Sopwith Pup C242, No. 7 Training Squadron, Netheravon 1918

No. 7 Squadron was declared operational on July 28, 1915 at Netheravon, an aerodrome located on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. The aerodrome had been in use by the Royal Flying Corps since 1913, and it was part of the formative phase of the RFC. Several squadrons trained at what was referred to as the "Netheravon Concentration Camp" before being sent abroad. Netheravon was used for the disbanding of squadrons following the armistice. Some of the original buildings are still standing at the site of the aerodrome.

In 1918, training had improved quite a bit with the Gosport System developed by Robert Smith-Barry. The RFC (RAF after April 1, 1918) was capable of graduating 500 pilots per month in five different training areas reporting to a Directorate of Training (DOT). The DOT had 1,203 aircraft in June of 1918, out of which 368 were Avro trainers. A so-called "all-through" system was implemented, which meant that a pilot would remain at one location throughout his training, with the exception of gunnery school. Gone were the Days when a RFC pilots would have three hours solo flying under his belt to qualify as a "good pilot", and the number of training-related accidents had decreased. In the Days of the old Training Division, trainees wrecked a stunning 9.75 percent of the Aircraft on any given day. By the turn of 1917-18, the number was down to 3.11 percent.

A film about training pilots of the United States Air Service in 1918 can be found here.

The Airfix Pup remains a fun build, and it also features a decent cockpit, including a dashboard with instruments and some detailing of the insides of the fuselage halves. I added a seatbelt, a joystick and the floor planks. My previous summary of building a Sopwith Pup can be found here. The cadet is a modified Preiser figure with an added swagger stick.

The Blue Rider decals were bought on eBay, and this was my first real attempt to use decals that actually cover most of an aircraft. The decals were of excellent quality, and they worked well with setting solution, although it remains difficult to join decals over, for example, the wing edges. I did add some weathering to make this Pup actually look like an aircraft that is handled by inexperienced pilots on a daily basis as well as being subjected to inclement weather and rough landings. Matte varnish took away most of the gloss of the decals, making the Pup look less toy-like. By the way, C242 seems to have ended up in civilian use, being registered as G-EBFJ after the war.

Netheravon just before the outbreak of war.

Sopwith Pup C242.

Mirage 2000EM, Egyptian Air Force

The French know how to build beautiful aircraft, and I assume that they are still recuperating from the boxy bombers of the inter-war years. The Mirage 2000 is one of them. This is a Heller kit from the mid- or late 1980s, so we have to deal with partially raised panel lines, uninspiring missiles and fairly minimalistic wheel wells and cockpit. There were some issues when trying to fit the wing to the fuselage, and putty followed by careful sanding was required. Then there was the excellent decal sheet with options for the French and the Egyptian Air Forces. I chose the latter, and patiently dealt with several dozen well-printed stencils as well as the national and tactical markings. It was well worth the effort. The Egyptians bought their 18 Mirage 2000s in 1986, and they still equip the 102nd and 252nd Tactical Fighter Wings. Four are apparently used for conversion training. 

Aichi D3A1 Val

Airfix has, of course, produced a number of kits, and although I did build many of these kits as a child, the Aichi d3A1 Val was not one of them. So, when I saw a re-issue of the 1965 kit in a hobby store in Riga, I bought it just for fun. The cartograph decals wsere not from 1965, and the kit provided me with two or three evenings of good entertainment, rivets and all. I chose the markings of an aircraft that took part in the Pearl Harbor attack as depicted on the box cover art.