Back In Black

摘要

The Liberator has long been a favourite of mine and I was very pleased indeed when the opportunity came along to build this new kit from Hasegawa. The boxing used here was the one labelled 'The Dragon and his Tail', as I had built this particular aircraft many years ago, I looked for something a little different. Searching through references and old decal sheets, I found a 'Kits at War' decal sheet, which included an overall black machine from 223 Squadron RAF, which operated as part of 100 Group in the bomber support role. Also, tucked away in the pile of 'stuff' us modellers tend to have lying about, was a Paragon resin/photoetched conversion set which enabled both a B-24 and a B-17 of 100 Group to be built. The main reference for this project was Martin Streetley's excellent book 'The Aircraft of 100 Group'. For those with an interest in history, 223 Squadron had originally been a Baltimore squadron based in Italy. When this unit became 30 Squadron SAAF, 223 was reformed at RAF Oulton in Norfolk, UK on the 23rd of August 1944 and became a specialist bomber support outfit. Initially the Liberator operated under the code name 'Big Ben', using Jostle, a high-powered VHF communications jammer, to counter V2 rocket attacks on the UK. By the end of October 1944 the danger from the V2s seemed to have passed and from then until the end of the war the aircraft became part of the Special Window Force, using jammers to counter German ground radar and window (thin aluminium strips of various lengths) to create 'spoof' raids either to lead German defences away from real raids or simply to keep them on their toes, thereby increasing pressure on the Luftwaffe's diminishing resources.