wayne556517
Lieutenant General
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2007
- Messages
- 16,219
Wings of war september 2016 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter wayne556517
- Start date
wayne556517
Lieutenant General
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2007
- Messages
- 16,219
wayne556517
Lieutenant General
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2007
- Messages
- 16,219
Dear All
Welcome to our Wings of War release featuring 3 new aircraft which all look as good as each other I must say! Each aircraft is hand carved from Mahogany wood and takes over 6o man hours to complete. I have also attached a couple of scenarios showing our aircraft with some of our new figures in a diorama setting, these all new 'behind the scenes figures' make a great addition to your collection and really bring our aircraft to life.
WOW094: The F.E.2a made its first appearance in 1914 just in time for WW1, it was originally intended as a 2 seat fighter but was often used in the bombing and aerial photography role. The pilot sat behind the observer who was armed with a forward firing .303 Lewis machine gun, a second Lewis was added on a high telescopic mounting originally intended for the pilot, but was often used by the observer for rear defence.
The observer's position was very precarious as he had no seatbelt and could easily be thrown out of the aircraft. Below is a very interesting narrative by Frederic Libby an American ace serving with an FE unit:
" When you stood up to shoot, all of you from the knees up was exposed to the elements. There was no belt to hold you. Only your grip on the gun and the sides of the nacelle stood between you and eternity. Toward the front of the nacelle was a hollow steel rod with a swivel mount to which the gun was anchored. This gun covered a huge field of fire forward. Between the observer and the pilot a second gun was mounted, for firing over the F.E.2b's upper wing to protect the aircraft from rear attack. Adjusting and shooting this gun required that you stand right up out of the nacelle with your feet on the nacelle coaming. You had nothing to worry about except being blown out of the aircraft by the blast of air or tossed out bodily if the pilot made a wrong move. There were no parachutes and no belts, no wonder they needed observers!"
Our all new FE2 has the second Lewis fitted to it as described above, as well as a bomb load and is priced at $550, when you consider the complexity of the tail frame and rigging which is all assembled by hand, this represents very good value for a modeling masterpiece.
Punjab 32 Montgomery was an aircraft serving with 11 Sqn when on the 17th September 1916 (100 years ago today!) this aircraft was intercepted by Manfred Von Richoften and shot down behind German lines, becoming the first of his 80 kill tally. Theoretically this aircraft could be displayed with German as well as British figures in your diorama!
WOW095 The Airco DH2 was a single seat 'pusher' type fighter with a forward firing machine gun that enabled the Allies to put an end to the Fokker scourge that had given the Germans the air advantage in 1915. The DH2 first arrived in France in June 1915 and served with 5 RFC Sqn and then 24 Sqn before going on to equip a total of seven fighter squadrons. The arrival of the Halberstadt D.11 and Albatros D.1 later in 1916 indicated the beginning of the end for the DH2 which was then relegated to training duties. However it should be noted that some DH2's did remain in front line service in Palestine until 1917 with 'X' flight, a combined RNAS and RFC unit.
Our new DH2 was flown by Ace Leslie Aizlewood MC and AFC. Aizlewood enlisted into the infantry at age 17, but transferred to the RFC after being invalided back to the UK with Appendicitis. After racking up 6 kills Aizlewood was posted back to the UK to various training schools. Unfortunately he was killed aged 23 test flying a Camel after his clothing became jammed in the controls, forcing the aircraft to crash into the sea from a height of 1000 feet. We have made 12 DH2's as several collectors missed out on the last one, this is likely to be our last for a while so reserve one whilst you can. This variant priced same as our last at $499 and payable in instalments if desired like all our aircraft.
WOW058: The Gotha.1V bomber was one of a series of bombers built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik which started with the G.11 in 1915. After several improvements the G.1V was introduced and designed to replace the very expensive Zeppelin bomber. One of the improvements was a 'gun tunnel' which was built into the aircraft fuselage, allowing the gunner to fire his machine gun fitted to the top of the fuselage right through the aircraft at enemy planes below him! The nose area was angled downwards to make the aircraft more aerodynamic and ailerons were added to the lower wings to improve performance.
A total of 232 MK 1V Gotha's are thought to have been made with 23 of them bombing the UK in May 1917 causing widespread panic amongst the civilian population.
The Gotha was a very large aircraft for its time with a wingspan of over 77 feet and a fuselage length of 40 feet, making this the largest WW1 aircraft we have made so far.
Powered by 2 engines the Gotha was capable of 85 MPH and could carry a 500 Kilo bomb load with a crew of 3 being the normal configuration.
Our aircraft 'Morotas' named after the first letters of its 3 crew crash landed in Belgium in 1917 and hit a farm house, nothing else is known about its operational history. However lots of photos were taken of it after the crash landing and as such it is a very well documented aircraft from this period.
We have made 10 models in this batch and have priced 'Morotas' at $1200, which can be paid upfront or in instalments, please note postage is extra and will depend on where we are posting to. Please note this model is not yet in stock but will be here in October or early November, the FE2 and DH2 are in stock and have been posted out to some very happy customers already.
I am hoping to announce two American WW2 aircraft later this month, namely a Mustang and an Avenger. November should see the release of some more Allied WW1 aircraft and a German WW1 fighter.
Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter.
For those of you buying our figures KM005 Midget submarine as well as some Auxiliary archers for the Roman series will be announced during October's releases.
