1/72 Academy Hawker Hurricane Mk IIc

#1 Sdn, Royal Indian Air Force, Imphal, Assam, 1944 

by Shekar K Rao on Aug 15 2003

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Historical Background

The Hawker Hurricane had made its name as the the workhorse of RAF's Fighter Command in the skies of Battle of Britain during 1940. The first of these fighters were provided to the IAF in 1942, No.1 Squadron, 'Flying Tigers', being the first unit earmarked to be so equipped with the aircraft.

No.2 Squadron followed soon after in September 1942 and No.6 was raised on this aircraft. All the three units went into action in Burma in 1943 and stayed on till the end of 1944. The Hurricanes earned the sobriquet "The eyes of the XIVth Army" while performing recon missions.

On 3rd February 1944, after converting to the Hurricane from Lysanders in Burma, it went back to Imphal for operations against the Japanese under the Command of Sqn Ldr Arjan Singh. 1 Sqn was tasked to carry out recon missions to gauge Japanese intentions. They carried out 60 sorties in Feb 44 reconnoitering the upper Chindwin area right up to the Mytkyina - Mandalay rail-road. These aerial recons discovered enemy army concentrations and river crossing equipment, thus giving away Japanese ground offensive plans. The vital information provided by these missions was later to change the whole course of the war.

During the battle for Imphal, The Tigers were tasked to provide close air support to the 17th Indian division. The squadron provided the much needed close air support and helped the Allied forces to finally break through on 14 Mar 44. In the meanwhile No.1 Squadron continued to launch Counter Air missions to thwart the Japanese advance.

The battle continued through the difficult monsoon months of May and June 1944 in spite of which the Squadron flew 950 hours providing valuable offensive support for the hard pressed 17th Indian Division and also for the 2nd division fighting its way from Kohima to open the road to Imphal. On 22 Jun 1944 the Japanese siege of Imphal was finally lifted. The Japanese defeat was turned into a rout with the Squadron aircraft pursuing them relentlessly through the jungles of Burma in Jul 44. Destroyed tanks, bombed transport columns, smashed guns and charred vehicles littered the road to Chindwin. The defeat at Imphal has been chronicled as the worst suffered on land in Japanese history. By Mar 45 the Squadron had been in Burma Ops continuously for 14 months, the longest for any squadron, during which it had flown 4813 sorties totalling 7219 hrs.

For his tireless bravery, dedication, valor and unflagging enthusiasm Sqn Ldr Arjan Singh was decorated with the DFC on the field personally by Lord Mountbatten. Five more officers were awarded the coveted DFC. They were Flt Lt R Rajaram, Fg Offr A R Pandit, Fg Offr P S Gupta, Fg Offr B R Rao and Fg Offr Khemendra Nath Kak. However, at least fourteen Officers lost their lives in operational losses or accidents, including Fg Offr P S Gupta and Fg Offr Khem Nath Kak, both DFCs.

(Information Source : The Bharat Rakshak Site)

The plane modelled here, KZ 352, A-o-A contains a personalized logo of a elephant in red on both the fuselage sides. I don't know the name of the pilot who flew this craft. The colors can be questioned, since for the SEAC sector, the camo reportedly consisted of Dark Green over Dark Earth, with Medium Sea Grey undersides. However, the Aeromaster decal site shows this plane with Dark Green over Ocean Grey, with Medium Sea Grey undersides. I went ahead with this anyway.   

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Making the Model

I have already covered the 1/72 Academy Hurricane in one of my earlier submissions, so I won't be boring you with the gory details again. The plane went together effortlessly. The camo was painted freehand, after drawing the outlines lightly with a pencil.

I faced only one problem: that of decals. I had planned to get decals printed on decal paper after drawing up all the necessary items. However, I did not find any DTP center here willing to take a risk with my laser printer paper, so I had to paint on the graphics by hand. The KZ 352 on the fuselage was printed out on clear decal paper on a HP LaserJet. Only the A-A on the fuselage was cut out of white decal paper, the rest were all painted on by hand, including the elephants and rondels on the wings. I did mess up on one of the small 'S'es on the fuselage (port side, see close up below), but had to grin and bear it. The white bars on the wings(18" wide on the real thingy) were spray painted on after masking.

I finished off the model by giving it a dark wash of a mixture of black acrylic paint and blue fountain pen ink, mixed with water. This really brought out the panel lines. The guns were drilled through to a small depth using a pin vise, and lightly drybrushed with Silver. The antenna wires were fashioned out of stretched sprue, and a final coat of Matte acrylic medium gave it the final matte look. I did not weather the plane anymore, since it seems that the mechanics of the RIAF went to extraordinary lengths to keep their planes clean! 

Shekar

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Photos and text © by Shekar K Rao