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RNZAF Mosquito - 75 Squadron


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1 hour ago, GREG DESTEC said:

I'm interested to see you are modelling a 75 squadron subject. My Great Uncle was in 75 squadron from 1939 To 1941 as a Wireless operator/air gunner.  At the beginning of the war I think it was a RAF squadron with a New Zealand flight. However at some point shortly thereafter, I think, it became 75 squadron RNZAF. At that time they flew Wellington but eventually moved on to Stirlings and Lancasters. At some point did they convert to the Mosquito or am I rabbiting on about a completely different squadron? 

 

Hi Greg,

 

Yes, you're right, 75 Squadron was an RAF Squadron.

 

At the out break of WWII a contingent of RNZAF Personnel were in Britain to fly home to

New Zealand, 30 Wellington Mk I Bombers. However the New Zealand Government, offered them to

Britain/RAF for use in the war effort. These Personnel/Aircraft were known as the "New Zealand Squadron".

In April 1940, the RAF officially re- named this Squadron, 75 (NZ) Squadron.

Given this title, 75 Squadron was not an Article XV Squadron (for New Zealand these numbered  485-490).

Your Great Uncle would have there for all of this, Pretty Cool History :thumbsup::poppy:

You're also correct in that 75 Squadron flew, Wellingtons (Mk I/III), Stirling's and Lancaster's (these last till wars end)

with a brief (very very brief) fling with Lincolns late 1945

In 1946 the 75 Squadron number was officially given to the RNZAF, to which the Mosquito's as in my build were

allocated.

The Squadron you're thinking about with the Mosquito's, would be 487 Squadron, one of the Article XV Squadrons

I mentioned above. This photo below, shows three of these aircraft

MUS980952.t5f7782c2.m800.xq5gYgn1_.jpg

 

Not to be done in this GB, but I have a Trumpeter Wellington Mk III to build as a 75 (NZ) Squadron aircraft AA-D as in this painting

below

c519b663-aa90-4739-8be6-fcbd294b2b5d.jpg

 

The Duck Art/Motiff seen in the Painting, taken off AA-D, is on display at MOTAT here in Auckland

8e252c71-9674-4607-8f62-a24a23386b0c.jpg

 

The Thomas Fredrick Duck Art went on to serve up to the Lancaster's also.

The Original Pencil art, is also on display

53fb90db-7f83-4790-82de-b0bb09cd9499.jpg

 

Hope the above helps answer your query?

 

Regards

 

Alan

 

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Thanks for that Alan. It's sharpened up my understanding of the squadrons formation and transition to RNZAF. 

 

My Great Uncle completed a tour of ops with 75 before transferring to 93 squadron, and then eventually to the Telecommunications Flying Unit which was the practical side of developing and testing airborne radar. He died in December 1942 when following an exercise in the Edinburgh area and his aircraft exploded making an emergency landing. 

 

I carried out a bit of research about his service in the RAF from official sources and have a record of all his missions with 75.

 

Cheers Greg 👍

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/2/2021 at 2:11 AM, GREG DESTEC said:

My Great Uncle completed a tour of ops with 75 before transferring to 93 squadron, and then eventually to the Telecommunications Flying Unit which was the practical side of developing and testing airborne radar. He died in December 1942 when following an exercise in the Edinburgh area and his aircraft exploded making an emergency landing.

Hi Greg,

 

Thank you for sharing your family history about your Great Uncle, very special :poppy:

Given your Great Uncle completed a tour of Ops with 75 (NZ) Squadron,

we have to make him an Honorary Kiwi 🇳🇿 :)

 

Hard to post a follow up of the build after after that, I'll start a new Post

 

Regards

 

Alan

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Cheers Alan,

 

I'm sure he would have been chuffed to be given such an accolade. 

 

I look forward to more progress with your Mosquito. 

 

King regards

 

Greg 👍

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8 hours ago, GREG DESTEC said:

I'm sure he would have been chuffed to be given such an accolade. 

 

I look forward to more progress with your Mosquito. 

Hi Greg,

 

In my book, very deserving of it 👍

 

Well an update, would have happened last night (twice), guess that's what happens

when you try to rush through the post/just before bed, so third time lucky ;)

 

The new wheels turned up, are weighted and much larger than the kit ones

07436aa4-9fb3-4e5c-80e6-2c53001521ac.jpg

d053179a-3fe8-431e-836d-396f298f53ed.jpg

e7b31c01-bfef-4ea2-a837-6707d35c1b64.jpg

 

With the larger wheels, I had to rethink how I would construct the undercart, as you can't, following the

kit instructions, more on this later.

