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Sorry, late to the show. This GB is long enough that I might actually be able to finish this one...once I finish the other build on my desk (which was from another group build that I didn't finish in time)! Although I haven't been able to complete one before a deadline, they do get me organized and at the bench to start a kit. I was going to join in with the Dora Wings Dewoitine 510 but since there was another Dewoitine here I thought it would be more interesting to add a different aircraft type to the group. I've chosen to try my hand at the Roden Nieuport 24bis, in Polish Air Force colours. This particular aircraft, No.5086, was originally in the service of the 3rd Artillery Observation Squadron of the Red Air Force . In July 1919 it was flown to Poland by Juliusz Gilewicz, a pilot of Polish nationality who was defecting from Russia. Both the aircraft and pilot then served with the Polish Air Force. The pilot, Juliusz Gilewicz, had a remarkable life that ended tragically in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1943. He was called up by the Tsarist army in 1915 which cut short his studies in medicine and law. He trained as a pilot and joined the 3rd Squadron in the Russian Air Service. After flying 200 combat missions and being wounded twice flying for the Russians in WWI, and then the Bolsheviks after the Revolution, he then defected with this aircraft and joined the Polish Air Force in July 1919. He commanded the 5th Squadron against the Russians in the Polish-Soviet War, and took part in 40 sorties. After the war he rose through the ranks commanding various squadrons and bases and eventually left the Air Force as a lieutenant-colonel in 1937. During the Second World War he joined the resistance and was eventually arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz where he was shot. This is just a very distilled biography, his full story makes for remarkable reading. Richard