Gloster Gladiator Mk.I - Roald Dahl - K7911 Egypt 1940 - 1/72
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Alex KNice tribute! 👍 👍 P.S.: ... and a nice pair together with Dahl's Hurricane V7826!
Steve Desarzensit looks really cool ! Love this little aircraft with this scheme 🙂
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Some time ago I was approached by a member of the modeling club to which I belong about making some models for an upcoming display in the Boeing Museum of Flight here in Seattle. For the upcoming quarterly display he was curating a collection of models of Aces, particularly lesser or little known aces. Given the option of doing something esoteric, I chose as my subject an individual who was quite famous, but not for being an ace. I chose to do two models representing the mounts of author Roald Dahl, the Hurricane that he scored five victories in, and the Gladiator that he cut his teeth on.
While on an oil exploration trip to East Africa under the employment of the Royal Dutch Shell Company, Roald Dahl joined the RAF. After completing his flight training, he was assigned to the RAF's 80 Squadron flying Gloster Gladiators in North Africa. On one fateful mission Dahl and his wingman were ferrying two aircraft, fresh out of overhaul to a forward base. The mission was undertaken at night and the desert airfield lights were never illuminated as promised. Dahl, flying Gladiator K7911, and his wingman flew right past. Low on fuel, the pair decided to put their aircraft down in the Sahara to await morning light. Unfortunately for Dahl, an unseen rock lay in his landing path and upon striking it, K7911 flipped over onto its top, severely injuring its pilot before bursting into flames. While convalescing after the crash, Dahl's unit transferred to Greece where they re-equipped with new Hawker Hurricanes. Finally cleared for fight, Dahl claimed six victories as he participated in the Greek and Eastern Mediterranean campaigns and the British incursion into (Vichy) French held Syria. While only four kills were counted by the RAF at the time, post war research confirmed five of Dahl's claims, cementing his status as a fighter ace.
Dahl would eventually be grounded by medical problems related to the earlier Gladiator crash, and would spend the remainder of the war as a diplomat and spy. Of course, after the war the man famously un-fond of kids became one of the most prolific and provocative authors of children's literature.
My model is Airfix's recent Gladiator Mk.1 kit in 1/72 scale. It was completed with the addition of an Eduard PE set and rigging was done with AK's super fine rigging line. As no pictures of K7911 exist from its brief time between being released from the 102 MU at Abu Sueir and its flight to 80 Sqn, I took the liberty of paining it in the period appropriate shadow compensating scheme found on some Gladiators in 1940. I had planned on using a set of masks that I had ordered for the project but when they still hadn't shown in the post, with days to go before the museum installation deadline, I ended up free-handing the paint scheme. Paints are all fro the AK real-color range. I ended up finishing the last of the rigging mere minutes before I had to jump in the car and drive to the museum for its inclusion in the display along side Dahl's Hurricane which I'd built in the preceding weeks.
