1/72nd Huma DFS 230 Eben-Emael Completed pics page 2

Thanks Groot, much appreciated.

Bish,

 What an intriguing and unique build.  The attention to detail and accuracy are top notch!

Groot

Thanks guys.

Bob, glad I was able to bring this operation to your attention, and that you found the write up useful.

Thanks PJ, there is some artistic licence and guess work, but I think its as close as I can make it with the info and pics available.

A very unusual modeling subject indeed. I'm truly impressed with your attention to detail to make the display as historically accurate as possible. The level of detail is incredible. Well done Bish!

Very very cool Bish.  Your faithfulness to your sources speaks volumes, and your attention to detail is great.  The scratchwork inside the glider is top notch.  I've really enjoyed watching this come together, and the finishing write-up was very interesting.  I hadn't heard of Eben Emael before you started this WIP, and I've learned a lot.  I'm glad you were able to put this together the way you've envisioned it.

Thanks Brandon.

I would like to go and see those as well. Must be amazing to see.

Bish, this is seriously cool. I really, really like it.

Having been to parts of the Maginot Line and Verdun, I have a small sense of what Eben Emael must have been like, and all I can say is that assaulting something like that had to be crazy. You've done a great job on this.

-BD-

This build was entered into the 1939-40 GB. As a par of the GB, the host had asked for some background information to the builds. For me, this was rather complicated. Due to the interest shown, and several people saying they had not heard of this, I have decided to include that write up here. While I tried to keep it as short as possible, I wanted to include as much information as I thought would be of interest. It turned out to be somewhat longer than I had thought it would. I apologise now for the length. I have included some links for those who may wish to read more. Please feel free to scroll down to the pics at the bottom if you so wish.

The Belgium Forts

After the Franco Prussian war of 1870/71, Belgium, believing that their two larger neighbours would be at war with each other again and Belgium's neutrality would not be respected, decided to defend it territory with a series of Forts. Between 1888 and 1891, they built 6 large forts and 6 smaller fortins around the city of Liege, which was on the invasion route from Germany. The forts designer, General Henri Brialmont also recommended another fort to be built close to the small village of Eben Emael. When this was rejected, he said 'Belgium would weep tears of blood for not having built this fort.

A major problem with fixed positions such as forts as they are a product of their time, and it is not easy to predict the advances of warfare. In 1914, they were put to the test. The forts had not be designed to deal with the artillery that was now in use. The Germans had built 420mm Howitzer, named Big Bertha, to deal with these forts.

Big Bertha

But even before these big guns got into action, the first forts had already fallen to German guns. The forts design, and the use of unreinforced poor quality concrete, was simply no match for the German weapons. Liege fell after just 11 days, though it did delay the German advance into France.

Battle of Liege

After the Great war had ended, Belgium decided to try the idea of Forts once again, but this time learning the lessons of 1914. As well as rebuilding 8 of the old forts, designated as PFL II, they proposed 4 new major forts and 2 smaller one's (PFL I). But the 2 smaller forts were later dropped and one of the larger ones had not yet been funded in Sept 1939. The most important of these new forts would be that at Eben Emael. It would, claimed the Defence Minister Albert Diveze, be able to withstand the pounding of the heaviest artillery.

Eben Emael's location took advantage of the Albert canal. The canal was built between 1930 and 1939. The canal runs for 80 miles from Antwerp to Liege and cut the river journey time from 7 days to 18 hours. At the Liege end of the canal, it is linked to the Meuse river by a 1,300m long channel, known as the Castor Cutting. This formed a moat with 40m high walls of rock on the side of the fort facing Germany.

After the Great war had ended, Belgium decided to try the idea of Forts once again, but this time learning the lessons of 1914. As well as rebuilding 8 of the old forts, designated as PFL II, they proposed 4 new major forts and 2 smaller one's (PFL I). But the 2 smaller forts were later dropped and one of the larger ones had not yet been funded in Sept 1939. The most important of these new forts would be that at Eben Emael. It would, claimed the Defence Minister Albert Diveze, be able to withstand the pounding of the heaviest artillery.

Eben Emael's location took advantage of the Albert canal. The canal was built between 1930 and 1939. The canal runs for 80 miles from Antwerp to Liege and cut the river journey time from 7 days to 18 hours. At the Liege end of the canal, it is linked to the Meuse river by a 1,300m long channel, known as the Castor Cutting. This formed a moat with 40m high walls of rock on the side of the fort facing Germany.

