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RAF Bristol Blenheim Mk. 1F Night Fighter - No.29 Squadron, RAF Digby, England, June 1940 (1:72 Scale)
RAF Bristol Blenheim Mk. 1F Night Fighter - No. 29 Squadron, RAF Digby, England, June 1940

Corgi RAF Bristol Blenheim Mk. 1F Night Fighter - No.29 Squadron, RAF Digby, England, June 1940




 
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Product Code: AA38402

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Corgi AA38402 RAF Bristol Blenheim Mk. 1F Night Fighter - No.29 Squadron, RAF Digby, England, June 1940 (1:72 Scale) "The essence of leadership . . . was, and is, that every leader from flight commander to group commander should know and fly his airplanes."
- Air Vice-Marshal J. E. 'Johnnie' Johnson, RAF

Bristol Aeroplane's Blenheim was a British high-speed light bomber used extensively in the early days of the Second World War. It was later adapted into a successful heavy fighter. A Canadian-made variant named the Bolingbroke was used as an anti-Submarine and training aircraft. It was the first British aircraft to have all-metal stressed skin construction and one of the first to utilize retractable landing gear, flaps, powered gun turret and variable-pitch propellers.

The Type 135 civil twin design was on Bristol drawing boards by July 1933.

In 1934 Lord Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail, issued a challenge to the British aviation industry to build a high-speed aircraft capable of carrying six passengers and two crew members. At the time German firms were producing a variety of high-speed designs that were breaking records, and Rothermere wanted to recapture the title of fastest civilian aircraft in Europe. Bristol had been working on a suitable design as the Type 135 since July 1933, and further adapted it to produce the Type 142 to meet Rothermere's requirements.

When it first flew as Britain First at Filton on April 12th, 1935, it proved to be faster than any fighter in service with the Royal Air Force at the time. The Air Ministry was obviously interested in such an aircraft, and quickly sent out Specification B.28/35 for prototypes of a bomber version of the Bristol called the Type 142M (M for "military"). The main changes were to move the wing higher on the fuselage from its former low position, to allow room under the spar for a bomb bay. The aircraft was all-metal with twin Bristol Mercury VIII radial engines of 860 hp (640 kW) each. It carried a crew of three - pilot, navigator/bombardier and gunner/wireless operator and was armed with a forward firing 0.303 inch (7.7 mm) machine gun outboard of the port engine and a 0.303 inch machine gun in a semi-retracting dorsal turret firing to the rear. A 1,000-lb (454 kg) bombload was carried in the internal bay.

To achieve its relatively high speed, the Blenheim had a very small fuselage. Pilot's quarters on the left side of the nose were so cramped that the control yoke obscured all flight instruments while engine instruments eliminated the forward view on landings. Most secondary instruments were arranged along the left side of the cockpit with essential items like propeller pitch control actually placed behind the pilot where they had to be operated by feel alone. Like most contemporary British aircraft, the bomb bay doors were kept closed with bungee cords and opened under the weight of the released bombs. Because there was no way to predict how long it would take for the bombs to force the doors open, bombing accuracy was rather mediocre.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a RAF Bristol Blenheim Mk. 1F night fighter that was attached to No.29 Squadron, then deployed to RAF Digby, England, during June 1940. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 9-1/4-inches
Length: 7-1/4-inches

Release Date: July 2009

Historical Account: "Energetic and Keen" - No. 29 Squadron began the Second World War with its Blenheims, which at the period operated as day fighters - especially on convoy protection patrols. From June 1940 it became a night fighter squadron, receiving some of the first Beaufighters in November, though it was February 1941 before the squadron was fully equipped with the new fighter. Various marks of the de Havilland Mosquito were flown by the squadron from May 1943 culminating in the Mosquito NF30. From the middle of 1944 most of the squadron's missions took it over the continent.

Features
  • Diecast construction
  • Spinning propellers
  • Opening bomb bay doors
  • Interchangeable landing gear
  • Comes with display stand

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