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THE JET AGE RESERVE MODEL COLLECTION

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EASTER PARADE 2010

  
 

    
  The Dewoitine D500 may have been the most modern looking fighter of its day when first flown in 1932 but it was essentially a transitional design, bridging the gap between open cockpit fabric-covered biplanes and the new all-metal monoplanes characterised by the Soviet Polikarpov I-16.
  
 

    
 

 The announcement of Open Days at the Brockworth Tithe Barn Arts and Crafts Centre over Easter 2010 gave the Jet Age Reserve Model Collection an opportunity to display many items rarely or never seen in public in the 21st Century.  These were arranged in national themes and are described below.
  
 

    

WESTERN EUROPE 1918-1939



DEWOITINE D500


    

Emile Dewoitine had been designing fighter aircraft since the success of his D101 of 1921. The Dewoitine D500 (pictured above) may have been the most modern looking fighter of its day when first flown in 1932 but it was essentially a transitional design, bridging the gap between open cockpit fabric-covered biplanes and the new all-metal monoplanes characterised by the Soviet Polikarpov I-16.

The D500 was made entirely of light alloy and attracted much overseas interest. The subsequent D501, first flown in 1934, and even later D510 had improved engine power, fuel capacity and armament but with a top speed of 249 mph the D510 was no match for the invading Nazi fighters ranged against it in May 1940. Some Dewoitine 500 series aircraft were transferred to French squadrons overseas before the Battle of France and some exported examples fought in China until 1941.

This model has been restored after being heavily damaged on its return from the Modular Display Cabinet experiment in April 2008. 




DEWOITINE D 520


 
 The Dewoitine D520, capable of holding its own against the Messerschmitt Bf 109, was the best fighter aircraft fielded by the French Armee de l'Air in 1940 but was not available in sufficient numbers to make any real difference to the Battle of France. 
  
 

    
The Dewoitine D520, capable of holding its own against the Messerschmitt Bf 109, was the best fighter aircraft fielded by the French Armee de l'Air in 1940 but was not available in sufficient numbers to make any real difference to the Battle of France.

However, despite its earlier successes, Emile Dewoitine's Societe Aeronautique Francais - Avions Dewoitine had been set to close at the end of 1936 when D510 producton finished as the D513 all-metal monoplane with retractable undercarriage was not a success.

In June 1936 Emile Dewoitine left the company to found a new design office and in January 1937 produced the plans for the D520, capable of fulfilling the French Air Ministry requirement for a 323 mph fighter.  Although the Ministry's A23 technical programme favoured the Morane-Saulnier MS 405, the French aircraft industry was soon to be rationalised and Emile Dewoitine became Deputy Managing Director of Societe Nationale de Constructions Aeronautiques du Midi (SNCAM) which had already absorbed Societe Aeronautique Francais - Avions Dewoitine.

In his new post, Dewoitine was able to further develop the D520 concept with two prototypes being ordered by the French Air Ministry on 3 April 1938.  Although the first of these could only reach 298 mph the second flew at 327 mph at 16 400' and on 7 April 1939 an order was placed for 200 D520 fighters.  

The production D520 was powered by an 820 bh Hispano-Suiza 12Y45 engine yielding a top speed of 332 mph at 18 000'.  It wa armed with one 20mm canon in the engine with a 60 round magazine and  four wing mounted 7.5mm MAC 1934 machine guns, each with 675 rounds.  However, despite the previous organisational changes, SNCAM had only produced by December 1939 and the first D520 equipped Air Force unit - GC I/3 - was not fully equipped until 7 May 1940.  After this point though, production increased so that 437 examples had been built and 403 delivered by 25 June.

By the end of June 1940 four more units had converted to the D520 ( including  GC III/6 on the Italian front ) and had collectively accounted for 108 enemy aircraft including 23 Bf 109s and 9 twin engined Bf 110s.  Had the D520 been available in larger numbers, France would probably have maintained command of its airspace during the German attack.

Dewoitine D520s continued to serve with the Vichy French Air Force - including squadrons based in Syria - and 550 trainer versions were ordered by the Luftwaffe.  After the Allied invasion of Southern France in August 1944 however, a Free French fighter group was formed with captured D520s although by this time the monoplane fighters were obsolete compared with the latest British and American equivalents.


MORANE SAULNIER TYPE N BULLET


Due to the shape of its nose, the Morane-Saulnier Type N was aptly nicknamed the Bullet. Built in small numbers from 1914, it was the first French aircraft specifically developed as a fighter. Armed with a fixed, forward firing machine gun, its propeller was protected by the metal deflector plates pioneered by Roland Garros on the Morane Saulnier Type L Although it was faster and more agile than previous aircraft, the Bullet was extremely difficult to fly and unpopular with pilots.


