1/48 ICM Beaufort as AW207 BX-H of 86 Squadron. Lost on Gardening operation, November 24th, 1941

[elger]

“Gardening” from  Jansen, A. A., & Jong, A. P. de. (1983). Gevleugeld Verleden: Documentaire over de Boven Nederland Neergeschoten Raf-Vliegtuigen en Hun Bemanningen. Hollandia. P.137-143

 

Towards the end of 1939, Nazi Germany opened its warfare against British, Allied and neutral ships when they began laying magnetic mines, mostly by aircraft. At the time it was said to be Hitler's secret weapon, which he had boasted about in a speech he gave in Danzig on September 19, 1939.

 

The Germans had been manufacturing them for several years. They were undoubtedly formidable weapons and when it became clear that the Germans intended to use them on a large scale, the British were quick to follow suit. But it was not until early April 1940 that British minelaying operations began. The five months were not wasted in the meantime. The British made mines that they said were better than those of the Germans and the Hampden bomber was modified to carry them. This was not a matter for the Coastal Command alone. Since the Coastal Command did not have enough aircraft to carry out this task alone, the Bomber Command was also called in for this.

 

After the fall of Norway, followed six weeks later by that of the Netherlands, Belgium and France, the Germans controlled a coastline of approximately 2500 km, stretching from the North Cape to the western end of the Pyrenees. Supplying the troops guarding the coast and the garrisons in the hinterland presented the Germans with a very large task. Much of the necessary food and other supplies had to be brought in by sea, and here the Germans were vulnerable.

 

They were concerned about shipping and since they only had a small navy, which had also lost many ships in the Norwegian campaign, they could not – like the British – transport large convoys under the protection of the navy from their supply bases to the ports in the occupied areas. They therefore tried to sneak their ships from port to port, sailing close to the protective coast, to escape the vigilance of the Royal Navy and the RAF.

 

Most of these ships were not very large and could use the smaller harbors and rivers, where they could hide and unload their cargoes unhindered. There were too many of these ships to make mine-laying in these coastal waters a viable operation. Therefore, the British decided to lay mines only in those waters that were most frequented by such ships. In this way they had the best chance of disrupting enemy naval and supply shipping.

 

Seven areas were selected for laying mines. The two in which the Coastal Command operated were the area of the Dutch and German Wadden Islands, codenamed “Nectarines” and the Dutch, Belgian, and French North Sea coast.

 

 

(…)

Large-scale mine-laying was carried out simultaneously at several key points, from Bordeaux, along the coast of France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, to Danzig on the Baltic Sea. (…)

 

The aircraft used by the Coastal Command for the purpose were originally Swordfish biplanes, the open cockpit of which was the cause of much discomfort experienced by the crews especially in winter, although it was an advantage in other respects because the pilot made it easier to distinguish the water surface. As soon as the Beauforts became available, these much more modern aircraft were put into service.

 

The method used was as follows: the plane took off at an altitude of between 500 and 700 m. When it approached the chosen place – a shipping lane, the entrance to a harbour, the mouth of a fjord, or whatever it might be – it flew low in order to determine its position accurately. This was done by choosing a landmark, a building, a particular mountain, a lighthouse or a small island. Once there, the navigator sighted the landmark through the bomb scope and, just as the Beaufort flew over it, pressed a stopwatch, at the same time telling the pilot to fly a course at a certain speed, at a certain altitude and during a certain time. During this portion of the flight - the so-called "run-up", calculated in seconds and fractions of seconds - the observer dropped the mine using the stopwatch, completing the operation.

 

It was rare for the crew see the splash of the mine falling into the water. The operation was not immediately exciting, but it was difficult and dangerous. “It's like a cat crawling into a cave,” as one pilot described it. The Germans did their best to cover all eligible landmarks with antiaircraft fire. More than once crews saw little lights move along the edges of sheer cliffs, like strange fireflies. They came from the flashlights in the hands of the German gunners, running to their guns.

 

On the afternoon of Monday, November 24, 1941, a bitterly cold autumn day, a pair of Bristol Beauforts of Coastal Command's 86th Squadron, which had recently become operational, were being readied at North Coates, on the Lincolnshire coast, for a "gardening ” – the British code word for minelaying – mission to the Dutch Wadden area. Men from the ground crew hoisted a sea mine in each of the machines. These were magnetic-acoustic mines with an explosive weight of 700 lbs that were dropped from a low height by means of a parachute. Woe to the ship that came near such an infernal machine…

 

 

At 16:15  Beaufort AW207 BX-H cleared the ground; slowly it gained height, heading east, towards the North Sea and the enemy coast of the Netherlands. The pilot of the machine, Pilot Officer Dominic Page, divided his attention between the instruments on the panel in front of him and the side window, allowing him a last glimpse of the coast with the Humber and the protruding point of Spurn's Head, which they soon left behind. Soon it would be dark.

