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- #2,321
**** DONE: Revell 1/48 P-40B RAF 112 Squadron in Egypt in 1941 MTO Group Build
- Thread starter B-17engineer
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i thought you were Harrison Potter for minute there mate 
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- #2,323
B-17engineer
Colonel
Harrison and his magic painting stick, well not so magical..
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- #2,325
B-17engineer
Colonel
I have a lot of thinner!
So OK. Take a piece of soft flannel. Soak it with the tinner.But before you start removing the wrong applied paint use the brush on the righ side in the pic above.And soak it with the thinner too.Then apply some of the tinner on the wrong painted area.Then use the flannel
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- #2,327
B-17engineer
Colonel
Sure thing.
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- #2,329
B-17engineer
Colonel
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- #2,331
B-17engineer
Colonel
Oh, take all the paint off?
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- #2,333
B-17engineer
Colonel
No, I thought it was terrible. I used a whole bottle of thinner yesterday because I was so frustrated with this.
I am lost... I am doing what with the thinner? I washed the sides of all the areas 'mispainted.'
BTW how are you today?
I am lost... I am doing what with the thinner? I washed the sides of all the areas 'mispainted.'
BTW how are you today?
So-so.And I have to go out soon.
OK. Remove the paint from the fuselage.Then prepare some of the white paint as I said.Then apply this as it had been showed before. I mean two spots and these sides of the P-40 "chin". The white paint has to be applied a little bit over the shark jaws areas were. Understand?
OK. Remove the paint from the fuselage.Then prepare some of the white paint as I said.Then apply this as it had been showed before. I mean two spots and these sides of the P-40 "chin". The white paint has to be applied a little bit over the shark jaws areas were. Understand?
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- #2,335
B-17engineer
Colonel
Crimea_River
Marshal
This is the best entertainment I've had so far today. Thanks guys!
Hey Harrison, good to see you still plugging away on this crate! 
You asked in my P-40 thread about the pilot of this one, well I did a bit more research. There is a 112 Squadron website with lots of information. And from reading through it, I think your decals are wrong. There is no record of a bird with the ID No. AM461, but there is an aircraft with the ID No. AK461. This also is marked with an A.
Apparently there was a lot of confusion with these ID no's then, let alone now!
There's a decal set made by Eaglecals, you can see a pic of the plane here. EagleCals Decals P-40 Tomahawk IIB
Here's a list of some of the 112 Squadron Tomahawks. They recieved 13 aircraft with AM reg. numbers and the American ID numbers are after these.
(I just cut and pasted from the webite. Check it out, there's lots of great stuff there. RAF 112 Sqn Tribute)
AM384, 41-15837, served with 3 Sqdn RAAF under RAF control; supplied from 112 Sqdn; on 30/11/41 in this a/c F/O Tom Trimble shot down 2 Macchi MC200 and damaged 3 Junkers Ju87s; on 13/12/41 he was shot down in this a/c near Martuba probably by Marseille
(AM390, W), 41-15843, flown by Neville Duke November 1941 lost 23/11/41)
AM396 41-15849, lost 12/10/41,
AM403, 41-15856
(AM406, 41- 15859, served with 3 Sqdn RAAF under RAF control; from 112 Sqdn; on 25/11/41 P/O Ed H Jackson shot down a Bf110; transferred to 4 Sqdn SAAF,
AM410,41-15863, served with 3 Sqdn RAAF, under RAF control. From 112 Sqdn; Transferred 5 Sqdn SA
AM432, 41-15885
AM436 Flown to the Sqdn by Fg .Off Harrison 5 August 1941, from Takoradi, Ghana, Africa, on 16 July 1941 he and 8 other pilots flew there in a captured JU52
AM438, 41-15891
AM442 , 41- 15895
AM444 , 41-15897, lost 12/10/41,
AM448, 41-15901
AM481, 41- 15934
***************************************************************************************
As you can see there is no AM461. But here is a list of some AK numbered aircraft. There were 38 in total delivered. I'm not going to print all 38 here, just a few (Yours in Bold)
***************************************************************************************
AK448, 41-14954
AK451, 41-15322
AK457,GA O, 41-15328 lost 12/12/41, Sgt Houston
AK461,A 41-15332 lost 25/11/41, Flown by "Bowks" Bowker 2 Sept 1941
AK463 Flown to the Sqdn by Fg Off Cockrane 5 August 1941, from Takoradi, Ghana, Africa, on 16 July 1941 he and 8 other pilots flew there in a captured JU52
AK762 was destroyed 7th MAY 1942. No mention of the accident in the ORB.AK762 was destroyed by fire whilst on strength 112Sqdn when a electrical short in the guns caused the aircraft to burn
AK474, was flown by Neville Bowker 16 August 1941, was not a 112 Sqn plane, 41-15426 of 3 Sqdn hit AK365 41-14876 a 3 Sqdn plane which was Delivered 19/5/41 to RAF, served with 3 Sqdn RAAF, under RAF control; was in a collision with AK365 26/5/41.This shows how early 3 Sqdn was supplied with Tomahawks.
