Officially and finally finished! They could do with a bit of wheel weathering but with the antenna wires in place I consider them finished enough to count towards the 2022 total.
First a Czechoslovak machine…
And then an Israeli one…
And finally the pair on the same photo:
These are very nice kits that bode well for the coming series of “real” 109s from Eduard, starting with the “F” in 2023.
Regarding the real life machine, was it any good? In short:
Israel got 25 of these that arrived in the country during spring and summer of 1948. Ten of these were lost within three weeks of their respective arrival. Five of these 25 were shot down while themselves managed to get two kills. In December of 1948 there were five left and that marks the end of operations with the Mezek in Israel. Of the 25 machines received, five gets shot down and 15 are written off in crashes. And the pilots flying these weren’t bad, many were ex-Allied pilots who had flown in the RAF or the USAAC in WWII… No, it probably wasn’t the best aircraft ever built but I still appreciate it’s looks and the story!
Both have now moved to the Collection!
Magnus