Best wishes
The Gunn Team
Welcome to our Wings of War release featuring 3 new aircraft which all look as good as each other I must say! Each aircraft is hand carved from Mahogany wood and takes over 6o man hours to complete. I have also attached a couple of scenarios showing our aircraft with some of our new figures in a diorama setting, these all new 'behind the scenes figures' make a great addition to your collection and really bring our aircraft to life.
WOW094: The F.E.2a made its first appearance in 1914 just in time for WW1, it was originally intended as a 2 seat fighter but was often used in the bombing and aerial photography role. The pilot sat behind the observer who was armed with a forward firing .303 Lewis machine gun, a second Lewis was added on a high telescopic mounting originally intended for the pilot, but was often used by the observer for rear defence.
The observer's position was very precarious as he had no seatbelt and could easily be thrown out of the aircraft. Below is a very interesting narrative by Frederic Libby an American ace serving with an FE unit:
" When you stood up to shoot, all of you from the knees up was exposed to the elements. There was no belt to hold you. Only your grip on the gun and the sides of the nacelle stood between you and eternity. Toward the front of the nacelle was a hollow steel rod with a swivel mount to which the gun was anchored. This gun covered a huge field of fire forward. Between the observer and the pilot a second gun was mounted, for firing over the F.E.2b's upper wing to protect the aircraft from rear attack. Adjusting and shooting this gun required that you stand right up out of the nacelle with your feet on the nacelle coaming. You had nothing to worry about except being blown out of the aircraft by the blast of air or tossed out bodily if the pilot made a wrong move. There were no parachutes and no belts, no wonder they needed observers!"
Our all new FE2 has the second Lewis fitted to it as described above, as well as a bomb load and is priced at $550, when you consider the complexity of the tail frame and rigging which is all assembled by hand, this represents very good value for a modeling masterpiece.
Punjab 32 Montgomery was an aircraft serving with 11 Sqn when on the 17th September 1916 (100 years ago today!) this aircraft was intercepted by Manfred Von Richoften and shot down behind German lines, becoming the first of his 80 kill tally. Theoretically this aircraft could be displayed with German as well as British figures in your diorama!
WOW095 The Airco DH2 was a single seat 'pusher' type fighter with a forward firing machine gun that enabled the Allies to put an end to the Fokker scourge that had given the Germans the air advantage in 1915. The DH2 first arrived in France in June 1915 and served with 5 RFC Sqn and then 24 Sqn before going on to equip a total of seven fighter squadrons. The arrival of the Halberstadt D.11 and Albatros D.1 later in 1916 indicated the beginning of the end for the DH2 which was then relegated to training duties. However it should be noted that some DH2's did remain in front line service in Palestine until 1917 with 'X' flight, a combined RNAS and RFC unit.
Our new DH2 was flown by Ace Leslie Aizlewood MC and AFC. Aizlewood enlisted into the infantry at age 17, but transferred to the RFC after being invalided back to the UK with Appendicitis. After racking up 6 kills Aizlewood was posted back to the UK to various training schools. Unfortunately he was killed aged 23 test flying a Camel after his clothing became jammed in the controls, forcing the aircraft to crash into the sea from a height of 1000 feet. We have made 12 DH2's as several collectors missed out on the last one, this is likely to be our last for a while so reserve one whilst you can. This variant priced same as our last at $499 and payable in instalments if desired like all our aircraft.
WOW058: The Gotha.1V bomber was one of a series of bombers built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik which started with the G.11 in 1915. After several improvements the G.1V was introduced and designed to replace the very expensive Zeppelin bomber. One of the improvements was a 'gun tunnel' which was built into the aircraft fuselage, allowing the gunner to fire his machine gun fitted to the top of the fuselage right through the aircraft at enemy planes below him! The nose area was angled downwards to make the aircraft more aerodynamic and ailerons were added to the lower wings to improve performance.
A total of 232 MK 1V Gotha's are thought to have been made with 23 of them bombing the UK in May 1917 causing widespread panic amongst the civilian population.
The Gotha was a very large aircraft for its time with a wingspan of over 77 feet and a fuselage length of 40 feet, making this the largest WW1 aircraft we have made so far.
Powered by 2 engines the Gotha was capable of 85 MPH and could carry a 500 Kilo bomb load with a crew of 3 being the normal configuration.
Our aircraft 'Morotas' named after the first letters of its 3 crew crash landed in Belgium in 1917 and hit a farm house, nothing else is known about its operational history. However lots of photos were taken of it after the crash landing and as such it is a very well documented aircraft from this period.
We have made 10 models in this batch and have priced 'Morotas' at $1200, which can be paid upfront or in instalments, please note postage is extra and will depend on where we are posting to. Please note this model is not yet in stock but will be here in October or early November, the FE2 and DH2 are in stock and have been posted out to some very happy customers already.
I am hoping to announce two American WW2 aircraft later this month, namely a Mustang and an Avenger. November should see the release of some more Allied WW1 aircraft and a German WW1 fighter.
Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter.
For those of you buying our figures KM005 Midget submarine as well as some Auxiliary archers for the Roman series will be announced during October's releases.
Best wishes
The Gunn Team
What gorgeous airplanes. I've run out of superlatives to describe TGM's continued flow of WW1 artwork. Suffice it to say that these 3 aircraft are as good as anything I've ever seen and that Gotha is simply unbelievable. Love the way that the underside of the fuselage is hollowed out to allow the rear gunner to shoot downwards if need be, just like the real thing. It is a detail that could easily been left out for simplicitie's sake, but TGM went all in. Just brilliant, all of them. -- Al
