Category: WW2 Era (1939-45)

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Blue Sky Simulations Announces Spitfire FR.XIV For Flight Sim World

Following on their P-40F Warhawk, Blue Sky Flight Simulations has announced the upcoming release of a Spitfire FR.XIV for Dovetail’s new Flight Sim World.

The model represents a type powered by a Rolls Royce Griffon 65 engine, and is reportedly in the early stages of development. A time frame for completion has not yet been announced although a series of in-sim screenshots have been released, additional examples of which can be seen below.

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World’s Only Hispano HA-1112-M4L Offered For Sale

Please Note: This is an archived post. The information presented here may not be current and the associated listing may no longer be active.

After performing its first post restoration flight at Sywell Aerodrome in November, Hispano HA-1112-M4L S/N 40/2 (G-AWHC) has hit the market.

As previously reported, the aircraft is the only remaining example of the two-seat, dual control aircraft built by Hispano Aviación. Constructed in 1954, it served with the Spanish Air Force until the type was retired in 1965. Soon thereafter it became one of 27 Buchóns gathered by Hamish Mahaddie for use in the 1967 film The Battle Of Britain.

The production included input from WW2 aces Robert Stanford Tuck (RAF) and Adolf Galland (Luftwaffe) who reportedly went flying together in G-AWHC in order to “compare notes.” After filming was complete, the machine became part of Connie Edwards’ collection in Texas before being acquired by Air Leasing, Ltd. and relocated to the UK for restoration to airworthy condition.

The Merlin-powered machine is said to be “very attractive from an investment point of view” with “enormous potential as a revenue earner providing passenger flights to history and movie buffs alike (subject to authority approval).”

The HA-1112-M4L is currently available for $5,999,999. Click here to check out the complete listing.

(Top Photo via Sywell Aerodrome)

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Special Hobby Releases Photos of Fuselage Mold for Upcoming 1/32 Westland Whirlwind Kit

Special Hobby has released new photos of the galvanic molds for their upcoming 1/32 Westland Whirlwind model kit. The new images add on to previous mold photos released last year, this time showing the fuselage and small parts.

As previously reported, the molds are being created using an electroplating process, sometimes also known as galvanic deposition. The kit’s development has been talked about for some time in the modeling community, and although a timeframe has not yet been announced, its release is anxiously awaited.

The twin-engine single seat Whirlwind fighter-bomber was developed in the 1930s and went on to serve in WW2, where it saw use in a variety of roles including bomber escort and ground attack. It was eventually withdrawn from service in 1943 and succeeded by the Hawker Typhoon. No examples of the type exist today, although a full-scale reproduction is reportedly under construction.

Click below to check out the new mold images.

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A Two-Seat Hawker Hurricane is on the Horizon

Hawker Hurricane IIB G-HHII will reportedly be converted into a two-seater by UK-based Hawker Restorations, Ltd.

The aircraft was manufactured by the Canadian Car & Foundry Company in 1942 and served with the RCAF until 1944. It then passed through a succession of owners, including Tony Ditheridge of Hawker Restorations, who restored it to a fighter-bomber configuration in the markings of BE505 of 174 (Mauritius) Squadron. The machine was acquired by the Hangar 11 Collection in 2007 and performed its first post-restoration flight in 2009. After being offered for sale, the machine once again joined the Hawker Restorations family and performed a short flight from North Weald to its new home at Elmsett on January 19.

Warbird Lovers has reported that the modification to a two-seat configuration will take roughly a year, with the second seat being positioned behind the pilot’s seat with an elongated cockpit and canopy. It is said that the machine will retain its fighter-bomber appearance.

Future plans for the machine have not yet been announced. It is also unclear whether the conversion of G-HHII is related to the Hawker Restoration’s recently announced opportunity to own the “only two-seater Hurricane in the world.”

(via Warbird Lovers and Hawker Restorations, Ltd. Photo: Paul Nelhams via Wikimedia Commons)

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Tamiya Releases New Tool Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 Model Kit

Tamiya has released their new tool Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 model kit in 1/48 scale.

As previously reported, the G-6 (kit 61117) joins the E-3 and E-4/7 Trop stablemates in Tamiya’s 1/48 Aircraft Series and reportedly includes a complete engine, a cowling designed for open or closed display and marking options for for 9./JG54, 7./JG27 and 9./JG52 machines.

