Anthony in NZ Posted December 5, 2024 Posted December 5, 2024 (edited) Now, before you ask, the Phantom hasnt stopped. I am just on hold whilst more detail parts and refinements are being printed/designed. I just cant sit still and as soon as I saw Mathieu of Laminar Flow Design bring out the Mk XII conversion set I asked to purchase the lower wing pieces as I always wanted to do the Mk Vc of my former neighbor and dear friend Johnny Checketts. Johnny Checketts was a very humble and unassuming man who didnt like a fuss being made. But once you got to know him he opened up and was a fascinating and interesting man. I remember him saying to me on one visit before I went back home as we were shaking hands at his doorstep, that war was a terrible thing and that they were just doing their job. He put his other hand on top and said "Dont let anyone ever tell you there is any glory in war, men lost their lives who were just like me doing their job. They too had families at home. In fact, I was always relieved whenever I saw a fellow pilot bail out...phew, I thought" I remembered thinking as we were clasped in that grip that this moment would stay etched in my mind...which it has Johnny had an incredible career in the RNZAF , RAF and Postwar topdressing flying. Shot down over France and having the French resistance take care of hime and making it back to the UK again. Becoming a Flight Commander of Horne 142 Wing in Surrey with 3 Spitfire Squadrons under his command. It was there he led his Wing on several ops on D Day racking up over 7 and a half hours on that day in 4 flights. As well as being shot at by friendly fire. In the end Johnny had 14 confirmed, 3 probables, 11 damaged and 2 V1's. Anyway...of course I could go on and on. I'm going to depict this period of time in Johnny's service. When in command of the 'Wing' (being 303 Polish, 402 Canadian and 130 Squadrons) During this time period this was his regular mount Spitfire Vc AB509 (photo Johnny Checketts personal album) Here is 142 wing off on another 'op'on D day (photo Johnny Checketts personal album) Johnny blew a tyre on take off and Johnny said it rolled up his oleo and wedged the leg so it would go neither up nor down (photo Johnny Checketts personal album) Now this particular photo is of special interest to me. On one of by cups of tea visits we were flicking through his albums and I noticed under another photo what appeared the tiny corner of another one near the spine. I asked if I could see if I could pick it out and we both squinted at it and he said...yes sure, didnt know there was one under there. So carefully with the edge of my fingernail I extracted it and flipped it over. And this was it! It was a tiny 'box brownie'image and his face lit up (as did mine of course!) and he chuckled and said he forgot he had that and thats when he told me the story of his ops on D Day. I remember asking about his initials on the black stripe. He said that because his personal markings wer mostly covered in the hand painted stripes the night before they just 'çhalked' his initials on the side so they knew it was the Boss's plane lol I contacted Malcolm Laird of Ventura Publications and asked if he might be interested in seeing these photos and doing an interview. Johnny was happy for me to borrow the album, but I refused as it was too precious to have in my possession. Malcolm flew down, and scanned his photo album and we interviewed him. And that is the story of how this photo came to light. Of course Malcolm's research and artwork had become well known and has been depicted on several decal sheets. Including the beautiful Zots sheet I now have! Back again to update on the build itself. But I feel the story of these men and machines is so important than just images or photos in books. Cheers Anthony Edited December 5, 2024 by Anthony in NZ Philbucknall, dennismcc, geedubelyer and 25 others 23 5
seiran01 Posted December 5, 2024 Posted December 5, 2024 I’d tease you about the Phantom, but I’m glad you’re starting this one. I’ve started my Weggery build as well with the conversion. Race ya! Kagemusha, Martinnfb, Dany Boy and 1 other 3 1
Anthony in NZ Posted December 5, 2024 Author Posted December 5, 2024 1 hour ago, seiran01 said: I’d tease you about the Phantom, but I’m glad you’re starting this one. I’ve started my Weggery build as well with the conversion. Race ya! Hahaha, of course you would mate! Lets see your Weggery Vc Trop build then....will help inspire me Martinnfb 1
Anthony in NZ Posted December 5, 2024 Author Posted December 5, 2024 (edited) Quick question. I just noticed in the image of 142 wing taking off they all appear to have belly tanks? What do you think? The original also seems more obvious Edited December 5, 2024 by Anthony in NZ Martinnfb 1
Biggles87 Posted December 5, 2024 Posted December 5, 2024 Another Spitfire, why not? The back story is fascinating, I would feel very honoured to know such a man, as I’m sure you do. impatiently waiting for more. John Anthony in NZ, Kagemusha and Martinnfb 3
geedubelyer Posted December 5, 2024 Posted December 5, 2024 What an intro. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how this build comes together and to hearing more of this man's career. A fitting tribute to him Nice one Anthony. Martinnfb and Anthony in NZ 2
