The Crimson Kite

[The Rat]

RAF Gutersloh was the closest RAF base to the East German border, and as such was always a little on edge. So when bang and a roar awoke everyone from the relative boredom of a quiet summer afternoon, teacups and nerves were rattled. Even more so when it became obvious that it was a MiG, which, according to most opinions, was not an aircraft which the RAF had in service. It had come in fast, at tree-top height, surprising the tower and causing a few shoes to stand at attention in the Base Commander's office.

After a few moments, during which few hearts pumped at normal speed, and few breaths were taken, it became apparent that there were bigger surprises to come. A high-g turn brought the aircraft back toward the airfield, the landing gear and flaps were deployed and a normal approach and landing carried out. Lost? Mechanical problem? Someone with a Rudolf Hess complex?

The questions were resolved when the canopy opened as the aircraft taxied in, and two hands were raised in the classic 'I give up' pose. The only question remaining was "Will the diplomatic screaming begin before the engine stops?"



This was a Czechoslovak MiG-17PF, which had been carrying out joint exercises in East Germany. The pilot had been with the RAF during the Second World War, and, in a moment of nationalistic fervour and naiveté, had returned home soon after, believing that the Soviets would also return home and leave Europe in peace. His will to continue flying, and his skills, allowed him to serve his nation's air force, but his disappointment at the political situation was constantly on his mind. When he could no longer tolerate it, he decided to defect. He had no family, which made things easier.

And so it was that on July 8, 1959, the RAF immediately re-formed 1426 Flight, which had already been established and disbanded twice. Initially formed in 1941 to evaluate captured German aircraft, it was commanded by the now-legendary Eric 'Winkle' Brown, and contributed much to winning the war and to advancing aerodynamic knowledge. Disbanded in 1945, it had existed for another year, 1956, as a Photographic Reconnaissance Flight in Aden.

Predictably, the howls from Moscow were almost audible in London, and many trees and electrons were sacrificed in the course of diplomatic (and occasionally not so diplomatic) wrangling. Accusations, denials, fibs, and grumblings, fuelled the press for a long time, but one thing was clear: this was an opportunity not to be wasted. In some small deference to international relations, the guns were removed and sent back to Czechoslovakia.



To reduce the chance of misidentification, the wings and horizontal stabilisers were painted a bright red, and word was passed to all stations en route that a MiG would be transitioning from Germany to the UK. Captain Brown was tagged to make the first flight, and he found it easy enough that he decided to forego any lengthy stay in Germany, and the second flight went immediately west, landing at RAF Duxford, where 1426 had first been based. After enough personnel had ogled it, Boscombe Down was the next stop, where it would be thoroughly wrung out by a detachment of the Empire Test Pilots' School, as Farnborough was considered too open to prying eyes. (This useful interval was perhaps instrumental in moving the ETPS back to Boscombe Down in 1968) The colour scheme was retained for easy identification during the evaluation, and pilots were honoured with a bright red flying helmet. The original identification number was retained, and no official RAF designation was given. The pilots, however, soon started calling it the Crimson Kite, and almost fought to have the chance to fly it.

On August 2nd, 1962, it was written off during a test over the English Channel when the engine stopped at low altitude, and would not restart. The pilot successfully ejected, but the aircraft was lost.

This model depicts the aircraft as it appeared in 1961, with the original Czechoslovak markings looking a little weatherbeaten.



The kit

If you ever see a KP MiG-17PF, walk away. I have seen some pictures on-line that show that it is possible to make a silk purse from a sow's ear, but really, there are better options. The chord of the vertical stabiliser was different from left to right, the landing gear is brittle and suffered from misalignment of the molds, there are huge gaps at the wing roots, and the canopy... Oh dear, the canopy. I have heart murmurs just thinking about it as I hit the keys. After all the messing I looked at the guns and decided that they just weren't worth the bother, mold misalignment had also done its evil work on them. But that's one of the great things about the 'What if?' world; a back story can explain away almost anything!

The fuselage was done with an old old old tube of Rub 'n Buff, still my favourite method for a natural metal finish. The interior of the intake was done with Model Master Acryl Aluminum. The red was a base coat of Tamiya Flat Red XF-7, covered with Tamiya Red X-7. Canopy... (pauses to allow heart to settle) frames were done with a silver Sharpie marker. Decals were purloined from a Matchbox HS.125, with the fuselage number coming from the original kit. They started to disintegrate when I slid them off, which explains the last line in the back story. Strange, because I used the Czhechoslovak roundels on another kit and they went on fine. Oh well, In reality I wanted them to look faded anyway, so it all worked out for the best.

[Army of One]

Love the back story.......cracking looking finish to the kit......

[PR19_Kit]

Utterly brilliant! 

[DogfighterZen]

Very good, both backstory and model!

[Captain Canada]

:tornado:Nice one Rat. Great looking build ! Glad you didn't walk away !

[zenrat]

Well done.
I will endeavour to never buy one of these no matter how cheap it may be.

[su27rules]

 

Very nice!!

[The Rat]

Thanks all. I suppose a good model can be made from this, but if you see one, check the small parts to see how well the molds were aligned, that was the biggest problem with this particular one. The misalignment made the landing gear and guns unusable. And that canopy is just horrible, if you feel up to a 'heat and smash' technique to make another one, then be my guest.

I might get around to adding the drop tanks later, but it isn't a priority.

[DogfighterZen]

2 of my earliest builds in this 2nd modeling incarnation, from the ZTS boxings, still to finish. In the pic, the 17 is the same kit, i modified the intake to F type, it's also easy to see the 19 has the same huge gaps on the wing roots... and both canopies... well, i won't even show them...

[The Rat]

Hard to comprehend that as I was posting this build, Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown was in his last hours. I belatedly dedicate this to him, and to 1426 Flight, RAF.

Salute

[nighthunter]

Rat, I was "lucky" enough to come across a KP MiG-15, after just glancing through the kit, I quickly realized that I would never build it and thus sold it with a bunch of other spare parts and models. Good riddance to bad rubbish!