 

 

The men didn't say much; apart from the pilot were Flying Officer James McCrae Paxton, the observer, and Sergeants Jack Basil Green and James McCAnn, both radio operators. It was their fourth mission. About half an hour after the BX-H left North Coates, the second Beaufort took off the field: AW192 BX-T piloted by Pilot Officer Dennis R.J. Harper.

 

(…)

 

The Beaufort was originally a torpedo bomber. When the war started there were two torpedo bomber squadrons stationed in the UK - 22nd and 42nd, both equipped with the obsolete Wildebeest, and unable to do much until the new Bristol Beaufort became available in sufficient numbers. This type of aircraft, a development from the Blenheim, began to become available in early 1940 with 22nd Squadron at Thorney Island, near Portsmouth.

 

The Beaufort was of immensely strong construction and, at the time of its entry into service, was claimed to be the fastest medium bomber in the world. Its two Taurus engines gave the aircraft a top speed of 460 km per hour. The fuselage offered enough space for the crew of four.

 

The wireless operator sat comfortably behind the pilot, separated from him by an armor plate; he could move about the aircraft with ease, and when he went into action or if the aircraft was attacked by a fighter, he left his position by the radio and manned one of the two movable Vickers machine guns mounted in the side hatches on either side of the aircraft. hull were mounted. The hydraulically powered turret was located on the back of the aircraft, about half way down the fuselage, and the two gunners could easily switch positions.

 

 

It was cloudy and a bit foggy, so just the type of weather for this kind of mission – drop the mine and go. They flew below the clouds so as not to be sounded too early by the German coastal radar. The weather was always a factor to be seriously considered. On the 21st and 22nd (…) deployed Beauforts had to return because there were no clouds and the visibility was too good.

They flew on compass straight on their course. The navigator received “fixes” (cross bearings) from the radio operator to check his position from time to time. Night fell when they were halfway across the North Sea. Nothing happened until the rear gunner's voice cracked over the intercom and pointed to a spot of light to starboard, a searchlight illuminating a layer of clouds. They approached the enemy coast. That was either a flak ship or a searchlight setting on one of the Wadden Islands or on the coast itself.

 

Experienced crews, who knew their way around these parts, could orient themselves precisely by the shape of a known barrage without needing other means to determine their position. But the still green crew of 86th Squadron had the greatest difficulty in orienting themselves in cloudy weather and at night. But nothing was left to chance; the navigator carefully checked his position and the pilot turned, if possible to see the enemy coastline. This was usually the only dangerous point in the operation. They could be shot down if they came down through the clouds or, if the clouds were down to the sea or the ground, an inexperienced pilot might not be able to pull his plane up in time and, so heavily loaded, it could slide down and plop down on its tail in the sea.

 

This is how P/O Page and his three men in BX-H approached the Friese Gat, between Ameland and Schiermonnikoog; a few more minutes and they would drop their mine. At this moment they were suddenly surprised by the presence of one or more ships. This became painfully clear to them as tracer rounds came toward him like a row of luminous ping-pong balls, moving faster and faster, before disappearing past them into the blackness of the night. But not all of them disappeared…

 

A tearing sound and a violent shaking of the aircraft told them they had been hit. It all happened so fast that there was no time to do anything. The plane sailed over Schiermonnikoog with howling engines, already making its final landing… lower and lower. Skimming very low over the “Kooi” farm inhabited by the Talsma family, skidded over a ditch and then landed with its belly on the ground. It was not a soft landing. One of the engines was torn from the wing and a wing broke off, the wreckage slid for another 80 meters before finally coming to a stop at the housing of Jitse de Vries, a neighbor of Talsma.

 

One wonders how it is possible, but the four crewmen crawled out of the badly damaged machine almost unscathed; only Sergeant McCann was injured - one of his collarbones was broken. Miraculously, the others turned out not to have suffered serious injuries. They went to the Kooi farm, where the wounded was hospitably received - the other three men remained outside. “The first thing they asked was if we didn't have a boat for them,” Mr. Talsma said many years later. However, any attempt to escape was doomed to failure from the start, because the plane was ablaze and attracted Germans like a candle to flies. “Within fifteen minutes we had the Germans on the floor,” says Talsma.

