A Black Hurricane

[Robomog]

Hi all

Whilst the Tiger Moth was being built, I needed a side project to do while the paint/glue was drying.

I'm sure a lot of you have seen the old Jimmy Cagney film  "Captains of the Clouds"  not a bad film for its year, but the biggest howler in my eyes is when  "German" Hawker Hurricane masquerading as a Me 109 turns up in the middle of the Atlantic to attack a flight of Lockheed Hudsons. It flashes on screen and despite the markings it screams Hurricane!.  How it got out there without drop tanks is another ball game 

So here is my interpretation of the German Hurricane.

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

This is the older second generation Airfix Hurricane and it went together pretty well only requiring a minimum of filler. I did try to brush paint it but one hot day in July I almost wrecked it because the paint was drying too fast, in the end I used a rattle can and it came out pretty well.

Anyway all comments and criticisms gratefully accepted.

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Frank3k]

That looks great! If you squint at it from a distance, it looks like a (distant) cousin of a He-100. Of course, the question of how it got to the mid-Atlantic remains...

[apophenia]

Perfect! It just needs the hugely-oversized swastikas applied to the tails of No 1 Sqn's Hurricane 

"And that was the end of shooting Captains of the Cloud. But there was one more incident, which we heard about after landing at Dartmouth. [Hurri-schmitt pilot F/O 'Dal' Russel] apparently felt so good about shooting me down that, before he landed at Dartmouth, he flew very low up Barrington Street, the main artery of Halifax. He almost started a panic among the citizens. They couldn't believe their eyes when they saw black crosses flying right over their rooftops!

https://flyingforyourlife.com/misc/cotc/

[Old Wombat]

 

[Robomog]

Thanks guys

Apophenia you've done it again, gone down the same  research path that I did 

It's curious that the pilot mentions it had swastikas  but looking at the film grabs I can't see any. In the end I left them off Working on the premise that if a photo turns up with them on I can add them later, I have plenty of spares.

Mog
>^-.-^<

[apophenia]

Attached: Captain of the Clouds 'Hurri-schmitt'. Thestills are of lousy quality but they hint at the placement and size of the fake Nazi tail markings ('Hollywood Hakenkreuz?). And that swastika is a honker! Maybe source appropriately-sized decals from an old Bf 110 or Me 410 sheet? Or Stuka?

All this has me nerding out over that 'Hurri-schmitt'. There's a bunch of confusion over the ID of that aircraft. Pilot Dal Russel is listed as being with No.1 (F) Squadron from 28 May 1940 to 26 Feb 1941. Shortly after joining No.1, the squadron relocated from Dartmouth for Middle Wallop (the unit arrived in June 1940 but wouldn't be renumbered as the more familiar No.401 RCAF until March 1941).

Obviously Dal Russel had returned to Canada after sometime February 1941 but the Hurricane certainly didn't belong to No.1 (F). Filming didn't begin until mid-July 1941 so the timing is okay. [1] He's identified as F/O Russel ... if that rank is accurate, the 'Hurri-schmitt' scenes had to be shot prior to Dal's promotion to F/L (01 Aug 1941). So, the pilot name is correct but that doesn't help us with the source of his 'Hurri-schmitt'.

There is online speculation that the 'Hurri-schmitt' was a Sea Hurricane from 118 (F) Squadron. Despite being a Kittyhawk squadron, 118 (F) did actually operate a few Sea Hurricanes. But the RCAF's first Sea Hurricanes had those short, blunt spinner for de Havilland props. The 'Hurri-schmitt' clearly had a long spinner. I'm wondering if this was an MSFU Hurricanes ... ie: a 'hookless' Sea Hurricane for CAM Ships? [2] Some of those did get diverted to the RCAF.

Some other online speculation is that this was a Yarmouth- or Debert-based Hurricanes. Nope. The latter might be confusion with the film's 'Hurri-schmitt' targets - Debert being home to 31 OTU on Hudsons. Yarmouth only had a handful of later Hurricane XIIs to provide 'targets' for training TAGs but those probably didn't arrive until 1943. A further speculation is that the 'Hurri-schmitt' might have been painted dark blue or grey. Again, nope. It was all-over black ... just as you've got her   

Okay, nerd-mode off ...
___________________________________________

[1] Some sources show S/L Russel being repatriated to Canada in 1942. That was probably based on his having become C/O of  No. 14 Sqn, a Kittyhawk unit based at Sea Island, BC. But that source's credibility suffers in saying Dal became C/O in "summer 1942". In fact, Russel took command at Rockcliffe on 02 Jan 1942 (No.14 just didn't become fully operational in BC until June, which is likely where that "summer" came from).

[2] The first CCF-built Hurricane Xs were completed in June 1941 but, AFAIK, all of those earliest Mk.Xs were shipped engineless to the UK ... becoming RAF Mk.IIs when locally fitted with Merlin XXs.

[Robomog]

Wow ! My inner nerd is in awe of your mad nerd skillz 

Seriously thanks for the background stuff and especially the pics I will be reaching for my decal box's as soon as I have finished typing this.

My what big swastica's  you have................

Thanks again

Mog
>^-.-^<

[apophenia]

Cheers Mog!  When it comes to poking fun at Nazis and their symbols, ... Go Big or Go Home! 

[Robomog]

....... and on the subject of big swastica's

Here is the finished kit................again

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr


Thanks for looking

Mog
>^-.-^<

[apophenia]

....... and on the subject of big swastica's

Perfect    Where did you source those big 'uns from Mog?

[Robomog]

They are  from an Extradecal  sheet  of assorted swastica's luckily  i found a size that was a perfect fit   

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Old Wombat]

Very good!

[Robomog]

Thanks OW 

Mog
>^-.-^<