1/48 Blue Max Sopwith Camel

of the Bolshevik War of 1920 

by Artur Golebiewski

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  Poland Independence Day 2005  

 

The kit is an old Blue Max limited run one. It was actually made about 5 years ago when the Eduard kit was not available yet. Those who know me from other forums know that I am known as the "serial modeler" for my passion of doing several models of the same aircraft in the same scale at the same time, just showing different markings or slightly different versions. In the case of the Camel I simply had no option to make more then one, since the whole Polish Air Force only operated this one, well known and documented copy of the British fighter.

     First, however the model. It was a Blue Max, limited edition short run. The fit of the parts was not the best, lots of sanding and patching had to be endured. The struts in the original kit were promptly thrown out and new ones were fashioned out of plastic. They were then decaled in Tauro Models wood grain decals to give the impression of a natural wood finish. One of the more laborious efforts, unfortunately not pictured here, was my imitation of the wicker pilot's seat. It was made of a fine skeleton of wire and simple sewing thread wound around the structure and then painted. The seat itself took one whole evening! The Blue Max kit comes with land and naval wing types for the Camel but the one used by the Polish Air Force had a non-standard, huge, cut-out in the top wing above the pilot's seat. That I had to do by carefully filing and cutting it out.

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Now a little bit about the history of the kit. It had an unusual origin as it was a personal plane of Kenneth M. Murray. One of the American Volunteers, who fought beside the newly born nation against the Bloshevik hordes in the 1920 war. Kenneth not only joined the AVG Poland, but also brought his own personal plane, which was shipped to Gdansk, and then moved by rail to Lwow, where the AVG was stationed during 1920. It was assembled and painted to match the rest of the 7 Squadron machines but it is doubtful whether it saw any actual action or combat. After the Bolsheviks were defeated and the AVG returned to America the plane was left behind as a gift to the Polish Air Force. Kenneth Murray wrote an excellent book about his experiences and those of the AVG titled "Wings over Poland", which was my inspiration to build the plane in the first place.

The plane also had an infamous ending. In 1921 it had the honor of being crashed and written off during a test flight undertaken by the future chief of the Polish Air Force, General Ludomil Rayski. Ludomil is probably one of the most fascinating characters to have flown planes with the Polish Checkerboard. He started his career in the Turkish Air Force flying AEG's over the Aegian and the Bosforus. He then fought in the Bolshevik war alongside the Americans in 1920, and then quickly rose through the ranks to achieve the status of Chief of the Air Force in the 30's. He resigned in protes in 1939, when he saw that the development of the air force was leaving Poland dangerously vulnerable to attack by the superior Luftwaffe. This still did not stop the authorities for scapegoating Rayski for the lost campaign and demoting the General and literally throwing him out of the airforce. This did not bother him much and he used his influence with the RAF to be allowed to fly as a simple sargeant pilot. The fifty year old General during the wars first flew ferry routes across Africa and the Middle East, then he flew reconnaissance fighters in Northern Italy and even took part in the suicidal supply missions flown from Italy to supply the insurgents of the Warsaw Uprising in August and September of 1944.

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This kit as all my other models has been inspired by the people that flew it and the interesting times it was associated with. Its markings in the Bolshevik war and its famous Kosciuszko badge make it a perfect subject for the November 11 Polish Independance Day Gallery.

Artur

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Photos and text © by Artur Golebiewski