Academy 1/72 Tempest Mk V, P.Clostermann - Aircraft Of The Aces GB

[imalko]

Username: imalko
First name: Igor
Category: Category 2/Intermediate
Scale: 1:72
Manufacturer: Academy
Model Type: Hawker Tempest MK V
Details: Flown by F.Lt. Pierre Clostermann, No. 3 squadron Royal Air Force, July 1945



Had a lot of stuff going on at home the last few months, but finally found some time and inspiration for modeling again. Though I’m joining this Group Build rather late in the game, with more then five weeks left I’m hoping to finish this one just in time. Anyway, here’s the kit…

[imalko]

Pierre Clostermann (1921 - 2006)

Pierre Clostermann was born in Curitiba, Brazil, into a French diplomatic family. He completed his secondary education in France, gaining a private pilot's licence in 1937. On the outbreak of war the French authorities refused his application for service, so he travelled to Los Angeles to become a commercial pilot, studying at the California Institute of Technology. Finally he joined the Free French Air Force in Britain in March 1942.

After completing his pilot training in early 1943, Clostermann was posted to No. 341 Squadron RAF as a Sergeant Pilot , flying the Supermarine Spitfire. He scored his first two victories on 27 July 1943, destroying two Focke-Wulf Fw 190s over France. In October 1943, he was assigned to No. 602 Squadron RAF, remaining with the unit for the next ten months. During this time he flew variety of missions including fighter sweeps, bomber escorts, strafing or dive-bombing attacks on V-1 launch sites on the French coast and so on. On D-Day, June 6 1944, Clostermann flew two fighter sweeps over the Normandy beachhead. He was also one of the first Free French pilots to land on French soil. Once in Normandy Clostermann flew sweeps deeper into northern France, shooting down four fighters and probably destroying others. On July 2 1944, No 602 was engaged in a fierce fight with Focke Wulf 190s over Caen, and Clostermann claimed two German fighters and damaged three others. A few days later he received a DFC and was temporary withdrawn from operations.

Fallowing a short staff duty Clostermann returned to operations in December, flying the RAF's most powerful fighter, the Hawker Tempest. He joined No 122 Wing in Holland, flying fighter sweeps and attacking motor transport and rail traffic over northern Germany. He also engaged enemy fighters whenever the opportunity arose, adding a further four to his total. On March 24 1945 he was wounded in the leg by the intense German anti-aircraft fire that was a major feature of all the ground attack operations; he had to crash- land his badly damaged Tempest, but was back in action a week later as the flight commander of No 3 Squadron. As the armies advanced, the Tempests roamed deeper into northern Germany, attacking any trains they found and shooting up aircraft on the ground. On May 3 Clostermann led a series of attacks against airfields and seaplane bases in the Kiel area. Flying his Tempest "Le Grand Charles", he strafed airfields and moorings, destroying several transport aircraft and flying boats. Shortly afterwards he was awarded a Bar to his DFC together with the American Silver Star, and French and Belgian decorations.
On May 12 Clostermann was leading a victory flypast over Bremenhaven when his aircraft collided with another. He baled out at very low level and his parachute opened seconds before he hit the ground. Clostermann was released from the service in August 1945 and returned to France.

In his 432 sorties, Clostermann was credited officially with 23 victories (most of them against fighters) and five "probables", with eight more "damaged". He also claimed 225 motor vehicles destroyed, 72 locomotives, five tanks and two torpedo boats. Many references credit him with 29 to 33 victories, although these probably include his "ground" kills of enemy aircraft. Recent, more detailed analysis of his combat reports and squadron accounts indicate that his true score was 11 destroyed, with possibly another seven, for a total of 15–18 victories.

[Crimea_River]

Excellent, Igor. Nice to have you join us. You've been a rare bird lately.

[ozhawk40]

Welcome aboard Igor, great choice too!

[Matt308]

Everytime I look at such a pic I'm blown away with the powerfulness of that airframe. Wonderful!!

[vikingBerserker]

Very cool Igor!

[Wurger]

Great...

[Nxthanos]

That's a great selection, his book 'the big show' is consiodered a WWII cassic.

[Airframes]

Good one Igor, and nice to see you back in the swing of things.

[rochie]

great choice Igor, that was the first kit i built when i got back into the hobby.

a favourite type of mine as shown by my desperation for the new issue of Eduard 1/48 scale kits

[imalko]

Cheers lads! Nice to be back.
Okay, already have some questions... Looking at the profile and picture posted above the spinner should be black, but kit instructions say red. Any thoughts? Also, what is the color of the cockpit interior? Is it RAF interior green (that would be Humbrol 78 if I'm not mistaken) or some other color?

[rochie]

Igor from what i've read there were at least 5 JF E's and only the last one was named le grande charles and that was the one with the red spinner.
i've also read that the 3 sqdn badge on the tail was added after the end of WW2
the Eduard kits insruction booklet can be downloaded from there website and has quite a bit of info on Clostermann's tempest's
will look through the bits i have and see what i can find

[Airframes]

Igor, the upper half of the cockpit was finished in black, with the remainder in Cockpit Grey Green. Some of the tubular frame work was sometimes painted silver, seat was normally the cockpit green. Humbrol 78 is indeed the correct colour, but add a spot of white for 'scale effect'. Note, the undercarriage bays and inside of the doors, was painted in 'Aluminium'.
If you need pics etc, let me know.

[Wayne Little]

Real glad you could join us Igor!

[rochie]

Igor Tempest SN222 had the red spinner
here's eduards info page
Eduard Store - TEMPEST Mk.V. 1/48