That's all for this month's Warbirds, 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 5% discount on the website listed price, joining is free so well worth registering.
WOW445 Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw - US Army WOW446 Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw - US Marines
The Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw (company number S-55) was a multi-purpose helicopter designed in the late 1940s, used by the United States Army and United States Air Force. It was also license-built by Westland Aircraft as the Westland Whirlwind in the UK. It was the first combat helicopter, being significantly used for troop movements and transport. With the capacity to carry 10 troops, 8 litters or 5,000llb of freight, on either tricycle landing gear or floats for amphibious operations.
Development of the H-19 was in the early stages a private endeavour by Sikorsky without government sponsorship. Designed as a testbed for design concepts, to provide greater load-carrying ability with easy maintenance, a mock-up was designed and fabricated in less than 12 months. Maiden fight was on November 10[SUP]th[/SUP] 1949, powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp Radial Engine.
From the outset in 1951 the H19 showed its value, with one the test frames flew clandestine missions for the CIA in Korea. On April 12[SUP]th[/SUP]1953 a H-19 rescue variant saved the US ranking ace of the war, 16 kill Captain J McConnell, from the Yellow Sea, after his aircraft was damaged. While the CIA also used a H-19 to land behind enemy lines to collect and bring back parts of a crashed Mig 15 for evaluation. The first Army H-19 mission in Korea was on March 20[SUP]th[/SUP] 1953, proving emergency supplies to isolate troops from the First Infantry Division. Used extensive by the US Army and Marines in Korea, by the end of the war Marine H-19 variants had flown over 18,600 sorties, moving 60,000 troops and 3,800 tonnes of cargo.
Atlantic flight – in 1952 two H19s flew from Massachusetts in the USA to Weinsbaden in Germany. The stripped down helicopters, nicknames Hop-along and Whirl-o-way, with internal tanks hopped from Presque Isle Maine – Goose Bay Labrador – Narsarssuak Greenland - Keflavik Iceland – Prestwick Scotland - the Hague and finally Wiesbaden. Over 20 days, 3,984 miles with a flight time of 51 hours 55 minutes.
America and the UK were the main operators of the H-55, but variants were used by over 40 countries. Numbers build was 1,728, retiring from US service in Feb 1969.
Civilian use – in 1955 the H-55 was the first helicopter to be used in a scheduled commercial operation. With Sabena connecting cities in France, Germany and Holland.
Limited to 3 Army and 2 Marine versions available worldwide, each helicopter is priced at $1199 plus postage. Each model comes with hollowed out cargo bay, full cockpit interior and exposed engine detail.
The TG accessories and K&C figures are shown for scale comparison purposes only and are not included.
The design of the Me P.1099 began in the summer of 1943 and was intended as an improvement to the Me. 262. The Me P.1099 was planned in a way which could later be developed into a heavy fast bomber, reconnaissance plane, interceptor, night fighter and trainer variants.
The Messerschmitt P.1099 was a 12 metre long aircraft, with a wingspan of 12.6 metres. It retained the wings and the tail section of the Me 262A-2a, but with a wider fuselage and was initially equipped with a cockpit for two pilots.. The planned powerplants were two Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engines, however, these were later to be replaced by Heinkel He.011 turbojets, in a further development, together with swept wings, for the Me.P1100. None of the variants was built, but this project was developed into the Messerschmitt P.1100 all-weather fighter project, which in turn would lead to the single-seat, single-jet ME. P.1101 design for the Emergency Fighter Programme in July 1944.
Our 1/30 scale hand carved Mahogany 1946 Luft version is the bomber interceptor variant which was a single seat fighter armed with two MK 103 Z’ cannons firing up and to the rear which could be targeted at bombers, two FHL 151 machine guns fitted to the rear for defence and one electronically controlled FHL 151 cannon at the front.
Our 1/30 scale model is limited to 3 pieces worldwide, this aircraft is priced at $799 plus postage. Any figures or accessories shown in the photo are for scale comparison purposes only and are not included.
WOW418 Wesserflug P1003 Green Camo Pattern WOW419 Wesserflug P1003 Brown Camo Pattern
The original design work on the two-seated P.1003, began in 1938 by Weserflug. The project objective was to design and build a military tilt-rotor aircraft with Vertical Take Off and Landing [VTOL] capabilities.
