O Ken Mackenzie, as my tribute to all the brave Airman who fought in the Battle of Britain 75 years ago. Edited August 27, 2015 by Hockeyboy76 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 Sounds like an interesting project, are you going to do the 109 as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 8, 2015 Author Share Posted July 8, 2015 Sounds like an interesting project, are you going to do the 109 as well? No, the plan is to do her sat on the ground being rearmed after the first sortie of the day just before heading off into the history books. P/O Mackenzie will be strapped in contemplating Churchill's words. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 A very rousing opening post! Looking forward to your build. Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 8, 2015 Author Share Posted July 8, 2015 A very rousing opening post! Looking forward to your build. Rob Cheers Rob. Churchill gave some cracking speeches, but this one really struck a cord. Hope to build a worthwhile tribute, just need to clear the Phantom off the decks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 That was a great first post Hockeyboy, can't wait to see what you do with the kit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hacker Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 The original speech 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 Hacker, That is part of the original speech for The Few, as with most of Winstons speeches there is a good deal more to it. The speech I have taken from is "War is not won by evacuations" where Churchill starts to use the phrase "The Few" in reference to Fighter Command. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 That was a great first post Hockeyboy, can't wait to see what you do with the kit. Cheers Cookie, unusually for me the pilot is already named, instead of me having to come up with Flt Lt Harry Caine ( although that would put me in hot water with PC's rules!!) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyL Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 For Ken MacKenzie, the engagement didn't stop after the ramming ( which actually occurred between 80-100 feet above the sea ). He wrote in his Form F combat report: ' The enemy aircraft span into the sea and partially sank. I did not wait to see the final plunge as two Me 109's were attacking me from above and behind. I flew back to Folkstone at 20 to 30 feet above sea level and weaving up and down. They emptied a lot of machine gun and cannon fire into my machine and damaged the engine, which belched oil and smoke into the cockpit. They broke off the engagement about one mile from the coast. I managed to make the coast and force landed between Folkstone and Hawkinge. My aircraft was pretty badly damaged and shot up.' 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 11, 2015 Author Share Posted July 11, 2015 Cheers Andy, I have Ken Mackenzies book on order, Hurricane Combat, signed by the legend himself. Can't wait to read it. I have also ordered for this build eduards fabric seat belts & Airfixs new Albion refueller. Rather surprised on a quick inspection to find no figures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 11, 2015 Author Share Posted July 11, 2015 (edited) Cracked on with this today...... Well opened the plastic bag, looked longingly at the plastic, read the instructions, checked the paints, swore, phoned local model shop & arranged to pick up paints 2mrw & packed away. Still need to clear the phantom off the bench too. Edited July 11, 2015 by Hockeyboy76 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 Will be putting up some photos later. I now have Ken Mackenzies signed book & all the paints I need to crack on with this build. The phantoms almost done too & the desk is clean & ready for building to commence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 17, 2015 Author Share Posted July 17, 2015 Cracking on now with this. Little photo update. Instructions gone out the window for some of this build. have used the lower wing as a jig & built up the interior. Painted a few parts as they will be difficult to reach soon. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplasticsurgeon Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Looking like a great tribute Hockeyboy76.Jet Age has a replica of this Hurricane - signed by the man himself. Sadly he passed away before I became a member of Jet Age - I did see him on TV recently describing this incident.We have various pictures and paintings of this incidentI'm sure the book will be an interesting read There is another photo of him examining the Hurricane wingtip after crashlanding. I'll get a photo of that one soon. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 17, 2015 Author Share Posted July 17, 2015 I have the book written by him with the photo in it. was tempted to change my build to mirror that picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 More cracking on today. Inside of cockpit painted & detailed. Tubular frame of cockpit has been built onto lower wing & is currently drying. Photos will be posted tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 So after some serious delay on this build after trying to get the Phantom over the finish line, its time to crack on. Got some good bench time in today, so lets see where we have got too. Cockpit walls painted, decaled & weathered. As described in previous posts, the lower wing has been used as a jig to build up the frame work of the cockpit. This has also been painted, decaled & weathered, Next the cockpit panel has gone from this Had the dials drilled out & rear sanded to reduce width Decals put onto thin plasticard To finally give this P/O Ken Mackenzie After a trial fit it has been necessary to "adjust" Mackenzie to fit, but more of that later. Thanks for looking. Comments always welcomed. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalkeEins Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 (edited) When the German plane went into the waves, Mackenzie nursed his damaged craft back to England, crash-landing in a field near Folkestone in Kent. My build will be Airfixs new 1/48 Hurricane of P/O Ken Mackenzie, as my tribute to all the brave Airman who fought in the Battle of Britain 75 years ago. excellent...that instrument panel is really neat. I picked up my kit yesterday from the Hawkinge Battle of Britain museum shop ..and then visited the site where Mackenzie put his machine down. Following the instructions of Dave Brocklehurst from the museum, I went to the junction of Elvington Lane and Crete Road West - right on the edge of the Downs overlooking the Eurotunnel terminal...great view out over Folkestone and the Channel.. Edited July 19, 2015 by FalkeEins 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 excellent...that instrument panel is really neat. I picked up my kit yesterday from the Hawkinge Battle of Britain museum shop ..and then visited the site where Mackenzie put his machine down. Following the instructions of Dave Brocklehurst from the museum, I went to the junction of Elvington Lane and Crete Road West - right on the edge of the Downs overlooking the Eurotunnel terminal...great view out over Folkestone and the Channel.. Sounds like a great day out. Will have to take a trip myself. I have been to the BoB memorial at Capel la Ferne, need to go again now its been redone. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Have spent a little time today on P/O Mackenzie. Managed to get the required RAF tache on & a bit of weathering into the flying jacket & goggles. Hope to get some pics up tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Lovely start. That cockpit is really looking the business! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted July 21, 2015 Author Share Posted July 21, 2015 (edited) Little photo update. Firstly guns installed And now P/O Mackenzie at his "Office" Edited July 21, 2015 by Hockeyboy76 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Looking good, how did you do the harness? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Very nice, Ken has turned out well, as has the i.p, Sean 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts