SH48195 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vc ‘Overseas Jockeys’ - boxart

   This atmospheric piece of art, wonderfully painted by Michal Reinis, will adorn one of our near-future model kits, the 1/48 Spitfire Mk.Vc ‘Overseas Jockey’. The kit is going to offer the following marking options:

Camo A

Spitfire Mk.Vc, AB174 / RF-Q, dubbed Qqwca (pronounced the same way as the Polish word for a Cockoo, Kukulka), No.303 'Kościuszko' Polish Sqn. RAF, Kirton-in-Lindsey, August 1942. The machine, as depicted in this scheme, was flown by Polish ace P/O Antoni Glowacki. AB174 was the very first Mk.Vc Spitfire to be operated by No.303 Sqn, assigned to the squadron on 15 March 1942 and in October the same year the machine was transferred to No.313 ‘Czechoslovak’ Sqn. Antoni Glowacki achieved a probable Fw 190 and one third of a He 111 while flying this Spitfire on 19 August 1942. The machine was also flown by other Poles of the squadron as were Z. Bieńkowski, M. Szelestowski (downed a Fw 190 on AB174) and B. Gladych.

Camo B

Spitfire Mk.Vc, BS295 / CR-C, Wg Cdr. Clive ‘Killer’ Robertson Caldwell, No.1 Fighter Wing, RAAF Strauss, Northern Territory, Australia, March 1943. Caldwell, the top scoring Australian ace of the war with a total of 28.5 kills under his belt, claimed most of his seven Jap aicraft downed at the controls of BS295.

Camo C

Spitfire Mk.Vc, serial unknown, VF-R, Lt.John Anderson, 5FS, 52 FG, USAAF, Corsica, Autumn 1943. It featured a non-standard three tone upper surface camouflage. Similar scheme was also used on some other machines of the unit, as well as the in-field devised and mounted dust filter on the carburettor air intake. On 15 February 1944, Lt.Anderson managed to destroy to two enemy aicraft on VF-R.

Camo D

Spitfire Mk.Vc, AR524 / white 4, GC 1/7 ‘Provence’, Armée de l’Air (No.328 Sqn RAF), based at Djidjelli-Taher, Algeria, early 1944.

Camo E

Spitfire Mk.Vc, MH592 / G, flown by Sqn/L Hinko Soic, CO of 1 (Fighter) Sqn NOVJ (National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia) / No.352 ‘Yugoslav’ Sqn RAF. MH592 might have been the only Yugoslav Spitfire to be fitted with the Aboukir type dust filter (the others had standard Vokes filters). The enemy aircraft were quite a rare sight in the area so the pilots of Yugoslav Spitfires did not have much chance to be engaged in an air to air combat. One of the very few Yugoslavs who did have the opportunity was Hinko Soic, claiming one e/a destroyed.