Empire Emergency Fighter: SAAF Crake in CBI

[comrade harps]

Koolhoven KF.58B Crake Mk.I
DB+H, personal mount ofMajor  D.B. "Hoefie" Hauptfleisch, 2nd Squadron, South African Air Force
Dinjan, Assam, India
19 July, 1942

in December 1939, Britain's Air Ministry issued a specification for what became known as the Empire Emergency Fighter. The requested aircraft had to be able to be made locally (ie, not in Britain, but in it's far-flung colonies and dominions), quickly and cheaply and had to be in service by June 1941.

Several companies took up the offer:
- from America, Curtis proposed the Hawk 75 and Vultee the P-66 Vanguard, both companies suggesting Canadian assembly lines
- Britain's Martin-Baker proposed Canadian production of its M.B.2, as did Miles with their M.20 and Hawker the Hurricane (the latter with Packard Merlins, this offer being adopted for production by Canadian Car and Foundry)
- Canadian Car and Foundry proposed the indigenous Gregor FDB-2 (but accepted Hurricane production)
- South Afirica's Koolhoven submitted its already in-production KF.58 Crake
- Australia's Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation entered its Wirraway Fighter while the government owned Department of Aircraft Production (DAP) offered the superior licence built Hurricane
- and from Hindustan Aircraft Limited (HAL) n India came a joint submission with CMF for the Fokker D.XXII (this going on to enter service with the Indian Air Force as the Hindustan Aircraft Tūphān: see http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,37020.0/highlight,t/.html#363;phān

Although originally pitched as a winner-takes-all competition, the Empire Emergency Fighter program was realised as a series of contracts supporting local manufacture of Hurricanes (in Australia and Canada), the Tūphān in India and the Crake in South Africa. First flown in 1938, the KF.58 was a fighter designed to meet a SAAF requirement for an aircraft that could be built in both two-seat trainer and single-seat fighter versions. The advanced trainer version was the KT.58.



Frederick 'Frits' Koolhoven was a Dutch engineer who worked in Britain between 1912 and 1919. he was the chief designer for the British Aerial Transport Company when it went bankrupt in 1919, after which he returned to the Netherlands and worked in several unsuccessful ventures; although everyone agreed that his designs were innovative and sound, few orders were achieved, largely because his employers could not compete with the local juggernaut of Fokker. In 1926, at the invitation of a group of South African investors, he moved to the south Africa and founded his own firm, Koolhoven Aviation. Although not a major player in the international market, Koolhoven went on to produce a series of production aircraft the fulfilled local general and commercial aviation demands, plus fighters for the SAAF.



Following the outbreak of WW2, hundreds of KT.38 trainers were ordered (many paid for by Britain) for use in the Joint Air Training Scheme and the Empire Air Training Scheme. These orders were followed by contracts for the KF.58 under the empire Empire Emergency Fighter scheme; for these purposes, the aircraft were name Crake, after a type of South African birds. All Crakes were of essentially the same model, equivalent to the SAAF's KF.58B version.



After 58 KF.58As, the B model entered production with a more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp powerplant, four .50cal machine guns and additional armour, radio and navigation kit. 82 KF.58Bs were delivered to the SAAF under local orders, some of these seeing combat with 3 Squadron SAAF during the East African campaign against Italy. Most of the 502 Crake Mk.Is built under Empire Emergency Fighter contracts were used for training.

However, the type is most remembered for being the primary fighter of tge SAAF's 2 and 5 Squadrons squadrons in the Far East at the time of the Japanese assaults on Malaya, Singapore and Burma. Here, the Crake earned a mixed reputation. Often derided as inferior to their Japanese opponents, more nuanced accounts lay the blame for the SAAF's failure in the air to a lack of training, poor tactics, lame leadership and to being out numbered by about 8-to-1. In the hands of pilots who fought with modern tactics and flew the Crake to its advantages, it proved to be an equal to the best Japanese  fighters. The best performed Crake unit was undoubtedly 2 Squadron, under the command of Major D.B. Hauptfleisch. Wearing standard RAF theatre roundels and camouflage and white DB squadron codes, 2 Sqd SAAF flew with nationalist orange spinners and has been credited with an impressive 3-to-1 kill-to-loss ratio between December 1941 and September 1942 whilst flying the Crake.  This compared well to 5 Squadron's 1-to1 kill ratio.



This aircraft, photographed at Dinjan, in Assam, India during July 1942, is DB-H, the personal mount of 2 Sqd SAAF's commanding officer, Major  D.B. "Hoefie" Hauptfleisch. Although hard to confirm from contemporary black and white photographs, Major Hauptfleisch has stated that the main wheels on this aircraft were also painted orange. He has written that the imposition of standard RAF roundels, instead of SAAF markings, "rankled" with the South African airman.



In September, 1942, when 2 Sqd SAAF withdrew from the Far East, Hoefie's kill tally stood at 4. This aircraft depicted here is based on photographs taken on the occasion of his 3rd kill, 19 July, 1942, just after landing and before the 3rd kill marking was applied. The unit would go on to fight in the Mediterranean theatre (where their Kittyhawks were adorned with orange-centered SAAF roundels ) until the end of the war in Europe. The South African Major with a German surname would go to be credited with 7.5 kills, earn a DFC and survive the war.

[Weaver]

That's pretty, and I like the idea of "saving" Koolhoven by moving him to SA. What kit did you use?

[The Rat]

Another winner! 

[comrade harps]

Weaver asked:

What kit did you use?

It's the Azur Koolhoven F.K.58 1:72 scale kit. quite an easy build (except I did avoid all the tube bracing at the rear of the cockpit and built-up my own cockpit rear).

[Weaver]

Cheers!

It's a nice-looking plane isn't it? Kind of a razor-back early Fw.190....

[comrade harps]

Weaver said:

It's a nice-looking plane isn't it? Kind of a razor-back early Fw.190....

I was thinking of the Fw 190 aswell, but with a very small tail. You could presumably replace the engine with a BMW 801 nacelle and really confuse people.

[zenrat]

Nice.
And again, a fascinating tale to go with it.

[Dizzyfugu]

Oh, that's pretty.  So simple, but very convincing - NICE!

Reminds me that I also have at least two SAAF projects on the list, though... 

[NARSES2]

I've got that kit in the stash. Tempted to get it out now. Well done 

[Tophe]

Unusual & nice!