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1953-61 Messerschmitt KR 201 in Ruby Red and Ivory BeigeHigh Quality Plastic

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Messerschmitt Bf109E-4 - Germany, 1940 Features Include:• Detailed crew figures• Rotating Propellers • Visable Gun Bay• Optional landing gear This distinctive Messerschmitt Bf 109E fighter from Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 was equipped with a Telefunken designed Peil Gerat IV electronic radio direction finder unit, one of the first airborne interception units of its kind to be fitted in a Luftwaffe nightfighter. More of an onboard direction indicator than an actual interception radar unit, the Peil G IV featured the installation of a new cockpit indicator display which required the pilot to keep a needle coated in luminous paint in the centre of the display and he knew that if he kept the needle in this central location, his aircraft was heading for the transmitting aircraft detected. Although still relatively primitive, this system allowed the pilot to fly his aircraft and effect the interception, as opposed to being preoccupied with constantly checking his course, something which greatly helped pilots of single seat fighters. Although actually not all that effective in operation, the Peil Gerat IV unit would provide valuable research data for use in future projects, which would eventually lead to the introduction of much more capable systems. In the specialised role of night interceptions, single seat Luftwaffe fighters were not particularly suitable for the task, as their lack of range/loitering capability and the sheer workload placed on the pilot were both significant limiting factors and it didn't take long before the larger twin engined Messerschmitt Bf 110 and Junkers Ju88 aircraft were assigned to this role.

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Messerschmitt Me262A-1a, 'Yellow 17', Lt Walter Hagenah III Jagdgeschwader 7 One of the most interesting engagements involving a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter during WWII occurred on 10th April 1945, when pilot Lt Walther Hagenah and his wingman were ordered to intercept a heavy raid of USAAF bombers attacking an area north of Berlin. Knowing they would be massively outnumbered by Allied aircraft, the pair intended to attack the formation at high speed, using cannon and their underwing mounted R4M unguided rocket projectiles to break up the formation and spread confusion. With the mighty bomber stream in sight, Hagenah noticed a flight of six American P-51D Mustangs above them, which immediately dropped their external fuel tanks as they dived in to attack. Hagenah's experience told him that if he turned to face them, or made any violent evasive manoeuvre, the speed of the Mustangs would soon bring him into their gunsights, so instead, he pushed the throttles to full power and began a gentle dive towards the ground, but crucially, not changing heading. His wingman decided to take a different course of action, turning to face the Mustangs and immediately being enveloped in a hail of .50 calibre bullets. With his own jet now at full speed, Hagenah expertly positioned his Messerschmitt for an attack on the American fighters, opening up on them with everything he had, including ripple-firing his R4M rockets at the enemy fighter formation.

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Messerschmitt Bf 109G -2 Trop Red 1 Hpt - Werner Schroer 8 JG27Although making an unremarkable start to his combat career during the Battle of Britain, Werner Schröer transfer to North Africa and air operations in support of the Afrika Korps would bring him a change in fortune and a steadily increasing victory tally which would eventually make him one of the Luftwaffe most successful pilots. By the time III./JG27 relocated to the Aegean Islands in late 1942, Schröer has 61 confirmed victories to his name, making him the second most successful Desert Eagle, with only the famous Hans-Joachim Marseille ahead of him. For a time, Schröer and the rest of 8./JG27 enjoyed great success flying fighter cover for strike aircraft targeting British shipping in the Mediterranean, but unfortunately, this success proved to be short-lived, as the Allies were now advancing on all fronts and their time of Rhodes soon came to an end. With Germany now coming under concerted bombing attack by day and night, as many fighters as could be spared were pulled back to defend the Reich from what was now becoming an increasingly desperate situation. Werner Schröer would survive the war with 114 aerial victories to his name, having flown just 197 operational missions. Of this number, 102 victories were achieved in combat on the Western Front against the most capable Allied aircraft and airmen, a figure which included 26 four-engined heavy bombers, as the German homeland itself came under concerted aerial attack.

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Messerschmitt Me109G-6 Trop - Maggiore Antonio VizzottoRegia Aeronautica, 150 Gruppo, Sicily, July 1943 Just as the famous Fokker Eindecker had previously done during the Great War, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 would re-define aerial warfare and was an aircraft which was intended to dominate the sky. An aircraft which incorporated all the latest technological developments the aviation world had to offer, this project may have advanced as a lightweight monoplane fighter, but possessed the one attribute all hunting aeroplanes needed, and that was great speed. Produced in response to a Reich Aviation Ministry requirement for an advanced single-seat fighter aircraft, the design submitted by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke was radical in the extreme, diminutive and lightweight in construction and utilising the most powerful in-line aero engines in development in Germany at that time.Taking much of its design inspiration from the successful Messerschmitt Bf108 Taifun four-seat sports touring aircraft which preceded it, the Bf 109 was a relatively small, yet powerful monoplane fighter, one which was incredibly fast, heavily armed and highly manoeuvrable. At a time when the world's major air forces were mainly equipped with biplane designs for their front line fighter force, you might think that German pilots were desperate to get their hands on an aircraft which was so advanced that it was at the very forefront of world aviation, but that didn't initially prove to be the case. As they were used to slower, highly manoeuvrable aircraft with open cockpits, the enclosed cockpit o

