THE EMPIRES TWILIGHT

[pyro-manic]

Concorde!

[NARSES2]

Concorde!

Waitrose or Ocado ?

[thedarkmaster]

North American F-82 Twin Mustang, Força Aérea Portugese, Luanda, Angola 1962

In the Dangerous and confusing days at the start of the Angolan rebellion in 1961 many thing were found and many things lost.......one of the things found at the back of a warehouse awaiting transhipment since 1950 were 14 large crates marked up as property of the US.

Of course they had to be opened, and inside the shocked officials found aircraft but not one the recognised. The air force was called in as one crate was emptied for them. the two air force officers on arrival found they had 14 old twin Mustangs on their hands, now of course they were obsolete in terms of air defence but that wasn't what was needed right now, what was needed was aircraft in the air to help fight the rebels and these well these were a gift..........!!

whilst the local air force crews assembled the crates the Portugese government tentatively approached the US government about these crates of "abandoned" supplies, asking for 11 years worth of storage fees, but willing to settle for possesion of the crates as emergency war supplies for the local garrison. the matter never got past the desk of a minor official whom rubber stamped the transfer of the crates without even checking into the serial numbers and manifests to see what was in them.........they were Portugal's.

the 14 crates became 8 aircraft and 6 full aircraft for spares, enough it was hoped to keep them in the air for a considerable time. pilots however were another matter, Portugal didn't have a reserve of trained Twin Mustang pilots nor ordinary Mustang pilots for that matter, so discrete enquiries were made at Air National guard units for "volunteers" to fly the aircraft and train Portugese pilots.

By early 1962 enough pilots had been recruited and the planes were ready to fly, they took to the air in support of the local garrisons around Luanda mainly with strafing attacks, but occasionally bombs were used. Well thought of by the army for its concentrated six gun attack and its impressive loiter time the aircraft flew until no more spare were available and they airframe count was down to 4 in 1970, by far the last of these aircraft to see service in any part of the world and in all those years the USA neve once enquired to Portugal where it had recieved the aircraft from .







































a/c 181

[JayBee]

WOW

Jim

[beowulf]

that came out nice

is that the Revell kit ive been seeing in MZ recently?

[thedarkmaster]

Tis the one mate, Revell Monogramin 1/72........nice and old......and easy to make 

[GTX]

 

[pyro-manic]

Very nice! I'm going to have to pick one of those kits up.

[chrisonord]

Nice one Tim, I am liking that
Chris.

[Tophe]

 

[thedarkmaster]

Boeing Washington R6, Cyprus 1956

Acquired from the USA at the time of the B50 purchase a number of older b29's also found their way into RAF service' initially to be used as flying airframe instruction they were eventually converted just before Operation Musketeer as night flying electronic recon and countermeasure aircraft.

flying well into the 1960's the washingtons quietly disappeared from service with no fuss.







































a/c 182

[Kerrillc]

Nice work Tim. Both the F82 and the Washington are delightful, is the washington 1/72 or 1/144?

Cheers

Kerrill

[Taiidantomcat]

Excellent work! You have done a beautiful airplane a great service 

[thedarkmaster]

The Washington is 1/144 mate

[JayBee]

Another brilliant model Tim.