Wow. Just when you’ve given up on seeing something, it suddenly becomes a big hit in the modeling industry. Long, long ago, Dragon released a set of Union Civil War figures in 1/32^nd scale, which I was totally thrilled to see. I bought an entire case of them, and then waited for baited breath for the follow-up Confederate Infantry to come out. And waited . . . and waited . . .

Obviously, it was never released. However, recently two Ukrainian companies have suddenly released figures from that era – Masterbox and now ICM. I couldn’t be happier.

History

In 1939, after the defeat of the Polish Air force by the Germans and the Russians, a substantial number of trained and experienced Polish pilots and ground crews managed to escape to France and England. Eventually, they were formed into fighter squadrons attached to, but not specifically a part of, the British Royal Air Force. Most of the pilots were originally assigned to units flying the Hawker Hurricane, but in 1941, these units were re-equipped with Spitfire Mk. V fighters, the current version of this famous fighter. From 1942 until early 1945, these units used Mk. V Spitfires against the Luftwaffe, until they were eventually replaced by the Spitfire Mk. IX and American Mustangs. In total, about 800 Spitfire Mk. V’s were used by various Polish units, and they inflicted considerable losses against the Luftwaffe.

History: The TU-2 Bomber

This book gives a very detailed history of three Russian designed aircraft that were used in quantity by the Polish Air Force, mostly after the end of World War II. The first aircraft, the Tupolev TU-2, was used in quantity by Poland, mainly for medium bombing, and later as a reconnaissance type, trainer, and target tug. The author goes into considerable detail giving an account of the design origins of the type and its service with the Russians before the Polish Air Force acquired them after the war. An interesting fact is that Tupolev began the design of the TU-2 before the outbreak of the war, and apparently he had run afoul of the Communist Party ideology. His design team was forced to work in a Soviet prison camp from 1939 until 1941, when they were finally rewarded for their success by early release from prison.