Albert canal

image below shows the Caster cutting taken from the southern end. The shear wall on the left is the eastern side of the fort. Along the bottom edge of this wall you can see one of two bunkers built to counter any attempt to cross the canal, this one being Canal Sud. On the right are the Lanaye locks, beyond which are the Meuse River.

The Fort covers an area of 163 aces and is 900m north to south and 800m at the widest point east to west. This German recon photo show the large area of open ground that is the rook of the fort. To the right is clearly marked the Albert canal. Along the top edge of the foot is a water filled anti tank ditch. The circle numbered 1 and 2 are various positions on the roof of the foot. That on the bottom right corner, above the letter n in the word Graben, is Cupola Nord, the main objective of Squad 8.

The fort mainly comprises a series of tunnels dug into the limestone. These tunnels connect the various positions on the roof. The only entrance to the fort is at Bloc 1, this is approx. 60m below the highest parts of the fort.

The roof of the foot comprised 17 cupolas, casements and bloc's (machine gun bunkers). This were split into offensive and defensive batteries. The heaviest weapons in the fort were two 120mm guns in one revolving cupola. But so as not to provoke the Germans, the government had ordered that no guns capable of firing into Germany itself should be fitted. There was also 2 revolving retractable cupola's each fitted with 2 75mm guns, one of these was Cupola Nord. There were also 4 casements each holding 3 75mm guns; these could all fire over an arc of 70 degrees. For defence, there were 3 machine gun bunkers which covered the roof of the fort. 2 more bunkers at the bottom of the caster cut and 5 bunkers with 60mm AT guns and MG's to cover the approach's to the fort and the AT ditch. There were also several false positions which the Germans had failed to identify as false. For AA fire, there were 4 open pits fitted with MICA machine guns close to Bloc IV.

When Belgium built the canal, they of course needed a means of crossing them. They built bridges 3 bridges and in times of need, these could be defended from bunkers and prepared positions and also supported by fire from Eben. The bridges were precisely plotted so the guns could quickly be trained onto them.

The Belgium's incorporated lessons learned from 1914. These include the spreading out of the fighting positions, protection for the ammo magazines and the ability to seal off any part of the fort. But in 1932, little thought had been given to the idea of troops landing on the roof of the fort. There was little barb wire and no trenches. AA defences were light because it was felt the small emplacements, well blended into the terrain, would be difficult to hit and no bombs could penetrate the armour. The fort defence was also left in the hands of the artillery troops who had no training in infantry tactics.

The garrison was supposed to have comprised at just over 1300 men. These included 300 support staff. The 1,000 men who manned the guns were split into two shifts of 500 and served in the fort for 1 week at a time. This was due to it being considered unhealthy and detrimental to moral to serve for long periods underground. The shift not on duty was located 6km from the fort, but had no allocated transport. The support staffs were located in barracks outside the fort entrance and in the village of Eben Emael. But due to under manning, sickness etc., the garrison strength on 10th May 1940 was just under 900. In April 1940, a regiment of the 7th Infantry Div was ordered to take up position along a 9km front on the Albert canal.

In 1914, the Belgium forts failed to cope with the modern weapons of war. In 1940, the Belgium's believed that their new forts were capable of withstanding any artillery bombardment. On 10th May, they would be put to the test.

This link gives some more information on both the pre and post WW1 forts.

Liege Forts

Assault from the Air

The idea of soldiers going into battle from the sky was not new in 1940.In 1784, Benjamin Franklin had said

"Where is the prince who can afford so to cover his country with troops for its defence, so that ten thousand men descending from the clouds might not, in many places, do an infinite deal of mischief before a force could be brought together to repel them?"

In 1917, Churchill had suggested dropping troops behind German lines. In 1918, Major Lewis Brerton and Brigadier General Billy Mitchell proposed dropping some of the US 1st Inf Div behind German lines near Metz. This was planned for early 1919, but of course the end of the war in Nov 1918 put paid to this idea After the war, several nations considered the idea of airborne troops. The first true para drop was conducted by the Italians in 1927. The USSR had also been working on the idea of dropping large formations. During large scale military manoeuvres in 1935, witnessed by a number of foreign observers, the Soviets dropped almost 2,000 men by parachute. The Germans took great interest in this and began looking into the idea themselves. At first a number of groups attempted to raise an airbourne force, which resulted in confusion. Eventually, General Kurt Student was put in charge of this new force, which meant that unlike in many nations where airbourne troops are a part of the army, in Germany, the Fallschirmjäger belong to the air force. Though Goring had already created an airbourne force earlier in 1935, the Soviet display must have given this more impetus. The parachute arm was inaugurated in Jan 1936. In April 1940, for the first time in history, troops dropped into battle from the air, when the Fallschirmjäger took part in the German invasion of Denmark and Norway. In May 1940, they were in action again. Parachute troops dropped into action in the Netherlands. And in Belgium, another element to airbourne warfare was added.

