The twice captured Dewoitine

[NARSES2]

That's come out really, really well Kit   

[Old Wombat]

Nice one, Kit! Can't see the pictures as well as I'd like (using my phone) but the story is really plausible.

[Glenn Gilbertson]

Good backstory and interesting markings - a good one!

[PR19_Kit]

That's got one model done for this GB anyway. 

Here's the Dewoitine D.520 that was used by the Luftwaffe as an engine test airframe at the Rechlin air base and which was subsequently captured by the RAF and tested at Farnborough after the war's end.














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And the backstory.........

The tale of the twice captured Dewoitine D.520.

D.520 No. 94 served with GCII/3 during the early days of WWII. Flying from the tiny A de l'Air air field of Betz-Bouillancy north east of Paris, the Groupe were fairly successful against the Luftwaffe bomber fleets, the D.520's superb manoeuvrability being more than a match for the Me-109Es forming the escort fighter squadrons at the time. Unfortunately the Wehrmacht panzers were Blitzkrieging their way across Northern France and GCII/3 were forced to abandon their base and move south. Sadly No. 94 had a hydraulic problem at the time and had to be left behind, but the destruction charges left in the cockpit failed to fire and the aircraft was captured, for the first time.

 Luftwaffe engineers, moving along behind the German land forces, took over the airfield and managed to repair 94's hydraulics and it was flown to the Luftwaffe's Erprobrungsstelle test airfield, at Rechlin north of Berlin, for evaluation. When the trials were completed some thoughts were given to returning No. 94 to France for service with the Vichy Air Force, but some interest was taken in the very light weight of the Hispano Suiza engine, it being considerably lighter than the DB 601s used in the Me-109Es. Further trials were carried out and eventually a DB 601 was installed in the D.520's airframe for direct comparison trials.

 The aircraft having proved useful in this engine test role, later German engines were also trialled, including the DB 603 and the later DB 605, as used in the Me-109G. In this form No. 94 ended its days at Rechlin and it was parked up on the west side of the airfield where failed test aircraft resided until British Army Forces took over the site in the late Spring of 1945, and No. 94 was captured for the second time. As that area was due to be assigned to Russia for administrative purposes before much longer, many of the captured aircraft were quickly transported to the UK, either by land transport or by flying them directly. In the Case of No. 94 it was flown out by an RAF pilot directly to RAE Farnborough via Venlo airfield in the Netherlands.

 The D.520 was stored at Farnborough where many of the captured Luftwaffe aircraft were examined and in many cases test flown too. The Enemy Aircraft Flight there was commanded by the then Lt. Cmdr. Eric 'Winkle' Brown, who became fascinated by the combination of German/French engineering offered by No. 94. He test flew the aircraft a number of times, comparing it with a standard D.520 which was also based at Farnborough. He disliked the standard D.520 intensely, while admiring its manoeuvrability, claiming that the aircraft was very unstable, difficult to fly and could even decide not to taxi straight when on the ground. No. 94 was deemed '...even worse, if that was possible! The extra torque of the DB 605 could flip the aircraft during the run-up if you weren't careful...'

 Bearing a strange mixture of colours and markings from its varied life, No. 94 had all its Luftwaffe insignia roughly painted out and RAF roundels and fin flashes were applied in the same positions. The large Rechlin test codes were retained, as were the bright yellow undersides. In addition the AirMin No., in this case No. 240, was painted beneath the cockpit on both sides. The yellow '94' applied on top of the Rechlin codes were the result of a Free French Armee de l'Air officer who had been posted to Farnborough for test flying duties, and who had flown No. 94 during its brief service in France. He decided that the aircraft should retain some semblance of its original identity and had its number restored.

 Despite attempts to return the aircraft to France in late 1945 it seems most likely that No. 94 was scrapped at the RAE during the massive destruction of old airframes that took place at that time, as no trace of it has ever been found in French records.

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It's an ex-Heller D.520 re-popped by Mister Craft, with the engine from a Hasegawa Me-109G Trop grafted onto the front. Paint scheme and decals are a mixture of the kit scheme and some home printed stuff, weathered more than somewhat. The whole thing was kicked off by Dave Kitbasher's lovely Ta-154 in an AirMin scheme.

And Dave, you haven't posted your pics of the 154 in the 'Finished Builds' thread,