Airfix 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant

With construction virtually complete except for small details focus shifts to painting...

Picture 1: I used Humbrol spray primer for this, the first time I've strayed from Halfords. A very nice finish so I was impressed with it.


Picture 2: The build paused for a while as I had run out of Humbrol 90 Sky. Ordered some and as soon as it had arrived, sprayed the defiant along with three Airfix Hurricanes (another BoB project).


Pictures 3 and 4: I realised I'd run out of spray cans and didn't want to wait for another delivery so I used a hairy stick to get two coats of Tamiya XF-52 Flat Earth on.




Pictures 5 and 6: Once cured for a couple of days, I masked with BluTac and two light coats of Humbrol Dark Green were sprayed on




Pictures 7 and 8: Masking removed and very pleased with the results.




More tomorrow.
Andy

Looking good in colour . Maybe, just maybe, I might crack mine open shortly

Andy, a very sharp looking Defiant thus far!

Lovely work!!!

Lovely painting Andy

No.141 Squadron, had arrived at West Malling on 12 July 1940. One week later, at 1230hrs on the 19th, twelve Defiants were ordered to patrol 20 miles south of Folkestone off Cap Gris Nez on the French coast at a height of 5,000 ft. Three machines were left behind due to mechanical trouble therefore only nine carried out the patrol. Flying in sections of three in line astern they went to their patrol line.


There was no warning from control when, a quarter of an hour later, at 1245hrs, they were bounced by a swarm of over twenty Bf109s from III/JG 51 (based at Saint-Inglevert but operating from Les Melettes near Guines).

III/JG 51 was commanded by Hauptmann Hannes Trautloft who spotted the Defiants far below flying in tight formation. They were identified correctly by R/T as Defiants and therefore ‘easy meat’. The Messerschmitts moved in efficiently out of the sun for the kill, attacking from below and astern, where they were at no risk from the gun turrets, knowing that they could not be brought to bear on them.

Trautloft recalls 'I aimed at the right Defiant......my guns fired... pieces of the Defiant broke off and came hurtling towards me…I saw a thin trail of smoke, then suddenly just this fiery ball'.


Plt Off Loudon gave warning and the squadron broke to port and turned to deliver a beam attack, their most effective attack position. Two Defiants were seen to immediately dive vertically into the sea. Realising what was happening the squadron whipped into steep left and right turns giving their gunners split-second chances to get their sights on the 109s. Sgt. Powell was the first to send one down in flames. Two other Defiants were shot down in this first attack. The gunners, clamped in their claustrophobic turrets, went down with their aeroplanes.

One pilot, Plt Off Gard’ner in L7016, and one gunner, P/O Farnes in L7001, baled out and were picked up by rescue craft. P/O Gard’ner was wounded and taken to hospital at Canterbury. P/O Farnes was uninjured. A cannon shell smashed into the engine of P/O MacDougall’s Defiant, L6983. White glycol mingled with black smoke in a long plume as it spun down towards the Channel. MacDougall ordered his gunner, Sgt. Wise, to jump and was about to follow when the engine picked up. He circled twice over the water, watching Wise swim strongly towards the coast of France. He was never seen alive again and his body was not recovered.

In L7001 P/O (later Flt Lt) Loudon was caught in the cross fire of two Me109s. His gunner, P/O Farnes, got in three bursts before he baled out. P/O Loudon struggled home with his Defiant ablaze and crashed in Hawkinge village. In hospital five bullets were removed from his arm. P/O Farnes was picked up from the sea. The remaining Defiants dived for the cloud, but Defiant L7015 was caught. Sgt. F Peter Atkins bailed out. P/O Rudal Kidson was killed, his body was never recovered.

Three Defiants L6999, L7014 and L6983 made it back, two of them damaged, one beyond repair. Only one, L7014, badly shot up, landed back at the home base West Malling.

Altogether, in the space of a quarter of an hour, six machines had been destroyed and ten men killed. The losses would have been even greater if Hurricanes from 111 Squadron had not arrived to scare the Messerschmitts off. 111 Squadron reported that four Me109s were shot down, ultimately all four confirmed. Two days later what was left of the Defiant Squadron was sent back to Prestwick, Scotland.


The subject of this model, L7009 was flown by Flt Lt DG Donald with P/O AC Hamilton as his Gunner. Donald kept the aircraft aloft to allow Hamilton to bale out, but was killed when the aircraft crashed at Elms Vale Road, Dover. Hamilton sadly drowned.


At the going down of the sun, and in the morning... We will remember them.

Thanks Sniper,

Brave chaps indeed.

Lest we forget...

Andy, the Defiant really looks amazing and thanks for sharing the historical background of this crew and airframe. I really enjoy reading the history behind these missions and machines.

Thanks very much Ian. I find it fascinating and sad at the same time. Last years Battle of Britain commemorative blog on Fb was a sobering thing to produce.

Andy