Late last year I asked Santa to pre-order Eduard’s P-40E Warhawk Royal Class Dual Combo kit for me. Eduard’s new 1/48^th P-40 is the first newly tooled P-40E that I’m aware of since Hasegawa’s 2005 kit. The Hasegawa kit is pretty good, but there were some engineering choices that made it less fun to build than it could have been. I’m surprised that it has taken 20 years for another manufacturer to get around to kitting such an iconic aircraft. Airfix’s 2016 kit is of the earlier Tomahawk/P-40B version.

Tank Craft 45: Nashorn Self-Propelled Tank Destroyer, German Army, Eastern Front 1943-1945 outlines the history, development, and use of this dedicated self-propelled gun. Initially named the Hornisse (Hornet - also the name of the Me-410 heavy fighter/fast bomber), it was soon renamed the Nashorn (pronounced Nahz-horn – Rhinoceros). From the earliest days of Operation Barbarossa, it became apparent that the German anti-tank guns of the time were underpowered, and towing them into position was problematic. The 88mm flak guns were soon given the successful anti-tank gun role. In June 1942, the 8.8cm Flak 41 entered production, and it had superior range and performance to its predecessors. It was decided to produce both a towed and self-propelled version for testing. This is the story of the self-propelled tank destroyer, Nashorn.

One of the Last B-26 variants was the B-26F which featured angle-of-incidence of wings increased by 3.5º; the fixed .50 caliber machine gun in the nose was removed; the tail turret and associated armor were improved. The first B-26F was produced in February 1944. One hundred of these were B-26F-1-MAs. Starting with 42-96231, a revised oil cooler was added, along with wing bottom panels redesigned for easier removal. In total, 200 of the 300 aircraft were B-26F-2s and F-6s, all of which were used by the RAF and SAAF as the Marauder Mk III. The F-2 had the Bell M-6 power turret replaced by an M-6A with a flexible canvas cover over the guns. The T-1 bombsight was installed instead of the M-series sight. British bomb fusing and radio equipment were provided (300 built).

The B-26G variant was a B-26F with standardized interior equipment; in total, 150 bombers were used by the RAF as the Marauder Mk III (893 built).