Britains Enemy Infantry

 

Tradgardmastare was asking for more info on this short lived range. These are photos of the 1959 page in the Great Book of Britians.

Outside exhibits

Another lot of photos taken at the Yorkshire Air Museum, this time photos of the outside exhibits.

Now I know that summer has arrived - test match cricket is on television - so it will probably take me an hour to write this blog whilst watching the game.

A late model Hawker Hunter

Blackburn Buccaneer

de Havilland Dove

Dassault Mirage III fighter

Dassault Mirage IV Strategic Bomber

French tail art

The Mirage IV. An object of great beauty.

Handley Page Victor bomber

A Trident

In the WIP area, another Hunter

Also in the WIP yard, another Buccaneer and a Javelin (?)

Follow Up

I have been asked about chap in red with the very large rifle. One of the photos I took was of the explanatory board and I have included it above.

On reflection, I half remembered that the combat aircraft we call "Fighters" are called "Hunters" in German, "Jagdflugzeug". So my explanation for the chap in red, looks to me like a cartoon version of a hunter. If anyone has another idea, I am open to persuasion.

Our first post lockdown trip

Sunday, 12th July.

Today we spent a few hours at the Yorkshire Air Museum. This is our first cultural and non-essential shopping trip out since mid-March.

The museum is at Elvington,  a few miles south of York and is based on a WW2 Bomber Command airfield. It still has some flying of private planes but no commercial flights. Also, part of the runways is used for time trials by a local motorcycle club and another part of the site is now a commercial and light industry business park.

During WW2, RAF Elvington was home to Bomber Command Handley Page Halifax bombers, flown by the RAF and Free French Air Force personnel.

I took a lot of photographs. Here are a few.

Hanley Page Halifax MkIII, FFI markings

Same Halifax MkIII but with RAF markings

A rather crowded corner of the hangar.

Early helicopters.

A Luftwaffe ME 109

A Tilly, a Humber I think.

A Commer RAF bus

A RAF Harrier.

I have lots more photos of the planes on display outside the hangars to list.

Middle East village

This is the final third of my collection, the Middle East village. It is a mix of Warbases town walls and buildings, which come "flat packed" MDF to be assembled and painted, and some resin buildings I bought on Ebay. The trees are from Monk Bar Model Shop in York, a shop that mostly specialises in model railways.

When I had laid the pieces on the tables, I realised I had some repainting and toning down to do. Some of the walls are too bright as are the bases on the palm trees I bought on line. I still want  to repaint the pinkish house with the dark green roof that I bought two years ago . I should just get on with that, I now have a can of sand coloured spray paint from Games Workshop, so no excuses.

Ottoman Forces

As opponents for the European Forces - when they are not fighting among themselves - the Ottoman forces.

When I had the two forces on the table I did a count. I have enjoyed painting these, mjuch more than the Europeans, which may be why I have about 30% more of the Ottomans.

Another accident, I knocked the flag from this Essex spahi's hand when I was setting up.

European Forces

Well, this lock down lark is wearing a bit thin now. No theatre, no cinemas, no restaurants or cafes or coffee shops, no catching the bus into York to do some shopping or bookshops, no cricket, no forts to visit, no long walks in the country, no U3A  Military History Group or Silent Film Group, no University Lifelong Learning classes. What is a chap to do?

I could spend some more time in painting and basing figures but first I decided to have a look at the collection. A couple of years have passed since I had all my figures on a table; here is the smaller half of them. These are the European forces, their opponents are a force of the Ottoman Empire. When I opened the boxes I found a couple of casualties; a grenadier's drum and a dragoon's pistol arm had fallen off. That arm is proving very difficult to reattach, so there is an empty saddle whilst I sort this.

Perhaps I should start with an explanation of my collecting. It is mostly old school figures, the kind I bought in the 1970's. It is 18th century, mostly 25mm & regular 28mm, maily lead but also some plastic. I am not trying to build a recognised army or period, I buy and paint what I like when I see them. At the start of my collecting, I bought a few lots of Garrison SYW Prussians on EBay and direct from Garrison, enough to paint a "Charge" sized regiment of three battalions, but I found that painting 60 figures all the same was boring. Since then I have painted in single battalions, batteries and squadrons.

This first photo is of the force laid out in two brigades of infantry with supporting artillery and cavalry.

Left Brigade, a battalion of grenadiers, 3 batts of line, a batt of light and supporting battery

Right brigade, 2 batts of line, 1 light, a unit of rangers, a battery of artillery

In front, 2 squadrons of dragoons and some hussars

In reserve, 2 squadrons of dragoons and mamelukes, 1.5 batts of grenadiers and 1 batt of veterans

The right flank is covered by a squad of jaegers with amusettes and the start of Dixon's Freikorp (in green)

Here is the man in command, General Navarre, with adc, Cptn Bougainville, and his staff and the baggage train

Looking at the photos, I realise first that I am missing flags for my battalions, plenty of flag bearers but not enough flags. Second, the right brigade has only one full strength battalion. That's two areas to work on.

Now to put all these figures back into their boxes and flood the table with the Ottoman army.