Historical Background
The Hawker Hurricane had made its
name as the the workhorse of RAF's Fighter Command in the skies of Battle of
Britain during 1940. The first of these fighters were provided to the IAF in
1942, No.1 Squadron, 'Flying Tigers', being the first unit earmarked to be so
equipped with the aircraft.
No.2 Squadron followed soon after
in September 1942 and No.6 was raised on this aircraft. All the three units went
into action in Burma in 1943 and stayed on till the end of 1944. The Hurricanes
earned the sobriquet "The eyes of the XIVth Army" while performing
recon missions.
On 3rd February 1944, after
converting to the Hurricane from Lysanders in Burma, it went back to Imphal for
operations against the Japanese under the Command of Sqn Ldr Arjan Singh. 1 Sqn
was tasked to carry out recon missions to gauge Japanese intentions. They
carried out 60 sorties in Feb 44 reconnoitering the upper Chindwin area right up to
the Mytkyina - Mandalay rail-road. These aerial recons discovered enemy army
concentrations and river crossing equipment, thus giving away Japanese ground
offensive plans. The vital information provided by these missions was later to
change the whole course of the war.
During the battle for Imphal, The
Tigers were tasked to provide close air support to the 17th Indian division. The
squadron provided the much needed close air support and helped the Allied forces
to finally break through on 14 Mar 44. In the meanwhile No.1 Squadron continued
to launch Counter Air missions to thwart the Japanese advance.
The battle continued through the
difficult monsoon months of May and June 1944 in spite of which the Squadron
flew 950 hours providing valuable offensive support for the hard pressed 17th
Indian Division and also for the 2nd division fighting its way from Kohima to
open the road to Imphal. On 22 Jun 1944 the Japanese siege of Imphal was finally
lifted. The Japanese defeat was turned into a rout with the Squadron aircraft
pursuing them relentlessly through the jungles of Burma in Jul 44. Destroyed
tanks, bombed transport columns, smashed guns and charred vehicles littered the
road to Chindwin. The defeat at Imphal has been chronicled as the worst suffered
on land in Japanese history. By Mar 45 the Squadron had been in Burma Ops
continuously for 14 months, the longest for any squadron, during which it had
flown 4813 sorties totalling 7219 hrs.
For his tireless bravery,
dedication, valor and unflagging enthusiasm Sqn Ldr Arjan Singh was decorated
with the DFC on the field personally by Lord Mountbatten. Five more officers
were awarded the coveted DFC. They were Flt Lt R Rajaram, Fg Offr A R Pandit, Fg
Offr P S Gupta, Fg Offr B R Rao and Fg Offr Khemendra Nath Kak. However, at
least fourteen Officers lost their lives in operational losses or accidents,
including Fg Offr P S Gupta and Fg Offr Khem Nath Kak, both DFCs.
(Information Source : The
Bharat Rakshak Site)
The plane modelled here, KZ 352,
A-o-A contains a personalized logo of a elephant in red on both the fuselage
sides. I don't know the name of the pilot who flew this craft. The colors can be
questioned, since for the SEAC sector, the camo reportedly consisted of Dark
Green over Dark Earth, with Medium Sea Grey undersides. However, the Aeromaster
decal site shows this plane with Dark Green over Ocean Grey, with Medium Sea
Grey undersides. I went ahead with this anyway.
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Making the Model
I have already covered the 1/72
Academy Hurricane in one of my earlier submissions, so I won't be boring you
with the gory details again. The plane went together effortlessly. The camo was
painted freehand, after drawing the outlines lightly with a pencil.
I faced only one problem: that of
decals. I had planned to get decals printed on decal paper after drawing up all
the necessary items. However, I did not find any DTP center here willing to take
a risk with my laser printer paper, so I had to paint on the graphics by hand.
The KZ 352 on the fuselage was printed out on clear decal paper on a HP
LaserJet. Only the A-A on the fuselage was cut out of white decal paper, the
rest were all painted on by hand, including the elephants and rondels on the
wings. I did mess up on one of the small 'S'es on the fuselage (port side, see
close up below), but had to grin and bear it. The white bars on the
wings(18" wide on the real thingy) were spray painted on after masking.
I finished off the model by
giving it a dark wash of a mixture of black acrylic paint and blue fountain pen
ink, mixed with water. This really brought out the panel lines. The guns were
drilled through to a small depth using a pin vise, and lightly drybrushed with
Silver. The antenna wires were fashioned out of stretched sprue, and a final
coat of Matte acrylic medium gave it the final matte look. I did not weather the
plane anymore, since it seems that the mechanics of the RIAF went to
extraordinary lengths to keep their planes clean!
Shekar
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