P-47D 5th Emergency Rescue Squadron, RAF Boxted June 1944

[A.R.1989]

Ready for critique is my rendition of a P-47D of the 5th Emergency Rescue Squadron. This squadron was based at RAF Boxted in the summer of 1944 and was deployed over the channel to drop life rafts and buoys for downed USAAF airmen. Boxted airfield was in fact in the village of Langham, Essex just outside of Colchester. However an RAF Langham already existed in Norfolk so they adopted the name of the next village Boxted. The airfield originally had B-26 Marauders flying from it. This changed to Mustangs in 1943 and finally the famous 56th fighter group flew from Boxted in 1944/45. This was a change of pace for me as I normally build 35th scale armour but as I live nearby to the village and airfield I wanted to build a model of an aircraft that flew from there. 
 

This has been built from the excellent Tamiya 1/48 Razorback kit with added Eduard zoom photo etch and Hannants decals. This was a pleasure to build and was a welcome change from building armour. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 17, 2021 by A.R.1989

[Vinnie]

Cracking job with some nice detailing. Well done.👍

[Wulfman]

Lovely looking Jug, excellent work !

 

Wulfman

[SAT69]

That's a very handsome Thunderbolt. The cockpit is most impressive.

[Tbolt]

Very nice, looks great in full invasion stripes.

[jhutchi]

Very nice. I also live close to Boxted but closer to Earls Colne 

[bar side]

Very nice & good to see a Boxted resident.  I used to drive around the airfield to get out of Colchester & on to the A12 every day.  Didn’t they have an He-111 on the base for a while?  Always wondered if my mum saw it going over growing up in Colchester

[Farmerboy]

That’s an absolute belter, like everything about it, good job!

[A.R.1989]

2 hours ago, bar side said:

Very nice & good to see a Boxted resident.  I used to drive around the airfield to get out of Colchester & on to the A12 every day.  Didn’t they have an He-111 on the base for a while?  Always wondered if my mum saw it going over growing up in Colchester

I’m a Langham resident really, my parents and grandparents all live in the village. They did. It’s the 111 that is now in the RAF museum at Hendon. I think it was captured by US troops in 45 and flown back for evaluation. There is blurb here; https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/blog/how-an-american-saved-our-german-heinkel-he-111/    
 

I believe my grandparents still have a B26 nose wheel in their back garden that my uncles picked up on the airfield in the late 60’s. 

[twp1]

Great looking result. I'm hoping to do a few models of aircraft that flew from airfields my granddad served at during the war. Earls Colne was one but its hard to find kits of the aircraft that flew out of there

Edited June 18, 2021 by twp1
Bad grammer

[Gary Brantley]

Wow, what a sharp, great looking model!    The precision of that paint work is impressive by itself; together with the incredible cockpit, it makes for a beautifully built Thunderbolt.  So nice!