Fighting the wrong enemy, Armée de l'Air de l'armistice

[Rata]

Originally Posted by wireandpaper

ps my camera didn't want to cooperate and focus properly

Don't worry. In this small scale my eyes don't want to cooperate and focus properly!

[Draco]

Originally Posted by wireandpaper

ps my camera didn't want to cooperate and focus properly

I'm sure your camera is focusing a high contrast line near the center of the screen. It can be the ruler or the wingtip. Try placing a coin near the plane at the same distance of the fuselage.

[wireandpaper]

Thank you Rata and Draco:

Following your suggestion I added a coin and the results are slightly better.

One the foes in Levant was the Hurricane with its great fire power of at least 8 MG, although the Gladiators did some damage.
The Hurricane is a recolor of JSC in 1/400, so no reduction in scale.

[Texman]

For a better pic, maybe try moving back away from the subject, then cropping
the photo to a smaller area around the models.

[chicharrero]

Pretty Vichy fighters, Pablo.
I found a picture of a combat like the ones you said
But this time the worst luck seems to be for the H-75

[Rata]

Fantastic image chicharrero. The artist is one Adam Tooby who creates the amazing box art for Airfix.

[Don Boose]

This is a most interesting thread, Pablo!

This, and Bruno's latest effort, Potez 63 series, have stimulated my interest in the Franco-Thai air war of November 1940-January 1941. See my post in Bruno's thread at http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/686690-post15656.html

I have ordered the Canwell and Sutherland book.

These are the sources I have identified so far on that conflict (I have the Air Enthusiast volume and Carmelio and Shores):

Armée de l'Air Order of Battle, 1st September 1940, available at http://france1940.free.fr/vichy/ada_sep.html

Paul Camelio and Christopher Shores, Armee de L’Air: A Pictorial History of the French Air Force 1937-1945, Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1976.

Diane Canwell and Jon Sutherland, Vichy Air Force at War: The French Air Force That Fought The Allies in World War II (Barnesley, UK: Pen and Sword Aviation, 2011).

C-J. Ehrengardt, “Indochine 39/45: L'incident de Lang-Son,” AeroStories, available at http://aerostories.free.fr/events/langson/

William Green and Gordon Swanborough, “France’s Forgotten Air War,” Air Enthusiast 25, August=November 1984, pp. 22-33.

MSW, “Vichy Air Force in Indochina,” Weapons and Warfare: History and Hardware of Warfare, available at https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2017/08/09/vichy-air-force-in-indochina/

Lots of potential for recolors:

The Thais were flying Curtiss Hawk IIs (available from Roman Vasyliev), Hawk IIIs (available from Bruno as F11Cs), and 75Ns (available from Nobi and Bruno, possible others); Martin 139WSs (B-10 available from Fiddlers Green), Mitsubishi Ki-30s (available from Aaron Murphy), and Vought 93s (O2U available from Bruno).

The French were flying Farman F 221s, Morane-Saulner M.S.406s (available from Bruno), Potez 25 TOEs (available from Bruno), Potez 542s (available from Bruno), and one or more Potez 633s (available from Bruno as 63 series). The French Navy was flying Gourdou-Leseurre GL 832s, Loire 130 seaplanes, and Potez 452s.

Don

[wireandpaper]

Dear Don:
Thank you for the info and the "reference" I feel academic.
There is another very interesting book on Germany's allies (some more reluctant than others). This book devotes about 20 pages to Vichy's air force. Not all the stories are sad. For example the achievements of the Finns were remarkable considering its fleet of mediocre or at best outdated inventory against the red aviation.
Best regards,
Pablo.

[Don Boose]

Looks like another useful reference, Pablo. Many thanks for showing the images of the relevant pages!

Don

[wireandpaper]

Be my guest, regarding the Canwell and Sutherland book, it is a nice read that describe in parallel the development of the RAF, RAAF, and the like. And in fairness has too many pictures of Senegalese and Australian infantry and not to much pictures of the relevant planes :-(