Avia Arrow - A Sudeten Surprise

[Brian da Basher]

After being told about the Munich agreement, Czechoslovak President Beneš replied that anyone who sought Czech territory would have to come and take it, regardless what the governments in Paris and London thought. This forced Hitler to implement "Case Green", the invasion of Czechoslovakia. However, things would not go as planned.



This  intelligence and logistical screw up wasn't the only thing that would stop the Germans, but it certainly slowed things down.



Adding to the misery of being hopelessly lost in a strange country, the Germans met a new foe in the air, the Top Secret Avia Arrow Czech fighter.









The new fighter had been developed completely in secret. Featuring a high-powered inline engine, an enclosed canopy, and armed with two 20 m.m. cannons in the wings and a machine gun that fired through the propeller hub, the new fighter also featured incredibly sexy, streamlined spatted landing gear which were the envy of air arms world-wide.









Not only the Luftwaffe found the Arrows a nasty surprise, but the Wehrmacht was completely overwhelmed by them too.



The Germans were tossed back across the border and Hitler and the Nazis were tossed out of power by a very angry and humiliated public. To this day, Czechs hail the Arrow as the little fighter that saved freedom.





Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

A while back, a good friend sent me a 1/72 Special Hobby He-100 kit.



Mine would come out a little bit differently.

It's a very nice, if simple, kit of a very cool record-breaking airplane.



Digging through the spares box, I found the leftover spats and tail feathers from a P-26. They were an excellent fit.









That's a U.S. penny in the shots for scale.

The other modifications were swapping out the kit prop for one from a Siskin and adding a Spitfire wing radiator under the nose.





The entire model was brush-painted by hand in acrylics and decals were more spares. It took me two days to build this little model.

I hope you liked it and the story of bad maps and lost Germans giving up to Avia Arrows. Here's a couple of shots showing off those intimidating spats.





Brian da Basher

[GTX_Admin]

 :)

[father ennis]

Top notch as always ... !!!!!!   Love the plane and the backstory.   As a side note, my Dad was in the 90th infantry and among the things I have from that time is a map of Paris. The Red Cross gave them to the victorious troops ,so they could get around. However, Paris was only on one side the other was a map of Britian and Ireland,printed in German !!!!!!   Somebody was planning ahead ......    LOL !!!!  Your story reminded me of this.

[finsrin]

Really sleeked up the fuselage.  Roundish tail of P-26  helps sleek look over square tail.  Would not thought of that.  I am learning from all BTS builds.
Think this is first BTS physical model featuring P-26  parts.
With map mistake and surprise spatted fighter it is an intricate story.  Be a movie someday 

[apophenia]

Yes, using the Peashooter tailplane was inspired.  :)   But, as always, it's the spats that really wins the war!

[Alvis 3.1]

Awesomely awesome, covered in awesome sauce, topped with awesome sprinkles! :)

As usual, spats rule!

Alvis 3.1