***************************************************************************************
So it looks like we do have a pilot for your build, a South African by the name of Neville Bowker.
Flight Lieutenant Neville Bowker (89773), had two Favorite Planes in 112 Sqn, AK461, coded A and AN218, coded B, named Menace.
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No. 112 Squadron, DFC , 112Sq; POW 27/Dec/1941, victories 10.33.
Neville Bowker was born in 1918 in the Orange Free State, South Africa, but was brought up in the Southern Rhodesia. He joined the SAAF, but transferred to the RAF in mid 1940, being commissioned in the RAFVR. He attended 70 OTU at Nakuru, joining 112 Squadron on 14 February 1941. He served as a Pilot Officer in 112 Squadron, when the unit moved to Greece in early 1941.
During the evening on 11 May 1941 five Bf110s of II/ZG 76, which had arrived at Argos from North Germany four days earlier, swept in over Heraklion airfield to strafe. Insufficient warning allowed only a single 112 Squadron Gladiator to get into the air, but Bofors and Lewis gunners opened fire as the Bf110s swept round the airfield. As they completed their circuit, Pilot Officer Bowker attacked one and a low level dogfight commenced, during which the lone Gladiator pilot attempted to lead his opponents over the gun positions. After a few minutes the Bf110s made off to the north-west, Bowker landing to claim one probably shot down.
This claim was definitely confirmed destroyed in the Command Intelligence Summaries. On 14 September, 1941, six Tomahawks from 112 Squadron received an R/T message that there was a 'bandit' over Mersa Matruh at 19,000 feet. The formation climbed to about 16,000 feet and spotted a S.79 bellow Flight Lieutenant Harrison engaged the S.79, which he hit. The Italian bomber was then engaged by Pilot Officer Neville Bowker firing his wing guns only as his .5" machine gun had jammed. He reset and returned to the attack and at 150 yards, he saw petrol streaming from the enemy aircraft. He pumped shots into the starboard engine and the fuselage and the S.79 blew up.
This was 112 Squadrons 77th victory and the first with their new P-40 Tomahawk IIBs.
On the 27 December 1941 he was shot down by small arms fire when strafing, flying a Tomahawk (AN283 ? or was it AN218? ). The Germans took him prisonor again (he'd been captured in Greece, but managed to escape) , but this time for the rest of the war. The award of a DFC was announced in October 1943, but with effect from 6 January 1942, by which time he had been promoted to Flight Lieutenant.
Bowker was credited with 2 biplane victories and a total of 10 victories at the time of his capture.
You asked in my P-40 thread about the pilot of this one, well I did a bit more research. There is a 112 Squadron website with lots of information. And from reading through it, I think your decals are wrong. There is no record of a bird with the ID No. AM461, but there is an aircraft with the ID No. AK461. This also is marked with an A.
Apparently there was a lot of confusion with these ID no's then, let alone now!
There's a decal set made by Eaglecals, you can see a pic of the plane here. EagleCals Decals P-40 Tomahawk IIB
Here's a list of some of the 112 Squadron Tomahawks. They recieved 13 aircraft with AM reg. numbers and the American ID numbers are after these.
(I just cut and pasted from the webite. Check it out, there's lots of great stuff there. RAF 112 Sqn Tribute)
AM384, 41-15837, served with 3 Sqdn RAAF under RAF control; supplied from 112 Sqdn; on 30/11/41 in this a/c F/O Tom Trimble shot down 2 Macchi MC200 and damaged 3 Junkers Ju87s; on 13/12/41 he was shot down in this a/c near Martuba probably by Marseille
(AM390, W), 41-15843, flown by Neville Duke November 1941 lost 23/11/41)
AM396 41-15849, lost 12/10/41,
AM403, 41-15856
(AM406, 41- 15859, served with 3 Sqdn RAAF under RAF control; from 112 Sqdn; on 25/11/41 P/O Ed H Jackson shot down a Bf110; transferred to 4 Sqdn SAAF,
AM410,41-15863, served with 3 Sqdn RAAF, under RAF control. From 112 Sqdn; Transferred 5 Sqdn SA
AM432, 41-15885
AM436 Flown to the Sqdn by Fg .Off Harrison 5 August 1941, from Takoradi, Ghana, Africa, on 16 July 1941 he and 8 other pilots flew there in a captured JU52
AM438, 41-15891
AM442 , 41- 15895
AM444 , 41-15897, lost 12/10/41,
AM448, 41-15901
AM481, 41- 15934
***************************************************************************************
As you can see there is no AM461. But here is a list of some AK numbered aircraft. There were 38 in total delivered. I'm not going to print all 38 here, just a few (Yours in Bold)
***************************************************************************************
AK448, 41-14954
AK451, 41-15322
AK457,GA O, 41-15328 lost 12/12/41, Sgt Houston
AK461,A 41-15332 lost 25/11/41, Flown by "Bowks" Bowker 2 Sept 1941
AK463 Flown to the Sqdn by Fg Off Cockrane 5 August 1941, from Takoradi, Ghana, Africa, on 16 July 1941 he and 8 other pilots flew there in a captured JU52
AK762 was destroyed 7th MAY 1942. No mention of the accident in the ORB.AK762 was destroyed by fire whilst on strength 112Sqdn when a electrical short in the guns caused the aircraft to burn
AK474, was flown by Neville Bowker 16 August 1941, was not a 112 Sqn plane, 41-15426 of 3 Sqdn hit AK365 41-14876 a 3 Sqdn plane which was Delivered 19/5/41 to RAF, served with 3 Sqdn RAAF, under RAF control; was in a collision with AK365 26/5/41.This shows how early 3 Sqdn was supplied with Tomahawks.
