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Are there any Lancaster VI decals in 1/72?


Procopius

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3 hours ago, Procopius said:

Supplementary to this on the turrets, in Air Illustrated for September 1970, Flt Lt G A "Tony" Roome DFC of 635 Squadron, who flew a Lancaster VI operationally, calls it "a Mk III minus the the nose and mid-upper turrets and plus four Merlin 85 engines"; the article also mentions JB675 of 7 Squadron being coded MG-O and flown fifteen times by Wing Commander A J L Craig DSO DFC etc etc between 9 September and 7 October 1944, "all but one as Master Bomber, all but two in daylight."

 

As a postscript to my post above I must apologise for being rather absorbed in the technical aspects of this Lancaster variant, and not acknowledging sufficiently the bravery of their crews. For the crew of JB675 15 ops in 4 weeks; 13 in daylight over occupied Europe with only a rear turret for self defence. Master Bombers didn't just bomb and leave for home, they orbited the target for 25 to 35 minutes. And sometimes were distinctively marked as well! In Autumn 1944 the Luftwaffe Reichsverteidegung units were still a force to be reckoned with.

The bravery of these crews deserves my utmost respect.

 

Returning to the OP;

 

Procopius: did you decide on your markings and locate a source for them? I'm considering a 1/48 scale Lanc VI and have finally located a source of markings, (credit here to Troy and his highlighting of 435 Sq's smaller codes). Can you believe it? - a Cutting Edge Beaufighter (!) sheet I have has codes of the correct 36 inch size and colour, that with some cutting and ingenuity will make either F2-V or F2-Z.  Or I might change tack (bearing in mind the information above) and model JB675 as a tribute to WC Craig and crew.

 

Of course I'll need full size 48inch codes for that one...

 

SD

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7 hours ago, SafetyDad said:

 

Returning to the OP;

 

Procopius: did you decide on your markings and locate a source for them? I'm considering a 1/48 scale Lanc VI and have finally located a source of markings, (credit here to Troy and his highlighting of 435 Sq's smaller codes). Can you believe it? - a Cutting Edge Beaufighter (!) sheet I have has codes of the correct 36 inch size and colour, that with some cutting and ingenuity will make either F2-V or F2-Z.  Or I might change tack (bearing in mind the information above) and model JB675 as a tribute to WC Craig and crew.

 

Of course I'll need full size 48inch codes for that one...

 

I'm leaning towards Alan Craig's JB675/MG-O; he sounds like a very interesting man, and on a more selfish, less uplifting note, the codes will be easier to sort out. I'll have to hope someone knows about 7 Squadron and if or how they marked their aircraft with distinctive markings for daylight operations. Of course, I have to find another Airfix Lancaster II, as well...

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A quick online search for 7 Sq Lancasters reveals that some at least followed 7 Sqs practice of smaller than usual letters 'MG' as used on their Stirlings.

http://www.historyofwar.org/Pictures/pictures_lancaster_MG-N_7_sqn.html

 

These codes might be a little tricky to find...

 

Other 7 Sq Lancasters seem to have used more conventional codes.

https://raf-pathfinders.com/7-squadron/

 

No pictures of MG-O yet...

 

 

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I'm pleased to say that I've found some additional information on the Lancaster VI that I've not seen within any of the other on-line discussions. I picked up my copy of 'Bombing Colours 1937-1973'by Michael J F Bowyer, published by PSL 1973 in an effort to see what he had to say about the Day Bombing Scheme used by the Grand Slam Lancasters, and I found this on p205:

 

‘On February 17 1945, at Farnborough, I had a look at ND673: F2-V, a Lancaster VI, its engines installed as ‘power eggs’. These were annular cowled Merlins designed for easy maintenance and removal. Otherwise she was a normal Lancaster as regards marking, with F2 in the fore/aft style.  Paddle bladed airscrews were fitted and she lacked a dorsal turret. In the well-known picture of her by John Rawlings she appears to have striping on the tail, but this was not a special operational marking. An interesting feature was her radar. Over the tail turret she had a long arm with tail warning radar as well as bow and arrow aerials pointing at about 45 degrees from the base of the extreme rear fuselage. She had served on 635 Squadron at Downham Market from August to November 1944 where JB765:U, ND418:Q and JB713:Z (missing August 18/19 1944) also flew trials.‘

 

So this tells us

 

No mention of front turret missing – was this still present in Feb 1945 and could it have been present with 635 Sq?

 

No mention of missing spinners either.

 

I would imagine that Michael Bowyer would have mentioned any 4 bladed propellers, so the case for 3 bladed props in Squadron use is arguably strengthened here.

 

The ‘bow and arrow’ tail aerials would be ‘Boozer’ above and ‘Monica’ below. Monica was discontinued within a short period after the Ju88G 4R+UR arrived at Woodbridge on July 13th 1944 – interesting that F2-V still carried it in Feb 1945.

 

I agree with Seahawk’s argument advanced in the thread on the Grand Slam Lancasters that today we can be tempted to overlook contemporary testimony of witnesses in favour of what we believe to be correct. Michael JF Bowyer was a well-respected and conscientious observer of RAF aircraft of his time and, as such, I believe that his description here offers some valuable new information on the Lancaster VI. Even if this means sadly that I have to abandon my proposition that ALGT may have been used on the 635 Sg Lancaster VIs. 😢 There’s no room for Monica and AGLT together, and, of course, he would have mentioned the presence of the under turret radar dish. There is also no mention of any other external aerials for Carpet for example?

 

Oh, and BTW, Bowyer describes the undersurfaces of the B1(Special) on p213 where he describes LS-R as Dark Earth/Dark Green with Medium Grey undersides, 'although the latter, on close inspection, looked to be more silver than grey'. Interestingly, and of relevance to the Lancaster VI, he also explicitly mentions the missing nose turret on LS-R. It would be reasonable to extrapolate that, if this was missing on F2-V in Feb 1945 that he might have mentioned this?

 

SD

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57 minutes ago, SafetyDad said:

The ‘bow and arrow’ tail aerials would be ‘Boozer’ above and ‘Monica’ below. Monica was discontinued within a short period after the Ju88G 4R+UR arrived at Woodbridge on July 13th 1944 – interesting that F2-V still carried it in Feb 1945.

Wouldn't the long arm aerial above the turret be BOOZER? I thought this was a BOOZER aerial:

 

image_177723

 

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27 minutes ago, Procopius said:

Wouldn't the long arm aerial above the turret be BOOZER? I thought this was a BOOZER aerial:

 

image_177723

 

 

You are, of course, completely correct! Thanks. My rather untidy use of English didn't convey clearly my intended meaning when I review my post above. Your picture helps considerably; thanks PC!

 

SD

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Hi

    I second eye witness accounts, what  bowyer & other spotters saw, they may not have had the exact name for the paint colour, (as we now know),  but recorded what they saw

   sometimes old letters to the editor in airfix magazine held 'gems' as well

 

     cheers

        jerry

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Hi

    i forgot about those, one issue had whirlwind photos i had never seen before and never seen since except in that issue

 

  often wonder where the airfix mag photo archive went

    cheers

       jerry

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