![Thumbs Up [tup]](/emoticons/icon_smile_thumbsup.gif)
Guess I will post pics and move on then.... ![Dunce [D)]](/emoticons/icon_smile_dunce.gif)
Take the Admirals advice and know when to quit!
The 1/48 scale Special Hobby kits of the Blackburn Skua and Roc are getting called done. Both these aircraft were meant to and indeed served along side each other during probably the darkest time in FAA history. Scorned for their lack of performance they were victims of flawed tactics and the assumption that Ships could fight off air attack with their AAA. Also being designed during the depression as multirolled jack of all trades for budget reasons.
Still The Skua earned an intense loyalty from her crews and given the smaller production numbers when compared to other types just makes it's feats all the more outstanding to me. The first Enemy aircraft of the war a Do-18 was shot down by the Skua. On Apr 10th 1940 ,The German cruiser Konigsburg Was sunk by an attack of 11 divebombing Skua's at their maximum range. 3 direct hits and 5 near misses with no dive bombing training due to the prewar economy.
This is how I represented my Skua in triumph. Because all the kit options for markings represnt them at the time such an attack was repeated on the Scarnhorst where 15 aircraft were lost with no result as the Germans had learned their lesson. All kit markings are of aircraft lost in this ill fated raid.
The pressing need for long range fighters ended the Skua's divebombing career and many heroic battles were fought by remarkably brave and resourceful crews. It is so often noted how many of the best of them were lost, but man what a fight they gave!
Reading up on the trials and handicaps these early FAA crews had to endure and overcome is unreal. The only radio they had was morse code. No voice coms between aircraft at all! Still they achieved so much.
The Roc was sound enough but far to slow in performance to actually catch the enemy aircraft. Can't shoot what you can't catch up too so the fighting career of the Roc was limited to only one kill and one maybe.
However again it had a redesigned wing to cure stability problems found in the Skua which made it extremely stable and accurate in a dive bomb. This was only really noted during the Evacuation at Dunkirk where in desparate moments the Rocs armed with pairs of 250lb bombs attacked and diverted German ground forces pressing in. The quad .303's proved to be a nasty surprise for German fighters who steered clear of the low flying Roc's. A lot of credit was given to the ROc here but not widely hailed as it was supposed to be a fighter! The Admiralty being strictly by the book wanted it used as a fighter!
Took a very long time for them to accept a turreted fighter concept was not practical. Even the Firefly had originally been conceived as having a turreted counterpart twin.
Well getting long winded so I'll wrap it up by saying England may not have won the war on guts and determination alone but after reading into the early history of the FAA, I do feel that it is the reason it was not lost! ![Bow [bow]](/emoticons/icon_smile_bow.gif)
Thanks fellows!