Deanflyer Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 On Friday 13th May 1955, a Vampire FB5 coded WA300 from 501 Squadron was seen to be in some difficulty on the return to its home airfield at RAF Filton near Bristol. It apparently stalled in the circuit and crashed, killing the pilot, Squadron Leader Geoffrey Berkeley Mercer. The significance of this event? This was my Dad’s CO, the pilot with whom he’d often flown in the Squadron Meteor T7, featured elsewhere on this site. My Dad was unaware of his death until fairly recently and it came as a shock to him when we found out. As a tribute to Sqn Ldr Mercer, I decided to build my Classic Airframes Vampire FB.5 as the aircraft which he flew to the end. The kit was everything a Classic Airframes limited run kit usually is – poor fitting, tricky to align and with some shape issues. I wrestled it into submission with the usual process of putty, sand, repeat and rescribe and left the shape inaccuracies alone – it looks enough like a Vampire to me. The squadron markings of black and yellow triangles, the lozenge on the nose gear door and the yellow boar’s head badge all had to be masked and painted, since no decals were available. The decal for the squadron badge is self made. I only lightly weathered the airframe, since this WAS the CO’s machine after all… I added a scratchbuilt aerial, pitot and gear cover actuators, made new wingtip lights from clear sprue drilled inside and painted, replaced the jet pipe with brass tube, and finished the whole thing off with semi-gloss varnish. Lots of semi, not much gloss. Not the easiest kit I’ve ever built, but 41½ hours of work resulted in the closest representation I could get to the aircraft that Geoffrey Mercer walked out to on that spring morning. The first picture says it all - blue skies, Squadron Leader. Dean 23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Having built a couple of CA kits and knowing what goes into completing them I find this result very inpressive. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul A H Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Very nice indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin S-K Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Dean, lovely clean convincing make of what I know is not an easy kit to make.... Like the sentiments behind it as well, nice tribute. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spad Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Very nice Dean - smashing build! Nicely delivered story aswell - really like models that have a real meaning to them. I echo Colin S-K on that! well done Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHREAK Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 A very fitting tribute, nice one Dean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Nice one Dean, a cracking build of a great little aircraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goon Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Very nicely done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 A fitting tribute and the best built CA Vampire I`ve jet seen....very well done Tony O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 A nice representation of the CO's ride... it always surprises me how many aircraft konk even out during peacetime. It's not a walk in the park being a forces aircrew during peacetime by any stretch of the imagination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timraven1992 Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Its a beauty mate Nice one Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bexwh773 Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 A fine tribute Dean and a stonking build Bex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tizzy Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanflyer Posted April 3, 2009 Author Share Posted April 3, 2009 Thanks for the comments folks. I've dropped this onto a few websites, and the comments it's received there have been few. Maybe first generation British jets don't do it for many people...at least Britmodeller guarantees a warm reception! Cheers, Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Excelent build as always Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avro683 Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 A lovely model Dean and great pictures. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barneydhc82 Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Nice build Dean. I've also struggled a bit with that kit completing it as a 442 Sqn RCAF(Reserve) replica...backdating it to a MK3 Barney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercerGranddaughter Posted August 13, 2021 Share Posted August 13, 2021 On 01/04/2009 at 19:30, Deanflyer said: On Friday 13th May 1955, a Vampire FB5 coded WA300 from 501 Squadron was seen to be in some difficulty on the return to its home airfield at RAF Filton near Bristol. It apparently stalled in the circuit and crashed, killing the pilot, Squadron Leader Geoffrey Berkeley Mercer. The significance of this event? This was my Dad’s CO, the pilot with whom he’d often flown in the Squadron Meteor T7, featured elsewhere on this site. My Dad was unaware of his death until fairly recently and it came as a shock to him when we found out. As a tribute to Sqn Ldr Mercer, I decided to build my Classic Airframes Vampire FB.5 as the aircraft which he flew to the end. The kit was everything a Classic Airframes limited run kit usually is – poor fitting, tricky to align and with some shape issues. I wrestled it into submission with the usual process of putty, sand, repeat and rescribe and left the shape inaccuracies alone – it looks enough like a Vampire to me. The squadron markings of black and yellow triangles, the lozenge on the nose gear door and the yellow boar’s head badge all had to be masked and painted, since no decals were available. The decal for the squadron badge is self made. I only lightly weathered the airframe, since this WAS the CO’s machine after all… I added a scratchbuilt aerial, pitot and gear cover actuators, made new wingtip lights from clear sprue drilled inside and painted, replaced the jet pipe with brass tube, and finished the whole thing off with semi-gloss varnish. Lots of semi, not much gloss. Not the easiest kit I’ve ever built, but 41½ hours of work resulted in the closest representation I could get to the aircraft that Geoffrey Mercer walked out to on that spring morning. The first picture says it all - blue skies, Squadron Leader. Dean @Deanflyer this was my Grandad. It is lovely to see this & hear your story. My mum would love to talk more & has some photos etc that you might be interested in. Let us know the best way to get in touch. Clare 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IvanP Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 Very nice build. Great tribute. Ivan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 A super build & lovely tribute. I'm very touched that Clare @MercerGranddaughter has found this too, hoping that you & her Mum can help one another. This all happened just a couple of weeks after & half a world away from my birth. RIP Squadron Leader Mercer. Steve. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 I missed this tge first time round and great to get a chance to look at this lovely model, you have done a cracking job on the CA kit and created a wonderful Vampire replica and a lovely tribute to Squadron Leader Mercer too. Great job all round. Chris 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 Great to see this one, and as others have said a great job on a CA kit, and a fantastic and fitting tribute to Clare's Grandad. The wonderful power and ways of the Britmodeller community! Terry 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mig88 Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 Lovely job!! Miguel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col Walter E Kurtz Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 I really do like and appreciate a Tribute build.( did my uncles Tempest V he crashed in ) It's a lovely job you've done on this. Well done! Sir! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanflyer Posted August 25, 2021 Author Share Posted August 25, 2021 On 8/13/2021 at 10:37 PM, MercerGranddaughter said: @Deanflyer this was my Grandad. It is lovely to see this & hear your story. My mum would love to talk more & has some photos etc that you might be interested in. Let us know the best way to get in touch. Clare Message sent, Clare... glad you liked it. Dean 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now