After WW1, the victorious allies imposed the treaty of Versailles on Germany. Amongst other measures, Germany was banned from having a military air force. But even before Hitler came to power, the German government were secretly developing and testing aircraft with the co-operation of the USSR. In addition to this, the Government encouraged the sport of glider flying. This was seen as a way to train lots of men to fly for any future German air force and become very popular. It has been said that by WW2, Germany was the most air minded nation in the world. This not only gave Germany a large number of trained pilots, it also gave them lots of experience in the design, building and flying of gliders. With the creation of an airbourne force, the Germans included gliders alongside the parachute troops.

The DFS 230 assault glider was developed in 1933. Unlike allied gliders used later in the war, the 230 could not carry vehicles or large equipment. With the single pilot and 9 troops on board, it could carry upto 270kg of equipment. For the assault on Eben, the numbers of troops carried was reduced from between 7 and 9 so heavier loads could be carried. The troops, crammed in a fuselage just 0.7m wide, sat astride a bench which ran the length of the fuselage. They could exit either through the cockpit of door at the back. later modifications included a MG position on top of the fuselage behind the cockpit, a door on the left in front of the wing and for the rescue of Mussolini in 1943 from the Gran Sasso, braking parachutes were fitted.

In Oct 1939, Kurt Student was summoned to a meeting with Hitler in Berlin. During the meeting, Hitler stressed that the German airbourne force, still untied in battle, should be used in a decisive time and place and to employ every resource available. Knowing that the swift capture of the new bridges over the Albert canal was vital for the swift movement of German forces into France, and to avoid the delays imposed in 1914, Hitler told Student that the airbourne force, which had not seen action in Poland, would certainly see action in the west. he also showed Student air photos of the fort at Eben, noting its large open grassed areas, he asked student, who had a personal interest in the development of the DFS 230, if his men could land on the fort and storm the works. The following day, Student told Hitler he believed they could.

Student quickly formed an assault force under the command of Hauptmann Walter Koch. Quickly, the force, named Sturmabteilung Koch, took shaped. Formed from elements from Koch's own I/FJR I and the Pioneer platoon from II/FJR I, led by Oberleutnant Witzig. Over time, the force was split into 4 smaller units. Sturmgruppe's Eisen (iron), Stahl (Steel) and Beton (Concrete) were tasked with seizing and holding the bridges at kannes, Veltwezelt and Vroenhoven respectively. Finally, Sturmgruppe Granit (Granite), commanded by Witzig, was to seize and hold the Fort at Eben and destroy any guns that would be a threat to the bridges.

Rudolf Witzig

Granite was divided into 11 squads. Squads 1 to 9 each had one primary and between 1 and 3 secondary objectives. Squads 10 and 11, the latter led by Witzig, were reserve squads. Preparation for the assault was conducted in the utmost secrecy. The troops were not fully briefed on their target until a few hours before the mission. And one of the keys to the success of the attack, the hollow charge munitions, were not shown to the troops until they were equipped for the raid.

Shaped Charge

The use of these weapons and their effects came as a surprise not only to the allies, but also to the German troops using them. The effects on the outside seemed minor, while on the outside, they could be devastating.

At 4.25 on the morning of 10th may 1940, the Ju 52's towing the gliders of Granite, began taking off. But things did not begin well. The tow cable on Witzig's glider snapped after the towing Ju 52 was forced into a steep dive to avoid a collision. The glider was brought down in a field, and ordering his men to prepare a rough landing strip, Witzig set off to get an aircraft. He and his squad arrived at Eben 2 hours after the rest. The glider of squad 2 was released early and too low to reach the objective. It was forced to land near Duren. The first gliders touched down on the fort at just before 4.30am.

