In post
WWII Belgium, as in many other countries, priority was given to economic
recovery, and colonies that had been little affected by the war were seen as
sources of easy income from agriculture and natural resources. The Belgian Congo
was a vast area of the central African continent that held much promise, and
securing it was seen as a precursor to exploitation. There had often been
rumblings of discontent among the populace, and they saw their position as one
of leverage, rather than as servants to a colonial power.
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Belgium was keen to
re-arm after the war, and aircraft were procured from various sources. Britain
was the obvious first choice, as it was very close, the industry was still up
and running, and it was in the forefront of technology. Along with Gloster
Meteors, it was decided to purchase the Supermarine Attacker (re-named Corbeau =
Raven), a rugged aircraft that, it was thought, could operate from unprepared
forward airstrips. It was slightly de-navalised, with the arrestor hook being
removed. When it came to painting, the Supermarine shop was in a bit of a
quandary, because all previous Attackers were in naval camouflage. But an
enterprising young man discovered the paint plans for early model Spitfires in a
back room, and it was decided that they would be finished in the earlier
standard green and brown on top, and Sky type ‘S’ on the underside. These
were the first ones sent to the Congo, but trials showed the similar weaknesses
that had caused the RAF to spurn the type. The tailwheel was an obvious problem,
causing deep ruts to develop in dirt fields, along with the occasional grass
fire.
Despite these issues
the aircraft was generally well liked by the pilots and ground crews, and they
served for a number of years until better replacements came along. Their lack of
air to ground armament was a bit of a head-scratcher for many, as any potential
revolutionaries were unlikely to obtain aircraft of their own, and would limit
the Attacker’s usefulness to little more than patrols, with occasional
strafing. The type was investigated for possible conversion to
photo-reconnaissance, but this was deemed to be too much trouble, and they
withdrawn from service in 1955 when the Republic RF-84F Thunderflash was
acquired for that role.
This was the
Frog/Novo model, and shows the typical short-comings of Soviet era plastic. The
canopy is thick and streaky, and the plastic is rather brittle. Despite this, it
seems an easy build, and I would do one again. It was purchased from a show,
partly built, and for a couple of bucks it was worth every penny (but not a
penny more!). the previous owner had carved out the main landing gear bays,
saving me a bit of time. I removed the solid cockpit, and scratched a minimal
interior, not much can be seen through what masquerades as a canopy. The
molded-on tailhook was removed, it would have been too much work to construct an
acceptable one. The kit’s tailwheel is a single unit, rather than the double
wheel of the actual aircraft, so that was scratch built. Rather than construct a
tiny little well for it, I just painted that area in interior green, looks okay
from a distance. Even better if you don’t look at all. The main wheel inner
doors, and the tailwheel doors, were replaced with plastic sheet. If scaled up,
the kit parts would be about a foot thick. The nose aerials were also a bit of
scrap and some stretched sprue. Paints were mostly brushed Model Master enamels,
and didn’t go on very well, not impressed with them at all. The decals came
from a Hobbycraft CF-100.
Dave
Bailey
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