1:72 Supermarine Spitfire F.IX (Gabreski’s Spitfires)

An American who learned to fight with a Polish squadron

Before Francis Gabreski became the most successful American fighter pilot of the European theater, he went through several months with a British unit made up of Polish airmen. His family came from Poland, he could make himself understood to the crews as well as to the mechanics, and he gained there exactly what he was missing, that is combat experience from operations over occupied France. Only afterwards did he settle into the cockpit of the American Thunderbolts.

Three particular machines of 1943

The first variant is BS513 with the letter Z, on which he flew a training flight on January 4, 1943. The second is EN172 with the letter K, captured during an escort operation over Saint-Omer in northern France on February 4, 1943. The third aircraft BS410 with the letter E was used by the pilot on his first combat operation on January 21, 1943 in a formation heading for Caen. All three carry the code letters of No. 315 Polish Squadron.

The unit the machines belonged to

The Polish No. 315 Squadron came about on British soil from airmen who reached the islands through Romania and France, and by the spring of 1943 it already had two years of operations behind it. Its machines escorted daylight raids and carried out sweeps over the coastal belt, where they clashed regularly with German fighters.

The masks save the most work

Two sets of masks belong to the sheet. One covers the glazing of the canopy and is supplied in two forms, the other serves for spraying the yellow stripes on the leading edge of the wing. It is precisely these that are the most awkward in hand work, because the stripe has to end exactly on the edge and any seeping of paint is immediately visible on a light area. Press the mask down with a toothpick along its whole length and spray in thin layers perpendicular to the surface.