With that in mind, looking at the  photo of NZ2305, and an RNZAF Mosquito from 75 Sqn

you can see that the doors of the kit are not the same ( I think more for a Bomber version)

3839976e-6eff-48d2-b28e-9804598dd04c.jpg

OhG514-48.t5fb70fa1.m600.xp9HjrqSP.jpg

(RNZAF Official - RNZAF Museum - Used with Permissions)

 

Kit parts

6f591f26-b79d-4794-855a-ce53cec55f5f.jpg

 

So I looked at what to remove (per annotated photo below)

70b0fca5-ebc3-402a-ad02-98cb2b725b6d.jpg 

 

Removed the unwanted parts and here we are

b0e93bf8-d188-4a8b-a574-5a5e54422897.jpg

 

So with that, I needed to extend the upper door areas as per below, then fill with putty (WIP this one)

44b8aaa8-8753-4639-a3fb-da557b647e3c.jpg

 

63afa0b0-689f-4739-a854-6cb8020c2aa4.jpg

 

Glued the wings and nacelles, and again filling seams/misalignments with....... you guessed it more putty

3b1db4c3-7a19-4ed9-a055-8f47db668fac.jpg

 

4906d664-2269-4b7b-9ca7-1adc1cc35fe4.jpg

6eb9c7cb-060a-47a4-9b4e-81ede64c25dc.jpg

 

So after using putty and Acetone (nail polish remover) to smooth out the putty, I glued all the

appendages to fuselage

9be6e3fd-534a-444e-a008-64b0380a9b78.jpg

23857dc8-e444-4229-a906-4fa8b55803a5.jpg

 

Added the aerial mast, pertanent for the period (Circa 1952) Note, the Camouflaged ones

had (earlier) different masts

f75e3a34-6191-4c5b-aa8a-51066ad86e80.jpg

 

Before I forget, I drilled out the cannon openings, I had though about just plating them over as seen on

NZ2305 here

b86e1c2b-6c7e-4266-a899-f12ce9726c74.jpg

and the odd 75 Sqn Mosquito circa early 1950's

WgG1644-50.t5f6d24e1.m600.x_T_HbOHq.jpg

(RNZAF Official - RNZAF Museum - Used with Permissions)

The business end of the 20mm canon troughs - there is a method to my madness :D

97d71c19-edbc-4ed5-b442-f66ad1943c36.jpg

 

NZ2328 with troughs open,  BTW this is the configuration I plan to portray my Mosquito in

OhG880-51.t5fb70fcf.m600.x__LeuTy4.jpg

(RNZAF Official - RNZAF Museum - Used with Permissions)

 

So major milestone :thumbsup:

Will spend the next day or so masking and then painting

 

See you in the next update, thanks for looking in

 

Regards

 

Alan

 

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Great progress Alan,

 

I never appreciated that Airfix wheels and gear doors were so inaccurate. Good work on that. 

 

Looking forward to the next update.

 

Cheers Greg 👍

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Gidday Alan, although I'm a model ship builder I've always liked the Mozzie. But I've never built one. Maybe one day  .  .  .  I like what you're doing with yours. Regards, Jeff.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi All,

 

Due to Illness issues with the family (its an on going thing)  meaning little to no time at the bench ,

this one isn't going into the gallery - such is life:bristow:

I'll keep it going till done (hopefully later this week).

The rest of my builds, I'll complete as/when I can

Though the Lone Avenger (NZ2504) I probably will transfer to the WIP Forums

Thanks to Dennis/Pat for being the great hosts of this GB, there are some totally awesome

builds in this GB, and more especially the  Honorary Kiwi's/Aussies, who I have thoroughly enjoyed

chatting/spending time with :thumbsup:

 

 

Kind regards

 

Alan

 

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22 hours ago, LDSModeller said:

Hi All,

 

Due to Illness issues with the family (its an on going thing)  meaning little to no time at the bench ,

this one isn't going into the gallery - such is life:bristow:

I'll keep it going till done (hopefully later this week).

The rest of my builds, I'll complete as/when I can

Though the Lone Avenger (NZ2504) I probably will transfer to the WIP Forums

Thanks to Dennis/Pat for being the great hosts of this GB, there are some totally awesome

builds in this GB, and more especially the  Honorary Kiwi's/Aussies, who I have thoroughly enjoyed

chatting/spending time with :thumbsup:

 

 

Kind regards

 

Alan

 

Hello Alan, Im sorry to hear of the health issues. Its been a pleasure to host the build and I do look forward to the next installment in a couple of years. 

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1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Its been a pleasure to host the build and I do look forward to the next installment in a couple of years. 

Hi Dennis,

 

Definitely put my name for that, can think of a few things you build that

are a part of Kiwiana/Australiana

 

Regards

 

Alan

 

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