March 2022 Warbirds (1 Viewer)

[Gunn Miniatures]

WOW389 Fiat G.50 Freccia


The Fiat G.50 was Italy’s first single seat monoplane all metal airplane. It first entered service in 1938 and saw service in the Spanish Civil War where it performed well against the Communist aircraft fielded against it. Armed with only 2 machine guns the Fiat G.50 suffered against the much more heavily armed and nimbler Hurricanes/Spitfires of the RAF during the Battle of Britain. Relocated back to the Mediterranean, the Fiat G.50 soldiered on due to the lack of a suitable replacement, but in the hands of an experienced pilot could compete with Allied adversaries like the Hurricane and P-40’s. Its greatest heyday came about during the Finnish Winter War and then the Continuation War where Fiat G.50’s proved worthwhile adversaries of the Soviet forces, on one day shooting down 13 out of 15 Soviet type SB bombers. The kill ratio for Fiat G.50’s in this theatre was in the region of 33/1 in their favour.


Our 1/32 scale Mahogany aircraft model measures 28cm in width and 25cm in length. It was one of a number of machines that took part in an action as follows against the Allies:
At 10:00 (Axis time) on 3 September 1941, 23 G.50bis of 20o Gruppo took off led by Tenente Colonnello Bonzano, to make a strafing attack in the Sidi Barrani area. They arrived over LG 05 at 11:35 (GMT), strafing 1 SAAF Squadron’s Hurricanes and damaging three of these, also riddling every tent with machine-gun fire. The Italian pilots believed that they had destroyed eight aircraft and many vehicles on the ground.

Claiming pilots from 352a Squadriglia were Sergente Maggiore Otello Bonelli (1 Hurricane), Capitano Luigi Borgogno (1 damaged Hurricane), Sergente Maggiore Renato De Silvestri (1 damaged Hurricane), Maresciallo Maurizio Iannucci (1 damaged Hurricane), Sergente Giuseppe Mirrione (1 Hurricane), Sottotenente Giorgio Oberwerger (1 damaged Hurricane), Sergente Maggiore Francesco Pecchiari (1 Hurricane) and Sergente Maggiore Francesco Visentin (1 probable Hurricane).


Only 1 machine available, more can be made on request, priced at $650 plus postage.
All the figures and accessories shown are for scale reference purposes and are not included.









That's all for this month for our Warbirds, we sincerely hope you enjoyed viewing them, they are now listed on our website and can be ordered there or by dropping us an email on welcome@gunnclub.co.uk.


Best wishes The Team @ Gunn

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

WOW388 Fw.190 White 10


Our last Focke Wulf 190 A4, 1./JG 1”Oesau” White 10, flown by Ofw. Fritz Husser, based at Deelen in the Netherlands May 1943. Although not an Ace Husser flew a very nice looking bird, his 2 victories included a B-17 on 22 June, 1943 and a 2nd B-17 on 25 June 1943.
On 28 July 1943, "White 10" was lost when Uffz Karl Knespel crashed and was killed after attacking a formation of USAAF bombers. Limited edition with only 1 available at present, more available if the demand is there.

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

WOW387 Fw.190 Wolfgang Leonhardt


One of our most distinctive schemes for a Luftwaffe bird, Yellow 6 was assigned to Oberleutnant Wolfgang Leonhardt of 6./JG 1. An Ace who scored his first victory, an RAF Spitfire on June 19 1942. Late in 1942 JG 1 were assigned to the Defence of the Reich and on October 31, 1942 ‘Yellow 6’ was slightly damaged during a crash landing and repaired. Leonhardt scored a second victory on December 6, 1942 and his third on December 13, 1942. On January 22, 1943 he scored two more victories but on February 4, 1943 he was shot down whilst attacking a USAAF B-17.


A limited edition with 1 available at present, more can be made if the demand is there.

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

WOW386 Fw.190 Siegfried Schnell


Our second 190 is one flown by Siegfried Schnell, an Ace and Knights Cross recipient with 93 victories, most of these were scored over the western front with only 3 being credited over the Russian front. Schnell was killed in 1944 over Estonia during a dog fight. Only one piece available at present, more can be made if the demand is there.

