62 OTU 1/72 aircraft fleet

[Acklington]

Following on from completion of my Anson airbourne interception trainer, here are photos of the assembled 62 OTU fleet, at RAF Ouston, Northumberland in March 1945. The Anson Mk.1 (A.I.), DJ528 '45', is about to be retired, to be replaced by the Wellington Mk.XVIII (T.18), ND113 '27', with Hurricane IIc, LF363 'F' to act as a target. 

62 Operational Training Unit, RAF Ouston, March 1945 by Philip Pain, on Flickr

62 Operational Training Unit, RAF Ouston, March 1945 by Philip Pain, on Flickr

 

62 OTU had over 50 Ansons, replaced by 29 Wellingtons, and they trained all of Fighter Command's night fighter crews.  Non-radar equipped Ansons acted as target aircraft, until replaced by 23 Hurricane IIc aircraft. The OTU was split into 3 squadrons, and 'A' Sqdn had white numeral codes commencing '1' to '18''; 'B' Sqdn had light blue numeral codes commencing '32' to '47'; and 'C' Sqdn (the target aircraft) carried single letters commencing 'A', also possibly painted light blue.

 

Hurrican IIc LF363 still flies with the BBMF at RAF Coningsby, and it is not known what code letter it had at 62 OTU. So 'F' has been applied, this being it's known letter when earlier being with 309 (Polish) Sqdn. By 1947 LF363 is known to have lost its guns, and I suspect that they might have been removed at 62 OTU, as there would have been no requirement for a target aircraft to have them. I'm hoping for some definite confirmation before removing the gun barrels from this model.

 

These models at RAF Ouston are part of my project to model all of the main aircraft types based there from 1941 to 1974. So far 31 models have been completed, and they can be found on my "RAF Ouston Research" website at https://sites.google.com/view/raf-ouston-research/models-of-oustons-aircraft

[General Jumbo]

The Hurricane looks great with the late war roundels. Models look great!

[IanC]

Brilliant. I love the Wellington and Anson.

 

Is that the much maligned Humbrol 30 dark green in use?

[Harold55]

Love the work you have done, these have came out wonderfully.  I have to ask as I think you top brown (earth) color is spot on.  What did you use for it?

[SNAFU]

Very nice builds, and a tight paint job.....👍

 

Gerhard

[Dan_RAFBC]

Very nice, especially the Wellington

[stevej60]

Great collection,love anything with a local(to me) connection I'd love to do a few of Usworth's OTU aircraft.

[kapam]

All three look fantastic.

I dare say much effort and concentration went into all of those.

[Acklington]

Many thanks for the comments, which are much appreciated.

 

Yes, the 'dark green' is Humbrol's standard tin, as is the dark earth. The difference between the Anson and the Wellington is that the Anson has been varnished, two coats of gloss then transfers then a coat of matt (which annoyingly clouded in places, but I call it "weathering"). The Wellington I just buffed the paint and did not use any varnish, just touched up around the wing roundels where any carrier film showed. I wanted to keep my future options open with the Wellington, in the hope that further information may emerge regarding its markings. For example, could it have been painted like the Anson?

 

Regarding my paints, I have a problem living on the Isle of Man, because UK suppliers will not ship paint by airmail. Surface mail charges are horrendous, becoming 'special deliveries' by freight carriers. So there are only a couple of shops on the Island that stock Humbrol paint tins. However, when I'm in England I stock up whenever I can, but usually only manage to get to Humbrol stockists.

[Meatbox8]

A superb collection.  I've always liked none operational types and that must be the first Hurricane I've seen with Type C roundels on the wings.  My late uncle, who was a fantastic modeller, used to buff the finish as his preferred way of representing WW2 paintwork.  It seems to be a technique that has gone out of fashion these days.  Interesting what you say about your matt varnish clouding.  I've just had the same issue with a tin of Humbrol 49 (albeit a a very old tin) which left a rather nasty yellow, gloopy look on the seats on my Airfix Sea King HC.4.  I'll have to look for an alternative.