 

 

The four British were taken prisoner and taken to the village.Near the burnt-out wreckage, the approximately three and a half meter long, cylindrical sea mine was found, which was thrown from the plane during the emergency landing. Luckily for nearby farms, it didn't explode. The men remained on the island for two days; then they were transferred to the mainland and then to Dulag Luft near Frankfurt. In May 1945 they were able to return home.

 

 

[from Website:] While in captivity, on the 30th of November 1941, Dominic Page was promoted to Flying Officer. At the end of the war he returned to the UK where he resumed his flying career after attending a refresher course. On the 19th of September  1946 he took off in a Mosquito aircraft for a flight with his navigator, Flying Officer Francis Colin Ashworth. The aircraft crashed near Wittering in Lincolnshire and burst into flames. The crewmen were killed. Three German prisoners of war, who were working nearby, had attempted to rescue the two men but were held back by the flames. Their gallant conduct was commended by the coroner and they were recommended early release. Dominic Page was buried at All Saints Churchyard in Wittering.

 

[Jansen:]  The second Beaufort, AW192 BX-T of P/O Harper, also did not return to North Coates; it disappeared into the sea, after presumably being struck by antiaircraft fire. One of the crew members, Sgt. William T. Large washed ashore on December 26, 1941 at post 9 in Schiermonnikoog. He was buried on the island. The body of F/Sgt. Ambrose N. Kennedy washed ashore at Caister-onSea in Norfolk. The fate of the pilot, P/O Dennis R. J. Harper, and his observer, Sgt. Alexander P. McGregor, unknown; it is assumed that they went down with the plane.

 

To build AW207 I'm going to use ICM's new kit:

 

 

It looks like a very good kit in the box, and I've seen quite a few impressive built up models already.

 

 

The interior is somewhat under detailed I would say. Perhaps ICM were unable to finish the kit properly due to Russia's invasion, but having built their Dornier 215 the interior is of similar quality.

 

 

In any case I've got the Eduard interior sets. I feel like the quality of Eduard sets has declined - and I don't much like prepainted photoetch. I'm installing as much as possible before painting, and I will try to get the rest to 'blend in' after painting.

 

 

The pilot seat needs a bit of work - photos show that it has cushions and arm rests. The arm rests I took from a 1/48 Mosquito seat, and I used epoxy putty for the first time to sculpt a cushion.

 

 

I need to finish a few more details before I can start priming. I've been very busy with work lately and will be for the next few weeks so updates will be even slower for me than usual. We're rolling out a new semester at the university where I work and I'm playing a key role in that, plus I've started a theatre group this academic year where there was none, and our first performances are coming up at the end of this month. I'm very excited about this - the first theatre project I've directed since the mid 2000s when I was still a student myself, but this time not only directing but setting up the company myself with about two dozen inexperienced students. It's been a journey and the end of our first project is almost in sight. Something completely different

 

Anyway - thanks for looking and as always comments are always welcome.

[colin]

That's a lovely detailed seat, agree with you about Eduard's sets especially the etch instrument panels/seat belts etc, Far better 3d stuff out there now and their getting left behind still using etch imho

[bigbadbadge]

A very interesting backround you have provided, something I was not aware of. 

Great start on this, the seat looks fantastic with your sculpted seat cushion.

Chris

[Cees Broere]

I love the historic context of your builds.

Erg mooi.

Gr

Cees

[elger]

Thanks for the responses guys.

 

I'm continuing with the interior. I was complaining a little bit about my perceived decline in quality of Eduard photo etch sets - I do have to say that their new T-Face line of canopy masks are fantastic. You get to mask canopies twice, woohoo! Seriously though, it's great for painting interiors.

 

 

For the visible part of the interior I wanted to go for a dramatic look, so I started with a coat of black primer. Then I highlighted the middle of panels with a lightened version of interior green. I then gave the parts a wash of black which accentuated the shadows even more. Then I drybrushed the ribs with a light version of interior green to make them stand out. Then finally I misted a coat of interior green mixed with clear gloss over it all to blend it all together.

 

 

Next I'm going to be adding the rest of the Eduard detail set and I hope I'll be able to blend it in with the rest.

 

Thanks for looking!

