OK 1

[kiwichappers]

Well its summer again here so its raining. Time for modeling then.
This is the start of a 48th Mk 1 Hurricane which will be finished as OK 1 flown by Keith Park during the Battle of Britain.

A couple of shots of the early stages of the cockpit. Pretty much out of the box with some scratch built extras and an Eduard instrument panel.




I am struggling for pictures of this aircraft and so far only have the one in Vincent Orange's book 'Park' and the dubious MOTAT plane on a pole. Any additional information would be very welcome.

[tempestwulf]

Is looking really swell, the eduard parts sure make it stand out and the scratch building gives depth. I'm starting with the scratch building phase but early days.

[Dave Homewood]

Very nice indeed! I'm looking forward to following ths one Francis. Is this the Hasegawa kit?

[smithy]

Looking good Kiwichappers. I have a side view photo of OK1 visiting one of the 11 Group bases. Only thing is, I can't remember what book the thing is in so I'll have to do some digging. I'll see if I can find it over the weekend for you.

[Dave Homewood]

A replica appears in the Battle of Britain film seen taxiing and Park getting out of it. I wonder, is that the same replica that came to NZ for Motat, as it already was painted in his colours when it arrived.

Will you follow it up with OK-2, his Malta Spitfire? There's beatiful coloured photo of that Spit in Roger Freeman's The WWII RAF in Colour (or some similar title) showing Park taking off from the newly completed airstrip and pulling sharply up. Magic.

[kiwichappers]

Thanks for the encouraging comments guys they do keep the pot boiling so to speak.

Dave, the basis of the cockpit so far is from the Hasegawa kit but I am toying with fitting it to the Airfix fuselage as first impressions suggest it is a better rendering than the Hasegawa one. The jury is still out until I investigate the colateral impact with fitting wings etc.
OK 2 is on the list however I thought it was a Mk II Hurricane. Must check out my refs.

Smithy I would be interested in the picture. I have seen a couple recently but they appear to be from the Battle of Britain movie aircraft as the code layout and typeface do not tie in with the known accurate photo that is reproduced in the Vincent Orange book 'Park'.

[mumbles]

Jul 18, 2008 4:05:14 GMT 12 kiwichappers said:

Well its summer again here so its raining.

Summer? Whats that?

Nice work on the cockpit, hopefully that is the hardest part out of the way Is that one of the pre painted eduard panels or did you make it look that good yourself?

[Dave Homewood]

It must be summer here cos it's also raining.

Re OK-2 I was going from memory but it's a strong memory. I don't mind being corrected if need be.

OK 1 should have been preserved...

[kiwichappers]

Dave page 173 of Vincent Orange's 'Park' is the best I can do for the moment although
I am sure I have a photo somewhere in my piling system.


A little more progress today with the seat fitted. There is a bit of tidying up to do with the belts and height adjustment levers etc to fit, then thats the cockpit over with.

[Dave Homewood]

That's is looking great!

Does anyone know when this aircraft was allocated to Sir Keith, and how long he flew it for? Did he get it when Hurricanes first entered service or later or what? Where was its home airfield? What was its fate?

Whatever the markings were, Sir Keith definately had a Mk V Spitfire as his personal aircraft in Malta. The IWM has a photo of him taking off after a ceremony to makr the opening of the new airfield and shows him pulling up towards the camera in his Spitfire over the RAF Ensign at the end of the strip. It's in colour. As I said, it's in Freeman's book.

[angelsonefive]

Dave, 11 Group HQ was at Uxbridge and OK-1 was kept at an RAF station not too far away.
I am pretty sure it was Northolt.
I will keep digging amongst my BofB books.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Ray.

[angelsonefive]

Yes, it was RAF Northolt.
From " The Most Dangerous Enemy" by Stephen Bungay, page 311, relating to the 7th September, 1940, the day the Luftwaffe struck at London deliberately for the first time :

" Park got back to Uxbridge just as the raid was ending. After a quick discussion with Willoughby de Broke, Park left for nearby Northolt and took off in OK1 to have a look for himself. "

[kiwichappers]

Mumbles the instrument panel is from an Eduard Zoom set with a little titivation to bring it into line with some pictures I have of an alledged Mk 1 cockpit. Sorry I missed your query until now.

Continuing on the apology theme. You are right Dave about Keith Park having a Spitfire on Malta. I have found some Imperial War Museum pictures of him in what appears to be a Mk Vc at the opening of Safi aerodrome in May 1943. Interestingly it is coded JM - ?
Vincent Oranges reference to Parks Hurricane OK - 2 relates to the opening of Qrendi aerodrome on the 10th of November 1942 so maybe this aircraft preceded the Spitfire.

Ray thanks for the information I having been searching for a theme for the base to display the finished model on and this seems a good starting point.

If the P3854 serial is correct for OK 1 then it was one of 500 Mk 1's built by Hawkers to contract 962371/38 that was delivered between 21st February and the 20th of July 1940.
Metal wings, Merlin II engine, and three blade variable pitch Rotol or DH propeller.

[smithy]

Kiwichappers, here's the operational history of N2520:


No. 213 'Ceylon' (F) Squadron
R.A.F. Station Wittering,
circa February 1940

Station Flight
R.A.F. Station Northolt, Middlesex

No. 3 Service Flying Training School
R.A.F. Station South Cerney, Gloucestershire

Station Flight
R.A.F. Station South Cerney, Gloucestershire

No. 55 Operational Training Unit
R.A.F. Station Usworth, Durham

No. 41 Operational Training Unit
R.A.F. Station Hawarden, Flintshire

Struck off charge on the 23rd of May 1944.


I had a poke around for that pic but couldn't find the damn thing. I know I have it somewhere but we are moving country at the end of this month and I've shoved a bunch of books in boxes for the move so no doubt it's one of those. I'll have another dig for you in the next day or so as there's a few more which haven't been stowed.

[kiwichappers]

Smithy, is N2520 the Hrricane used in the BoB film?

[kiwichappers]

I have decided to go with the Hasegawa fuselage and address the major area of concern by a] having the cockpit open to mask the awkward shape of the spine behind the cockpit and
b] Lightly fill the overdone ribbing of the aft fuselage.

Here are a couple of pictures of the cockpit before closing up the fuselage.

[corsair67]

Very nice work indeed.

Almost a shame to close up the fuselage after all that work!

[FlyNavy]

Agree. All that detail looks great. Nice work kiwichappers.

[kiwichappers]

Thanks for the compliments guys. There will still be quite a lot of the detail visible though the open cockpit and more comforting than that is the "I know its all in there" feeling.

A pot boiler for the OK 2 story.

This is an IWM photograph copied from Norman Franks excellent book 'Hurricane at War:2'