1:72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.V of Czechoslovak pilots in RAF squadrons

Czechoslovak airmen with British squadrons

The nine schemes on this sheet are linked by one theme: pilots from Czechoslovakia who did not fly with the home squadrons but were spread among British units. You will find AD307 of F/Sgt B. Netopil from No.19 Sqn, a pair of machines of No.65 Sqn – W3966 of F/Sgt J. Plasil and AR435 of F/Sgt F. Loucky – and BM378 of F/L J. Manak from No.81 Sqn.

The 19th, the 111th and the 122nd

With No.111 Sqn the machines W3310 of F/Sgt O. Hruby and R7192 of P/O J. Prihoda are captured. The trio from No.122 Sqn consists of BM210 of S/L F. Fajtl, BL390 of F/L T. Kruml and BM252 of P/O O. Smik. Fajtl later became famous for his escape from occupied France and for commanding No. 313 Squadron, and Smik was among the most successful Slovak fighter pilots. All the subjects are the Mk.VB version, that is the machine with the Merlin 45 engine and the type B wing.

How this sheet fits with its sister sheet

The sister sheet from the same publisher covers, by contrast, the machines of the Czechoslovak squadrons numbers 310, 312 and 313 and does not overlap with this sheet in a single aircraft. Anyone building a series of Spitfires on a Czech theme needs both. The print is applied by the wet method, ideally over a gloss intermediate coat.

With this theme the personal stories behind the individual machines make up half the value. A number of the airmen listed here reached Britain by way of Poland and France, some returned home only after the war and others never did. The choice of a particular fuselage code thus links the finished model with a particular fate, not merely with a type.