Aircraft Edition Gary Edmundson
builds his eleventh
Wingnut Wings kit
- their 1:32 scale
Bristol F.2b Fighter.
A
fter several improvements were made to the
initial design of Bristol’s F.2a Fighter, the F2b
came into service in April of 1917 and it
continued to see service in several air forces
well after the Great War. Considered one of the
best fighters of World War One for its ruggedness,
speed and manoeuvrability, it unfortunately had
a poor debut with 48 Squadron. Unaware of its
capabilities, they flew one of their first missions in a
sedate manner, not breaking tight formation when
being attacked by Richtofen’s Circus near Arras
and subsequently losing four of six aircraft, with a
fifth being badly damaged.
Once the crews realised the advantages of the
design, the F.2b aircraft flown as a single seat
fighter became a feared opponent of the Germans.
For example Canadian Capt. A.E. McKeever
scored all 31 of his victories flying this aircraft type.
One of the first releases by Wingnut Wings, the
Bristol F.2b Fighter was one of my later acquisitions
of their kit range. As I saw their offerings start to
disappear with the all-too-familiar note of “Sold
Out” on the WNW website and was able to
pick one up before they did become sold out in
September of 2018.
Etched metal seat belts were duplicated using lead sheet
The Lewis gunner’s ammo bag was fashioned from soft metal and
styrene strip.