Galland Biography

[bdefen]

Re-reading this book now. Much more relevant to me since my joining this site. I'm just getting to the Winter 1940 part.
It's a great account, including recollection of interactions with fellow pilots, Hitler, Goering, etc. Quite a guy.

 

[bdefen]

Re-reading this book now. Much more relevant to me since my joining this site. I'm just getting to the Winter 1940 part.
It's a great account, including recollection
of interactions with fellow pilots, Hitler, Goering, etc. Quite a guy.View attachment 617266

I'm thoroughly enjoying this book. Picked up this kit on ebay to build Galland's BofB-period Bf-109E.

The book mentions and includes some photos of Galland's experimental telescopic gunsight, as shown on the box. Although he is widely associated with using that gunsight (along with his in-cockpit electric cigar lighter), he only used the telescopic gunsight for a short while, reverting then to the standard (Revi?) gunsight.
The box shows a 1988 copyright date, and the included decals have yellowed a bit. Looking forward to the build.

 

[Crimea_River]

There are a couple of good Galland builds on this site somewhere. I think the one by Gerry had some good info in it.

 

[Airframes]

That old Hasegawa kit needs some work to get it right, mainly the cockpit arrangement, and the radiator baths. It was originally a "Frog" moulding, dating from the late 1960's / early 1970's, great for that era, but basic and a bit inaccurate by today's standards.
BTW, apparently the telescope was used to identify aircraft at a distance, and the normal Revi sight was used for actual gunnery, due to damage to one eye ( can't remember which ) sustained by Galland during the Spanish Civil War.
Somewhere here on the forum, some years ago, I posted a comparison between the Hasegawa and Matchbox '109 kits, illustrating the defects of the Hasegawa version.
All that aside though, even straight from the box, it can be built into a very reasonable model, and i look forward to seeing how you get on with it..