Heinz
Captain
Great stuff Peter!
**** DONE 1/48 DAP Beaufighter 21 A8-159 E-SK "Ginger Meggs" Heavy Hitters GB
- Thread starter ozhawk40
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109ROAMING
2nd Lieutenant
Interesting stuff indeed mate , great info
Excellent pics!
lesofprimus
Brigadier General
Wow Peter, unbelievable to meet the guy and his wife..... I love it....
Excellent info concerning the rockets, will come in useful Im sure...
Excellent info concerning the rockets, will come in useful Im sure...
- Thread starter
- #125
ozhawk40
Master Sergeant
Thanks guys
Yes, but my problem with rockets and Tamiya is that only the armour piercing type were included with the kit. All the photos I have seen of 93 Squadron DAP Beaus shows them with the H.E. SAP type.
Pic 1
(Photo and description from the AWM website) Labuan, Borneo. 1945-08. Laid out in stacks on the ground are some of the 21,000 rockets carried by RAAF Beaufighter aircraft based at Labuan, for which there is now no further use. Rocket - firing Beaufighter aircraft of NO. 93 "GREEN GHOST" Squadron RAAF made the last RAAF offensive in Borneo When fifteen attacked Kuching airstrip installations on 1945-08-14.
Yes, that would be the offensive action that Stan took part in. Well I hope they didn't do the same thing to the rockets as they did to their unwanted Kittyhawks and Spitfires - dumped at sea. Looking at the piles, I can't see any obvious Armour Piercing types, so my presumption is that they only had the H.E. type.
Judging by the way they stored the rockets Heads, it wasn't hard to understand why they sometimes looked a bit rough. Paint chips, rust and dirt. The motors were probably stored undercover in sealed containers.
Pic 2
Heres a pic of a Typhoon with the HE ordnance, and you can see in colour what the heads looked like. Not pretty! (Source: Unknown)
Okay so I need to do something about the rockets provided by Tamiya, and I can either modify them to the H.E. type or raid the spares/ stash for some replacements. As luck would have it, the stash had a Hasegawa Typhoon kit that very kindly is going to supply Ginger Meggs with the right type.
Pic 3
Tamiya rocket at the top, Hasegawa below.
Yes, but my problem with rockets and Tamiya is that only the armour piercing type were included with the kit. All the photos I have seen of 93 Squadron DAP Beaus shows them with the H.E. SAP type.
Pic 1
(Photo and description from the AWM website) Labuan, Borneo. 1945-08. Laid out in stacks on the ground are some of the 21,000 rockets carried by RAAF Beaufighter aircraft based at Labuan, for which there is now no further use. Rocket - firing Beaufighter aircraft of NO. 93 "GREEN GHOST" Squadron RAAF made the last RAAF offensive in Borneo When fifteen attacked Kuching airstrip installations on 1945-08-14.
Yes, that would be the offensive action that Stan took part in. Well I hope they didn't do the same thing to the rockets as they did to their unwanted Kittyhawks and Spitfires - dumped at sea. Looking at the piles, I can't see any obvious Armour Piercing types, so my presumption is that they only had the H.E. type.
Judging by the way they stored the rockets Heads, it wasn't hard to understand why they sometimes looked a bit rough. Paint chips, rust and dirt. The motors were probably stored undercover in sealed containers.
Pic 2
Heres a pic of a Typhoon with the HE ordnance, and you can see in colour what the heads looked like. Not pretty! (Source: Unknown)
Okay so I need to do something about the rockets provided by Tamiya, and I can either modify them to the H.E. type or raid the spares/ stash for some replacements. As luck would have it, the stash had a Hasegawa Typhoon kit that very kindly is going to supply Ginger Meggs with the right type.
Pic 3
Tamiya rocket at the top, Hasegawa below.
Attachments
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Great pic Peter. The Typhoon pic is especially useful, as it shows the colour of the racks and rails used on that type.
Jan has the same problem for his Beau, and I'd promised him some HE/SAP RP's from my spares box - problem is, I've found the fins, but the RP's and rails are nowehere to be seen!
Jan has the same problem for his Beau, and I'd promised him some HE/SAP RP's from my spares box - problem is, I've found the fins, but the RP's and rails are nowehere to be seen!
Heinz
Captain
Thats some ordnance! 
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Some really great stuff there Pete
- Thread starter
- #129
ozhawk40
Master Sergeant
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Thanks Peter! Extremely useful, as I'm getting a set of MDC 1/32nd scale RP's to up-date my old Typhoon.
Crimea_River
Marshal
That's good info Peter. Suggest you post in the "Weapons Systems Tech" area.
- Thread starter
- #132
ozhawk40
Master Sergeant
good idea CR - will do!
109ROAMING
2nd Lieutenant
As Alex said that's some ordance - wouldn't wana be on the receiving end!
