That's all for this month for our aircraft, we sincerely hope you enjoy the pictures and would love to hear from you if any of these magnificent models appeal to you. They are all now on our website www.tomgunn.co.uk and can be paid for upfront or over an extended monthly period. All Gunn Club members qualify for a 10% discount on the website listed price, joining is free so well worth registering.
The Northrop P-61 Black Widow, named after an American spider, was the first operational U.S. warplane designed as a night fighter, and the first US aircraft designed to use radar. The P-61 had a crew of three: pilot, gunner and radar operator. It was armed with four 20 mm (.79 in) Hispano M2 forward-firing cannon mounted in the lower fuselage, and four .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns mounted in a remote-controlled dorsal gun turret.
It was an all-metal, twin-engine, twin-boom design developed during World War II. The first test flight was made on May 26, 1942, with the first production aircraft rolling off the assembly line in October 1943. The last aircraft was retired from government service in 1954.
Although not produced in the large numbers of its contemporaries, the Black Widow was effectively operated as a night-fighter by United States Army Air Forces squadrons in the European Theater, Pacific, China Burma India Theatre and Mediterranean Theatre during World War II. It replaced earlier British-designed night-fighter aircraft that had been updated to incorporate radar when it became available. After the war, the P-61 (redesignated the F-61) served in the United States Air Force as a long-range, all-weather, day/night interceptor for Air Defence Command until 1948, and with the Fifth Air Force until 1950.
On the night of 14 August 1945, a P-61B of the 548th Night Fight Squadron named Lady in the Dark was unofficially credited with the last Allied air victory before VJ Day. The P-61 was also modified to create the F-15 Reporter photo-reconnaissance aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces and subsequently used by the United States Air Force.
We have 3 x 1/30 scale Black Widows available in the markings of "Hel 'n back" priced at $1100 plus postage, which will vary depending on your location. Comes with free sample of USA013 pilot figure. Aircraft measures approximately 47cm in length and 66cm in width.
Please note the top turret is not removable and does not rotate.
The Dornier Do 215 was a fast light bomber, aerial reconnaissance aircraft and later a night fighter, produced by Dornier originally for export but in the event most served in the Luftwaffe. Like its predecessor, the Dornier Do 17, it inherited the title "The Flying Pencil" because of its slim fuselage.
Series production of the Do 215 A-1 began in 1939. The order, intended for the Swedish Air Force, was halted in August 1939, due to the political situation in Europe with war seeming imminent and unstoppable. The 18 extant aircraft were embargoed and pressed into Luftwaffe service upon the outbreak of World War II.
Some modifications were made and the resulting aircraft were redesignated as Do 215 B-0 through Do 215 B-5. This was the standard production version. According to official figures, a total of 105 Do 215s were produced between 1939 and 1941 by Dornier at its factory at Oberpfaffenhofen. Dornier 215's were withdrawn from service in 1944.
The night fighter variants were fitted with Lichenstein radar (the radar antennae, rear machine gun and radio antennae are detachable on our model) and were armed with 4 x machine guns and 4 x cannon in the nose, which surely would have had a devastating effect on any unlucky Allied bomber caught in its aim.
Our 1/30 scale model measures 54cm and 61cm in width and is priced at $999 plus postage. Limited to 5 models worldwide, comes with free figure SS061 with our compliments.
The Si 204 was planned as a small all-metal passenger aircraft with two crew and designed to carry eight passengers for German airline Deutsche Luft Hansa (DLH).
At the beginning of the war the aircraft was redesigned as a trainer aircraft with a full "stepless" glass cockpit, as had been initiated with the Heinkel He 111 series in early 1938. This meant the windscreen for the pilot had a rounded appearance to aid visibility, like almost all German bomber aircraft of the time that were being designed.
The Si 204D was used mainly in B and C Schools (advanced schools) and in FÜG 1 (delivery wing of the Luftwaffe), probably as a taxi aircraft for crews who had delivered other aircraft to fighting units. Its use in blind flying schools was sporadic.
In July 1944, a number of Si 204 were converted to night-combat aircraft, a rotating top machine gun turret was added for this purpose.
Siebels were popular personal transport aircraft with high ranking officers like Albert Kesselring and Adolf Galland. Our version of the Siebel comes in the markings of Ace Adolf Galland who often used a Siebel to fly between airfields in France.
Our 1/30 scale model aircraft measures approximately 50cm in length with a 70cm wingspan and is limited to 5 in number worldwide. Each model is priced at $999 plus postage which will vary depending on your location. UK/EU prices are shown on our website for all our warbirds.
The top machine gun turret is removable and rotates.
A unique aircraft never available before in 1/30 scale and comes with free figure SS061 with our compliments.
Dear all welcome to our July 2019 Aircraft newsletter featuring some exciting new products. All our hand carved Mahogany aircraft take in the region of 60 hours to manufacture plus many more hours of drying time. Some of the aircraft you see in our newsletters can take 3 years from start of project to completion! For this reason we only make small numbers of each model and every aircraft is a unique piece. For those of you who wish to spread your budget, please note we do accept stage payments where you can spread the cost over several months. If you require further details of any of the aircraft in todays newsletter please email us on welcome@gunnclub.co.uk.
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