wayne556517
Lieutenant General
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2007
- Messages
- 16,220
Dear All
Welcome to our second hand carved 1/30 scale wooden warbirds instalment for
the month of January, which features the Boulton Paul Defiant (WOW055) an
innovative design with a rear firing turret intended to destroy bomber
formations as they approached the United Kingdom. The Defiant first flew in
1937 and began equipping RAF Squadrons in 1939 with over 700 finally being
built. Although the original design featured a rear firing turret, Boulton
Paul had offered a non-turret version with 12 forward firing machine guns or
4 cannons, with a top speed almost equal to the Spitfire! The RAF however
felt it had enough fighter aircraft with the Hurricane and Spitfire and
therefore stated there was no requirement for another fighter in its
inventory. Boulton Paul therefore pressed on with the rear firing turret
version but omitted any forward firing armament, a crucial error which was
highlighted when war erupted in 1939. Initially the Defiant's fared well
over France in 1940 covering the retreat to Dunkirk and on the 29th May
Defiant's from 264 Sqn claimed 37 Luftwaffe kills in two sorties that day
which including 19 Stukas and 9 BF 110's!
The BF 109 fighter was also not invulnerable to the Defiant as initially
Luftwaffe pilots mistook the Defiant for a Hurricane and attacked from
behind, racking up losses until they changed tactics and attacked from the
front or underneath. This change made the Defiant an easy target and losses
started mounting at a worrying rate. Unfortunately the turret gunner was
unable to wear a conventional parachute as the turret was too cramped, this
meant that if the aircraft was shot down the gunner would almost certainly
die, although the pilot could bail out it, must have been a heart breaking
decision for many pilots to actually do this.
The Defiant was switched over to night time defence as the momentum of the
Blitz increased and was very successful, shooting down more enemy aircraft
than any other whilst employed in this role. The Defiant had finally found
its niche and the concentration of its 4 heavy machine guns were found to be
devastating against lumbering German bombers. The Defiant also found other
uses within the RAF as a weapons tug and in the Air Sea Rescue role,
soldiering on until 1945 in these roles until replaced by other newer and
more capable aircraft.
Our Defiant is one from 264 Sqn and was flown by Sqn Ldr Philip Hunter DSO
one of the top scoring Defiant aces along with his gunner Fred King.
During the many air battles of 1940 they claimed over 9 kills but their luck
ran out on 24th August 1940 when they were last seen chasing a JU88 out to
sea, a mission from which they never returned from.
We have only made 5 Defiant's and as such this is a very rare edition from
Thomas Gunn unlikely to be repeated. The Defiant is priced at $750 and comes
with free RAF pilot figure (and cat!) as per the attached photos, payments
can also be spread over 3 months if so desired.
I am hoping for news of a Lysander next month as well as a Lozenge pattern
fighter from WW1, stay tuned for pictures as they arrive in the next
aviation newsletter.
For those of you waiting for the figure release these have been delayed
until the 4th February as we switch back to the 4th of each month for figure
releases. The good news is that ROM005 which features the second rank of
Romans (Pilum raised) marching behind ROM001 (Pilum lowered) are also now
going to be available, so a nice double whammy for those of you wanting to
jump in on this exciting new series!
I bid you farewell until the 4th and once again thank you for all your
support.
Best wishes
The Gunn Team
Welcome to our second hand carved 1/30 scale wooden warbirds instalment for
the month of January, which features the Boulton Paul Defiant (WOW055) an
innovative design with a rear firing turret intended to destroy bomber
formations as they approached the United Kingdom. The Defiant first flew in
1937 and began equipping RAF Squadrons in 1939 with over 700 finally being
built. Although the original design featured a rear firing turret, Boulton
Paul had offered a non-turret version with 12 forward firing machine guns or
4 cannons, with a top speed almost equal to the Spitfire! The RAF however
felt it had enough fighter aircraft with the Hurricane and Spitfire and
therefore stated there was no requirement for another fighter in its
inventory. Boulton Paul therefore pressed on with the rear firing turret
version but omitted any forward firing armament, a crucial error which was
highlighted when war erupted in 1939. Initially the Defiant's fared well
over France in 1940 covering the retreat to Dunkirk and on the 29th May
Defiant's from 264 Sqn claimed 37 Luftwaffe kills in two sorties that day
which including 19 Stukas and 9 BF 110's!
The BF 109 fighter was also not invulnerable to the Defiant as initially
Luftwaffe pilots mistook the Defiant for a Hurricane and attacked from
behind, racking up losses until they changed tactics and attacked from the
front or underneath. This change made the Defiant an easy target and losses
started mounting at a worrying rate. Unfortunately the turret gunner was
unable to wear a conventional parachute as the turret was too cramped, this
meant that if the aircraft was shot down the gunner would almost certainly
die, although the pilot could bail out it, must have been a heart breaking
decision for many pilots to actually do this.
The Defiant was switched over to night time defence as the momentum of the
Blitz increased and was very successful, shooting down more enemy aircraft
than any other whilst employed in this role. The Defiant had finally found
its niche and the concentration of its 4 heavy machine guns were found to be
devastating against lumbering German bombers. The Defiant also found other
uses within the RAF as a weapons tug and in the Air Sea Rescue role,
soldiering on until 1945 in these roles until replaced by other newer and
more capable aircraft.
Our Defiant is one from 264 Sqn and was flown by Sqn Ldr Philip Hunter DSO
one of the top scoring Defiant aces along with his gunner Fred King.
During the many air battles of 1940 they claimed over 9 kills but their luck
ran out on 24th August 1940 when they were last seen chasing a JU88 out to
sea, a mission from which they never returned from.
We have only made 5 Defiant's and as such this is a very rare edition from
Thomas Gunn unlikely to be repeated. The Defiant is priced at $750 and comes
with free RAF pilot figure (and cat!) as per the attached photos, payments
can also be spread over 3 months if so desired.
I am hoping for news of a Lysander next month as well as a Lozenge pattern
fighter from WW1, stay tuned for pictures as they arrive in the next
aviation newsletter.
For those of you waiting for the figure release these have been delayed
until the 4th February as we switch back to the 4th of each month for figure
releases. The good news is that ROM005 which features the second rank of
Romans (Pilum raised) marching behind ROM001 (Pilum lowered) are also now
going to be available, so a nice double whammy for those of you wanting to
jump in on this exciting new series!
I bid you farewell until the 4th and once again thank you for all your
support.
Best wishes
The Gunn Team
