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Spiros Pendedekas
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Airfix 1/48 Spitfire Vb

April 18, 2023 · in Aviation · · 42 · 0.7K

RAF No.92 (formerly known as “East India”) is a Test and Evaluation Squadron based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire.

It was formed as part of the Royal Flying Corps at London Colney as a fighter unit on 1 September 1917 and deployed to France in July 1918, where it flew both air superiority and direct ground support missions. It was disbanded at Eil on 7 August 1919 and reformed on 10 October 1939, at Tangmere Airfield. Though supposed to be equipped with medium bombers, it instead became one of the first RAF units to receive Spitfires, going on to fight in the Battle of Britain.

In February 1942, the Squadron was posted to Egypt to join Air Headquarters Western Desert to support the Allies on the ground.

Upon the personnel's arrival there in April no aircraft were available, with some pilots flying operations with Hawker Hurricanes of 80 Squadron. Spitfires finally arrived in August and the unit commenced operations from RAF Heliopolis over the El Alamein sector, and then at Landing Ground 173 in the Western Desert.

Neville Frederick Duke, DSO, OBE, DFC & Two Bars, AFC, FRAeS (11 January 1922 – 7 April 2007) was a British test pilot and fighter ace of the Second World War, credited with the destruction of 27 enemy aircraft and acknowledged as one of the world's foremost test pilots.

In 1953, he became holder of the world air speed record when he flew a Hawker Hunter at 727.63 mph (1,171.01 km/h) over Littlehampton.

Duke was posted to 92 Squadron at Biggin Hill in April, flying Spitfire Mk Vs. When the unit was withdrawn for a rest in October 1941, Duke was posted to North Africa to fly with 112 Squadron on the Curtiss Tomahawk, which he found less agreeable than the Spitfire.

In November 1942, he rejoined the recently transferred to North Africa 92 Squadron, flying the tropicalized Spitfire Mk V. He became a Flight Commander in February 1943 and received a Distinguished Service Order in March. By the e nd of his second tour in June, Duke had amassed a further 14 victories to his total and was awarded a bar to his DFC.

For a more comprehensive history on Neville Duke and his accomplishments, you should look no further than our friend's Tom Cleaver @tcinla article on a beautifully built Eduard ER821 Neville Duke's Spitfire Vb:
https://modelingmadness.com/review/allies/cleaver/gb/spt2/vb.htm


This is the classic older tooling Airfix Spitifire Vb that has accompanied us for many years. Superseded by many newer offerings, let alone by the Airfix newer tooling itself, this elderly fellow is still decent kit of the iconic fighter that can produce a charming result.
The specific kit arrived at my door step as a surprise present from my friend John Biggelaar @johnb and was built through our friend's Colin Gomez @coling succesful "Desert Air War" GB.
Should you wish to read the full build review, you may do so by visiting my beloved site Modelingmadness:
https://modelingmadness.com/review/allies/gb/spits/pens5b.htm

Happy Modelling!

Reader reactions:
14  Awesome

42 responses

  1. Looks nice, Spiros, but only one picture?

  2. Nicely done Spiros @fiveten, I love the paint scheme. Great job!

  3. Looks great, Spiros. Another nice addition to the collection.

  4. Camouflaged paint job and decals look great, Spiros. Looks like a few fillers to fill some gaps, but nothing serious. Always enjoy the back story & history, love the team effort. 🙂 Nice job on a classic!

  5. Looks great, Spiros

  6. Very nice build with a great weathering job! That filter hurts the Spit's elegant shape but you did a great job with the beautiful desert scheme nonetheless, Spiros!

  7. Fine work Spiros.

  8. Charming result indeed, nice work Spiros!

  9. An excellent result out of this old kit, Spiros @fiveten
    I know you do like those old kits and when I found this one at a hobbystore I directly thought about sending it to you.
    Great article about Duke and 92 squadron as well.

  10. Very nice desert Spit! Looks great!

  11. Nice work on this, Spiros. Excellent result on a real oldie. I used mine as a paint mule when the Tamiya kit came out way back when.

  12. Great work on this ancient kit and a super result, @fiveten.

  13. Spiros,

    You got a lock on making Tan and Brown work. Both your Hurricane and Spitfire have been magnificent.

    Smashed the like button.

  14. Hi Spiros, it takes a lot of courage and craftsmanship to come to such a fabulous result with an old kit like this one!
    Love the camo.

  15. Again, thumbs up Spiros @fiveten. Your superb North African camo knocks me out every time I revisit your build.

  16. Nice work on this oldie Spiros!

  17. Great job, Spiros! Really like your solution to hold the prop shaft in place on these older kits. Remember building the Hurricane and Bf109F from this series of Airfix kits.

  18. G’day Spiros @fiveten, I’m a bit late to the party but I’d like to add my compliments to those above. Super result from an old kit! I love the desert camouflage. Congratulations on another beauty.

  19. 🙂 … Greetings … 🙂 :
    A very keen and clean work Spiros, this model as well as the camouflage work is so sharp looking. Thanks for sharing these images.

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