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Old 01-15-2011, 05:28 AM
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Leif Ohlsson Leif Ohlsson is offline
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Where the winter camo may have originated from

Looking for fresh photos of the Po-2 I came upon what I believe may have been the source of inspiration for Robert Navratil's (Best Papermodels) winter camo Po-2:



You may remember (see this post) that the particular aircraft painted here belonged to the French "Normandie-Niemen" unit, at the Eastern front. Note the French markings in addition to the red stars. (Image source)

This photo, with a distinct pre-war feeling about it, is marked 1935:



The Wikimedia Commons caption runs: "The instructor Semeon Lykin and a group of pilots pose in front of a Polikarpov U-2 (or Po-2)."

Now, who's the instructor? My guess, the informally dressed guy closest to the camera. That may be just wishful thinking, but he could be a crop duster pilot (yes, the Po-2 was used for that, too), teaching some obviously military personnel how to fly, during these, the prelude to war, years.

Here's a colour scheme I'd really like to model (source):



Note the improvised way of dropping supplies to the insurgents in Warsaw at the end of the war - weapons packed with boards to stiffen them up for the drop!

In the material that Joek recommended (in a post a page back or so) there are photos of at least three interesting pods for stretchers, much like the M*A*S*H variety later on. Here are two of them:



In the material there is also good three-view drawings of these pods, plus a third variety (bottom). What purpose would the hatches in the bottom of that one have served?



Wouldn't it be an interesting task to design one or several of these pods as an add-on, to go with either of the two good Po-2 kits?

Incidentally, the middle pod in the drawing (or bottom two photos) doesn't seem to be for wounded, at least not stretcher cases. Could it be for transporting gerilla soldiers or something like that? Also, and even more incidentally, the designer Schcherbakov most likely is the same person who designed the SCHE-2, of which there is also a fine paper model.

Leif

PS. Turns out I was right about who's the instructor in the photo - it really is the informally dressed person in the foreground! If you go to the original flickr source, and hover over the photo with your mouse, you'll get confirmation - what a neat feature!
Attached Thumbnails
Polikarpov Po-2 Kartonowa Kolekcia 1:33-00-1polikarpov-po2.jpg   Polikarpov Po-2 Kartonowa Kolekcia 1:33-polikarpov_po-2_-1935-.jpg   Polikarpov Po-2 Kartonowa Kolekcia 1:33-po_1.jpg   Polikarpov Po-2 Kartonowa Kolekcia 1:33-stretcher-pods.jpg   Polikarpov Po-2 Kartonowa Kolekcia 1:33-stretcher-pod-dwg.jpg  


Last edited by Leif Ohlsson; 01-15-2011 at 06:27 AM.
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