Corsair MkIV, 1846 Sqn, HMS Colossus 1945-1946

[85sqn]

Hi folks here's a corsair I have just completed for the group build. It is a Corsair MkIV (KD780) as flown by Lt. Henry Adlam, Senior Pilot of 1846 Sqn. They were based aboard HMS Colossus from 1945-1946 and in June 1945 joined the 14th Carrier Air Group to continue the fight against Japan. The Sqn. went to Australia but the war ended before the carrier and it's air group could take part in any operations. The Sqn. corsair were subsequently dumped at sea somewhere near Sydney. After ferrying many serviceman that had been POWs the carrier sailed for South Africa where the aircraft were temporarily based at Wingfield. It is here that many of 1846 Sqn's well known photos were taken including this one:

Which is the subsequent aircraft I wanted to model. If you haven't read 'On and Off the Flight Deck' by Henry Adlam, give it a read. It's a fascinating insight into the life of a naval fighter pilot and he takes part in many campaigns including Salerno, Escort carrier flying and the attacks on Palembang as a hellcat pilot. Later he becomes a batsman and joins 1846 Sqn.

There is a photo in the book of '122' and through a bit of research and help from IanG, came to the conclusion that KD780 was the correct airframe.

The kit itself has some resin wheels added, wing fuel caps deleted, Eduard seatbelts, exhausts drilled out, canopy handle added, flaps raised, ignition harness added, tail wheel tie down made from fuse wire, tin foil doped covers, CO vents and clipped wings.

Here's one with the rest of the family:

Now a few weeks ago I went to Kew and had a look at the 1846 Sqn. diary. On Sat 6th January 1946, the Sqn. had a competition for the cleanest and shiniest aircraft. Les Budd's aircraft (113/D) got first with Henry's 2nd. So no doubt it was a lot cleaner than what I've depicted.

After the sqn left Wingfield, HMS Colossus headed back to Ceylon where they continued to keep up training. Henry mentions in his book that they equipped his aircraft with an oblique camera and carried out many practice recce sorties. Upon returning to the UK, Colossus arrived in the Solent and aircraft were flown off to Lee-On-the-Solent. Henry's aircraft carried a de-commisioning pennant tied to the radio mast.

Link to build thread: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234997852-fleet-air-arm-corsair-mkiv-148-tamiya-finished-250416/page-1

Thanks very much for looking, also thanks to David H and all who have looked in.

Cheers

Nick

[tonyot]

Wow Nick,.....

Very nice indeed and it looks great with the rest of the `family'!

If I were to be picky I`d say that the serial and code 122 appear to be a little small,..maybe 1/72nd rather than 1/48th,....but apart from that it is superb and those resin wheels certainly do help to bring the model alive and up from the norm.

Cheers

Tony

Edited April 25, 2016 by tonyot

[WildeSau75]

Great model, great collection. Like it.

Cheers,

Michael

[spitfire]

Nice build and I like the Corsair family shot, but then again I do have a soft spot for BPF aircraft.

Cheers

Dennis

[Cookenbacher]

You've matched your reference pic to near perfection, hard to get any better than that. I enjoyed watching the GB thread too, well done.

[AntPhillips]

Lovely build, and great bit of background info.

BPF roundels just look so good on FAA aircraft

[rob85]

That's some really nice work Nick and some great background

Rob

[Grey Beema]

Great work there Nick. It's great to see suc well researched, well modelled Fleet Air Arm aeroplanes on here..

[85sqn]

Cheers chaps!

Tony; cheers! The '122' are 1/48 from Xtradecals BPF stuff. Not sure about the serial scale etc but I do take you're point, does look abit small. I think Aeromaster did a set for this aircraft which would have been useful. The 'D' was chopped up and widened from some other bits of decal to get it how it is.

Cheers

Nick