Defending America

[Brent]

Wow! What a great build and model. I wish I could build as neat as you.

Brent

[gomidefilho]

Awesome and rare bird!

[tigertony100]

Thank you very much for your comments my friends! First engine with open vents of the B-17 already assembled, now to make the other 3 engines and the landing gear and it will be complete.
Best Regards, Proudly Tigertony100.

[gomidefilho]

Great work in the B-17 in a rare color scheme!

[Don Boose]

Looking very good!

Don

[gomidefilho]

The model we are contributing today does not have much to do directly with the context of the defense of the American continents during World War II.

But it is yet another example of re-equipment that several South American countries were carrying out in the years before or in the early days of World War II. The Consolidated Model 16, also known as the Commodore, was a large passenger seaplane with a parasol wing, developed in the late 1920s. It can be said that from it a family of seaplanes developed, culminating in the PBY Catalina. The Commodore was used by many airlines in the Caribbean region and on routes connecting the United States to South America along the coast in the first half of the 1930s.

The largest operator of this aircraft was Pan America Airlines, however the rapid development of aeronautics in the 1930s made the Commodore quickly obsolete. The PAA fleet was transferred in the second half of the 1930s to the Brazilian subsidiary Panair do Brasil for use on domestic routes in Brazil. These aircraft, at least seven of them, were later sold and replaced by more modern types such as the S-43 and the Fairchild 91. Two were acquired by the Brazilian Army Aviation in 1940.

These aircraft did not have registration numbers in the Brazilian Military Aviation, and were only named Belém and Manaos - names of the cities that are the headquarters of the provinces (states) of Amazonas and Belém do Pará.

The Army Aviation maintained the PAA colors and erased the civilian registrations of the aircraft, only painting the steering rudders green and yellow.

These aircraft were the first large seaplanes operated by the Brazilian military for transport and liaison purposes. They were acquired as part of an expansion process that began in 1933. Geopolitical events in South America at the time, especially the Leticia Incident (the short border war between Colombia and Peru), led to a general rearmament of Latin American nations. The Commodore served as transport aircraft in the Amazon basin, based in the 7th Aviation Regiment, which operated the Military Air Mail routes. The acquisition of these aircraft had two purposes: to maintain integration with riverside communities in the Amazon basin in the Brazilian Amazon and, at the same time, to provide a vector for the movement of troops in the event of conflict or border incidents on a border that is still very permeable today.

The Commodore had a short military life, being transferred to the newly created FAB in 1941, when the Manaos had a landing accident with the loss of the entire crew drowned. The Belém was little used, with a few flights recorded in 1942, when due to a lack of parts for the engines it was grounded and later dismantled.

This model serves as a testament to the pre-war period and the unpreparedness of all Latin American nations to face the dark shadows of the coming war.





























Model Scissors and Planes in 1/100 repainted by Tigertony.

[Don Boose]

Beautiful model and an excellent historical write up that justifies for me the includion of this historic aricraft in this thread.

Don

[Play7]

Originally Posted by tigertony100

Thank you very much for your comments my friends! First engine with open vents of the B-17 already assembled, now to make the other 3 engines and the landing gear and it will be complete.
Best Regards, Proudly Tigertony100.

If I'm not mistaken, it seems to me that the root of the left wing is aerodynamically unfinished. Is there a missing part on the leading edge and another on the trailing ?
Otherwise, looking good .

[LE CRIQUET]

very interesting to put an aircraft in its historical context. It makes the model even more interesting.

[gomidefilho]

Don and Philippe many thanks for you words my friends!