January's Aircraft Release Gunn Miniatures (1 Viewer)

[Gunn Miniatures]

Dear all hope you had a good Christmas and New Year. Apologies for the delay but due to staff illness and holidays this newsletter was delayed for a brief 24 hours! To kick off the new year we have a new large model aircraft on offer for immediate dispatch with two or three more arriving in the very near future.

WOW166; The North American B-25 Mitchell was an American twin-engine, medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation (NAA) company. The design was named in honour of Major General William (Billy) Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in every theatre of World War II and after WW2 ended many remained in service, operating across four decades.
Produced in numerous variants, nearly 10,000 Mitchells rolled from NAA factories.
The majority of B-25s in American service were used in the war against Japan in Asia and the Pacific. The Mitchell fought from the North of the Pacific to the Southc and also the Far East. These areas included the campaigns in the Aleutian Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, New Britain, China, Burma and the island hoping campaign in the Central Pacific. The aircraft's potential as a ground-attack aircraft emerged during the Pacific war. The jungle environment reduced the usefulness of medium-level bombing and made low level attack the best tactic. Using similar mast height level tactics and skip bombing, the B-25 proved itself to be a suitable anti-shipping weapon and sank many enemy vessels of various types. An ever-increasing number of forward firing guns made the B-25 a formidable strafing aircraft for island warfare. The strafe versions were the B-25C1/D1, the B-25J1 and with the NAA strafer nose, the J2 sub-series.
In Burma, the B-25 was often used to attack Japanese communication links, especially bridges in Central Burma. It also helped supply the besieged troops in Imphal in 1944. The China Air Task Force, The Chinese American Composite Wing, the First Air Commando Group, the 31st Bomb Group and eventually, the relocated 12th Bomb Group, all operated the B-25 in the China Burma India theatre. Many of these missions involved battle field isolation, interdiction and close air support. Our 1/30 scale version is the strafer variant with the exotic nose art '1 for the Gipper' adorning the front flown by the 100BS which was part of 42nd BG. For those of you unaware of the story behind the nose art, please read below:
George Gipp (February 18, 1895 - December 14, 1920), nicknamed "The Gipper", was a college football player who played for the University of Notre Dame. Gipp was selected as Notre Dame's first Walter Camp All-American. Gipp played several positions, particularly halfback, quarterback and punter. Gipp died at the age of 25 of a streptococcal throat infection, days after leading Notre Dame to a win over Northwestern in his senior season, and is the subject of Knute Rockne's famous "Win just one for the Gipper" speech. In the 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American he was portrayed by Ronald Reagan who we all know went on to become President of the USA.

This model is a limited edition of 10 pieces worldwide (with 5 available now) and is priced at $1500 which includes free postage to most locations worldwide. Please note there is no free figure available with this model at present.

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

WOW172; Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor, also known as Kurier to the Allies, was a German all-metal four-engined monoplane originally developed by Focke-Wulf as a long-range airliner. A Japanese request for a long-range maritime patrol aircraft led to military versions that saw service with the Luftwaffe as long-range reconnaissance and anti-shipping maritime patrol bomber aircraft. The Luftwaffe also made extensive use of the Fw 200 as a transport.
It achieved success as a commerce raider until mid-1941, by which time it was being harried by long-range RAF Coastal Command aircraft and the Hurricane fighters being flown from CAM ships. After this it was gradually withdrawn from maritime service and used in the transportation role particularly on the eastern front
The Fw 200 resulted from a proposal by Kurt Tank of Focke-Wulf to Dr. Rudolf Stuessel of Deutsche Lufthansa to develop a landplane to carry passengers across the Atlantic Ocean to the USA. At that time this was unusual, as airlines used seaplanes on long over-water routes. To fly long distances economically, the Fw 200 was designed to cruise at an altitude of over 3,000 m (9,800 ft) - as high as possible without a pressurisee cabin. Existing airliners were designed to cruise at altitudes below 1,500 m (5,000 ft). The Fw 200 was briefly the world's most modern airliner, until other high-altitude airliners started operating: the Boeing 307 in 1940 and the Douglas DC-4 in 1942. The designation "Condor" was chosen because, like the condor bird, the Fw 200 had a very long wingspan, to facilitate high-altitude flight.
The Luftwaffe initially used the aircraft to support the Kriegsmarine, making great loops out across the North Sea and, following the fall of France, the Atlantic Ocean. The aircraft was used for maritime patrols and reconnaissance, searching for Allied convoys and warships that could be reported for targeting by U-boats. The Fw 200 could also carry a 900-kilogram (2,000 lb) bomb load or naval mines to use against shipping, and it was claimed that from June 1940 to February 1941, they sank 331,122 tonnes (365,000 tons) of shipping despite a rather crude bombsight. The attacks were carried out at extremely low altitude in order to "bracket" the target ship with three bombs; this almost guaranteed a hit. Winston Churchill called the Fw 200 the "Scourge of the Atlantic" during the Battle of the Atlantic due to its contribution to the heavy Allied shipping losses.
From mid-1941, Condor crews were instructed to stop attacking shipping and avoid all combat in order to preserve numbers. In August, the first Fw 200 was shot down by a CAM ship-launched Hawker Hurricane, and the arrival of the U.S.-built Grumman Martlet, operating from the Royal Navy's new escort carriers, posed a serious threat. On 14 August 1942, an Fw 200C-3 was the first German aircraft to be destroyed by USAAF pilots, after it was attacked by a P-40C and a P-38F over Iceland.
The Fw 200 was also used as a transport aircraft, notably flying supplies into Stalingrad in 1942. After late-1943, the Fw 200 came to be used solely for transport. For reconnaissance, it was replaced by the Junkers Ju 290, and even some examples of the Heinkel He 177A serving with KG 40. As France was liberated, maritime reconnaissance by the Luftwaffe became impossible as the Atlantic coast bases were captured. Production ended in 1944 with a total of 276 aircraft produced. Our 1/30 scale transport version is in the markings of the aircraft utilised by Adolf Hitler amongst others, it was later used as a resupply aircraft to troops on the eastern front. This variant comes with 'bomb shaped' resupply containers attached to the outer wings, if you do not require please advise. We have one of these items in stock at present with three more expected mid to end of February. Price will be $1500 plus around $250 for shipping depending on your location.