Battle of Eben Emael

Squad 8, commanded by Sergeant Unger, tasked with the destruction of Cupola Nord, landed approx. 30m from their target. The squad immediately come under fire from Belgium troops in a building on the roof of the fort. This building was a maintenance facility in which tools were stored for carrying out repairs on the guns and other facilities. This inflicted the first casualty, when Meyer was hit in the shoulder while exiting the glider. While Unger and 2 other moved off to destroy Cupola Nord, two others headed to the building to silence the guns, and these were covered by the squads MG gunner. Unger's team managed to detonate a 50kg device on the roof of the cupola followed by a 12.5 kg device on a side door as Unger was concerned this could be used to launch a counter attack. This smaller device blew in the door and collapsed the rook, blocking the entrance. Meanwhile, the other team exploded a 3kg charge against the building causing so much trouble, and this silenced the fire from there. Soon after a shell, possibly from pole Sud, exploded and killed Unger.

The rest of the assault squads were meanwhile dealing with their own objectives. There is far too much detail to go into here. But in short, while a few of the forts guns were able to fire on German forces trying to cross the remains of the kanne bridge, the only one of the three that the German airbourne forces was unable to take in tact, the assault on the fort and the subsequent crossing of the Canal and drive into Belgium and France were a success. The battle at the fort continued through the night of 10/11^th May. An hour after the gliders had landed, the first support had arrived in the shape of Ju 87 dive bombers. Just before midday on the 11^th, companies of Infantry regiment 151 arrive don the scene. Soon after, a white flag was seen at the forts entrance.

During the battle, Granite lost 6 men killed and 18 wounded. Every enlisted man, bar one, was awarded the Iron Cross 1^st class and promoted one rank. The one exception was Grechza. He had filled his water bottle with rum believing he could use it to help the wounded. But in the heat of battle he drank the lot himself. He got no promotion and an Iron Cross 2^nd class. The forts defenders suffered 21 dead and 61 wounded.

The Officers of Sturmabteilung Koch all received the Knights Cross, presented by Hitler on the 16th May.

The attack on Fort Eben Emael is, in my opinion, largely over looked and even forgotten. It has to be one of the most stunning small unit operations of WW2 and rivals anything conducted by Allied forces. The fort itself is now a museum open on select weekends through the year. It is certainly on the list of my must see places to see.

Eben Emael museum website

Now to the photo’s of the completed diorama.

First, let me introduce Squad 8, Assault Group Granite.

Here, we see Squad leader Unger (KIA) along with Hooge (WIA) and Hierlaender heading to their main objective, Cupola Nord. They are armed with a 50kg and 12.5kg hollow charge devices and a Bangalore torpedo.

Next, Weinert has deployed his MG 34 and is putting down fire on the maintenance building that was firing on the German troops. behind him, armed with an MP 40,m is the pilot, Diestelmeier.

Meanwhile, Else (WIA) and Plitz move under cover of the MG fire towards the building.

And finally, Meyer (WIA) having been hit in the shoulder while leaving the glider, is laying under the wing.

Thanks for looking and as always all comments welcome. And again, sorry for the long thread, but I hope some may have found it of interest.

I was able to get the dio completed a couple of nights ago.. But before the final write up and pics, here's a few of the finished glider before it was added to the base.

 I also added a few items inside, namely a couple of Bangalore torpedo's, a 50kg and 12.5 KG hollow Charge weapon and some rope to secure it all in flight.

Thanks bob. Ye, I think I will stick to post shading. Putting the black on first was the only way I could think of to do this.

Looking very good so far Bish.  It took me a long time to make preshading work, and even then it's hit or miss for me.  Great work on those explosives as well.

That time again. In the last update I missed something. The kit canopy has a glazed portion behind the opening section. This appears to be another later modification and is not present of any of the gliders at Eben. So using some sheet styrene I added this portion of the fuselage.

 With the pit finished and the bench in pace I was able to finish off construction by fitting the wings, tail and the few other parts.

 When I was adding the lever to the cockpit IP I think is for the tow cable release, I realised there was no attachment point for said cable. On checking some pics I noticed a small hole at the front just under the nose. Guessing that this is for the tow cable, I drilled this out.

 Next up was a coat of primer and some paint. Its hardly the most challenging scheme in the history of aircraft and makes RLM 70/71 splinter look exciting.  The Germans painted these aircraft a single colour, which I believe was RLM 02, just before the assault, including covering up all markings, in an attempt to confuse the Belgium's

I have never pre shaded an aircraft before, and now I know why. A lot of images show a dark circle on the fuselage side where the black cross would be. I am guessing the cross was painted over with black first to stop the cross showing through.  I painted the black circle before painting, but despite thinning the paint sand spraying very lightly over that patch, the circle vanished, as you can tell above. After about 3 attempts, I finally got it, though it is very faint and doesn't show in the pics below either.