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Boulton Paul Defiant Mkl N1801 PS-Y Nightfighter Colmbatore II Although the Boulton Paul Defiant fought alongside Spitfires and Hurricanes during the air battles above the Dunkirk evacuation beaches and the Battle of Britain which followed, it enjoys nothing of the widespread public recognition its two contemporaries could boast. Surprisingly, the Defiant actually made its first flight and RAF squadron introduction quite some time after both the Hurricane and Spitfire, something which may explain its limited success when used in the day fighter role during WWII. The idea behind the Defiant™s unusual design came from inter-war thinking that future air combat would be fought by fast, heavily armed bomber formations, which would not need the protection of dedicated fighter cover.In order to combat this, the Defiant, equipped with its quad dorsal turret mounted machine gun armament, could engage these bombers with a beam attack, similar to how battleships might engage, or from below, where the bomber was most vulnerable and where the fighter could concentrate the firepower of its four .303 in Browning machine guns. This same thinking also dictated that this new bomber defence fighter would not need forward firing armament, as the high closing speed of modern monoplane fighters would render frontal attacks useless, so the Defiant incredibly ended up being a fighter aircraft with no forward firing armament at all.Having a similar profile to the Hawker Hurricane which preceded it into service, the Defiant initially scored some significant combat successes against Luftwaffe aircraft, even the much vaunted Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter. Attacking the Defiant as they would a Hurricane, Messerschmitt pilots soon realised their mistake, as they lined up to press home their flank attacks, only to be met by a hail of bullets. The shock of this misidentification was soon relayed to other pilots and the Defiant would soon become easy prey for the highly manoeuvrable Messerschmitts, which would attack the turret fighter from the front or from below, where the British aircraft simply could not defend itself.Withdrawn from the day fighter role during the Battle of Britain, the Defiant would go on to prove itself a more than capable nightfighter, where its crews helped to establish Britain™s fledgling nightfighter force, claiming many Luftwaffe victims in the process. Nocturnal Defiants were later equipped with airborne interception radar equipment to increase their effectiveness and later still, used to carry powerful electronic countermeasures equipment, as the air war took something of a clandestine turn. Ultimately though, continued development of the Luftwaffe™s bomber force saw the Defiant becoming increasingly ineffective, with the type finally being withdrawn to secondary roles from 1942 onwards. Despite this, the Boulton Paul Defiant definitely remains one of the more interesting aircraft of the Second World War.For a crew to attain the coveted status of air Ace™ whilst operating the Boulton Paul Defiant turret fighter, they must have been an incredibly cohesive team, something which Flying Officer Frederick Desmond Hawkeye™ Hughes and his gunner Sergeant F Gash most definitely were. During the height of the Battle of Britain, the pair claimed two Dornier Do17 bombers destroyed during the same sortie, however, these would prove to be their only successes during daylight operations. With the Defiant becoming increasingly vulnerable to enemy fighter attack, the type was transferred to night defence duties, where it was to prove much more successful. Searching for targets in the dark, an extra pair of eyes and the flexible firing positions afforded by the powered turret soon began to pay dividends, as German night raiders were intercepted and destroyed with increasing regularity.Boulton Paul Defiant N1801 was the first aircraft specifically allocated to pilot Desmond Hughes and as such, he was allowed to embellish it with his own personal markings. A son of the small coastal town of Donaghadee in County Down, Northern Ireland, Hughes painted the Red Hand of Ulster in a white shield on his aircraft™s port-side engine cowling, which also sported five victory markings painted under the canopy. As one of the five RAF squadrons funded by India™s Madras Presidency, N1801 proudly marked this association by also carrying the name Coimbatore II™ on the engine cowling, making this a highly distinctive nightfighter. From the memoirs of Desmond Hughes, he describes how he used this aircraft until the squadron upgraded to the more powerful Defiant Mk.II, but how N1801 was extremely reliable, with its Merlin engine never so much as coughing at him during operation.Frederick Desmond Hughes would go on to post further success in the night air war flying Beaufighters and Mosquitos, eventually ending the war as one of the RAF™s most decorated airmen and able to boast a victory tally of 18.5 enemy aircraft destroyed. Adding further interest to the exploits of this exceptional airman, another story associated with Hughes is that he was one of the first WWII airmen to take his pet dog on an operational sortie with him. His beloved mongrel Scruffy™ was dressed in flying overalls for warmth during his unusual trip and is thought to have enjoyed at least one night sortie in an RAF Beaufighter.

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Messerschmitt BF 109 - Adolf GallandPostage Stamp CollectionThe Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a single-seat fighter aircraft that was the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force during World War II. It was considered the most advanced structural design and aerodynamics of the time, with a low-wing, leading edge slats, a closed cockpit and retractable landing gears. It is the most produced fighter aircraft in history, with a total of 33,984 airframes produced from 1936 up to April 1945.German Ace Adolf Galland flew the Bf 109 during the campaign against France in 1940 and was commander of Fighter Wing JG62 during the Battle of Britain, by the end of which he had destroyed 58 enemy planes. In November 1941 he was promoted to the post of commander of the Luftwaffe's Fighter Arm, and a year later he was promoted to major general, becoming at age 30 the youngest general in the German armed forces.

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