Seawinder Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 I'm doing the Tamiya Mk. VI kit as a VIF nightfighter with Polish 307 Sqn and plan to use the Techmod markings for EW-R X8005. A photo of the plane in flight clearly shows the two dipole antennas on the port wing. Is it safe to assume the the nose antenna array should also be present? Thanks! Pip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jure Miljevic Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 I would think so, arrow-head aerial is a transmitter and it works best if installed in extreme nose. Rearward bent aerials, buried in wings, are vertical receivers. Photo of this Beaufighter Mk.VIf V8442 (scroll it down to about middle of the webpage) here shows such aerial in starboard wing, along with horizontal H-letter receiver aerial, projecting from wing's leading edge. Look closely and you will also notice arrow-head transmitter aerial, projecting from the nose of the aircraft. Cheers Jure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brewerjerry Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 Hi link below there is a photo credited as EW-R part way down the photo page http://www.polishsquadronsremembered.com/ cheers jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seawinder Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 8 hours ago, brewerjerry said: Hi link below there is a photo credited as EW-R part way down the photo page http://www.polishsquadronsremembered.com/ cheers jerry Yes, thanks, that's the one I found before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seawinder Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 9 hours ago, Jure Miljevic said: I would think so, arrow-head aerial is a transmitter and it works best if installed in extreme nose. Rearward bent aerials, buried in wings, are vertical receivers. Photo of this Beaufighter Mk.VIf V8442 (scroll it down to about middle of the webpage) here shows such aerial in starboard wing, along with horizontal H-letter receiver aerial, projecting from wing's leading edge. Look closely and you will also notice arrow-head transmitter aerial, projecting from the nose of the aircraft. Cheers Jure Thanks, Jure, I wasn't aware of (nor does the Tamiya kit provide) the vertical receiver antennas which were apparently only on the starboard wing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jure Miljevic Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 (edited) I saw photos of VIFs with vertical receiver antennae, buried in either port or starboard wing. In the old Triada book (Beaufighter, S.328, MiG-19) there is a colour profile of X8005 with receiver in starboard wing. Of course, with that photo you mentioned there should be no doubt about its location. Cheers Jure P.S.: My apologies, colour profile of X8005 shows receiver buried in port wing, not in starboard. Edited June 30, 2018 by Jure Miljevic P.S. added Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seawinder Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 I'm going to go with starboard based on your photo link and a period diagram I found somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jure Miljevic Posted July 1, 2018 Share Posted July 1, 2018 Enjoy your build! Cheers Jure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
303sqn Posted July 1, 2018 Share Posted July 1, 2018 I do not think there are any other photos of X8005. The presence of 4 swastikas dates it to after 24/09/42. There are photos of other Beaufighters that show the harpoon in the nose and H shaped aerials on both wings. E.g., General Sikorski arriving at Exeter, 10th September 1942 in EL146/EW-V. The score for the squadron’s Beaufighter Mk VIs was opened on the 26 June 1942. F/O Karol Rach and F/O Jan Mika, X7935, chased a Do 217 which was destroyed with a few short bursts. Less than 30 minutes later Sgt Edward Wojczyński and Sqt Emil Słuszkiewicz, X7932 EW-U, sighted a second Do 217 and saw a violent explosion as bullets hit the aircraft. The aircraft went down but was lost in haze and only credited as damaged. Later still, F/O Gerard Ranoszek and Sgt Jerzy Trzaskowski, X8005 EW-R, accounted for another Do 217 damaged, observing many strikes before it disappeared into cloud. On the night 4/5 August the Ranoszek Trzaskowski team in X8005 were directed from the West onto a northbound raid in the Kingsbridge area and obtained a contact with a Ju 88. They closed to nearly point-blank range and gave one short burst with cannon only. The Ju 88A-4 M2+CL from 3/KuFlGr 106 went down in flames, nearly hitting the Beaufighter, crashing in the sea off Start Point. Less than ten minutes later the team encountered Ju 88A-4 M2+HL from the same German unit and dispatched it. The Ju 88 exploded in a ball of fire and fell at Molescombe Farm, Frogmore, near Kingsbridge. Both shoot-downs were watched by some coastguards. The night of 24/25 September was 307 Squadron’s last successful combat of 1942. Ranoszek, this time flying with F/Lt Stanisław Sawczyński, in his X8005, made contact with a twin-engined aircraft, thought to be a Do 217, and attacked. In the exchange of fire, the bomber was seen to be hit and after a running fight one of its engines began to smoke heavily. Ranoszek closed in for a kill and almost immediately lost all his forward vision as oil smothered the windscreen. He began to circle and spotted the wreckage out of his side window. His attempts to clear the windscreen with de-icing fluid failed. So he returned to base flying blind, managing to land successfully. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seawinder Posted July 1, 2018 Author Share Posted July 1, 2018 Interesting stuff; thanks for taking the time to post it, 303sqn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seawinder Posted July 20, 2018 Author Share Posted July 20, 2018 Any thoughts about colours for the various antennas? Tamiya calls for semigloss black for both the nose and wing arrays, but some photos of the nose array show different colours for the two "arrows." The vertical dipole pairs on the wing (by the roundel) appear to be white for the forward one and something darker, but not black, for the rear one. Grey? Metallic? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Perhaps it could be interesting to look at very well done model of this machine (with all antenas on board) http://www.forum.modelarstwo.org.pl/viewtopic.php?t=40851 Regards J-W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seawinder Posted July 21, 2018 Author Share Posted July 21, 2018 Thanks for the link, J-W. He apparently used a light metallic for everything. That would certainly be an easy way to go, except I'd probably use a darker shade. The model is very well done indeed, but I question a few aspects: From what I've seen in photos, the front cockpit should be black; the actuating levers under the horizontal tail shouldn't be symmetrically placed; I'm not sure the vertical scan dipoles (sticking out of the wing roundels) were installed in both wings. Ah, nitpicking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 I don't know if I'd rely on JWM's link. That modeller couldn't paint the engines properly and the collector rings are too coppery for my tastes. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 18 hours ago, dogsbody said: I don't know if I'd rely on JWM's link. That modeller couldn't paint the engines properly and the collector rings are too coppery for my tastes. Indeed (about finishing of collectors and engines) - I thought the likely he used all available Polish sources about details (like antenas etc..) of this machine Cheers JWM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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