After finally getting this sorted, I used some Flory wash in the recessed areas and then lightly dry brushed with the base colour and white oil paint. Its still wet in the pics below and I will have to wait a day or two before I can do the underside

 So that's how the glider sits for now. next, the base. The side received a single coat of wood stain and then several coats of varnish.

 Once dry, the celluclay, mixed with some white glue and acrylic paint's to get the colour wanted, was added. I use the paint sold in large bottles designed for children and you get lots of it and its pretty cheap. This was left for a couple of days to dry in a warm place and then just went around the edges filling in where it shrank. I must have got the mix right this time as shrinkage was minimal.

 Then today I got all the grass and some bushes added.

Finally, the weapons and figures. Squad 8 carried 2 of the large 50kg hollow charge weapons. 

 And 3 of the smaller 12.5kg weapons.

 The Preiser set has 3 of the larger devices and 2 of the smaller. As you can see, the small device is pretty well replicated, but the larger one is just a flat dish.

You can see in the image of the large device a join towards the bottom. It can in two sections, and several accounts report it being assembled on the objective. This makes sense as trying to carry 110Ib load one handed, as 2 of the Preiser figures are, while running in a crouch would be near impossible. carrying that load on your back is bad enough. So using some sprue from the kit which was just about the right dimensions, I scratch built the 2 large devices and one of the smaller ones.

I still have to add the carrying handles to these.

 And finally the figures. The trousers were painted with Tamiya field grey, I then dry brushed these. The smocks were done in Vallejo Green Grey.

 Next up i'll get on with the figures while I leave the oils on the glider to dry. I also have to finish off some barb wire

Thanks for looking. All comments welcome of course.

ye, it can get a bit much.

This is a modern pic of the target for squad 8, and this is roughly the direction they would have approached from.

It would be nice, but I think just to much. Those positions would make a nice scene all by themselves.

That's true. A while ago a guy was talking about plans for a 1/35 Flakturm model. But a 50m tower at 1/35 is a BIG undertaking.

Thanks GM. Those72nd gliders are hard to find, I want to get another for a Crete dio. Special Hobby do a couple in 48th though. Anything you would like to post would be great. I would agree with that analysis. I think once the troops were on the roof, there was little the Belgium's could do. The fort was just not designed to deal with airborne assault

I did originally consider adding part of the fort. But I want to be as accurate to the landing as possible and squad 8 landed about 80m from its target and that would mean a gap in 72nd of over a meter. Even bring a cupola in closer would mean doing a new base. I know it would add a nice point of interest, had I given it more thought sooner, I could have incorporated it in, but I have been so focused on the glider. But I am going to se if I can make some 72nd barbed wire and add that to the base.

I am very interested in this. I was looking for a DFS 230 as well. Glad you found one. I've got a single reference on Eben Emael; McRaven's The Theory of Special Operations ISBN0-89141-600-5. I can scan and email you the biblio if you want. The only photos in it are of the paratroopers post raid, plus a couple present day. I understand it's quite the tourist attraction.

His analysis is that once all of the gliders had landed, it was a high probability success. You can see why from the picture you posted of the loaded glider; that part of the mission was the area of vulnerability.

I really hope you plan to install a gun cupola in your dio!.

from Wikipedia

Thanks guys, and i am glad its giving you ideas. I am trying to get  more detail into my updates rather than just skim over things. I have learnt so much from this site its only right I pass something on where possible.

If there is anything you want to ask please feel free.

Groot, there are a few books on this operation, including two from Osprey, one in their raids series and one in the Fortress series. Another book I have is from Ian Allen Publishing's Secret Missions series. These are all the usual reference types books. The Mrazek book dates from 1970 but is full of great info. that's more of a traditional novel type book.

The attack on Eben was only one part of a mission which also included 3 other groups each attacking a bridge. It is largely overlooked and unknown by many but in my view is one of the most impervious raids of the war. I will do a write up of the history of the fort and the raid when I post the complete pics.

 Thanks Bish for posting your WIP.  

I find this thread fascinating and informative  and you're filling the file in my head with new ways to do things in modeling.

Bish,

 I'd never even heard of this battle (and now I'm intrigued so I'll probably have to track down the book).  This dio is gonna be awesome with all the detail you're putting into it!

Groot

Thanks guys.