A monoplane with a conventional fuselage was powered by a single mid-mounted Daimler-Benz DB600 engine, fed by an air intake located in the aircraft nose. The wings were set high in the fuselage, to enable ground clearance for the four-metre propellers and mounted at the wing tips were two large nacelles holding the propellers. To take off, the entire outer wing would rotate 90 degrees to a vertical position, creating lift, similar to a helicopter. Once airborne the outer wing would rotate 90 degrees to a horizontal position and fly as a conventional plane. All the tail gear retracted into the fuselage
Problems with the complexity of the VTOL system led to the the aircraft never being built. However this concept did lead to the the USA developing Boeing V-22 Osprey in the 1980's, some 40 years later later after the German concept.
Our aircraft represent what ‘could have been’, in two different camouflage versions and armed with 2 heavy machine guns in the nose and rotating wings.
Our 1/30 scale is limited to 3 with Green camouflage and 2 with Brown camouflage, worldwide, each of these unique flying machines is priced at $950 plus postage. The wings rotate round into the take off position and can then be rotated back into flying mode, making this a relatively complicated model to engineer.
The figures and accessories shown in the photos are for scale comparison purposes and are not included.
Avenger’s were used in Britain by the Fleet Air Arm as torpedo bomber, bomber, anti-submarine and airborne early warning variants. 3 aircraft were also modified to carry the 'Highball' bouncing bomb, although this was not a successful exercise. The Avenger replaced the Swordfish and Albacore, as was without doubt a superior aircraft, equipping some 17 frontline squadrons by the end of the war.
Possibly it's most unlikely success was the destruction of a V1 flying bomb in July 1944 when the dorsal air gunner shot one down at a range of 700 yards as the missile was overtaking them on its way to the UK. The Avenger was the heaviest single engined WWII aircraft and pilots reported that it 'flew like a truck', but its docile handling characteristics were ideal for many of its roles.
Especially active in the Pacific where it took part in Operation Meridian at Palembang and many other sorties. On 24 July an Avenger from No.848 Squadron became the first British aircraft to bomb Japan. The fleet took part in the attacks on shipping, naval bases and airfields. The first period of operations began on 17[SUP]th[/SUP] July and lasted for 25 days, although bad weather limited operations to only eight of sorties. Operations were interrupted by the atomic bombs of 6[SUP]th[/SUP] August and 9[SUP]th[/SUP] August, although TF 37 raided Honshu on 9[SUP]th[/SUP] August. By this point the British fleet was running desperately short of supplies, and so Task Force 38.5 was formed around Indefatigable and the battleship King George V. The fleet's final operations came on 15[SUP]th[/SUP] August 1945, and involved a force of Avengers and Seafires.
After the end of the war the Avenger rapidly left British service. Under the terms of the Lend Lease agreement the British had either to return items to the US or pay for them. The Avengers weren't wanted by either side, and so many of them were simply dumped at sea. No.848 Squadron was the last unit disbanded on 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] June 1946. Avengers were used widely in the European theatre, used in coastal operations, including D-Day and scheduled attacks on the Tirpitz.
Our 1/32 scale hand carved mahogany aircraft is one flown by 855 Sqn, RN FAA, Hawkinge in June 1944 and comes complete with D-Day stripes. . Limited to 4 available worldwide, this aircraft is priced at $999 plus postage. Please note this model is still en route to us via sea shipment and will be here early June. The K&C figures, TG/JJD accessories are all shown for scale comparison purposes only and are not included.
Dear all, welcome to our May 2023 Aircraft newsletter featuring a small selection of our latest warbirds.
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.
All our aircraft now come with their own stands and can be displayed in flying mode if required.
The design of the Me P.1099 began in the summer of 1943 and was intended as an improvement to the Me. 262. The Me P.1099 was planned in a way which could later be developed into a heavy fast bomber, reconnaissance plane, interceptor, night fighter and trainer variants.
The Messerschmitt P.1099 was a 12 metre long aircraft, with a wingspan of 12.6 metres. It retained the wings and the tail section of the Me 262A-2a, but with a wider fuselage and was initially equipped with a cockpit for two pilots.. The planned powerplants were two Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engines, however, these were later to be replaced by Heinkel He.011 turbojets, in a further development, together with swept wings, for the Me.P1100. None of the variants was built, but this project was developed into the Messerschmitt P.1100 all-weather fighter project, which in turn would lead to the single-seat, single-jet ME. P.1101 design for the Emergency Fighter Programme in July 1944.
Our 1/30 scale hand carved Mahogany 1946 Luft version is the bomber interceptor variant which was a single seat fighter armed with two MK 103 Z’ cannons firing up and to the rear which could be targeted at bombers, two FHL 151 machine guns fitted to the rear for defence and one electronically controlled FHL 151 cannon at the front.
Our 1/30 scale model is limited to 3 pieces worldwide, this aircraft is priced at $799 plus postage. Any figures or accessories shown in the photo are for scale comparison purposes only and are not included.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
