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* 1:48 Tamiya Dewoitine D.520


AnonymousDFB1

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This is my Entry for the GB it will e OOB with the addition of the Eduard Zoom Cockpit set.

Interestingly the box art differs from the painting guide as the box hart has now white arrow down the side of the fuselage?

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Looking forward to starting this one.

Edited by Mish
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great choice Mish

With regards to the white arrow, I think it was added to French aircraft (also sometimes as a plain white stripe) to denote its use by the Armée de l'Air de Vichy, so this aircraft survived the Battle of France by the looks. I guess that means a non-white stripe version would be more in keeping with the GB.

I take this info tentatively from Alain Pelletier's French Bombers of World War Two (Carrollton: Squadron/Signal Publications, 2003).

I am making the assumption that the white arrow would mean the same on bombers and fighters.

Edited by rowmk9
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It's not a matter of liking.

It's a matter of the white arrow being used during the Blitzkrieg or not.

I didn't say I was going to produce it without the arrow Erwin. Only that I prefer the look of the aircraft without the arrow.

I now have three sources that show show or mention D.520s without an arrow. It wouldn't be the first time that I have known Tamiya to make an error.

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I didn't say I was going to produce it without the arrow Erwin. Only that I prefer the look of the aircraft without the arrow.

I just wanted to point out that markings have to be correct for the Blitzkrieg time frame.

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The colour scheme I shall be using is the one carried by the personal mount of Pierre Le Gloan

Le Gloan was the fourth highest scoring French ace of WWII (18 victories). His story is very interesting. His fame was earned during the Battle of France by downing five aircraft in one sortie--four Italian CR.42 biplane fighters and a Breda BR.20 bomber on June 15, 1940, after this his history takes a sour turn as he also shot down six RAF Hurricanes and one Gloster Gladiator over Syria during heavy air combat in May-July 1941 between the Vichy French and the Allies. He later switched sides again when his unit, GCIII/6 joined the Free French Air Force and became GC 3/6 Roussillon in May 1943, at which time they converted to Bell P-39 Airacobras. He lost his life dramatically on September 11, 1943 when he attempted to crash land a P-39 with a dead engine on the North African Coast near Algiers. It is thought that he forgot that his Airacobra had a belly tank and he touched down with it still attached. The fuel in the tank exploded and the entire aircraft blew up, killing him instantly. He was 30 years old when he died.

The D.520 on the Tamiya box art is "No. 277," the aircraft most closely associated with Le Gloan and it was his personal mount for most of his career, it carried a "6" as his lucky number. (The MS.406 in which he scored his first victory did as well). The kit decals give you the option of showing No. 277 in Battle of France livery without the long white arrow and the white border to the French roundel on the fuselage, and sans the French tricolor "ace" markings on the after fuselage that bisect the number 6. The kit instructions show the model in June 1940, after the Armistice with Nazi Germany, but before Vichy aircraft carried still more colourful markings on nose and tail.

So the kit can be built within the required time frame with or without the the white arrow and the 'ace' bars.

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Le Gloan(Left)

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..interesting subject - Le Gloan was one of a number of French aces who carried out their 'duty' - without actually knowing what that 'duty' was..

and while he claimed one Gladiator in the combat of 15 June 1941, two others from the same flight bought him down - '277' bellying in at Rayak.

This French site has him as something of an embarassment to the French authorities for his 'successes' following the armistice..

http://aerostories.free.fr/pil_cha_fr/legloan/

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  • 4 weeks later...

I just came upon your topic, Mish, so sorry that I've been unable to help.

You're right about the Vichy markings.

I like this aircraft, but my preference goes to foreign air forces.

I did one in the past, maybe this topic could help (Only an average build, I'm sorry).

Here it is, finished

I'll try to build one more, Italian, or Bulgarian, I don't know at the moment.

Edited by Antoine
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Having always liked the lines of the D.520 I'll watch your progress on this one with interest Mish. Always reminded me on an air-racing or aerobatic machine rather than a fighter somehow and I'm sure you'll do a grand job on it.

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