The Story

Boscombe Down was the Royal Air Force’s main experimental test station during World War II. In 1939, the peacetime station at Martleston Heath was moved to Boscombe Down, a World War I airfield with some permanent buildings, and everything was moved within a short time period. Shops and hangars were set up, but strangely, for nearly all of the war, the facility operated using only a grass runway area with a maximum length of 1800 yards, just over a statute mile, in any direction. I find that amazing, as they operated Halifaxes, Lancasters, Stirlings, and even Meteors and Vampires from the field regularly. Facilities included a control tower, a few hardstands, gunfire stop butts, a wind tunnel, accommodations and engineering shops, and finally at the end of the war, a paved runway. Nearby were firing and bombing ranges. The role of the facility was to test aircraft, engines, and weapons systems. Later, the beginnings of the Test Pilots’ School were established. By 1944, the station had become a permanent RAF installation. This facility did not have the same function as performed by the USAAF at Wright Field or the Navy at Patuxent River. It was truly a unique installation.

Thanks once again to Aires for providing IPMS/USA the opportunity to review yet one more of their excellent cockpit sets.

Included are 10 resin parts for the cockpit tub, seat, instrument panel, and a control stick; there are also a couple smaller resin parts to represent the whiskey compass on the forward canopy framing. A photoetch fret is included to provide realistic seat harness components, including buckles, etc.

The product is well packaged, protected and includes the instrument decal sheet measuring 2 ¾ inches x 2 ¾ inches and a 1 ¾ x 1 ¾ thin clear plastic sheet for lenses. Explanations for the 33 World War One instruments are indexed on the instruction sheet which is very simple. The decals are very high quality with superb registrations and vivid sharpness even under magnification. This product works well with Microscale and Tamiya decal solutions. Care should be taken when using Solvaset, too much can almost melt the smaller ones.

Sadly, I could not apply these to a 1/32 scale WW1 aircraft, because I don’t own any. But this would be a dandy excuse to start into them. I did use some of them on another project I’m involved with. A scratch built 1/9 scale science fiction fighting suit. These worked great and gave the interior a nice retro industrial look.