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

WOW385 Focke Wulf Fw.190 Eberhard Burath


The Fw.190 is one of the most iconic aircraft of all time and along with the Messerschmitt Bf 109, was the backbone of the Luftwaffe fighter force during WW2. Designed by Kurt Tank the Fw.190 entered service in 1941 and quickly proved itself superior to the RAF’s Spitfire MK V in virtually every aspect.


The Fw.190 was upgraded throughout its service during WW2 and was liked by its pilots for its ruggedness and ability to land on the rough airstrips, which were often found on the Russian front. Not only was the Fw.190 used as a day fighter, but saw service as a night and ground attack fighter and towards the end of the war it was also utilized to carry the Mistel, a radio controlled Junkers Ju 88 packed with explosives which was often used to destroy bridges. We have a total of four 190's available in this newsletter, there is only one of each available a present but we will order more if the demand is there. The price for all these 190's is $650 plus postage, all figures and accessories are shown for scale reference purposes only. All of these are 1/32 scale please note.


Our first 190 is flown by Eberhard Burath an Ace with a tally of six B-17's to his tally plus a Russian Pe 2 during the final months of the war.

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

WOW381 Dornier 335 Arrow


The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil (“Arrow”) was a World War II heavy fighter built by the Dornier company. The Pfeil’s performance was much better than other twin-engine designs due to its unique “push-pull” layout and the much lower drag of the in-line alignment of the two engines, this made it one of the fastest piston driven aircraft of WW2. The Pfeil was an extremely large 'heavy' fighter aircraft for its time with a wingspan and fuselage length measuring over 40ft. Only a handful were produced before the end of the war with none seeing actual combat, Allied aircraft were too slow to catch the Dornier although some did try and the Luftwaffe were forbidden to engage the Allies should one fall into enemy hands!


Our 1/32 scale model is a limited edition of 3 models and is priced at $750 plus shipping. The figures and accessories are shown for scale reference purposes only and are not included.

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

WOW372 Hawker Hurricane Willie Mcknight


The Hawker Hurricane was a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s/40s that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the RAF. It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by the Supermarine Spitfire’s role during Battle of Britain in 1940, however the Hurricane inflicted 60 percent of the losses sustained by the Luftwaffe in this engagement, and fought in all the major theatres of the Second World War.


In June 1936, the Hurricane went into production for the Air Ministry; it entered squadron service on 25 December 1937. Its manufacture and maintenance was eased by using conventional construction methods so that squadrons could perform many major repairs without external support. The Hurricane was rapidly procured prior to the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, when the RAF had 18 Hurricane equipped squadrons in service.


The Hurricane was developed through several versions, into bomber-interceptors, fighter-bombers, and ground support aircraft as well as fighters. Versions designed for the Royal Navy known as the Sea Hurricane had modifications enabling operation from ships. Some were converted as catapult-launched convoy escorts. By the end of production in July 1944, 14,487 Hurricanes had been completed in Britain, Canada, Belgium and Yugoslavia.


Our Hurricane is one flown by Willie McKnight, DFC & Bar. He was Canada's fifth-highest scoring ace of the war. McKnight joined the RAF in early 1939 and served with 242 Sqn during the final phase of the Battle for France, covering the Allied retreat to Dunkirk and later the Battle of Britain.


His Hurricane carried a human skeleton image which held a sickle in its hand under the cockpit. McKnight scored 17 victories, as well as two shared and three unconfirmed kills. McKnight was shot down and killed on 12 January 1941 during a fighter sweep over Calais


We have a limited edition of five hand carved Mahogany aircraft available. The price is $650 per model plus postage. Postage is approximately $100 to the USA, but would be around $150 to Australia or New Zealand. For those of you here in Europe the postage is lower, we do what we can when we can in these difficult times.
All the K&C figures and the TG/JJD accessories are shown for scale comparison purposes only and are not included.

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

Dear all, welcome to our March 2022 Aircraft newsletter featuring some classics which will no doubt make their way into some lucky collectors hands.
All our hand carved Mahogany aircraft take in the region of 250 days to manufacture plus many more hours of drying time. 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 when buying our aircraft, 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 today's newsletter, please email welcome@gunnclub.co.uk and ask for a quote.


A big thank you to Mark Dyer with his assistance in the research and development of these models, it really has been invaluable.



All our aircraft now come with their own stands and can be displayed in flying mode if required.

 

[MLH13]

A very impressive line-up of warbirds TG! Waiting on my Me264 to make its debut.:salute::

Mark