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1/48 RCAF Hurricane 5389


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The subject of this build is a Canadian-built Hurricane bearing the RCAF serial number 5389. This Hurricane was built in 1942 by the Canadian Car & Foundry, Fort William (now Thunder Bay), Ontario and was taken on strength on June 23, 1942. On July 3, 1942, 5389 was assigned to No. 133 (Fighter) Squadron, Lethbridge, Alberta and coded as FN*M. The Squadron code FN was typically not displayed on the aircraft at this time; only the individual aircraft letter was carried.

 

On Oct 5, 1942, No. 133 (F) Squadron was transferred to the Western Air Command and relocated to RCAF Station Boundary Bay, British Columbia for home defense. It is at this location that the only known period photograph of 5389 exists (source Library and Archives Canada):

 

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During its service, 5389 was flown by a number of Canadian pilots, two of whom became aces in Europe: Don Laubman ( 15 victories) and Buck McNair (16 Victories).

The Squadron transferred to Tofino on July 1, 1943 and two weeks later, 5389 suffered a crash, was sent for repairs, and ended up in “Stored Reserve”. In March of 1945, 5389 was flown to No. 23 EFTS, Yorkton, SK to intercept and shoot down Japanese fire balloons. The aircraft was struck from service in August of 1946 and purchased by a farmer in Southern Saskatchewan. After a private purchase in 1962 to be displayed in a museum in Calgary, my home town, the aircraft became the property of the City and is now being restored to mechanically functional but non-flying condition by the Calgary Mosquito Aircraft Society, of which I am a member.

The aircraft as it appeared last fall, nearing application of fabric:

 

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This build also gave me an opportunity to display the unique paint scheme given these aircraft. They differ from their British-built counterparts in that the colours, generally equating to the British Temperate Land Scheme, were locally produced and, though close, were not quite the same. Also, the upper wing roundels were of the "A-Type" with the bright blues and reds used throughout all of the roundels and fin flashes rather than their more muted ETO versions.
 

Thanks go out to Jim Bates and Terry Higgins, both members on this forum, for their invaluable contributions to our project.

 

Insignia and "M" marking were masked and painted. Masks were home made using a Cricut digital cutter and stencil and s/n decals were printed on Testros clear decal paper using my inkjet printer. Exhaust shield are scratch-built and the Hamilton Standard prop, exhausts, and engine plug are resin parts by Ultracast. And now for the finished pics:

 

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Edited by Crimea River
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3 hours ago, dogsbody said:

What kit did you use?

Hasegawa 1/48, one of the Mk.IIs with the B wing (the hase kit has multiple boxings) ... I can spot what the base kit is unless it's been tweaked ;) 

 

this has more on the Canadian Hurricane colours, courtesy of @Crimea River

annoying the vid has gone, but i did do some screen grabs which show the distinctive Canadian features

45798117985_13dda53f35_b.jpg&key=3397ed2

 

45798113815_aec486a1f9_b.jpg&key=3e3e14b

 

Hope of interest

T

 

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Thanks everyone. It is indeed the Hasegawa Mk IIb kit, a valuable piece of info that I forgot to include. Thanks Troy for the clarification and for the link to the colours thread.

 

Andy

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Superb,.... you`ve done a corking job on this one,..... I must do another RCAF Hurri myself, I love the ones with the A Type upper wing roundels like yours,

Cheers

        Tony

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Lots of info on this and I like the look a lot.

 

@Crimea River my family is in Calgary and I used to live there.  I remember that chopper used to be on display up by the airport. Is your society planning on making it serviceable again?  Would be great to see.

 

 

 

 

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A terrific looking Hurricane.  Really nice to see a Canadian built one for a change.  A lesser known but important part of the Hurricane story.  Very nice paint finish and an interesting scheme.  Never seen those circular gun muzzle patches before - a local thing?  Also, very pleased to hear that the real thing is not only still extant but well on the way to its former glory,  The aircraft preservation world really owes a debt of gratitude to all those Canadian farmer!

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Great looking plane!  I visited the Mosquito museum maybe 18 years ago when they were working on the Mosquito and I thought it was a great little museum with a lot of very cool artifacts.  It was very easy to get over there as I was early for a flight out, well worth the time.  Looks like I owe the museum another visit now.  Can't think of a better excuse to come to Cagary except maybe the mountains which are pretty cool too.

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Thanks everyone. Really appreciate the feedback.

 

10 hours ago, Beazer said:

Lots of info on this and I like the look a lot.

 

@Crimea River my family is in Calgary and I used to live there.  I remember that chopper used to be on display up by the airport. Is your society planning on making it serviceable again?  Would be great to see.