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

WOW148 The Junkers Ju 52 was a German trimotor transport aircraft built from 1931 to 1952. Initially it entered service as an civilian airliner with various airlines and also as a freight hauler. It quickly attracted the attention of the fledgling Luftwaffe who pressed it into service as a bomber during the Spanish civil war and then as a transport aircraft. By 1938 the 7th Air Division had five air transport groups with a total of 250 Ju 52’s, but by 1939 it was considered obsolete, however with no suitable replacement it remained in service until the end of WW2. The Ju 52 could carry 18 fully equipped soldiers or 12 stretchers when used as an air ambulance. Alternatively Kettenkrad and supply canisters could also be attached to the exterior and dropped with the assistance of four parachutes. The Ju 52 could also tow up to two DFS 230 gliders and was utilised in various operations in this role.
The Ju 52 made its assault debut in Norway quickly followed by the Low Countries where due to its slow speed, poor choice of landing fields and effective anti-aircraft fire it sustained heavy casualties, something like 270 being lost or damaged on the 10th May over Holland. It then took part in one of the most famous airborne operations of WW2, the invasion of Crete where once again it suffered casualties and invariably had to operate with a fighter escort. Always a welcome site for beleaguered German troops the Ju 52 came to symbolize hope and possibly the chance of a flight home to safety especially during the Stalingrad relief effort. This winter variant of the Ju 52 comes in a two tone scheme and registration markings as per the film 'Where Eagles Dare' with an initial batch of 3 aircraft available at a price of $1500 plus $250 postage which could be less and depends on your location. Please email us your location if you require a postage quote for your particular country of residence.


Our second Junker Ju 52 WOW147 comes in a stunning tropical camouflage scheme suitable for North Africa or Italy and is also priced at $1500 plus shipping with 3 being available once again mid to end of February 2018.

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

That's all for this month, we hope you have enjoyed our offerings. All three models will be shortly on our website www.tomgunn.co.uk with 5 of the B-25 Mitchell available now and the others coming soon! As a bonus we will also be receiving two more Ju 52's in the Crete invasion colour scheme, if these are of interest please advise us by email at earliest opportunity.
Please note we offer a 3 to 6 month deferred payment scheme on all our models, drop us a line if you wish to take advantage of this. Our figures newsletter will be later next week fingers crossed!

Regards
The Gunn Team

 

[Sentaapua]

Wonderful big bird releases! Great looking!

 

[Combat]

I think those are fantastic but at those prices I would not touch them with painted on windows. They also have a shiny, clean model look that is not particularly realistic looking. Not trying to knock them since they are great, but just some honest criticisms.

 

[lancer]

Matter of interest, TGM has posted elsewhere that all of this month's Warbird releases have now sold out and there is a waiting list for some of them. -- Al

 

[TomNT]

I think those are fantastic but at those prices I would not touch them with painted on windows. They also have a shiny, clean model look that is not particularly realistic looking. Not trying to knock them since they are great, but just some honest criticisms.

I agree, they do look to "clean looking" for me as well. I guess if they were all weathered, old and well used looking then the price for each bird would be even more. I would imagine that if you wanted a bird to be more weathered then TG would have it customised for you.

I still admire them in there current form and I take my hat off to TG for producing these classic warbirds.

Tom

 

[King Tiger II]

For my personal taste i like them as they are.

Its good to have some clean airplanes, I think most John Jenkins ww1 planes are also clean like TG.

Serge