1:32 B-24 Liberator

Liberators from Brindisi in the markings of the 1586th Flight

The sheet covers the four-engine Consolidated bombers that in 1944 and 1945 took off from the Italian airfield of Campo Cassale near Brindisi. They were flown by the 1586th Special Duties Flight, a Polish unit trained for night supply missions deep over occupied Europe. The crews dropped containers with weapons, radio sets and people over Poland and over the Balkans, and in August 1944 they went through the most demanding stretch of their whole service, when they set out over Warsaw, where the uprising was going on. The journey there and back measured over two thousand kilometers and led over territory defended by night fighters. The aircraft themselves were adapted for such work: some of the armor and defensive armament came off in favor of tanks and useful load.

What is on the sheet

• Ten particular machines of the B-24D and B-24J versions, each with its own serial number
• Fuselage letters of the GR series in four forms, that is GR-R, GR-S, GR-U and GR-V
• The dating of the schemes runs from May 1944 to 1945, so a late machine can be built as well
• A drawing of the Boulton Paul type E turret in the same scale as a documentation extra

Before you reach for water

Polish the surface to a gloss and let the varnish cure enough, otherwise a silvery veil will settle under the thin film. In a large scale the fuselage letters are sizeable and fold over on themselves easily while being transferred, so slide them off the backing rather than gripping them with tweezers in the middle of the area.