That's all for this month, 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. Our figures for October are arriving next week, therefore we should be able to get our figures newsletter out on Monday 4th October.
The Focke Wulf 200 initially started life as an airliner with the ability to carry up to 26 passengers. The Luftwaffe saw its potential and added hard points for weapons, a gondola underneath the fuselage, machine guns and strengthened the fuselage to cope with the additional weight.
During the early war years the Condor was very successful in the maritime reconnaissance role and was called 'The scourge of the Atlantic' by Churchill after it notched up an impressive tally of Allied shipping whilst on patrols in the Atlantic. Its success was somewhat tempered with the arrival of Hurricanes launched via catapult from merchant ships and the introduction of longer range Allied aircraft.
The FW. 200 was also used as a transport aircraft particularly during the attempt to supply 6th army, cut off by the Russians and eventually forced to surrender, many have argued this was the turning point on the eastern front and the beginning of the end for Hitler's third Reich. Hitler also used the Condor as a personal transport, it was unarmed and was fitted with a downward ejecting parachute seat. Like many Condors it was destroyed during the war, with only one remaining example surviving today and on display in Berlin.
This Desert version Condor is a 'special' requested by a client who unfortunately died before it could be delivered, its available for $1500 plus shipping and comes with free mat as per the photographs.
The Blohm and Voss P.211 was a descendant of the P.210 aircraft but designed in a more simplified format due to the scarcity of raw materials needed for war production and particularly for jet fighters towards the end of the war. It was amongst a number of companies competing for the Volksjager project, others being Messerschmitt, Junkers and Arado. The main criteria for the project was that the aircraft could reach a maximum speed of 750 kph and maintain aerial combat for at least 30 minutes.
The P.211 was equipped with an air intake passing under the cockpit and proceeding to the rear where the single engine was located. The pilot sat in a pressurized cockpit with a bubble canopy which provided excellent vision. The primary armament of the aircraft consisted of two 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannons arranged around the air intake. It was also possible to carry a bomb load of 500 kg (1,100 lb), consisting of one SD or more SC 500 half-tonne bombs, one Bombentorpedo BT 200 bomb, five SD-series fragmentation bombs, SC-series general-purpose bombs, or a Rb 20/30 reconnaissance camera. Another advanced design idea allowed for more radical armament packages such as the Ruhrstahl X-4 wire-guided missile system.
Our model is in the markings of an aircraft flown by Erich Rudorffer, the 7th most successful aerial Ace of all time with 222 kills to his name. Rudorffer served on the Western, Mediterranean and Eastern fronts before finally being transferred back to the Western front to fly Me 262's. He survived the war and only recently died in 2016.
We have 3 of these 1/30 scale models available priced at $499 plus shipping. This model is supplied with a free sample of FJ043 Luftwaffe German General, all other figures and accessories shown are for scale reference purposes only.
The Sopwith Dolphin was a late war fighter aircraft employed by the RFC and later the RAF. It entered service in late 1917 and proved to be a formidable fighter which has often been overlooked by aviation enthusiasts and authors.
In early 1917, the Sopwith chief engineer Herbert Smith, began designing a new fighter powered by the geared 200 hp Hispano-Suiza 8B engine. The resulting Dolphin was a two-bay, single-seat biplane, with the upper wings attached to an open steel frame above the cockpit. To maintain the correct centre of gravity, the lower wings were positioned 13 in (33 cm) forward of the upper wings, creating the Dolphin’s distinctive negative wing stagger.
The pilot sat with his head through the frame, where he had an excellent view. This configuration sometimes caused difficulty for novices, who found it difficult to keep the aircraft pointed at the horizon because the nose was not visible from the cockpit. The cockpit was nevertheless warm and comfortable, in part because water pipes ran alongside the cockpit walls to the two side-mounted radiator blocks.
The Dolphin proved successful and generally popular with pilots. The aircraft was fast, manoeuvrable and easy to fly, though a sharp stall was noted. In his memoir Sagittarius Rising,Cecil Lewis described a mock dogfight between his S.E.5 and a Dolphin: “The Dolphin had a better performance than I realised. He was up in a climbing turn and on my tail in a flash. I half rolled out of the way, he was still there. I sat in a tight climbing spiral, he sat in a tighter one. I tried to climb above him, he climbed faster. Every dodge I have ever learned I tried on him; but he just sat there on my tail, for all the world as if I had just been towing him behind me.”
The highest-scoring Dolphin unit was No. 87 Squadron, which shot down 89 enemy aircraft. Pilots of No. 79 Squadron shot down 64 enemy aircraft in the eight and a half months that the aircraft was at the front. The top two Dolphin aces served in No. 79 Squadron. Captain Francis Gillett an American, scored 20 victories in the type and Lieutenant Ronald Bannerman, a New Zealander, scored 17 victories. The third-ranking Dolphin ace was Captain Arthur Vigers of 87 Squadron, who attained all 14 of his victories in the same aircraft.
Our new and last model of the Dolphin is one flown by an unknown pilot but it had some distinctive nose art in the form of sharks teeth and eyes which makes it an unusual machine for WW1, so much so we had to include it in our line up.
This 1/30 scale Mahogany model is limited to 5 in number. It is supplied with a free sample figure GW085 and is priced at $399 plus shipping.
The Terrain mat shown is from the Thomas Gunn range, all the other figures and accessories shown are for display purposes only.
Dear all, welcome to our September 2021 Aircraft newsletter featuring a small selection of our latest warbirds. We are waiting on a shipment to come in which will include some Whitley and Blenheim bombers plus a new Japanese Zero, these should be available in the next month or so.
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.
So sad to hear the the person who ordered the FW. 200 passed before it was delivered. It really looks wonderful. I'm sure whoever buys it will cherish it. The Sopwith dolphin is amazing. I don't collect planes, but I really appreciate the beauty of them and all the work involved in producing such fine models. Don't get my wrong, I'd collect them if I could.
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