Boeing Washington B.1, ARDU RAAF

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

In 1952, two Boeing B-29 Superfortress from the 87 of which were on loan to the RAF as Washington B.1s were planned for transfer to the RAAF for various manufacturers trials on behalf of the UK Ministry of Supply along with a third that was to be added in 1955.

 

The three Washingtons that were allocated for transfer from RAF stocks to the RAAF were WW349, WW353, & WW354.

 

WW353 and WW354, were flown to Australia by RAAF aircrews and arrived at ARDU Trials Flight (later Air trial Unit) on 26 September 1952 and 12 December 1952 respectively where they were allocated the serials A76-1 & A76-2 which it appears was never applied to them.

 

By the end of the trial period in 1956, WW353/A76-1 and WW354/A76-2 had flown a total of 174 hours in RAAF service with WW353/A76-1 completing the majority of the flight time with WW354/A76-2 primarily being held as a spare aircraft.

The third Washington, WW349 (which had been provisionally allocated the serial A76-3) had been engaged on various manufacturers trials including the Blue Boar program and was due to be transferred to Australia in 1955. It was awaiting its test equipment fit out, however, on the morning of Wednesday 20th of April 1955, Valiant WP216 struck and damaged Washington WW349 and Valiant WP203 which were both parked at Wisley. WW349 sustained major damage to the nose area and as a result was struck off charge the same day. No further replacement Washington was allocated for the RAAF.

 

During 1956, WW353/A76-1 and WW354/A76-2 were placed in storage pending disposal decisions from the UK Ministry of Supply and the USAF.

 

The engines were later removed and the Washington airframes were sold for scrap in 1957. The remains of WW353/A76-1 were still evident at Tocumwal until mid 1962 and several components still exist in various museums and collections.

(Text from ADFSerials.com)

 

I am using the Academy Enola Gay kit for this one since it comes with the turret blanks which will be used for this build

 

I started with painting the interior parts with zinc chromate (should be zinc green which is basically zinc chrome with some black added to it which I found out after I started painting). SO I sprayed some thinned green over it to try and dull it down a bit.

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Then I added some colour according to the instructions

 

Cockpit and gunners section basically finished, I added some blocks under the pilots seats as the instructions would have you glue them straight tot he floor

A couple of bits glued into the forward fuselage

And the cockpit test fitted as I still have to add a couple of decals and flat down the gloss

 

and rear compartments glued in

 

Finally I started to removed the turret fairings to make way for the blanking plates (top done, bottom to do

I started on this yesterday morning and am quite happy with the progress to date

[roginoz]

Looking forward to following this build, Ray.

 

Wasn't aware that any Washingtons were allocated to the RAAF, must do some research.

Rog

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Now there is something I never knew ? Ive always thought about building a Washington, but now that there is an RAAF option thats even more likely. 

[CliffB]

Very interesting Ray.  A good choice 

[JOCKNEY]

Great stuff Ray

Is this one 1/72 ? 

It certainly looks like it from the detail in the pictures. 

Best of luck with this one. 

Cheers Pat 

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

1/72 Pat, been working away and concentrating on a couple of other builds, hope to update this one again soon.

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

With the Viscount finished it s time to turn my attention to the Washington.

 

First was to figure out how much nose weight was required. I taped the main assemblies together and added my weight of choice to the top of the cockpit with the model pivoted around the main gear leg position

 

So, this much

 

It was cut up and glued under the cockpit area

 

Another taped up test and it looks good

 

Then it was time to add the interior subassemblies before no one ever gets to see them again!

 

And then glue applied

 

[JOCKNEY]

Goodness me, I'd forgotten how big these were in 1/72 !

Looking great

[Angus Tura]

loving this, Ray.

 

Alan

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Some seam work and filling this arvo

 

Tail planes went on as well and then it was time for some wing and engine work

 

Wings going on

 

and test fit of engine cowls, they will stay off until last thing just in case I did not use enough nose weight

 

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Powering on, gear is on, nacelles fitted and clear parts attached. 

(P-8A providing top cover)

 

 

Once the future on the clear parts sets it will be masking time

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Final parts going on, masking done (love the Eduard masking sets)

 

I had to punch masks for the waist porthole type windows as they were not supplied in the mask set

 

Some antenna work up front

 

And the first primer coat

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

After a great day at the RAAF's 100th Anniversary flypast here in Canberra I was keen to finish this one up.

 

Paintwork mainly finished and masking off

 

Final assemble begins

 

Decalling commenced

 

And done

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Very nice looking Washington youve gone and built. 

[Ray_W]

Hi Ray,

I was admiring your Washington in the Gallery and had to come back and take a look at your build. Very nice indeed.

Ray

Edited April 7, 2021 by Ray_W
typo

[PhantomBigStu]

Very nice work on that Washington, assume it was an easy build given the timeframe, always wanted to do one but hard enough sanding a little 1/72 fighter in NMF, also surprising to see a build of yours done that hasn't spent a year on top of wardrobe or something

 

Posiedon looks fantastic and really tempting me to do some scratchbuilding so I can have another attempt at it in 1/144. 

 

Also watching the Halifax, to my shame binned the airfix kit before ever giving it a try a few years back when it was reissued and always wondered what its like to actually build  

[JOCKNEY]

Congratulations Ray

Looks the business 

Cheers Pat 

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

9 hours ago, PhantomBigStu said:

Very nice work on that Washington, assume it was an easy build given the timeframe, always wanted to do one but hard enough sanding a little 1/72 fighter in NMF, also surprising to see a build of yours done that hasn't spent a year on top of wardrobe or something

 

Poseidon looks fantastic and really tempting me to do some scratchbuilding so I can have another attempt at it in 1/144. 

 

Also watching the Halifax, to my shame binned the Airfix kit before ever giving it a try a few years back when it was reissued and always wondered what its like to actually build  

Cheers Stu and Pat,

 

Yes sometimes I amaze myself with the speed of some builds, this one was for a club RAAF GB that had a definite deadline so I made an effort. Now for the other 10 started RAAF subjects to finish up on that shelf.