1:72 PZL P-11c

A gull wing over Poland

The fighter whose shape came out of the Polish design school of the turn of the nineteen-twenties and thirties was a world novelty in its day. The high gull wing of the so-called Polish type was thinned at the root so that the pilot could see forward and upward without obstruction, which was not usual on high-wing aircraft of the time. By September 1939, however, the Bristol Mercury radial engine was no longer enough against modern German fighters, and the machine became a symbol of bravery rather than an equal opponent.

The sheet offers seven particular machines: the white 10 of the 161st Fighter Escadrille of 1939, the white 4 of Lieutenant Jan Dzwonek of the same unit, the white 11 of the 131st Escadrille, the white 8 of the 113th Escadrille, the white 65 of the 142nd Escadrille, the white 1 of the 112th Escadrille and the white 9 of the 132nd Escadrille. All carry the standard Polish combination of khaki above and light blue below.

Before you reach for water

• Choose one machine and separate its national checkerboards from the rest only at the moment of laying them on.
• The checkerboards on the wing sit on a pronounced bend, and there you cannot do without a softener.
• Line the tactical numbers up with the axis of the fuselage, not with a random panel line.
• Keep the rest of the sheet; the machines left over will come in useful on a second kit.

The package consists of a printed sheet. You get the airframe separately.

It is also worth noting how briefly these machines flew in their best known role. The fighting in which most of the photographs usable by modelers were taken lasted barely five weeks. That makes it all the more valuable that the sheet offers particular numbers and units and does not force you to settle for a generic checkerboard. If you are looking for documentation, search by escadrille number, because photographs tend to be arranged that way.