Armstrong Whitworth Elswick - DONE!

[Wardukw]

She's looking great Kit 👍

[PR19_Kit]

Looks even better with the NMF sprayed on.

And with the decals she'll look SENSATIONAL! 

[Wardukw]

Looks even better with the NMF sprayed on.

And with the decals she'll look SENSATIONAL! 

Mate ..impatience is not a virtue right now   

[PR19_Kit]

I've at last got a set of decals for the Elswick that look correct and they're all on now. 

Just a bit of paint trimming, like the tyres, the radiator matrix and exhausts etc. and she'll be done.

[PR19_Kit]

And it's really finished now. 



3/4 front view of a 74 Sqdn. AW Elswick Ib.

The Armstrong Whitworth Elswick was a licence built version of the Yugoslavian Ikarus IK-2 fighter, a metal winged, but fabric fuselaged single seater developed in the late 30s by Ikarus at their Zemun plant near Belgrade. The prototype IK-2 had out-flown a Yugoslavian Air Force Hawker Fury 1 biplane, and this had naturally come to the ears of the British Air Ministry. An order for 3 IK-2s was placed with Ikarus, the intention being to test-fly them against the new Hawker Hurricane, effectively a monoplane upgrade of the Fury.

While Ikarus were intent in putting the IK-2 into production for its own air force, they slotted the three British IK-2s into the production line very early and all three arrived at RAF Martlesham Heath in late 1937 and were duly test flown. While not out-performing the Hurricane the IK-2 was considered to be an excellent gun platform and offered exceptional view for its pilot, his eyes being on the same level as the wings which offered very little visual obstruction. The Air Ministry decided to order more IK-2s but were rebuffed as Ikarus' plant was working flat out for its own air force's orders and they offered a licence deal with a sub-contractor of the Air Ministry's choosing. Armstrong Whitworth stepped up to the plate, their only production order at that time being for the Whitley bombers, and they had some surplus capacity at their Coventry site.

Accordingly drawings and some Ikarus engineers were transported to Coventry and a batch of six pre-production IK-2s were built by AW, with assistance from the Yugoslavian engineers. The Air Ministry's thinking was that the IK-2s could act in a local defence capacity while the forthcoming Hurricanes and Spitfires could handle any longer ranged targets. AW wanted to change the Hispano-Suiza 12Ycrs engine for a Rolls Royce Peregrine, or better still a Merlin, but time was of the essence and the Air Ministry wanted its new aircraft quickly, and were quite enamoured of the 20 mm engine mounted cannon that were part and parcel of the 12Ycrs package. They did, however, agree that the twin 7.92 mm machine guns should be exchanged for the almost standard .303 Brownings then being fitted to the two British fighters.



3/4 rear view.

The initial production order was for some 50 Elswicks, as the type had been named in RAF service and the initial batch of Elswick Mk 1s were delivered to 29 Squadron, who swapped their Hawker Demon bi-planes for the new monoplanes for a short while before swapping back to two seaters when they changed to Blenheim 1F night fighters in early 1939. AW had in the meanwhile been updating the IK-2 design, installing cockpit heating which hadn't been considered a necessity in Yugoslavia but definitely was while flying around the UK, and also adding spats to the mainwheels in an effort to reduce drag. The updated aircraft were designated Elswick Ibs and the first squadron to operate them was 74 Sqdn, who wasted no time before adding their black & yellow markings in all possible places on their new monoplanes.



Underside view showing the massive underwing serials carried at the time.

Such raffishness was not to last however as very soon all RAF fighters were to become camouflaged and 74's Elswicks were the only examples to appear in such a colourful scheme. In future years the Elswicks were to be flown by some 8-10 RAF squadrons, all assigned to potential target cities around the UK, and all saw combat against the Luftwaffe in the following year or so, but the massive production rate of Hurricanes and Spitfires enabled most of the RAF's fighter squadrons to be upgraded to those much more capable fighters in a short while, and the Elswicks were relegated to the training role for much of the war. None of them survived the conflict, and neither did any Yugoslavian built IK-2s either.

AW did get to update one of the Elswicks with a Merlin engine and it proved an excellent choice, but by then Hurricane and Spitfire production had reached such levels that the proposed Elswick II went no further.



Ground level view showing the complex wing and landing gear struts.

=====================================================

Many thanks to Spinners for providing the inspiration for this build, a quite simple kit which I enjoyed building greatly, and I LOVED doing those decals! 

[Wardukw]

Love it Kit ..looks great mate 👍 👌 

[DogfighterZen]

That looks really good, Kit! Nice work on the cute little bugger that airplane is...

[NARSES2]

Come out well Kit 

[kitbasher]

Very pretty, Kit 👍

[chrisonord]

Very nice Kit, looks spot on 

[Old Wombat]