Great research mate
Great research mate
Heinz
Captain
Great stuff man!
Lucky13
Forum Mascot
Bl**dy nice stuff here! What does "Drill" mean on the rocket?
- Thread starter
- #136
ozhawk40
Master Sergeant
"Drill" would mean a practice rocket or "dummy" version used for ground handling and loading instruction. Non-firing.
- Thread starter
- #137
ozhawk40
Master Sergeant
Hi all
To bring you up to speed with progress, I have been cleaning up the seams and sink marks. I have added a flare chute and removed the trim tab actuators from the top surface of the elevators. I'll replace these on the bottom when I have finished sanding. The kit fits together very well, and I've used only a few dabs of "Mr Surfacer" along a few of the joins to get things up to scratch. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before the first coat of paint is on.
Pic 1 Reference photo ( Source: S.Mackenzie, Ventura Publications Classic Warbirds Number 6) Beaufighter 21 A8-123 SK-S "Paddy". Flying Officer K.G. Shirley, pilot and Flight Sergeant G.W. Douglas, navigator stand in front of the plane that gave Stan Evill so much trouble on the return to Australia. It was flown back over the Owen Stanley Ranges with the wheels down, due to a fault whilst escorting some shark mouth spitfires home. Unfortunately, it couldn't keep up with them in that state and the Spitfires led the way into Port Morseby!
The history of this aircraft is given on the adf-serials website as follows: -
All very interesting. The reason I picked this photo was the flare chute for the aircraft is clearly seen just to the left of Keith Shirley's right elbow (above the entry door). This leads into the Navigators compartment, and it is a feature not present on the Tamiya kit. It's easy to add, by drilling a hole in the correct location.
Pic 2 Hole drilled in the correct location.8)
Pic 3 I removed the trim tab actuators from the elevators. They will be replaced below with card and sprue in due course.
Pic 4 Another photos of A8-123. (Source: Aviation Heritage Museum of WA) Probably taken at Labuan Island shortly before returning to Australia.
Pics 5,6 7 Taken at RAAF Station Wagga, Australia, this is incident referred to. (Source: these are all via Stan Evill).
To bring you up to speed with progress, I have been cleaning up the seams and sink marks. I have added a flare chute and removed the trim tab actuators from the top surface of the elevators. I'll replace these on the bottom when I have finished sanding. The kit fits together very well, and I've used only a few dabs of "Mr Surfacer" along a few of the joins to get things up to scratch. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before the first coat of paint is on.
Pic 1 Reference photo ( Source: S.Mackenzie, Ventura Publications Classic Warbirds Number 6) Beaufighter 21 A8-123 SK-S "Paddy". Flying Officer K.G. Shirley, pilot and Flight Sergeant G.W. Douglas, navigator stand in front of the plane that gave Stan Evill so much trouble on the return to Australia. It was flown back over the Owen Stanley Ranges with the wheels down, due to a fault whilst escorting some shark mouth spitfires home. Unfortunately, it couldn't keep up with them in that state and the Spitfires led the way into Port Morseby!
The history of this aircraft is given on the adf-serials website as follows: -
10/01/45 1 AD. 31/01/45 93 Sqn Kingaroy. One of the first five Beaufighters delivered to 93 Sqn Jan 45. Code: SK-S (photo Ventura p.21) – 26/07/45 One of two aircraft (the other was A8-87) to participate in first 93 Sqn strike; an armed reconnaissance with a rocket attack on a Japanese residency building at Sibu. Crewed by Pilot FLGOFF K.G. Shirley and Nav FLTSGT G.S. Douglas. Minor small arms damage (Ventura p.5-6). 11/09/45 detailed to participate in 12 aircraft show of strength over Kucing but bogged when taxiing for takeoff at Labuan (Ventura p.17). 06/11/45 5 AD ground-looped at Forest Hill Aerodrome Wagga Wagga to avoid boundary fence and port under-carriage collapsed. A8-123 was repaired. 13/11/45 stored. Struck Off 08/08/49.
All very interesting. The reason I picked this photo was the flare chute for the aircraft is clearly seen just to the left of Keith Shirley's right elbow (above the entry door). This leads into the Navigators compartment, and it is a feature not present on the Tamiya kit. It's easy to add, by drilling a hole in the correct location.
Pic 2 Hole drilled in the correct location.8)
Pic 3 I removed the trim tab actuators from the elevators. They will be replaced below with card and sprue in due course.
Pic 4 Another photos of A8-123. (Source: Aviation Heritage Museum of WA) Probably taken at Labuan Island shortly before returning to Australia.
Pics 5,6 7 Taken at RAAF Station Wagga, Australia, this is incident referred to. (Source: these are all via Stan Evill).
Attachments
Last edited:
Crimea_River
Marshal
Good going Peter!
Heinz
Captain
Great stuff mate
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Nice work Peter.
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