Bob, I know what you mean. When you think this had never been done before, those guys must have wondered what they had let themselves in for. Its certainly a far cry from the spacious gliders used by the allies later in the war. I am just grateful that we know have helicopters to this sort of thing.

I bought four books for this project. 3 of them are the usually reference type book's, but its the 4th that's got the really detailed info. I haven't not actually read it ye, just been looking for the info I need. But I will have to read it fully soon.

Very, very cool Bish! I haven't heard of this before, so this is very interesting to me. Your scratch work on the interior looks great, although I couldn't imagine having to straddle the bench and seat backs while hunched over in full combat gear while under fire. That would take some guts, especially if you're outnumbered 10 to 1! And I love that you have references for where each of your troopers should be. I can't wait to see this come together.

I'm happy for you in that you've finally achieved this goal.

Well, time for another update. Firs thing to get done was the interior painted. I spray some RLM 02 and followed that with some black Flory wash along the inside struts. I then sprayed some more RLM 02 but very thin to tone it down.

 I also got some done on the bench by using a couple of lengths of styrene strips for the cushion and bending some brass rod for the seat backs.

With the fuselage paint inside I could put the two half's together. I then dry fitted the wings so I could measure up for the base and work out the position of the figures. I normally plan the dio long in advance, some times several years before I start the build. But this time I wanted to wait until the build was under way.

One of the books I am using, The Fall of Eben Emael by James Mrazek, gives a good account of what each member of squad 8 was doing after landing, the one exception being the pilot. There is no mention of him once the glider has set down. So the figures are positioned based on this account with 3 moving out to take out the squads primary objective and 2moving towards a building that was putting down heavy fire and had caused one casualty as the troops were exiting. The pilot I have placed next to the glider with his MP 40 assisting Weinert, the MG gunner, to put down fire on the building.

Most of the figures are from Prieser. These must have been made for just this sort of thing as they are carrying equipment, namely the 12.5 and 55kg charges, used on the raid. The green pilot figure (Esci) I have since changed for a more suitable Preiser one, as the Esci figure had a shovel and kit on his back I don't think the pilot would have had. The two lighter figures are from the Revell set.

O, and in case your thinking I have discovered some before unheard of highly secret German weapon, sorry to disappoint you, but its just a pen. I wanted to get the glider over to one side as it was on landing.

I  could then start on the base. I wanted it a bit thicker than my usual. So I glued a bit of chip board to a bit of MDF and clamped them together to dry.

 I then added the balsa wood edging prior to staining it.

Back to the glider. The kit IP is a flat piece of plastic which is to thick. So I cut a piece of thin styrene sheet to shape and added instruments using the clear section found in PE sets, from the spares box. I also added a handle which I noticed in a pic and I am guessing is the tow cable release.

And a piece of plastic rod for a support bar with PE belts also from the spares box.

And the rear bench was finished off by using some lead foil for the fabric part of the back rests and some lap straps.

 And this could then be fitted inside by sliding it through the large rear door on the right.

 And that's how she sits now. I am currently altering the angle of the elevator's to match the photo's. I can now add the wings and should soon be ready for some paint soon.

Thanks for looking, all comments welcome.

Bumpy I would imagine. There is actually a glider club just down the road from us at an old US 8th AAF B-17 base. I have considered having a go, but I just can't get my head round the idea of being in a plane with no engine. But when I did enquire, it turns out I am about a stone to heavy. But my other half got her eldest daughter a glider flight for her birthday present and she is doing that next month, so I guess I will find out.

What gets me about the DFS 230 is that they had to get out with the bench running right down the middle and they would have to straddle it while moving out.

Nathan T

No way would I wanna be stuffed in like that, especially in a bird with no engine.

Neat stuff Bish. We can always count on you to do the rarer subjects, and this one is no exception. I'm sure you'll do great work. Man, Sardines is right! No way would I wanna be stuffed in like that, especially in a bird with no engine.

Jeez!!! Suicide mission????

Thanks Joe. I am mainly using 4 books I have, 3 of which I got recently just for the build. They are rather detailed and one includes a break down of each squad including what equipment they carried, which will be handy. There are a couple of rather nice pics online of the gliders on the roof of the fort which have helped with some details such as the colour scheme and I found a couple of nice pics of the cockpit which will need a little work, mainly the instrument panel. But I have just got some random pics saved to the comp for this one.

Given its importance in military history and the audacity of sending 86 lightly armed paratroopers to attack the worlds most impregnable fortress with a garrison of over 800, it seems to have been largely ignored unfortunately.

Neat! Got any references?