Dear Newsletter Readers thank you to all your kind comments on the Newsletters that I have recently written. It certainly is encouraging to me that they are read and enjoyed by so many of you.
Each week I will try and vary the content between updated aviation model news and recent news from the airshows that I have been able to attend.
Last week I intended to take my father to his local Worcestershire airshow at Throckmorton, near Pershore Worcestershire. Unfortunately it was by advance ticket only, and having not read the advertisement properly, was unable to attend ! Next time I will be much more attentive.
I was however able to attend the Shuttleworth Airshow 2015 Old Warden Aerodrome , near Biggleswade in Bedfordshire.
I have visited the hangers on numerous occasions but I have never actually made it to one of the airshows there in the past. This time I did make it and I thoroughly enjoyed the laid back atmosphere, the aircraft in the hangers(with more space around the aircraft), and of course the wonderful airshow itself. In addition the weather was wonderful.
I won’t list all of the aircraft that were on display… but will highlight those in which I have a particular interest.
Shuttleworth is famous for its preservation of our aircraft heritage from the early days of aviation,and in particular those from the First World War and Inter War Years. One of my favourites is the Hawker Hind K5414. This was wonderfully displayed with the Gloster Gladiator K7985. The Gloster Gladiator has been the subject of a die-cast aviation model in the past for us to collect in the Corgi Aviation Archive range in 1/72 scale.
The aircraft I was particularly keen to photograph was the Shuttleworth Collection Sea Hurricane IB Z7015. I managed to get a reasonable position at the end of the runway and took a quick shot of it taking to it’s position before its display.
I hope Hobbymaster produce this as a 1/48th scale model in the future as I think this would make a fantastic addition to their 1/48th scale range. As many of you know Hobbymaster have added two 1/48th scale Hurricanes into their range recently. They have sold very well since I added them to the site and although I have a few left I will be re-stocking them again this week for those of you still wishing to place an order. Please click on this link to get more details on the 1/48th Scale Hobbymaster range .
The first of these is HA8601 Hawker Hurricane Mk.I R4175, Sgt. J. František No.303 (Polish) Sqn. RAF Northolt, Sept 1940. Josef František was born in Czechoslovakia joining the Air Force in 1934. When Czechoslovakia was given to Germany František fled to Poland, then to France and eventually to England where he was assigned to the No. 303 (Polish) Squadron flying the Hawker Hurricane I. His first victory came on September 2, while his last was on September 30, 1940 when he failed to return. He shot down 17 aircraft and was the highest scoring Allied pilot during the Battle of Britain. Seven of his victories were scored flying R4175.
The second is HA8602 Hawker Hurricane Mk.I Flying Officer W.L. McKnight No 242 (Canadian) Sqn., RAF Coltishall, Dec 1940. F/O William L. “Willie” McKnight was born in Alberta Canada and on November 6, 1939 joined No. 242 All Canadian Squadron. He was attached to the 607 & 615 Squadrons for the Battle of France. During the BoB he was again with the 242 Squadron as wingman for Douglas Bader. By the end of 1940, P/O McKnight had claimed 17 kills, plus 2 shared and three unconfirmed but some say 23 victories. January 12, 1941 Canada’s first Ace in WWII never returned from the Calais area. Willie McKnight was the recipient of the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) and Bar.
As many of you have picked up I have added more products onto the site recently and in particular some keenly priced Jets from the Witty Sky Guardians range. I still have stock available in small numbers and I will be adding some re-stock on these items next week too. Please click on the Sky Guardians link here to go straight to these bargains. Stocks will not last for long so please do not delay.
I have also added some Aviation 72 range models. These have been ordered this week in large numbers, so again do not delay as these will not last long at these low prices.
Please continue to visit the website over the weekend as I will be adding more of the Hobbymaster 1/72 scale onto the site, in particular the RA-5C Vigilante, F -15C Eagle, S-3 Viking and E-2C Hawkeye and others.
I am sure many of you will be attending the airshows at Biggin Hill and Cosford over the weekend and I hope you have a fantastic time and that the weather is kind.
Until next week, thank you for reading this Newsletter.
Richard.
Flying Tigers.