Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Brewster Aeronautical Corporation B-339 'Buffalo' - 1st Aviation Regiment, Estonian Air Force, 1940

In July 1938 a group of Estonian Air Force officers arrived at the Supermarine works for a technical presentation on the Spitfire Type 300 and, on a later visit, to watch a series of demonstration flights of the Spitfire flown by Supermarine's chief test pilot Mutt Summers. The Estonians left suitably impressed and made an advance payment for 12 Spitfires to Order No. C.186/39. This order was approved by the Air Ministry and a contract between the two governments was finalised on March 2nd, 1939. However, by then the Estonian order had already been made as a third priority on the Foreign Office's list and with war clouds looming Estonia looked elsewhere for a modern fighter aircraft but whilst also keeping the Spitfire order intact.

Wasting no time, in April 1939 Estonian Air Force officers made the long journey to the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation's main production facilities at the Brewster Building in Long Island, New York to look at the B-339 Buffalo (essentially a de-navalized export version of the F2A-1). With guarantees of prompt delivery the Estonian government ordered 16 aircraft in May 1939. The first eight B-339's arrived in Estonia during the early Spring of 1940 and equipped the 1st Aviation Regiment based at Otepää in southern Estonia but could do little to defend the country at the outset of the Soviet invasion on June 16th, 1940 and all Estonian forces were ordered to stand-down on the following day. The remaining eight B-339's for Estonia were still in the U.S. and were eventually delivered to the Nationalist Chinese Air Force for use by the American Volunteer Group.







"Tubby or not tubby - that is the question"

My decision to give the stumpy Buffalo to Estonia is purely because the original skin has NEI markings so I wanted something to cover the orangle triangles! A couple of things: my backstory has been used before on my Estonian P-40B and I don't have any WW2 Soviet aircraft in my install so a German Do-17Z stood in as the enemy bomber.

[perttime]

...
It's not pretty but the MiG-3 is rather rakish!

It is!
Finland was supposed to get 22 captured ones from Germany in 1942-43 but, apparently, they were destroyed in an air raid before delivery.

Brewster Buffalo looks surprisingly good in Estonian colours. ... Definitely tubby. The fuselage has enough volume for a couple of passengers and some other stuff.

[Sport21ing]

It's is just taking the Estonian P-40 story and replace the "P-40"s for B-339's... - but is still awesome 

[Dizzyfugu]

The Estonian Buffalo is a nice idea. Looks good! 
I did a Spitfire Mk.I in similar markings and time slot a while ago. 

[NARSES2]

Suits those markings for sure   

[SPINNERS]

The Estonian Buffalo is a nice idea. Looks good! 
I did a Spitfire Mk.I in similar markings and time slot a while ago. 

Me too.

[KJ_Lesnick]

I've managed to find the Paul Lucas article on 'Tiger Force - RAF Bombers for the attack on Japan 1945' from the December 2018 issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling (I bought the digital copy). It confirms the use of the 'BPF' starbar in four positions (port, starboard, port upper and starboard lower) with no fin flash and red squadron codes. What I wasn't expecting (using the Lancaster as an example) was for the wing insignia to be subtly different (in proportion not size) from the fuselage insignia as the wing insignia is 50% bigger but the thin black outline (which is only on the white outer ring) is the exact same width of 1/2". Similarly, the insignia on the Mosquito XXXV will be subtly different (in proportion not size). It's a great article and the section on Tiger Force insignia is based on information from the National Archive at Kew.

Anyway, I've made my own new Tiger Force insignia (based on the Lancaster fuselage insignia) and will ignore these subtle variations. If anyone wants the template to make your own just ask.

I thought the Tiger Force roundel had a dull red color, as seen in these images and drawings.

https://www.wings900.com/vb/general-squawk-talk/106002-raf-tiger-force.html

[Weaver]

I thought the Tiger Force roundel had a dull red color, as seen in these images and drawings.
https://www.wings900.com/vb/general-squawk-talk/106002-raf-tiger-force.html

It's red, white and blue in those images. The US advised the UK to remove the inner red circle to avoid any confusion with the Japanese meatball, hence the final white and blue version.

[KJ_Lesnick]

Oh, I thought they wanted to just dull the red to a more brownish color so it would still look close to the RAF roundel, but not be red so as to avoid allied forces shooting at them.

[Dizzyfugu]

The Estonian Buffalo is a nice idea. Looks good! 
I did a Spitfire Mk.I in similar markings and time slot a while ago. 

Me too.

Nice! 

[SPINNERS]

Taking a break! Hoping to be back in April.

[ericr]

 

[PR19_Kit]

The Akro Pilar then. 

[Rick Lowe]

Stay safe