1/72 Spitfire Mk.V

[lorenzomartinez07]

Nicely done, i like Spitfires a lot!

[Foute Man]

Originally Posted by rockpaperscissor

As with many early Fiddler's Green models, this is by no means an exacting replica of the real thing, but it was Spitfire(y) Spitfire(ish) enough for a quickie. Aircraft DoB "Lord Lloyd I" was flown by RAF ace Douglas Bader during the Battle of Britain.

I'm very sorry to say this is not correct. Bader has flown the Spitfire Mk1 during the Phoney war and the Battle of France with 19 Squadron and 222 Squadron, but during the Battle of Britain Douglas Bader flew the Hurricane Mk1. He became squadronleader of 242 squadron early july 1940. 242 Squadron flew the Hurricane (various marks) from january 1940 untill spring 1942, becoming a Spitfire squadron in april 1942.

During the Battle of Britain, Bader used three Hawker Hurricanes. The first was P3061, in which he scored six air victories. The second aircraft was unknown (possibly "P3090"), but Bader did score one victory and two damaged in it on 9 September. The third was V7467, in which he destroyed four more and added one probable and two damaged by the end of September. The machine was lost on 1 September 1941 while on a training exercise. (quoted from this wiki article)

Bader left 242 squadron to become wingleader in march 1941. As a wingleader he was granted permission to use his initials DB as personal id code. From this moment on Bader flew Spitfires again.
Your model unfortunately does not represent a Spitfire during the BoB, but a Spitfire from a few months later

[rockpaperscissor]

I stand corrected. Rereading my research a bit closer, I see that Bader flew the plane with this livery beginning Aug 9, 1941. A full year after the BoB. I must have mis-read the date at the time I built the model.

[Foute Man]

Originally Posted by rockpaperscissor

I stand corrected. Rereading my research a bit closer, I see that Bader flew the plane with this livery beginning Aug 9, 1941. A full year after the BoB. I must have mis-read the date at the time I built the model.

There are worse things in life I think. IMO your Spitfire still makes a great couple with the Galland bf109e you've built recently. Galland and Bader became good friends after the war, a fact not everybody seemed to appreciate. Watch this episode of "This Is Your Life" on Youtube and check the reaction of some of Bader's RAF friends when Galland enters the studio (@ 28:33).....



In case you feel some inspiration to make a BoB Hurricane Mk I for Douglas Bader, found this profile of V7467 on the internet.

Attached another profile of the same aircraft, found it on ebay

[Don Boose]

Always new and good things to learn in this Forum, especially with the contributions of you two.

It occurred to me that since JG 26 continued to operate from Abbeville through 1941 when Bader was flying sweeps over the Channel, the aircraft might still match up, but it seems that JG 26 transitioned to Bf 109Fs early in 1941, before Bader became a WingCo (I am working from Wikipedia here, this is definitely not one of my areas of expertise).

But there is definitely scope for more recolors and conversions if you decide to continue to play in this key, Don.

In addition to the Hurricanes Foute Man proposed, see: Asisbiz Messerschmitt Bf 109F2 Stab JG26 Adolf Galland France 1941 0C [I have no idea how difficult it would be to Frederick-ize the FG 109E.]

Don (too)

[Foute Man]

Originally Posted by Don Boose

In addition to the Hurricanes Foute Man proposed, see: Asisbiz Messerschmitt Bf 109F2 Stab JG26 Adolf Galland France 1941 0C [I have no idea how difficult it would be to Frederick-ize the FG 109E.]

It has been some time since I saw the episode of This Is Your Life, and in my memory Galland's reception was a bit colder.
In case modifying the FG Bf109e into a Bf109f is too much work, I could suggest repainting the Fabrizio Prudenziati Bf109f as it's a freeware model and already in the required scale. His models can be found on the Webarchive (if you can still remember the webadress) or on this backup website

for the bf109f variant, click here and here

[Siwi]

Heartily second the comments about simple models. My 'gateway drug' was a FG Bf109 I purchased from a local museum on a school trip aged about nine (almost completely inconsistant with the museum itself which was a house dating about 400 years before WW2). With a little parental help I cut and stuck the plane together, duelled it with my Airfix Spitfire, than later unglued it and traced around the pieces to try and make more. This almost certainly set me down the road of designing all my models myself and inventing my own machines.