Some of you may remember that about 18 months ago I posted some pictures of a 1/72 scale Desert Hurricane which my daughter had completed with a bit of help from yours truly. This came about because she and her older sister had seen my models and wanted their own. So for Christmas 2006, when the girls were aged 10 and seven, we got them Revell kits of a Spitfire Vb and Hurricane IIC. Being a control freak I took charge of the building sessions. The older one, Jennifer, lost interest in the Spitfire after a few weeks, but Alice and I finished the Hurricane that summer. Last Autumn, Alice, now nine, asked if we could finish Jennifer's Spitfire. Jennifer graciously allowed us to do this, and the results are attached. The box art for the Spitfire is a clipped wing version, but I (sorry, we) decided to make the alternate version as I don't think the clipped wing looks so nice. It is BL924, flown by P/O Axel Svendsen of 234 sqdn from Tangmere. I did some googling, and found that Svendsen, a Danish pilot, was Missing in Action in BL924 on 24/4/42. The aircraft was one of three that were financed and presented to the RAF by Danish businessmen; they were delivered only a couple of weeks before this aircraft and one of the others were lost. This period was a black month for the RAF, being the time when the Mk Vs were being outfought by the FW190A, just before the MkIX came along. The name on the side of the aircraft, by the Danish flag, is Valdemar Atterdag. Apparently he was a medieval King of Denmark, who booted out the Germans in about 1340, and seems to have achieved a long and successful reign by slaughtering anyone who disagreed with him. The other colour scheme, the box art, was EP120 flown by S/L Jeff Northcott DSO DFC of 402 sqdn at Duxford in 1943. Does anyone know anything about this officer or aircraft? Northcott isn't on CWGC site so presumably he survived the war. I seem to remember, but I may be wrong, that EP120 was later a restored Spitfire. I have an even vaguer idea, but may be even wronger, that it was the aircraft in which Charles Church was killed in about 1988, which was a hybrid of several Spitfires. This is the link to the Danish Spitfires: Danish Spitfires at War The main error on the model is that I should have put the roundels on the upper wings further inboard, away from the tips. I was trying not to cover up the "Don't step" lettering, but it would have been better to sacrifice that detail to avoid a more noticeable error.
I think the model looks great. You should be able to lift off the decals (if you should wish) with a bit of warm water and a touch of washing liquid. The paints are water resistant once dried and hardened. Information on EP120 - it's still flying! The Fighter Collection - Spitfire V Warbird Histories And attached is a mini-biography of Northcott from Aces High Volume One. Elsewhere I have read that he continued in the RCAF after the war but died from injuries sustained from a horse riding accident. No date yet.
Another pic of the replica BL924 - looks good at an angle http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/mus/uk/s-t/Tangmere053.jpg
Thanks - I knew the serial number rang a bell, but I didn't realise EP120 was that famous! I still think clipping the wings made it less attractive, but I shouldn't think the pilots of the time were that bothered by aesthetics while trying to find modifications to enabelt them to survive the Fw190s and Bf 109Gs . I might try moving the decals; I can always hand-paint if I ruin them. Alice would say "No-one's going to notice, Dad!"
that is a lovely little model *looks up at the 5 models still in boxes on top of bookcase* One day maybe