[bigbadbadge]

That is looking rather nice, great work

Chris

[AdrianMF]

Great intro, will be following the build with interest.
 

The ICM cowlings also look a bit off to me, FWIW. I think they might be improved by adding some material to the front inner rim of the exhaust collector.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[elger]

18 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Great intro, will be following the build with interest.
 

The ICM cowlings also look a bit off to me, FWIW. I think they might be improved by adding some material to the front inner rim of the exhaust collector.

 

Regards,

Adrian

I'll have a look at that, thanks for the suggestion

[europapete]

Yes, the cowling openings are definately too big, as are the wing oil coolers. 

[elger]

The play was a big success. Spring break now, and some time to work on the model. I finished the interior.

 

I had scratch built the emergency hydraulic hand pump to avoid using PE because it's so two-dimensional otherwise, but at some point I lost the part and I ended up using the PE part anyway.

 

The other item I scratch built, the lamp, is there on the navigator's desk.

 

I tried to paint the "parachute exit" sign on the floor and this pushed the Silhouette cutter to its limit - it was just too small to do it properly but it looks okay through the window.

 

I used AK third generation ultra clear flat for the finish and I'm a big fan: no fuss whatsoever, it works great without any issues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can just see the "parachute exit" sign in the last picture.

 

That's it for now - thanks for looking and comments & feedback is always welcome.

 

 

[amos brierley]

What you’ve done so far - the cockpit looks superb    😉.

[Dunny]

Elger,

 

Great background and a great start! Will watch with interest,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[Dunny]

Hi Elger,

 

Further examining your photos I note the presence of a Mk.IX bomb sight - is that part of the Eduard set? It was notably absent from the 1:48 Airfix Blenheim I recently built. I ended up scratch building one, but yours looks far superior!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[elger]

59 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Hi Elger,

 

Further examining your photos I note the presence of a Mk.IX bomb sight - is that part of the Eduard set? It was notably absent from the 1:48 Airfix Blenheim I recently built. I ended up scratch building one, but yours looks far superior!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

 

Yes this comes with the Eduard set for the 1/48 ICM kit.

[modelling minion]

Absolutely superb work on the interior of the Beaufort, it looks fantastic.

A very thorough introduction giving the history and fates of both the aircraft and the crews.👍

As I have one of these in the stash I shall follow the rest of your build so that I can see how it should be done.

 

🇺🇦

[bigbadbadge]

The interior looks fantastic,  great work.

Chris

[Bell209]

That's some seriously nice work there!

[Massimo]

You did a great job on these interiors!!!

And the combination od kit parts, scratch and Eduard PE are really outstanding!

Chapeau!!!👏👏👏

[franky boy]

Fantastic work Elger

 

James

[AlxBNE]

A great start. Looking forward to following your progress.

[AdrianMF]

Lovely interior.

 

FWIW I think ICM have the pilot's seat a bit far back. In profile photos of the real thing flying you can see that the pilot's head is about half way along the canopy (not at the back end), and you can see in the kit parts that it's a bit of a long reach to the control column.

 

Here are some pictures of a reconstructed cockpit that show the seat fore and aft position: fifth row middle and tenth row left show it most clearly.

 

It wouldn't be noticeable really once the canopy is on, but I thought I'd mention it.
 

Regards,

Adrian

[elger]

yeah good point - It's all glued together now but it is a little bit further forward than in these WIP photos because the head armour is right up against the radio deck which wasn't fitted here yet.

[elger]

A snag: I was sanding the fuselage and suddenly heard something rattling inside. Shook the model a bit more, and this thingy from the navigator's desk fell out - with no way to put it back in again without disassembling the glass nose. I guess I'll just leave it out...

 

 

Turning my attention to the wings. Because AW207 was one of the last Mk.Is, it likely had a machine gun in each wing. I replicated the rather heavy access panels from the port wing on the starboard wing with thin sheet styrene cut to size. I also added the appropriate gun hole. Interestingly, the starboard lower wing features the lower gun port detail that you will need to get rid off if you build a normal Mk.I.

 

 

Photos of preserved Beaufighter wings show that the the sides of the wing lamps had lightening holes, so I added some for some visual interest.

 

 

That's it for now - as always thanks for looking & comments and suggestions are always welcome.

 

 

[moondrome]

Nice details on the wing lamps, I think I missed to add the holes on mine. Also the cockpit and interior details are awesome. Keep up the good work!

[europapete]

This is coming along great! Well done.