Airfix 1/48 Hurricane Mk1

[ArtickWarspite]

So after 18 months of on and off again progress on these Airfix Hurricane's, the 249 Squadron build is finally completed. Info on the pilots below:

 

F/O Percival Ross-Frames “Percy” Burton

6 June 1917- 27 September 1940

Pilot Battle of Britain. Service number 74348. 1 Confirmed air victory

249 Squadron Church Fenton 1940
Hawker Hurricane MK1 V6683 (GN-H)

On the morning of September 27th 1940 the squadron engaged a formation of Me110’s of V/LG1. The Hurricanes broke the Germans’ two defensive circles and the enemy aircraft went south at low level, heading for the Channel. Burton pursued one of the 110’s for about forty miles, often at little more than treetop height, but the German pilot, the Gruppe Kommandeur of V/LGI, Hauptmann Horst Liensberger, was unable to shake him off. 
Just north of Hailsham, Burton’s guns stopped firing (presumably due to being out of ammunition) and the two aircraft skimmed over the rooftops. The Hurricane, V6883, was above and behind the Me110. Burton suddenly banked and made whatappeared to be an attack. Both machines lurched and an object spun away. The tail unit of the110 dropped into a field, followed by the rest of the aircraft. The falling object was the wingtip of Burton’s Hurricane. His aircraft crashed into a huge oak tree on New Barn Farm, throwing its dead pilot clear and burning itself out in a field.
The German crew were buried in Hailsham Cemetery but were exhumed after the war and buried elsewhere. Burton is buried in St Andrew’s churchyard, Tangmere.
Eye-witness reports indicate strongly that he deliberately rammed the Me110. A letter from Fighter Command to the Hailsham ARP Chief said that Burton was to be recommended for a posthumous gallantry award. This could only have been the VC but in fact he only received a Mention in Despatches due to a VC being awarded to the squadron a few weeks earlier.
He was promoted from Pilot Officer to Flying Officer 26/9/40. In 1980 a road on a housing estate near to the site of the crash site was named ‘Burton Walk’ in his memory.

 

P/O James Reginald Bryan Meaker DFC

19 January 1919- 27 September 1940

Pilot Battle of Britain. Service number 42514. 7 Confirmed air victories

46 Squadron Digby & 249 Squadron Church Fenton 1940

Hawker Hurricane MK1 P5206 (GN-L)

On 24th February 1940 Meaker was posted to 12 Group Pool Aston Down, to convert to Hurricanes. It was around this time he was involved in a mid air collision with another squadron member though both pilots baled out successfully. He joined 46 Squadron at Digby on 31st March. After a short spell on flying duties at 27 MU, Meaker was posted to 263 Squadron at Scapa Flow on 4th May. The squadron’s Gladiators were loaded on to HMS Furious, which sailed for Norway on 14th May. They were unloaded on the 21st and began standing patrols. The squadron was withdrawn on 7th June and Meaker returned to Britain by sea.
Meaker joined 249 Squadron at Leconfield in late June. On 15th August Meaker claimed a Me110 destroyed, on the 24th a Me109, on 2nd September he destroyed a Me110, shared a Do17 and damaged another, on the 6th destroyed two Me109’s and on the 15th he destroyed two Do17’s, shared a probable Do17 and damaged a Me109.
On the morning of 27th September 1940, J.R.B Meaker shared in the destruction of a Me110 in the same engagement that led to the demise of his squadron mate P.R.F Burton. Later that afternoon in a separate engagement while attacking a group of five JU-88’s on his own, his plane was hit by defensive fire and upon bailing out, his head struck the tail section of his Hurricane P3834 and he fell dead with an unopened parachute.
Meaker is buried in West Dean Cemetery, Sussex. He was awarded the DFC (gazetted 8th October 1940). In 1990 a memorial was placed near the spot where he was killed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hairtrigger]

Splendid work with historical background, you can't ask for more. 

[ArtickWarspite]

5 minutes ago, Hairtrigger said:

Splendid work with historical background, you can't ask for more. 

Thanks very much!

[Frank083]

Very nice work & beautiful display with history! You made a great honor not only to the Aircraft but also the the pilots!

Bravo

 

Frank

[Isak]

Very impressive, both the beautiful Hurricanes and the historical research. 