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure which chopper or.museum you mean but I'm guessing it's the Alouette III at what is now called The Hangar Flight Museum. This exhibit is indoors and it's not serviceable as far as I know. The organization that  am with is an independent volunteer group charged with restoring the Hurricane above and a B.35 Mosquito. Our "client" is the City of Calgary and not the museum.

42 minutes ago, Harold55 said:

Great looking plane!  I visited the Mosquito museum maybe 18 years ago when they were working on the Mosquito and I thought it was a great little museum with a lot of very cool artifacts.  It was very easy to get over there as I was early for a flight out, well worth the time.  Looks like I owe the museum another visit now.  Can't think of a better excuse to come to Cagary except maybe the mountains which are pretty cool too.

Not sure what you mean by "mosquito museum" as there is no Mosquito at the above museum nor anywhere near the airport. Our B.35 is being restored in Nanton which is 90km south of the City of Calgary.

Edited by Crimea River
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Absolutely excellent job Andy, I love it.  I was just thinking about you the other day and need to drop you an email.

 

But to put on my pedantic hat, 5389 was never FN+M.  Just M as in the picture.  That little piece of info just keeps getting repeated and repeated.

 

Jim

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4 hours ago, Crimea River said:

Not sure what you mean by "mosquito museum" as there is no Mosquito at the above museum nor anywhere near the airport. Our B.35 is being restored in Nanton which is 90km south of the City of Calgary.

 Well this was some years ago, around 2000 but I visited the aircraft museum located by the airport and I have to assume it is what is now the Hanger Flight Museum but it was much smaller at the time and nothing fancy but they had a Mosquito.  Is it possible I drove south to Nanton to see it?  Not restored at all and if I recall it was not completely put together but you could see the impressive woodworking skill that went into building these.  I imagine it is the same plane you are restoring at the museum south of Calgary as how many could there be around Calgary.  But it looks like I now have two museums to visit there, the one in Calgary and the one in Nanton.

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Including by me. Thanks Jim. I'll try not to perpetuate that.

 

I'm at the same e-mail as before or you can PM me here. Either way.

 

3 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Exactly where is the Hurricane, in case I happen to be in the area? I don't know Calgary all that well.

 

 

Chris

 

Chris, right now the Hurricane is in a very innocuous Quonset hut at the Wetaskiwin airfield north of the Reynolds Museum, a 2 hour drive north of Calgary and can not be seen by Joe Public. It's in the final stages of being painted with the last few bits and pieces begin sourced to enable engine start up late next month. After that, the wings will be removed and the airplane shipped to Calgary for formal turnover to the Hangar Flight Museum in July if all goes well. https://www.thehangarmuseum.ca/content/location-map. Follow Hurrican and Mosquito progress here: http://www.calgarymosquitosociety.com/feature68/feature68.html

 

1 minute ago, Harold55 said:

 Well this was some years ago, around 2000 but I visited the aircraft museum located by the airport and I have to assume it is what is now the Hanger Flight Museum but it was much smaller at the time and nothing fancy but they had a Mosquito.  Is it possible I drove south to Nanton to see it?  Not restored at all and if I recall it was not completely put together but you could see the impressive woodworking skill that went into building these.  I imagine it is the same plane you are restoring at the museum south of Calgary as how many could there be around Calgary.  But it looks like I now have two museums to visit there, the one in Calgary and the one in Nanton.

 

Yes that museum is now the Hangar Flight Museum and as far as I know they never had a Mosquito there. Maybe you were thinking of their Lancaster? Our Mosquito was, at that time, in bits and pieces locked up in a warehouse in Calgary to be seen by no-one. It would not have been in Nanton in 2000 as we only moved it there in 2012. Perhaps you are thinking of Edmonton's Alberta Aviation Museum which has a Mosquito done up as "F for Freddie"? That museum is on the grounds of the now-closed Edmonton Municipal Airport.

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So, if someone were to be, say in the Edmonton area at the time and then just happened to be in Wetaskiwin and that person sort of knew you from being on some of the same online forums, would that person have a chance to see the engine start up? Maybe?

 

 

 

Chris

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3 hours ago, hurricane39 said:

Outstanding work.  Nice to hear about the history regarding this bird.  My Dad actually worked at that plant in Fort William upon returning to Canada in the fifties.

Thanks very much. Cool that your Dad worked at CC& F. He didn't happen to find and keep a book of WW2 paint chips did he? Would gave come in handy for us.

 

18 hours ago, dogsbody said:

So, if someone were to be, say in the Edmonton area at the time and then just happened to be in Wetaskiwin and that person sort of knew you from being on some of the same online forums, would that person have a chance to see the engine start up? Maybe?

 

 

 

Chris

 

Sorry Chris but I'm not even sure that I will see the first coughs myself. Once we get the engine running reliably then we are planning an invitational startup for society members and for those who contributed financially to the project. The schedule is very fluid as you can appreciate.

Edited by Crimea River
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