Product Page ($37.79)

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Hefty Tax Bill Could Lead to Destruction of Restored Avro Lancaster Nose Section

A painstakingly restored Avro Lancaster cockpit section is in danger of being scrapped due to a hefty inheritance tax.

The aircraft was relegated to a field in Lincolnshire following WW2, where its remains were discovered by Jeremy Hall in the 1970s. He spent 20 years restoring the nose section and it has since been widely exhibited for educational purposes and as a tribute to Bomber Command.

However, Hall’s descendants are reportedly facing an unaffordable tax bill of roughly $60,000 on the machine – a prospect that could result in it being destroyed upon or before his passing.

The cockpit recently arrived at Royal Albert Hall to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the day the green light was given for Operation Chastise. Conducted in May 1943, 19 Lancasters of 617 Squadron attacked a number of German dams, resulting in severe flooding that destroyed or damaged power stations, factories and mines.

Click below to learn more about the display.

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New Video Shows How USAF Museum is Making Room For “Memphis Belle” Display

The USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio is currently in the final stages of restoring the iconic B-17F “Memphis Belle,” which became the U.S. Army Air Forces heavy bomber to complete 25 missions and return to the U.S.

The machine is scheduled to debut in the museum’s WW2 gallery on May 17th, and in preparation for the event, restoration crews have been working to make room. Recent work included the delicate task of removing the collection’s Fieseler Fi-156C-1 Storch and Culver PQ-14B from the gallery’s ceiling, a process that was captured in the newly released video seen below.

The B-17 currently on display at the USAF Museum, “Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby”, will be moved out of the facility and eventually transferred to the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. When complete, the Memphis Belle exhibit will reportedly include interactive displays, rare archival film footage and many personal artifacts which have never before been on display at the museum.

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Special Hobby Releases Marking Options for Upcoming 1/32 Tempest Mk. VI

Special Hobby has released the marking options for their upcoming 1/32 Hawker Tempest Mk. VI.

“The Tempest Mk. VI was a Tempest V airframe modified to accept the 2,340hp Sabre V engine. Externally similar to the Tempest V, the Mk.VI featured wing root air intakes similar to those installed on the Tempest II.The Sabre V´s higher power output made it necessary to have this extra cooling which was especially important since the Tempest VI had been selected to be the standard RAF fighter for service in the Middle East.”

The new kit (SH32055) is reportedly based on the company’s new tool Tempest Mk.V released in 2016 and will reportedly feature four livery options, including NX201 and NX135 of 6 Squadron RAF NX126 of 249 Squadron RAF and NX179 of 213 Squadron.

The kit is currently slated for release in April. Click below to check out the newly released livery profiles.

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Eduard Releases New Details on Upcoming New Tool Fw 190A-5 Light Fighter

Eduard has released new details on its upcoming new tool Fw 190A-5 Light Fighter model kit in 1/48 scale.

The offering will be released as a ProfiPACk edition kit containing new tool sprues and five marking options representing the classic fighter/JaBo variants. The decals were “carefully selected with regard to the armament variant (two-cannon wing), which is an important difference between this and the Fw 190A-5 kit of the previous generation.”

Liveries represent W/N 0152 594 flown by Maj. Hermann Graf, W/N 0157 298 flown by Maj. Josef Priller, W/N 1501 flown by Oblt. Walter Nowotny, W/N 538 of 6/Schl.G 1 and an A-5 flown by Oblt. Rolf Strohal of Stab I./JG 1.

The kit (82143) is currently slated for release in March. Click below to check out additional images.

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SL721, One of the World’s Most Original Airworthy Spitfires, Finds New Home in Europe

Supermarine Spitfire XVI SL721, formerly operated by Vintage Wings of Canada in Ottawa, has been sold to an enthusiast and will be making its way to a new home in Belgium.

As previously reported, SL721 was built in August 1945 and delivered to the RAF, where it became the personal aircraft of Air Chief Marshall Sir James Milne Robb, a WW1 pilot who served as Commander-In-Chief – Air Forces Europe following WW2. The Packard Merlin 266/R55-powered machine was sold in 1967 and transported to the US, where it would stay until 2002, when it was acquired by Vintage Wings of Canada. Today it is considered one of the most original airworthy Spitfires in the world.

Details regarding a home base and future plans are reportedly forthcoming.

(via Belgian Aviation Preservation Association and Platinum Fighter Sales Photo: Ahunt via Wikimedia Commons)