King & Country
Captain
- Joined
- May 23, 2005
- Messages
- 5,003
Hi Guys,
Among a diverse group of hand-carved, hand-painted aircraft models that flew into Hong Kong a couple of days back were these two big, beautiful warbirds…
Our Handley-Page Halifax ‘Friday The 13[SUP]th[/SUP]’ was joined by the Avro Lancaster ‘Pistol Packin Mama’.
Both 1:30 scale models are replicas of very famous aircraft. Here are some background details on the Halifax… Handley-Page Halifax BⅢ ‘Friday The 13[SUP]th[/SUP]’ flew with No. 158 Squadron, Royal Air Force and completed 128 missions, more than any other Halifax bomber flying with Bomber Command during WW2.
Following the end of the war, ‘Friday The 13[SUP]th[/SUP]’ was put on public display in London for a short period of time before returning to its base and being unceremoniously scrapped… a sad end to a very famous bomber.
Fortunately for all of us a group of aircraft enthusiasts at the Yorkshire Air Museum decided to build a recreation of a Halifax to commemorate this great aircraft.
To that end they began collecting as many genuine parts of Halifaxes as they could recover from crash sites as well as donations from aircraft collectors all over the UK and the rest of the world.
Among the most important ‘finds’ were an entire rear fuselage section from a Halifax that had been used as a ‘chicken coop’ for more than 40 years!
Propellers and propeller hubs came from a crashed Halifax that was lost on a raid on Nuremburg in March 1944.
The restoration's wings came from a Handley Page Hastings, a post WW2 RAF transport aircraft that used very similar wing designs to the older Halifax.
From start to finish the reconstruction took more than 12 years to complete.
Using all kinds of components from many, many different sources and locations the replica Halifax was a miraculous achievement.
It was appropriate that this ‘new‘ Handley Page Halifax was rolled out to the general public on Friday 13[SUP]th[/SUP], 1996 at the former RAF Elvington Airfield in Yorkshire, now the site of the Yorkshire Air Museum.
This is K&C’s tribute in miniature to a great aircraft and an amazing effort by the original volunteers and enthusiasts who recreated this superb replica and, of course all the brave air and ground crews of RAF Bomber Command in WW2.
All the best and happy collecting!
Andy
P.S. More details on the Lancaster tomorrow
Among a diverse group of hand-carved, hand-painted aircraft models that flew into Hong Kong a couple of days back were these two big, beautiful warbirds…
Our Handley-Page Halifax ‘Friday The 13[SUP]th[/SUP]’ was joined by the Avro Lancaster ‘Pistol Packin Mama’.
Both 1:30 scale models are replicas of very famous aircraft. Here are some background details on the Halifax… Handley-Page Halifax BⅢ ‘Friday The 13[SUP]th[/SUP]’ flew with No. 158 Squadron, Royal Air Force and completed 128 missions, more than any other Halifax bomber flying with Bomber Command during WW2.
Following the end of the war, ‘Friday The 13[SUP]th[/SUP]’ was put on public display in London for a short period of time before returning to its base and being unceremoniously scrapped… a sad end to a very famous bomber.
Fortunately for all of us a group of aircraft enthusiasts at the Yorkshire Air Museum decided to build a recreation of a Halifax to commemorate this great aircraft.
To that end they began collecting as many genuine parts of Halifaxes as they could recover from crash sites as well as donations from aircraft collectors all over the UK and the rest of the world.
Among the most important ‘finds’ were an entire rear fuselage section from a Halifax that had been used as a ‘chicken coop’ for more than 40 years!
Propellers and propeller hubs came from a crashed Halifax that was lost on a raid on Nuremburg in March 1944.
The restoration's wings came from a Handley Page Hastings, a post WW2 RAF transport aircraft that used very similar wing designs to the older Halifax.
From start to finish the reconstruction took more than 12 years to complete.
Using all kinds of components from many, many different sources and locations the replica Halifax was a miraculous achievement.
It was appropriate that this ‘new‘ Handley Page Halifax was rolled out to the general public on Friday 13[SUP]th[/SUP], 1996 at the former RAF Elvington Airfield in Yorkshire, now the site of the Yorkshire Air Museum.
This is K&C’s tribute in miniature to a great aircraft and an amazing effort by the original volunteers and enthusiasts who recreated this superb replica and, of course all the brave air and ground crews of RAF Bomber Command in WW2.
All the best and happy collecting!
Andy
P.S. More details on the Lancaster tomorrow
