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FW190 in the Hamburg harbour

In late April 1945 an RAF intelligence team on the ground in war torn Hamburg are called to an unusual aircraft wreck discovered in the city.

Arriving they discover the bizarrely painted FW190 which had crash landed and partly sunk. Recovering a wing that had been torn off the plane to record this distinctive paint scheme, they left the rest of the wreck to its fate.

It was only years later that it was discovered how the plane had ended up in Hamburg. A young German mechanic working with JV44 based in Munich in the late war, who had some initial pilot training had stolen the plane during the unit's move to Austria in April '45, desperate to avoid capture by the Russians and to return to his family in Hamburg.

Making the perilous flight by night he managed to survive the chaotic skies and made it to Hamburg in early dawn with no fuel remaining but as he attempted to land on what he thought was a smooth road, he discovered it was a canal - pulling up sharply the plane stalled as the engine stopped and he made a rough landing on a cobbled road, managing to avoid debris but losing a wing as the plane slewed across the road and eventually came to rest over the edge of the quay.

Fortunately as the plane hit the ground, the explosive bolts had jettisoned the canopy and the lucky pilot jumped out of the striken plane as it fell into the water. Making his way through the ruined city he was eventually reunited with his family and never spoke of his exploits until decades later.

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This was definitely a high concept build, inspired by my birthday present of the AK Interactive aircraft wrecks book (no 144th of course, but some great build ideas).

The plane is a heavily mangled Eduard né Platz kit and yes I did the full lining underneath. Eduard provide exactly cut decals for this but oddly didn't factor in the landing gear so you have to cut the decals to fit these parts.

Vehicles are the Arrowhead whitemetal including the new flatbed Matador. Figures are Arrowhead and Preiser.

The scene used Metcalfe models brick and cobblestone paper along with assorted parts to make the debris.

Fantastic Diorama and a great story.