P-38, F-4B, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Reconnaissance Squadron 33 (33e Escadre de Reconnaissance) has flown practically every plane dedicated to that specialty for the last 75 years, one of its bravest mounts was the extraordinary P-38, in its F-5B reconnaissance version, received from the United States after the invasion of North Africa, these were the first French planes to return to the Homeland, flying photography missions from great heights before the invasion.

The Squadron's most famous pilot was Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a writer and pilot who is now world famous for his extraordinary works, of which the best known is "The Little Prince," popular with children of this generation. He had formed his life of adventures, he was a pilot in the most difficult time, when the planes were nothing but glued wood and covered with cloth, he looked for new aeronautical routes, risking life on each flight, the marks of serious accidents had left his body wounded and broken, when the Luftwaffe launched over France in 1940, its place was in GC II / 33, flying Bloch MB 170, its missions were suicide flights, the Luftwaffe was superior in everything to the French, even so, it returned of each mission, until the end of France, the homeland had fallen, the invader owned Paris, after the war he traveled to the United States and Canada, where he wrote or finished 10 books, including The Little Prince.

His soul was not at peace, he re-enlisted in the Aviation of Free France, at 42 years of age his heart and his will were firm, but his body was not, he returned to combat, only thanks to the personal intervention of General Eisenhower, flew again in reconnaissance missions, the most demanding flight of the physical fortress that could be at that time, the planes flew to enormous heights, to avoid being seen or intercepted, in places where the cold is frightful, oxygen scarce and travel very long, but he could fly over his prisoner homeland and help in his future liberation, each flight was torture, his old fractures forked by the cold of the heights, his slow hands would not be defense against a fast hunt, and in any case, his The plane had no other weapons than the cameras.

And the end came, at dusk on July 31, 1944, his Lightning took off from Corsica, flying towards his beloved France, he was never seen again, he died in the sky that he had conquered by the Tricoleur, he died doing what else He loved to do, when his country needed him most, he left us a literary work that would last until our civilization is extinguished ...

The object of this entry is the F-5B Lightning that was flying the day of its disappearance, the model is by Lodela Revell, the painting is PRU Blue by Pinturas El Viejo Marino, the technique is flat brush, French national insignia by brush, codes by brush, this is a plane that had to be represented in my collection.

Author: Sergio Tellez

USS New Jersey, Revell Lodela

In my last divorce, my collection of ships suffered enormously, it was my ex's last negotiating trick, and they were only released after a long negotiation, as emotional hostages, they suffered a lot, stored by people who did not have the least respect for them, They lost masts and delicate pieces, little by little I have been rebuilding them, this is one of the first, the battleship USS New Jersey of Lodela, I still have to rebuild the masts, I had asked for some photo-cut, but they never came, now I am thinking of making them wire, plastic and thermoformed, one weekend that I have time I will, after all I have to rebuild the masts of four Revell Lodela models of the Iowa class, one from Monogram and another from Lee that cover the entire class, including the ones that didn't was launched.

The models of Lodela are ancient, although I bought them in the eighties, except the USS Winsconsin that is from Revell, all of them are modeling technology from the fifties, in fact it was the first ship modeled by Revell, hence its H-301 number , for many years only the USS Missouri was produced, which by some rare coincidence was also the first model of a ship in my collection, it was manufactured in different editions, from the classic S series to the Picture Fleet, in the sixties it was decided that A good way to take advantage of the molds would be to modify them slightly and produce a very similar ship, so the seaplane rails were eliminated, and two helicopters were added creating the USS New Jersey, and with a change of decals in USS Iowa, while the USS Missouri would retain the hydros and a new ramp that would no longer rotate, and all this required only sealing the ramp hole and making the helicopter branches, four models could be marketed for a single mold.

In this era of huge scales, detailed in photo-cut and extras of all kinds, the spartan simplicity of the model may surprise, but they were designed for another type of audience, they were children's models, which one could finish in a weekend, or on a school vacation, they were easy to assemble, what we would now consider a Level 2, and provided a lot of entertainment.

The model is Lodela brand, originally Lodela paint, repaired and repainted using Revell and El Viejo Marino paint, all the decoration by brush, including the numbers of the hull and turret A, almost all the model retains its original parts, except for some anti-aircraft guns that They were made with Epoxy Plasticine, wire and stretched plastic.

Author: Sergio Tellez Morales