Aviation images

In Reach of The Skies: Aviation related stories from a life long enthusiast

Monday, 20 November 2023

Nakajima B5N Kate

Next off the production line is this Kate torpedo bomber. The Kate served Japanese forces throughout WWII including the infamous raid on Pearl Harbour.
This is a Hasegawa 1/72 kit with after market decals which were actually a bit of a pain!

Tuesday, 14 November 2023

Catalina N423RS

Looking through some old snaps I came across this image of a Catalina in Greenpeace livery that I had forgotten all about, taken around 1998 after the plane had been used in the Med in the fight against illegal fishing. On checking I realised that it was the same Catalina, by then sporting RAF Coastal Command colours, that I had seen at North Weald when visiting with my mate Gaz back in 2010. On that day work was being undertaken to get the engines running and a very smokey affair it was too. Subsequently the aircraft was dismantled and went over to America in 2015. The good news is that, although still in bits, the aircraft was acquired by The Tunison Foundation of Poughkeepsie in June of this year as a restoration project. Hopefully this means that it will fly again.

Monday, 13 November 2023

Boeing Kaydet/Stearmam

An old Revell kit of the American biplane trainer.Introduced in the 1930s over 10,000 were produced and many stil fly today. This kit is straight out of the box with some after market stars and stripes.