WW1 Heavies (2 Viewers)

[Gunn Miniatures]

That's all for the time being, we did not have a figure release in August but will hopefully have some goodies for you at some point in September.

Best wishes The Gunn Team

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

We also made two Felixstowe's for the same customer, once again if you would like one from the next batch due in nine months please advise us via email to welcome@gunnclub.co.uk. Its not until you open the box these beauties arrive in and see them, that you realize what fantastic looking machines these must have looked like in real life and hopefully our 1/32 scale models do them justice.

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

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‘Those wonderful men in their Flying Machines’

This months story starts off with a converted Vimy bomber ( Registration G-EAOU), the registration being whimsically said to stand for "God 'elp all of us".
These guys really were ‘Those wonderful men in their Flying Machines’. Two groups of intrepid adventurers, 75 years apart, drawn together by their wonderful flying machine, a converted Vimy Bomber.

In 1919 the Australian government offered a prize of £10,000 [around £660,000 in 2023] for the first Australians in a British aircraft to fly from Great Britain to Australia. Of the six entries that started the race, the winners were pilot Ross Smith, his brother Keith Smith as co-pilot, and mechanics James Bennett and Wally Shiers, in a modified Vickers Vimy bomber. The Vimy crew set out from Hounslow, London on November 12[SUP]th[/SUP] 1919, and reached Darwin 28 days later to claim the £10,000 Commonwealth Government prize as the first Australians to fly from England to Australia in less than 30 days. The Smith Brothers were knighted by His Majesty, George V, on December 22[SUP]nd[/SUP] 1919.

The Smith Brothers magnificent achievement was mirrored 75 years later in a Vimy replica, with the whole escapade being shown in a National Geographic programme, which is well worth watching. On September 11[SUP]th[/SUP]1994, Peter McMillan and Lang Kidby took off from England in their Vimy replica G-EAOU, accompanied by National Geographic photographer Jim Stanfield and engineer Dan Nelson. Arriving in Darwin on October 22[SUP]nd[/SUP]1994. Their flying adventure, and the trials and tribulations of building the replica Vimy aircraft are best read in their own words, see the link below.

http://www.vimy.org/history/history.htm

As well as other flights in the Vimy, not only did they fly the Vimy from the UK to Australia, they flew it back to Blighty!
The world would be a greyer place without these eccentrics, slight mad, individuals and for all that you do we salute you.
The replica Vimy aircraft now resides in the Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, England.

Thomas Gunn were proud to be asked to manufacture some wonderful scale 1/32 scale replicas of the Vimy aircraft for a good friend of the company and an individual closely involved, who still has the mental scars, from building the Vimy replica and being part of the Vimy’s flying adventures in 1994.

We hope you enjoyed the story and the pictures. We are considering making a WW1 version of the Vimy as it would have appeared in 1918 on the Western Front, if you are interested please register your interest via email to welcome@gunnclub.co.uk.

 

[lancer]

Wow. Absolutely gorgeous aircraft. The Felixstowe, in those dazzle color schemes, have always fascinated me. Also love that Vimy, especially the dark scheme.^&cool All I would need is money and room and I could have one.:redface2: Well done, TGM. -- Al

 

[Terp152]

Wow. Absolutely gorgeous aircraft. The Felixstowe, in those dazzle color schemes, have always fascinated me. Also love that Vimy, especially the dark scheme.^&cool All I would need is money and room and I could have one.:redface2: Well done, TGM. -- Al

Same here. :rolleyes2:

 

[WesternOutlaw]

Just amazing! Reminds me of something out of an Edgar Rice Burroughs book/book-inspired movie.