Special Hobby 1/32nd Bell P-39 Airacobra of the Royal Australian Air Force
By Michael Woodgate
Continuing on with my models of the fighters of the Royal Australian Air Force in WW2. I present my interpretation of a P-39 Airacobra of 82 Sqn RAAF.
There is much speculation here in Australia as to actual colours that this Airacobra was painted. Nobody knows for certain, so this is my interpretation of it's colour scheme. 82 Sqn was based at Bankstown, Sydney at this time in 1943 and had the job of protecting Sydney in case of a Japanese attack. The squadron duties involved coastal patrols and I like the RAAF maritime scheme of extra dark sea grey and dark ocean blue over sky blue which was applied to Catalina, Kingfisher aircraft etc so why not this Airacobra. I have also changed the radio antenna wiring because this aircraft was fitted with Australian manufactured AWA radio. I have also included a photo of this aircraft after a belly landing because of an engine failure.
© Michael Woodgate 2012
This article was published on Tuesday, October 02 2012; Last modified on Wednesday, May 15 2013