The planes look well used and very convincingly weathered. The background story, photos and figures made it very personal. 

 

Isak

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

 WOW BEAUTIFUL WORK !!! Great piece of history. 

[Alpha Delta 210]

Wonderful presentation and photography.

[Biggles87]

A fitting tribute to two young men who made the ultimate sacrifice, and a beautiful diorama.

 

John

[Spitfire31]

In all its apparent simplicity, one of the most impressive and touching modelling displays that I can remember having seen.

 

It really 'tells the story' in the most understated and thoughtful way.

 

Respect!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[Cellarfrog]

excellent work, great story and a very effective diorama.

[Oberleutnant]

Amazing.

 

Professional level.

[Pauls9cb]

They look great and the figures are cunningly modelled to mimic the well-known pic of these 2 brave pilots from 249 Squadron. Percy Burton's last encounter was not far from where I live and when I tried to do his Hurri in 1/48 scale, no-one, not even the experts on 249 Squadron could id the individual a/c letter. Both Brian Cull and Tom Neil were unable to clarify this, similarly the 249 OPs of the time. Did you find some other

source for these two models' id letters? Paul

 

.

[RMCS]

Superb 

[F-32]

[jet-mech]

That's really humbling actually. Models built with a story and presented as a memorial. They don't get much better than that. 

 

 

[Mark Joyce]

I can only echo what everyone else has already said.  Outstanding in all aspects!

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[ArtickWarspite]

On ‎2‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 10:28 PM, Pauls9cb said:

They look great and the figures are cunningly modelled to mimic the well-known pic of these 2 brave pilots from 249 Squadron. Percy Burton's last encounter was not far from where I live and when I tried to do his Hurri in 1/48 scale, no-one, not even the experts on 249 Squadron could id the individual a/c letter. Both Brian Cull and Tom Neil were unable to clarify this, similarly the 249 OPs of the time. Did you find some other

source for these two models' id letters? Paul

 

.

I believe we have spoken about this before..

 

From the research I did a couple of years ago, all the information I could find all pointed to Burton flying the Hurricane GN-H, and that this was most likely airframe V6683. I didn't find anything else to suggest otherwise.

He did fly other Hurricanes (I have a copy of the 249 sqn ORD book for Sept 1940), so there's every likelihood he did fly GN-D as well.

In Sept 1940 alone he's recorded as flying;

 

Flew P3384- on 2nd September 1940 & made forced landing after dogfight.

Flew V6610- 3rd, 5th September

Flew V7313- 8th September

Flew V6566- 9th September

Flew V6683- 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th – 19th, 22nd– 27th September

Flew P3834- 13th September

Flew P3615- 20th September

 

Maybe one of these serial numbers was GN-D?

 

Another issue I found with these 249sqn Hurricanes, is that the photographic evidence I could find suggested that the letters on the fuselage are larger than what was usually seen. For this 48th kit, I've used 32nd scale decals for the lettering. (Thanks to everyone who helped me out with that by the way- it was a perfect fit)

[ArtickWarspite]

Thanks for all the kind words everyone.

 

With this being the first time I tried something like this, it was always going to be interesting to see what the feedback was.

 

I do like my models to tell a story and to show character, and researching something to this extent added so much more to the project as you become far more involved with it.

We easily forget that there were many servicemen who did some very brave and ballsy things, and adding a more personal vein to a modelling project helps keep history & their exploits alive.

 

The reason I chose these pilots goes back to a university project where I researched them separately not realizing that the photo references I was using were from the same photo- and that they were killed on the same day. Coincidentally I found that out a couple of years back on the 27th of Sept- 77 years to the day when they were killed.

 

Next time you build an aircraft- find out more about it. Who flew it and what happened to them? Was it ever damaged? What happened to the aircraft? It would be very cool to see some great looking models along with the stories that go with them.

[Meatbox8]

A superb piece of modelling and a moving tribute to two brave men.  The figures are superb.  Did you sculpt them yourself? They match up really well to the photograph.  I am always very interested in the men who flew these machines.  I'm currently building the fantastic Arma Hobbies Hurricane I which will be in the markings of Ginger Lacey of 501 Squadron from around the same time.

