A new squadron was rapidly formed, number 488 Squadron, assembled from mainly Kiwi aircrew. They were quickly brought to operational readiness and had the first operation on the night of the 25 April 1941, with two pilots Flt S. Right, and P/O T. Potiki becoming night aces, with 5 and 6 kills respectively.
Over the coming months the Hawthorn built upon this start, and proved to be an ideal plane for long night patrols and a very stable gun platform. Quickly twenty more squadrons were converted to the Hawthorn, using their long range to harry the Luftwaffe bombers from take off to landing. Its introduction was heralded as the beginning of the end of the Luftwaffe's night bombing campaign.
Hi all, finally finished this Airfix 1/72 Hampden from the GB http://uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=191&t=2312, I wanted to try a couple of new techniques to me on this one, so took me a while to stop prevaricating about them.
First was masking and painting the codes and roundels, which I used frisket film cut into various circle masks, a time consuming thing, but I'm very happy with them.
The other was using oils as in Splash's tutorial, http://uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=94&t=1268, I tried different colour oils, but I did not like the look, so used white oil colour. I need more practise but I like the effect.
A fun build,
Cheers
Jim
