“The chosen paint scheme for the aircraft is to be that of a VVS Yak-11 which was prepared for a postwar Communist Parade in Russia in the late-‘40’s by students at a technical school. This represents White ‘52’, the scheme of a WWII VVS Yak fighter.”

When you say “prepared for a Communist Parade” do you mean that a Yak in this scheme has actually flown over the Red Square on a Communist holiday parade (1st of May or 7th of November), or that it was merely intended to be towed behind a lorry in a small Siberian town to mark the start of a new school year (but eventually wasn’t when the lorry broke down)?

I appear to be seeing two spinner lengths for the two stage Merlins, one of which is nearer 25″ and the other at 28.5″ (including tip plug).

IIRC there were two (more?) different designs of two-stage Merlin Spitfire spinners. But I have always thought they were of the same proportion: base dia. equal to length

I can’t think of a better story that has never been filmed than ‘Boldness Be My Friend’, the story of Richard Pape.

‘Story’ may be an appropriate word in this case:

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=68113

So perhaps the story of his(?) Polish companion on one of the escapes? He was a real character, Mieczyslaw Borodej, a Wellington pilot downed (IIRC) in 1941. Following unsuccessfull attempt(s) to escape back to Britain he eventually changed directions and finally escaped to his home city of Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine), German-occupied, where he joined the underground resistance movement. By 1944 he had become the head of the local military technology espionage network reporting to the London-based Polish government in exile. In the summer 1944 he was involved in the Lwów uprising – a successful attempt of the Polish resistance to attack the Germans on the eve of the Soviet attempt to capture the city. As soon as Lwów was smoothly freed from German hands the Polish efforts were “recognized” by the Soviets who arrested Polish underground servicemen and deported them to Siberia. Borodej did not return to Poland until mid-1950s, by which time he was a badly crippled human wreck.

What about something to do with the Allied missions to support the Warsaw Uprising? I see plenty of scope for action on the ground as well as in the air.

Paul

LOVE this idea. The RAF crews were largely Polish. Could make for some nice personal stories..

Well, to be precise, the RAF crews were Commonwealth, Polish crews flew in an all-Polish unit, and there was a major contribution (and sacrifice) of SAAF units/crews. Plus there was the ‘Frantic’ operation by 8th AF B-17s. And there was an RAF ex-PoW escaper in the city itself, brodcasting news in English on the free Polish radio.
Certainly this would give opportunity for some exciting flying scenes with the heavies. There are accounts, for example, of a Halifax and a Liberator approaching the same drop zone (a square in the centre of Warsaw) from opposing sides and the crews seeing each other on the very last moment, resulting in very violent and steep turns to avoid collision – and that on rooftop level over the blazing city in the middle of the night…

This cockpit section is a very impressive piece. Only the external use of wire rather solid rivets giving the game away that this is not the genuine article. Clearly there is much original material here.

Mark

Just one quid per ‘MEW’?

The script is certainly Cyrillic, but the language doesn’t seem Russian. Ukrainian? Serbian?

If I read it correctly (not guaranteed!) the first line reads
“Dear ….”
I can’t decipher the name, and I can’t decipher the next two lines
Then the fourth line is probably
“I wish you happy holidays”
and the last line seems to say
“I am(?) marked with ink”
Is any of the men in the photo really marked?

By comparison with a certain book about a certain famous British ace written by a certain poster here: has anyone checked Messerschmitt 109s lost that day?

Three funny postscripts.
1) Of course the story is illustrated with a picture from “Battle of Britain” the film showing a “Polish” Hurricane. No Polish pilots were sent from Britain to the USSR, although about two squadronfuls of Hurricanes went straight from Polish units to Russia in such a hurry that some of them still sported Polish markings when used by the Soviets (there is a well-publicised shot of a Hurricane used in a Soviet Air Force training establishment in full 302 Sqn markings).
2) ‘Wag’ Haw was subsequently commissioned and made it to become No. 129 Sqn OC just in time to join No. 133 (Polish) Wing with it and was nearly murdered by a Polish pilot with some gulag background when the latter saw the Soviet decoration on Haw’s chest.
3) No. 81 Sqn adopted the red star as the main part of its badge. It was then resurrected in the Far East as a PR unit flying against the communists in Malaya while displaying proudly the red star motif on its Spitfire 19s.