I've always wanted to have a crack at this aircraft and in my own way I've got a couple of a connection to this build. As a youngster of 8 years, my first connection was playing under and around these huge Wellington's that were mothballed and parked on any vacant patch of grass behind the airfield hangers and admin buildings. I was living on a RAF base in Wiltshire these aircraft anchored firmly to the ground were assumedly awaiting disposal or had been cocooned just in case. My second connection moves forward some 18 months when I stepped of an RAF Transport Charter at RAF Fayid in Egypt (see my "A Little Story"(
A Little Story). This was one of the Middle East Bases from which my subject operated from for a short time in December 1941.
So, my subject is a 37 Squadron Wellington Mk 1C. Tail T2508. Code LF-O. I have not been able to find much detail on the machine save for a couple of pics freely available on the internet and that it was based at Shallufa airfield in 1941 when the nose art photo was taken. I have also gleaned through BritModeller.com that the guy leaning through the window is W/O Graham Wilson and as for the fate of T2508, it was damaged beyond repair after a tyre burst on take-off for Benghazi and the undercarriage collapsed on 24 Oct 1941. As for the nose art, each emblem represents a crew member, the winged lemon being the captain Flying Officer P C "Cheese" Lemon.
As a side note, the nose art Latin motto reads "
Defaecamus luces purpuras" ("We shit purple light) and alludes to its flare-dropping role.
As a model with its extensive internal detail, it is my hope to enlarge on this and hopefully display some of the innards by removing parts of the fuselage. How successful this will be, remains to be seen. I will also be away from the end of this month right through to mid-October. So, the likelihood of finishing on time is also doubtful. But we will give it our best shot.