Spanish Civil War Whifs

[TheChronicOne]

Nice....  love to see the old kits getting some love.   

[stevehed]

Thanks. Although it's an old kit it goes together very well. It's my second time and the first got the Aeroclub treatment and ended up as a Wapiti although I didn't shorten the fuselage. Given the backstory a bit of thought so here goes.

During the 1930's the Federation of Artisans, Railmen, Transport workers and Shipwrights was one of the most powerful trade unions. At the outbreak of hostilities in Spain it began to organize support for the Republicans. In most part this comprised cash collections at branch level but many wanted to offer additional aid. To this end approaches were made to British arms manufacturers to purchase weaponry to send to Spain. The British government was vehemently anti-communist and saw the Republicans in this light. They supported the international arms embargo and several purchases of aircraft such as the AW Atlas and Westland Wapiti were refused export licences. This infuriated FART who began to create a stink. Legal representatives faced off as democratic unions claimed they were being prevented by an authoritarian government from fulfilling the wishes of their members. It was only ten years since the General Strike and the Jarrow Marchers were recent news. Union reps began sounding out the membership for industrial action and the government was wary of being on the wrong side of public opinion.

Luckily the abdication of Edward VIII took the public's collective mind off the Spanish war. Government reps began stoking up the dangers of a resurgent Germany and fascist Italy against British interests. The need to re-arm our own forces first and not get involved in foreign adventures struck a chord with most of the populace. Particular emphasis was made of the benefits to union members that rearmament would bring. The threat of wildcat strikes was reduced when the authorities allowed cash donations to be sent to Spain, ostentively as humanitarian aid, but they were adamant that British arms would not be exported to the Republicans. However, while accepting the conditions, the union had earlier paid for and arranged the transportation of a consignment of Westland Wallace aircraft. Basically improved Wapitis, they were hardly state of the art, but at the time were available. Learning from the earlier failed attempts the union had used it's membership throughout the country to sow confusion and lay false paper trails to confuse interdiction attempts. The authorities were led to believe a consignment was headed to Estonia but the Wallaces were despatched to Bordeaux where the ship loaded additional French munitions. And then it continued non stop through the Med to Istanbul.  The cargo was transferred to two gun running vessels. The larger, Ajax, received the Wallaces and part of another consignment. Several Breguet 27 aircraft had been sent from France, via Czechoslovakia, to Istanbul. The small ship, Xerxes, could only take the wings and undercarriages along side artillery and small arms munitions. The fuselages and engines went with the Wallace crates. Sailing separately the Ajax reached Barcelona in June 1937 but the Xerxes is believed to have fallen victim to Italian submarines.

The Wallaces were assembled at the satellite factories at Reus. They were a hybrid comprising the open cockpit Wallace I with the more powerful 680hp Pegasus of the Mark II. Experience had shown that the gunners in such aircraft required protection from the slipstream as at speeds over 150mph it was extremely difficult to operate the defensive machine guns. The Spanish created a canopy based on the Polikarpov R-Z types coming into service. The synchronised Vickers was removed as these guns were in short supply and needed for fighter aircraft. Instead, an additional Lewis was fitted in the rear cockpit. Once deemed operational the Wallaces were sent to fight in the area around Zaragoza. Service was short but eventful and after three weeks only one aircraft remained serviceable. Despite the attentions of enemy aircraft it was ground fire that wrought the most damage. They employed similar tactics to the R-Z namely a steep dive in formation to bomb enemy positions and then a low level dash to safety. Being able to carry over 500lbs of bombs it was usual to be escorted to the target area and Nationalist reports mentioned Dewoitines but it's more likely they may have been Moranes mentioned earlier in this thread. After four weeks the Wallace escadrilla disappears with the surviving aircrew transferred to the R-Z Grupo. As far as the British government were concerned these aircraft were sold to Czechoslovakia and any subsequent re-sale was beyond the jurisdiction of HM's Government.


Bit of rigging between the wings will suffice and I've got a mixture of WW1 and Russian bombs. Been quite impressed how the wings went together as the struts are individual parts. I took my time setting up the cabanes and checked then against the holes in the top wing. After that the rest were fitted one at a time.

[NARSES2]

A lot of my family must of been members of FART considering who their employers were and their predilection for beans 

Neat backstory 

[stevehed]

Same with our lot. With the benefit of hindsight I think large quantities of the contents from some of the broken crates must have made it home.

[stevehed]

Not finished yet but you can see where this is going. The bomb load is to add and the twin Lewis types I've managed to knock off once already. A couple of exhaust pipes will conclude the building phase before a final paint job. I'm tempted by a dark green/sandy brown scheme that hasn't been used yet.

[NARSES2]

I'm tempted by a dark green/sandy brown scheme that hasn't been used yet.

[stevehed]

All done and dusted, the Spanish Westland Wallace, one of the few British types to defeat the embargo thanks to malfeasant FART activities. The bombs are spares from the Airfix DH4, the KP Polikarpov Po1 and remnants from the spares that looked the right size. There's over 500lbs so fully loaded. Paint job based on an SB 2 bomber.

[Old Wombat]

Nice! Reverse sand & spinach!

[NARSES2]

That's come out exceptionally well 

[Dizzyfugu]

That's looking very attractive. 

[PR19_Kit]

Very smart indeed, and rigged too! 

[stevehed]

Thanks Gents. An old kit but a decent build.

[VickersVandal]

Trawling through this thread I am loving it to bits. Some great ideas and builds here! 

Then I spotted thus:

Stick more modern wings (DC3?) on a Condor fuselage and you'd confuse a lot of onlookers.

Keep an eye on my Biggles build thread on that case (maybe not for some time yet)  I have a Glencoe Conor and I'm not afraid to (ab)use it!! 

http://www.biggles.info/Details/18/Titlepage.jpg

[stevehed]

Thanks very much and glad you like the thread. Looking forward to another Condor whif.

[TheChronicOne]

Sweet.... the paint scheme got me! I really like the way the whole thing looks.