1/48 Tamiya Brewster B-339 Buffaloes

Models by Darren Colin Goh and Mike Yeo 

Text and photos by Mike Yeo

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These are a pair of Brewster B-339 Buffaloes that we've built to commemorate the anniversary of the Fall of Singapore in 1942. Both aircraft belonged to squadrons that unsuccessfully defended Singapore against the Japanese onslaught in the opening months of the Pacific War. Kit used in the newly reboxed Tamiya kit 61094 which contains parts to build a USN F2A-2 as well as a Commonwealth or Dutch B-339.

Conventional wisdom has it that the Buffaloes were a total failure as a fighter, and results of it's actions over Malaya/Singapore, the Dutch East Indies and Midway (at the hands of the USMC) would seem to bear this out. However, researchers delving a little deeper into the issue now seem to think that while the Buffalo had it's share of faults (underpowered, unsuitable engines for the Commonwealth aircraft, poor fire control system), the performance of the Buffalo in battle also had a lot to do with the lack of training and poor tactics used by the inexperienced (but brave) Allied pilots, which negated whatever little advantage the Buffalo had against it's lighter and more nimble opponents. Coupled with the lack of a proper strategy and overall resources by the High Command (over Malaya and Singapore) as well as the quality of the Japanese opposition at the time, there was only going to be one result.

Click on images below to see larger images

The models represent 2 different Buffaloes based at Kallang Airfield in Singapore during the period from December 1941 - Jan/Feb 1942. Darren built the 243 Sqn RAF aircraft using the kit and Aeromaster decals, while I built the Netherlands East Indies aircraft using kit decals. Both aircraft were painted using Gunze and Tamiya paints, the RAF aircraft painted in Dark Earth/Dark Green with Sky Grey/Black undersides while the Dutch aircraft was painted in Olive Drab FS34087 and Green FS 34092 with Silver undersides to represent the Dutch camouflage for the period.

For more information regarding the use of the Buffalo, the air battles over Singapore, and the Dutch East Indies, or just information about the Brewster Buffalo, I can highly recommend the following resources below, they were extremely useful while we were gathering info for this particular build!

- http://p196.ezboard.com/fwarbirdsforumfrm4 - The Warbird's Forum on the Brewster Buffalo. A lot of people who are very knowledgeable on the Buffalo!

- Buffaloes over Singapore by Brian Cull with Paul Sortehaug & Mark Haselden, Grub Street Books, London (2003)

- Bloody Shambles Volume I & II by Christopher Shores, Brian Cull & Yasuho Izawa, Grub Street Books, London (1993)

Mike

Photos and text © by Darren Colin Goh and Mike Yeo