A duo of Sopwith Camels

Since I have been working from abroad for some time, modeling has been somewhat limited, and the projects a bit less ambitious. My dear host did provide a sizeable cutting mat, though, and several evenings were spent working on two Sopwith Camels, one from Revell and one from Academy,

The Revell kit is originally from the 1960s, and it was one of the few WW1 kits available in the hobby shop. The fit is decent, although some details are lacking in both pilot and aircraft, for example the rudder horns that were cut out of plastic card and super-glued to the wings and tail and the protruding part of the machine gun barrels. Rigging was made out of white sprue from a Roden kit, and the lines were painted dark gray, The kit was eventually mounted on a $2.50 photo frame.

Breadner

The decals provided with the kit were excellent, and they were used to adorn the Camel in the markings of Canadian ace Lloyd Samuel Breadner, CB, DSC. He was born in Carleton Place, Ontario, on July 14, 1894, and he received his pilot's certificate on Wright biplane after training at the Wright School. Breadner was commissioned into the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) on December 28, 1915, and he was promoted to Flight Lieutenant (RNAS) on December 31, 1916, before he was posted to Naval 3 (No. 3 Squadron RNAS) in 1917. He initially flew Sopwith Pups, and he even managed to shoot down a German Gotha bomber as his fourth victory on April 23, 1917. This was also the first Gotha to be shot down by the British over the Western Front. Breadner was awarded the DSC on May 23, 1917, and the citation reads as follows:

"For conspicuous gallantry and skill in leading his patrol against hostile formations. He has himself brought down three hostile machines and forced several others to land. On the 6th April, 1917, he drove down a hostile machine which was wrecked while attempting to land in a ploughed field. On the morning of the 11th April, 1917, he destroyed a hostile machine which fell in flames, brought down another in a spinning nose dive with one wing folded up, and forced a third to land."

Lloyd Samuel Breadner claimed in all ten enemy aircraft:

Date	Time	Unit	Aircraft	Opponent	Location
1	06 Apr 1917	1020	3N	Sopwith Pup (N5199)	Halberstadt D.II (DES)	Bourlon Wood
2	11 Apr 1917	0845	3N	Sopwith Pup (N6181)	Albatros C (DESF)	Cambrai
3	11 Apr 1917	0855	3N	Sopwith Pup (N6181)	Albatros D.III (DES)	Cambrai
4	23 Apr 1917	1030	3N	Sopwith Pup (N6181)	Gotha G.II (CAP)	Vron
5	23 Apr 1917	1730	3N	Sopwith Pup (N6181)	Albatros D.III (OOC)	Bourlon Wood
6	29 Apr 1917	1115	3N	Sopwith Pup (N6181)	Albatros D.III (OOC)	SE of Cambrai
7	23 May 1917	1345	3N	Sopwith Pup (N6197)	Albatros D.III (OOC)	Awoignt-Bourlon
8	03 Sep 1917	0725	3N	Sopwith Camel (B3782)	Albatros D.V (DES)	Belhutte
9	03 Sep 1917	0730	3N	Sopwith Camel (B3782)	Albatros D.V (OOC)	Belhutte
10	11 Sep 1917	1150	3N	Sopwith Camel (B3782)	Albatros D.V (OOC)	Thorout

(Source: theaerodrome.com)

Breadner continued serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force up to the Second World War, and he retired as Air Chief Marshal in 1945. Lloyd Samuel Breadner passed away in 1952.

The Academy Camel is probably from the 1970s, and it is an even more basic kit. There is no cockpit at all, and no pilot figure either. The Vickers machine guns are simply pieces of plastic with no detailing whatsoever, the propeller had to be replaced with a prop from an Albatros kit, and the decals were glossy and very difficult to adhere to the kit. The colors of the tail decal were inverted, so the tail had to be hand-painted instead. This kit was finished as a generic Camel with no particular markings, and it was also mounted on yet another photo-frame. The two Camels were photographed with an older iPhone, hence the regretful quality. However, by now I should be back in the United States with full access to more complete model building supplies.

 

Academy Camel below:

Fokker E.III of the Kaiserliche und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen

The Air Servive of the Austro-Hungarian Army, the Kaiserliche und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen or K.u.K. Luftfahrtruppen, started off with 13 Fliegerkompanien (Flik) with around 35 to 40 aircraft and 85 pilots, while the Austro-Hungarian Navy had another 28 aircraft and 64 seaplanes. The domestic aircraft production capacity was limited, and the indigenous aircraft manufacture saw little standardization.

The first single-seat fighter to see service with the Luftfahrtruppen was the Fokker E.I, the predecessor of the E.III, or Fokker A.III as it was known in Austrian service. It entered service late in 1915. The first couple of aircraft were delivered in the markings of the German Air Service, but with Austrian airframe numbers, 03.51 and 03.52 (former German E.I 64/15 and E.I 65/15). In all two E.I and twelve E.III Fokker monoplanes (airframes 03.41 to 03.50, 03.53 and 03.54) were delivered to the Luftfahrtruppen between November 1915 and June 1916. 

The first victory, a Maurice Farman, was scored by the commander of Flik 4, Hauptmann Mathias Bernath, on November 25, 1915 in the vicinity of San Lorenzo di Mossa in Fokker A.III 03.51. The victory was shared with an Albatros B.I two-seater. Fokker A.III 03.42 did proceed to become the one most successful Fokker in Austrian service with in all six victories:

- Mathias Bernath of Flik 4 (two kills, one being an Italian Caproni Ca. 1 bomber shared with Heinrich Kostrba in the Palmonova area at 8:45 AM on February 18, 1916)
- Max Perini of Flik 19 (kills on May 1, 1916 and a Voisin on May 10, 1916) 
- Ludvig Hautzmayer of Flik 19 (a Caudron on August 9, 1916)
- Adolf Heyrowsky, also of Flik 19 (a Voisin on August 15, 1916)

Both Flik 4 and Flik 19 were deployed on the Italian Front and joined together as the Fokker-Kampfstaffel in 1916. Besides engaging enemy aircraft, these units supported the Austrian Army with ground attack and reconnaissance tasks along the front. Towards the end of their serviceable lives, the remaining Fokkers were transferred to the Eastern Front and Fliks 1, 8, 9, 13, 25 and 29. 

The Revell Fokker E.III kit is originally from 1981, although this is a re-boxing with a delightful little decal sheet. I chose to paint the aircraft in clear linen dope (Testor's Radome Tan), although some aircraft showed staining due to water damage, hence the brownish stains. However, some Austrian Fokkers may have been painted in a sage green or grayish-green color. The German crosses were eventually removed from the wings and replaced by wide Austrian red-white-red stripes across the outer parts, although I kept the crosses.

The kit is easy to assemble, and I added a scratch-built Schwarzlose, which at some point replaced the original MG 08/15 machine gun on some Austrian Fokkers, a windscreen, a little bit of detailing to the cockpit, rigging, a propeller disc and the glorious aviator. Why is he firing his Mauser C96 into the air? Has he run out of machine gun ammunition? Has his Schwarzlose jammed (it was less reliable than the MG 08/15)? Does he want to take a shot from under an enemy aircraft? Or is he just confused? We will never know...