[Pauls9cb]

Hi ArtickWarspite - That's very interesting. I'd failed to find much (as was quite normal for combat reports and ORBs of the time - to find much about the a/c id letters and hadn't put together the list of serial numbers that Percy flew. My interest was from a very local perspective when I decided to chronicle all the a/c that came down in the area during the BoB which formed the basis of my first book (Beachy Head! Angels 20). The following might be of interest which is the bulk of the info on 249 Squadron on 27/9/40 I could unearth back in 2007/08. I agree with your overall approach to presenting models with the historical background, which adds so much depth to the end product, i.e. the model itself.

 

249 Squadron Sept/Oct 1940

Known aircraft and markings

6/9/40 S/L John Grandy shot down by 109s over Maidstone in GN-J (R4229).

7/9/40 F/O Pat HV Wells baled out wounded from GN-0 (P3594) over Faversham.

Tom Neil frequently flew GN-F (V7313), which was lost over the Thames Estuary while he was on leave flown by Frenchman Adjutant Georges Perrin on 12/10/40.

28/9/40 P/O A Gerald Lewis baled out burned over Faversham from GN-R (V6617).

11/10/40 P/O JJ Solak crashed GN-Z (V6728) on landing.

Station Commander Victor Beamish flew GN-B

 

A Flight numbers ran from A – M.

B Flight numbers ran from N – Z.

 

Squadron structure for morning of 27/9/40

A Flight

Red section

Red 1              P/O H. John S. Beazley

Red 2              Bentley Beard or Burton

Red 3              Sgt. G.Charles (Titch).C. Palliser

 

Yellow section

Yellow 1          “Butch” Barton?

Yellow 2          P/O Tom F. Neil (Ginger). Said to have commented that he was flying GN C but others suggest C was flown by George Barclay.

Yellow 3          P/O Keith.T. Lofts

 

B Flight

Blue 1              Sgt. J.B. Mills

Blue 2              Possibly P/O A.Gerald. Lewis (GN-R V6617?)

Blue 3              ?

 

Green section

Green 1           P/O J.R.Bryan. Meaker

Green 2           Sgt. H.J. Davidson (“Appy Arry”)

Green 3           P/O P.A. Worrall

 

Others

Denis Parnall

“Ozzie” Crossey

“Boost” Fleming

George Barclay

 

Cheers - Paul

[Grey Beema]

I love the model and I like what you are trying to do, so keep it up.

 

I have a similar approach.  I am trying to build at least one example of an aircraft that each of the top scoring Fleet Air Arm Aces flew to score one of their victories.  It is really quite hard to identify the specific aircraft and often only part of the information is available, sometimes serial numbers and sometimes aircraft codes but very rarely both.  At the moment I am struggling to identify Hurricane MkI 213 Sqn either AK*U on 12.08.40 or AK*W 15.08.40 flown by SLt DM Jeram.  Then you have the difficulty of modelling something that decals are not available for - but thats another days work..

 

Anyway - great piece of modelling - and a great way to present history and the people who made it - very well done..

[ringo]

When I see this, I instantly know why I love modelling so much... This is really great! Not only the Hurricanes but also the story and the

magnificant diorama! Congratz! 

[Mark Harmsworth]

Very very nicely done. The diorama adds a lot to what would be great with just the planes and the story.  I found it quite touching.

Mark

[tonyot]

Beautiful modelling and a fine tribute to these heroes,....... great job,

Cheers

           Tony

[ArtickWarspite]

On ‎2‎/‎13‎/‎2019 at 1:43 PM, Meatbox8 said:

A superb piece of modelling and a moving tribute to two brave men.  The figures are superb.  Did you sculpt them yourself? They match up really well to the photograph.  I am always very interested in the men who flew these machines.  I'm currently building the fantastic Arma Hobbies Hurricane I which will be in the markings of Ginger Lacey of 501 Squadron from around the same time.

The figures are from the ICM pilot & ground crew set. There was a bit of custom work which needed to be done in terms of manipulating the legs, arms etc. However, the pilots heads were taken out of the kit box. The Airfix kit comes with seated figures as standard, so I cut off the heads and tried to sculpt some of the more defining features of each pilot. Their oxygen leads are made from fuse wire.