Due to the shape of its nose, the Morane-Saulnier Type N was aptly nicknamed the Bullet. Built in small numbers from 1914, it was the first French aircraft specifically developed as a fighter. Armed with a fixed, forward firing machine gun, its propeller was protected by the metal deflector plates pioneered by Roland Garros on the Morane Saulnier Type L Although it was faster and more agile than previous aircraft, the Bullet was extremely difficult to fly and unpopular with pilots.

Although technically outside the remit of this article, the Type N has been included to put the later MS 406 into context.  It is also currently the only 1/72 scale World War I Allied aeroplane in the Jet Age Reserve Model Collection.



 MORANE SAULNIER MS 406  
 

    
 
  Despite being fitted with an 860 bhp Hispano-Suiza engine, one 20mm canon and two 7.5mm machine guns, the sturdy and highly manoeverable Morane Saulnier MS 406 was still too slow and poorly armed for the Messerschmitt 109 opposing it in the 1940 Battle of France. 573 examples were built and some were exported to Finland where a more powerful Klimov M-105P inline engine was fitted to improve performance against Soviet fighter aircraft.
  
 

    

Despite being fitted with an 860 bhp Hispano-Suiza engine, one 20mm canon and two 7.5mm machine guns, the sturdy and highly manoeverable Morane Saulnier MS 406 was still too slow and poorly armed for the Messerschmitt 109 opposing it in the 1940 Battle of France. 573 examples were built and some were exported to Finland where a more powerful Klimov M-105P inline engine was fitted to improve performance against Soviet fighter aircraft.

  
 

    

FOKKER D.XXI


 
 
 

    

The Dutch East Indian Army ordered a single-seat monoplane from the Fokker factory on 14 November  1934 to replace the Curtiss P-6 Hawk aircraft and the result was a simple yet rugged and agile design with fixed landing gear designed by E. Schatzki with a 645 hp Bristol Mercury VI-S nine cylinder radial engine. 

The prototype D XXI was first flown on 27 March 1936 from Welschap airfield near Eindhoven, with Fokker test pilot Emil Meinecke at the controls and in 1937 the Dutch government ordered 36 Fokkers equipped with the Mercury VIII engine. In addition to the Netherlands, Finland and Denmark ordered the aircraft.

The Finnish Air Force already operated the Fokker D-10, CVE, CVD and CX dive bomber and the first three Finnish series were equipped with the 840 hp Bristol, PZL or Tampella Mercury VII 9-cylinder air-cooled radial engine.

The Fokker D.XXI was half the price of the German Messerschmitt Me-109 although by 1937 the German fighter - along with its rival Heinkel He 112 and soon-to-be opponents Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane - had flown much faster.  The D XXI also lacked armour protection for the pilot and featured only one 8mm DISA machine gun in each wing along with a radio of limited range. Nevertheless, the Finnish Government signed a deal for seven D.XXI and the licence to build 14 more.

Of the seven Dutch-built aircraft - numbered FR-76 to FR-82 by the Finns -  FR-76 was flown on nine occasions between 27 and 31 August 1937 by Finnish Air Force Capain. G. E. Magnusson, who had already spent five months in 1933 with the crack French "Georges Guynmer" squadron and would - during 1938 - spend a similar amount of time with the Luftwaffe's "Geschwader Richthofen".

During these acceptance flights, Magnusson discovered that the Fokker D.XXI could out-dive faster fighters - which became an important tactic in the forthcoming Winter War against the Soviet Union.  However, the Dutch monoplane was only an accurate weapon in very close dogfights.

The licence built D. XXI were numbered FR-83 to FR-96 ( including FR-92, as modelled above ) and were delivered between 11 November 1938 and 18 March 1939.

On the 15 June 1937 the Finnish Government acquired an unlimited license for Fokker production and a 21-aircraft Series III was ordered from the State Aircraft Factory. The fighters were delivered between 16 March and 27 July 1939 and numbered FR-97 - FR-117.

Then, on 9 May 1939 the Finnish Government ordered 50 Series IV Fokkers with the Twin Wasp engines because the Mercury engines were needed for the nation's Bristol Blenheim bombers. All the aircraft (except one) were delivered just before the Soviet invasion and they were designated FR-118 - FR-167.

During the Easter 2010 Open Days at Brockworth, much comment was made by visitors on the subject of the blue swastika markings of the pre-1945 Finnish aircraft.  Although now strongly associated with the German Nazi party ( and still a banned sign in Germany even today ), the swastika was originally the Sanskrit symbol for joy and also the lucky sign of Swedish Count Eric on Rosen who donated the first aircraft - a Morane Thulin Parasol - to the Finnish Air Force in 1918 - just a year after the one-time Grand Duchy had declared itself a nation independentof Russia.