Anthony in NZ Posted December 5, 2024 Author Posted December 5, 2024 Ok so onto the build itself Included with this is a load of Barracuda parts, Kopecky Models Spitfire 'Ç' wing open gunbay set and a few other bits n bobs No I dont profess to be a very knowledgeable person on the Spitfire, and it seems a minefield of information, mods and changes in their service history. AB509 appears to be a late mod Mk Vc with extended horn elevators and I suspect there must be other mods like radio fit that must be different during mid/late 1944. So any advice appreciated. LFD's conversion is an absolute work of art and I seriously cannot recommend it highly enough! As many will know from the discussion section of the forum there is a revised print for the nose sections being sent out to everyone who ordered the initial sets. This is in my mind ultimate professionalism and customer services Mathieu has shown, like many of our smaller companies we have in our hobby that we are just sooooo lucky to have! Thank you guys! Work for me first starts with the fuselage and adding the rear fuse sections Typical Tamiya....fits perfectly, then on to starting to add the Barracuda cockpit upgrades. I am just trying to sort out what a late Spit V Bosses plane might be like. I wonder what gunsight might have been fitted at this stage of the war? Same with Barracuda....perfect fit etc The lines of the Spitfire are without question one of the most beautiful of any airframe to ever exist, so I decided to not go silly and open everything up like my initial intentions were to be. Apart from @CruZz beautiful gunbay set the only other thing I might open up is the radio hatch if I can figure out what she would have had fitted etc. But only one gunbay as I want to be able to look at the model from the other side all closed up. For me the clipped wing is the nicest looking version...I know I know lol The gunbay set is nothing short of stunning and is a perfect fit as long as you take your time with your new blade and needle files. Also as you can see here I have started working on the leading edge that canon fairing was a bit of a pain, but nothing a bit of CA wont fix. I am probably going to sand and Mr Surfacer the leading section as it seems these were puttied at the factory. Johnnys plane had inboard cannons and no outer stubs as you can see. Now here you can see the lower wing insert with oil cooler parts etc. Again, stunning! You would be hard pressed to find anything better that's been printed. Take your time with your blade and files and you will be rewarded with another perfect fit. Sorry I didnt take many photo's at the time as I was so focused on doing the job and it really did go quickly. Radiator and cooler just sitting there for test fit and to see the look. Now...my first piece of advice. DONT be impatient like me and glue the upper wings on like I did at this point! This will create a problem for you with the lower wing trimming for the carb intake section This became a right royal pain in the butt when it comes to trying to cut around that spar section you need to glue in. Whilst it looked cool flying around the room SNAP!......I tried forcing the part in when it wasnt quite trimmed to the correct size This stuff is strong but excessive force in thin printed areas means it becomes brittle and easy to break I got it fitted in the end... again perfect fit This is just balanced in place with my fingertips Anyway lesson learnt! You have been warned. So decent progress, I now have to go back and decide what the cockpit will look like and rivet the rear fuselage as the V had mushroom head rivets. For those rivet counters out there like me you can order the set with fuse rivets if you wish to do so....I probably will. Now I also need to figure out this belly slipper tank, is it the same as the IX? Lets see Thanks for tuning in between waiting on my RAF Phantom conversion Cheers Anthony easixpedro, Martinnfb, MDuv and 26 others 28 1
geedubelyer Posted December 5, 2024 Posted December 5, 2024 Immaculate work Anthony but I confess I have come to expect that from you. Once again this showcases the stellar look of the LFD parts. They integrate seamlessly with the Tamiya plastic. A pleasure to watch. Martinnfb and Anthony in NZ 2
Biggles87 Posted December 5, 2024 Posted December 5, 2024 Hi Anthony, as you admit to being not very knowledgeable about the Spitfire I hope you won’t mind me pointing something out. Spitfire wings were puttied and sanded ( like the P-51 ) from leading edge to main spar line to give a smooth finish, so the rivets would not be very, if at all, prominent. I am waiting impatiently for the Kotare Vb but I’m almost tempted by this, the LFD parts look so good. John PS: I don’t like breaking up the lines of the Spitfire either, so most of mine are ‘ buttoned up ‘. Anthony in NZ and Martinnfb 2
Martinnfb Posted December 5, 2024 Posted December 5, 2024 7 hours ago, Anthony in NZ said: Quick question. I just noticed in the image of 142 wing taking off they all appear to have belly tanks? What do you think? The original also seems more obvious I would say no belly tanks, just an effect created by the angled view of the radiator. Paul in Napier and geedubelyer 2
Martinnfb Posted December 5, 2024 Posted December 5, 2024 7 minutes ago, Martinnfb said: I would say no belly tanks, just an effect created by the angled view of the radiator. Anthony in NZ, Paul in Napier, MDuv and 2 others 5
