Brickie's Polish Spit FINISHED

[Brickie]

I have two copies of the Airfix new-tool Spitfire Mk.Ia in the stash, and I've just found the unused remnants of a Techmod decal sheet for a PZL P.11 with plenty of decals left.

So, what if the Polish Air Force had had Spitfires in 1939?

Edit: For clarity, I'm doing one Spit for this, and one for the Blitzbau. That one may or may not be done in French markings as a secondary what-if...

[Brickie]

I tell a lie, I have one old and one new-tool - the 1979 tooling from the most recent "gift set" boxing, and the new tool from the Spitfire vs Bf110 Dogfight Double.

I suspect the new tool will be more blitzable than the older one, so that's what I'll do. It'll certainly make an interesting comparison.

[AndrewR]

The old tooling has a lot fewer parts, and fits together nicely. Personally,I'd say it would be more Blitzable

[Brickie]

Fair enough then - if the fit's still good enough to require minimal fettling, which was my only thought.

In fact, given some of the decals I might do better with engraved than raised panel lines on the Polish one.

[Martin R]

Brickie,

As a person of some knowledge on matters Polish, can you tell me whether the Poles intended to buy Spitfires but the Blitzkrieg intervened, or am I imagining reading that?

regards,

Martin

[Brickie]

There was a shipment of Hurricanes on the way from Liverpool to Danzig when the Germans invaded. The ship was turned around to head for Romania, which was allied with Poland before the war, and the plan was to unload the Hurris in Romania and that Polish pilots would pick them up and fly them either back to Poland or out of Romanian bases if needed. Romania, however, declared neutrality, impounded the Hurricanes and interned any Polish personnel crossing the border.

So the Hurris intended for Poland ended up in the Romanian air force instead.

I believe the Poles also took delivery of a single Mk I Spit for evaluation but for whatever reason didn't place any orders and sold the one they had to Turkey.

[Martin R]

There was a shipment of Hurricanes on the way from Liverpool to Danzig when the Germans invaded. The ship was turned around to head for Romania, which was allied with Poland before the war, and the plan was to unload the Hurris in Romania and that Polish pilots would pick them up and fly them either back to Poland or out of Romanian bases if needed. Romania, however, declared neutrality, impounded the Hurricanes and interned any Polish personnel crossing the border.

So the Hurris intended for Poland ended up in the Romanian air force instead.

I believe the Poles also took delivery of a single Mk I Spit for evaluation but for whatever reason didn't place any orders and sold the one they had to Turkey.

Thanks for that. Please don't tell Daz that I confused Spits with Hurricanes!

regards,

Martin

[DazDaMan]

I'm saying nothing....

Incidentally, there WAS a Polish Spitfire Mk.I.

Kind of.

For the film Dangerous Moonlight, a solitary Spitfire Mk.I was supplied for use in the short flying and ground scenes. It appears near the beginning of the film, when the main character (played by Anton Walbrook) flies out of Poland to join his comrades in Romania. The camouflage was basic 1940s pattern, albeit with huge Polish chequerboards on its fuselage (and presumably the wings - haven't seen the film in ages!).

It would have been an interesting scheme for the Screen Stars GB. If I'd thought of it at the time!

[Brickie]

Right, after a slight delay, here we go. The kit:



The sprues:



assembled the cockpit (still needing a couple of touch-ups)

[Jagewa]

Cracking start, a really nice looking cockpit.

[DazDaMan]

Hmm, that sharkmouth might look good on it....

[Kitaholic]

+1 on that. Nice work on it so far. Looks like a nice kit too.

[Brickie]

Hmm, that sharkmouth might look good on it....

It's a thought, certainly...

[DazDaMan]

You know you want to...

[TimJ]

Nice work so far.