***************************************************************************************
So it looks like we do have a pilot for your build, a South African by the name of Neville Bowker.
Flight Lieutenant Neville Bowker (89773), had two Favorite Planes in 112 Sqn, AK461, coded A and AN218, coded B, named Menace.
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No. 112 Squadron, DFC , 112Sq; POW 27/Dec/1941, victories 10.33.
Neville Bowker was born in 1918 in the Orange Free State, South Africa, but was brought up in the Southern Rhodesia. He joined the SAAF, but transferred to the RAF in mid 1940, being commissioned in the RAFVR. He attended 70 OTU at Nakuru, joining 112 Squadron on 14 February 1941. He served as a Pilot Officer in 112 Squadron, when the unit moved to Greece in early 1941.
During the evening on 11 May 1941 five Bf110s of II/ZG 76, which had arrived at Argos from North Germany four days earlier, swept in over Heraklion airfield to strafe. Insufficient warning allowed only a single 112 Squadron Gladiator to get into the air, but Bofors and Lewis gunners opened fire as the Bf110s swept round the airfield. As they completed their circuit, Pilot Officer Bowker attacked one and a low level dogfight commenced, during which the lone Gladiator pilot attempted to lead his opponents over the gun positions. After a few minutes the Bf110s made off to the north-west, Bowker landing to claim one probably shot down.
This claim was definitely confirmed destroyed in the Command Intelligence Summaries. On 14 September, 1941, six Tomahawks from 112 Squadron received an R/T message that there was a 'bandit' over Mersa Matruh at 19,000 feet. The formation climbed to about 16,000 feet and spotted a S.79 bellow Flight Lieutenant Harrison engaged the S.79, which he hit. The Italian bomber was then engaged by Pilot Officer Neville Bowker firing his wing guns only as his .5" machine gun had jammed. He reset and returned to the attack and at 150 yards, he saw petrol streaming from the enemy aircraft. He pumped shots into the starboard engine and the fuselage and the S.79 blew up.
This was 112 Squadrons 77th victory and the first with their new P-40 Tomahawk IIBs.
On the 27 December 1941 he was shot down by small arms fire when strafing, flying a Tomahawk (AN283 ? or was it AN218? ). The Germans took him prisonor again (he'd been captured in Greece, but managed to escape) , but this time for the rest of the war. The award of a DFC was announced in October 1943, but with effect from 6 January 1942, by which time he had been promoted to Flight Lieutenant.
Bowker was credited with 2 biplane victories and a total of 10 victories at the time of his capture.
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- Thread starter
- #2,338
B-17engineer
Colonel
Holy crap Keith! Thanks!
Wojtek and I were going to cut the ID and decals to make it proper and paint it a light gray (Decal)
Thanks so much Keith! I really, really appreciate it!
Wojtek and I were going to cut the ID and decals to make it proper and paint it a light gray (Decal)
Thanks so much Keith! I really, really appreciate it!
No problem Harrison, it looks like no one plane was assgned to a pilot, they flew what they could, but I'm sure they had their favourites. Those ID numbers are pretty small, you might get away with painting the K with a very fine brush and a VERY steady hand.
I read up a bit more about Fl.Lt. Bowker, he survived the war and went back to Rhodesia, he moved to Mozambique where he lost his farm in the late 60's to Frelimo (and their war of independance against the portuguese)so he moved to South Africa, then eventually Australia. He died in 2005 at the ripe old age of 87.
I read up a bit more about Fl.Lt. Bowker, he survived the war and went back to Rhodesia, he moved to Mozambique where he lost his farm in the late 60's to Frelimo (and their war of independance against the portuguese)so he moved to South Africa, then eventually Australia. He died in 2005 at the ripe old age of 87.
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ozhawk40
Master Sergeant
Fantastic research there Keith, that really adds to Harrison's build, well done! The builds coming along great Harrison and Wojtek.
Cheers
Peter
Cheers
Peter