Anthony in NZ Posted December 6, 2024 Author Posted December 6, 2024 (edited) 23 hours ago, geedubelyer said: Immaculate work Anthony but I confess I have come to expect that from you. Once again this showcases the stellar look of the LFD parts. They integrate seamlessly with the Tamiya plastic. A pleasure to watch. LOL no pressure then mate! Yup the LFD parts are gorgeous! 20 hours ago, Biggles87 said: Hi Anthony, as you admit to being not very knowledgeable about the Spitfire I hope you won’t mind me pointing something out. Spitfire wings were puttied and sanded ( like the P-51 ) from leading edge to main spar line to give a smooth finish, so the rivets would not be very, if at all, prominent. I am waiting impatiently for the Kotare Vb but I’m almost tempted by this, the LFD parts look so good. John PS: I don’t like breaking up the lines of the Spitfire either, so most of mine are ‘ buttoned up ‘. Aaaah excellent John! Keep on my case...I will need people like you to guide me. 20 hours ago, Martinnfb said: I would say no belly tanks, just an effect created by the angled view of the radiator. Thanks buddy, I see what you mean with those photo's. This brings me to my next point of research. Johnny, flew 7 sorties on the day at a total of 7 hours 35 minutes. Now the range of an earlier Spitfire without overload/slipper tanks was 1.5 hours max depending on flight conditions, combat, boost settings and so on. The lower tank was literally a 'get you home'tank and was the feeder tank which was later increased in size by 11 gal. However the 'air time' was still quite low, due to originally being designed as an interceptor....as I understand and please correct me if I am wrong, I am on a steep learning curve. Now looking at Johnny's time in the air it seemed he was cutting it fine, if not impossible to do these sortied on internal fuel only. So I decided to go to the IK National Archives on-line and study the ORB for the 3 Squadrons on that particular day. My conclusion is that they MUST have had slipper tanks fitted as most flights fluctuated between just under and often a reasonable amount over 2 hours! Johnny ran so low on fuel he had to land in France with another (I think from memory it was one of the 130 Punjab Squadron lads ) Spitfire from the Wing to refuel. They met back at base later that day. So going on this assumption from putting all this info together I am going to go with the slipper tank fitted. I am going to see if I can find if Johnny's logbooks ended up with the RNZAF Museum and go and have a look at his ops on that day. I am always open to correction so please if you think I am on the wrong track then let me know. I came across a 402 Spitfire MkV and the gentleman in the background was inspecting what appeared to be a 30gal one. I know it's not always good to assume but I cant see any other way they stayed up for those durations without extra fuel?? Before I sign off for the night I stumbled across this 30gal slipper tank apparently found in Normandy many years ago. Notice the number painted on it? 509 https://spitfireparts.co.uk/shop/ols/products/spitfire-30-gallon-slipper-tank Now I cant imagine that tanks were kept with specific airframes but apparently the original owner said it was the number of the aircraft painted on it. I dont think I can believe that, but how coincidental as Johnnys plane was AB509! I guess when I look at his logbook I might find out if he mentions jettisoning a tank over Normandy?? Anyhoo, I wasted most of the day studying flight ops on D Day with the squadrons of 142 Wing. One thing I will mention was that Johnny thought the water was a strange colour and so dived down and did a couple of passes and he realised the water was red with blood....he said it always stuck in his mind. Ok, right or wrong I am going to fit the tank. Back to the cockpit tomorrow. Cheers Anthony Edited December 6, 2024 by Anthony in NZ KiwiZac, Pete Roberts, Shoggz and 8 others 11
vvwse4 Posted December 6, 2024 Posted December 6, 2024 Hi Anthony, Something about those Phantoms right...... Great to see you here with another Spitfire and a great story. I do not know about the slipper tanks, I haven't seen them on D-Day pictures so far and shortly after the invasion there were airstrips in Normandy. And it was a short trip over the Channel. I will look into some books and see what I can find on this subject I am curious now. Cheers Rick. Anthony in NZ and Martinnfb 2
Anthony in NZ Posted December 6, 2024 Author Posted December 6, 2024 36 minutes ago, vvwse4 said: Hi Anthony, Something about those Phantoms right...... Great to see you here with another Spitfire and a great story. I do not know about the slipper tanks, I haven't seen them on D-Day pictures so far and shortly after the invasion there were airstrips in Normandy. And it was a short trip over the Channel. I will look into some books and see what I can find on this subject I am curious now. Cheers Rick. Thanks Rick! Lol yup something about those Phantom’s! Yes I agree too. I’ve seen several MkIX’s with the cigar shaped ones fitted on D Day but that could be because of a thirstier engine? When you study the ORB’s 9/10 times they returned to base. If some landed in Normandy it was mentioned, but most returned to base…well at least this Wing did. Always willing to learn and be corrected. That’s what makes this hobby so interesting! Martinnfb, IainM and vvwse4 3
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