Greetings!
In January 1942, Sonderkommando Blaich under the command of Hauptmann Theo Blaich, conducted a daring long range raid against the Free French forces at Lake Chad. The raid was a success, but on the return flight the HE-111 ran out of fuel and was forced to make an emergency landing deep in the desert. Several days later, an Italian search plane located the stranded HE-111 and a JU-52 flew in with supplies and fuel. The stranded aircraft was subsequently refueled and returned to base.
Although the actual aircraft used in the raid was a HE111, I wanted to twist history a bit and depict the aircraft in the Lake Chad raid as a HE-177.
Starting with the ancient Airfix kit I added Falcon vacuum formed canopies, a Hasegawa Kubelwagen, various decals from the spares bin (including the Sonderkommando Blaich unit badge), figures from Preiser and a desert landscape made from a textured ceiling light panel. The figures were posed to depict the crew gathered for a group photo in front of their aircraft.
I had great fun with this build and while it is not historically accurate, I am pleased with the result. No attempt was made to remedy the faults with the Airfix kit except for the vacuum formed canopies and some details added to the cockpit. Almost all of the raised surface details was left in place.
Many thanks for having a look, questions and comments always welcome!
Cheers,Bill
IMAGES POSTED BELOW!
