Following WW2, the
RNoAF decided to continue the aerial reconnaissance and mapping tasks that the
RAF had started during the war. On the 9th of August 1949, No 1
Photo Reconnaissance Wing was formally established in the Luftforsvaret (Royal
Norwegian Air Force) with three Supermarine Spitfire PR.XIs. Although they
were useful for the purpose of mapping, the tactical usefulness of such a low
number of now obsolete aircraft was clear, and when the US Military Assistance
Programmes got under way, the wing received six Republic F-84E Thunderjets
fitted with cameras in the port tip tank. In June 1954, the wing became
independent (it had previously operated under 338 Sqn) and was renamed 717 PRW.
The Thunderjets did not stay long - in April 1956, the first RF-84F Thunderflash
arrived, and in July, the 717 PRW achieved full squadron status. The
Thunderflash served 717 squadron and the Air Force well, but several were lost
in accidents. By the end of the 1960s, the Thunderflash was getting a
little long in the tooth, and as Norway had operated the F-5 Freedom Fighter
since 1966, it was no surprise that the replacement would be the RF-5A(G).
The first of a total of 16 aircraft arrived at Rygge in April 1969.
Attrition in aircraft and personnel took it's toll, and combined with tighter
budgets, the sole dedicated photo reconnaissance unit in the Luftforsvaret was
deactivated on the 15th of August 1979. The remaining aircraft
and some personnel were transferred to 336 Sqn where they would again operate as
a wing. The RF-5As continued in service until 336 Sqn too was deactivated.
Today, 717 Sqn is operating three Dassault Falcon 20s in the electronic warfare
role, but also undertake VIP transport for members of the royal family and the
Government.
Like the
CF-104, this model was built for a display of models at the Norwegian Armed
Forces Aircraft Collection at Gardermoen, near Oslo Airport (for details, see http://www.flysamlingen.museum.no/
although their website only has partial English text). This display
intends to show in model form all aircraft types operated by the Luftforsvaret
from it's formation in 1944 to it's 60th anniversary in 2004.
For that reason, I did not need to add any detail to the cockpit, exhausts or
wheelwells, but could concentrate on getting a decent external finish and
reasonably accurate representation. I pulled out an Esci kit that was
started probably fifteen years ago - the cockpit was already painted and Esci's
rather simplified instrument panel decals applied. Normally I would have
used the lovely True Details F-5/T-38 seats, but that would be wasted as the
canopy would be closed. I had to rescribe some panel lines on the fuselage
where they had been sanded away, but at least the joins were dry... It
seems to be a common occurrence with the Esci kits (now reissued by Italeri and
Revell) that the wings suffer sinkmarks on the upper and lower surfaces.
They are very shallow, but will be very visible under a coat of silver paint.
Repeated application of Mr Surfacer followed by sanding with a very fine sanding
stick solved the problem. An improvement that is easy to make is to sand
the inner section of the flap where it meets the fuselage - in reality there is
a noticeable gap, so don't be tempted to fill it on the model. While on
the wing, note that the Norwegian aircraft were fitted with manoeuvring flaps on
the leading edge, and these were always down when the aircraft was on the
ground. Luckily, the kit has these separate. One more thing to watch
out for is that the underwing tanks will clash with the main gear doors, so move
the pylons 3 mms further outboard if you intend to fit any stores on the inner
wing pylons. And finally; the kit gives you optional nosegears. I
used the wrong type for this model - the one to use is the one with the scissor
links pointing forwards. Improvements on this model were few - the only
things were the pitot tube fashioned from piano wire and new blade aerials from
thin plasticard. The blade aerials were fitted after the model was finished, but
the pitot tube and the canopy was fitted before painting to blend them in.
The Northrop
aluminium paint finish (it was not bare metal) tended to darken with age, and as
I chose to model AZ-G during 1971, it would not look factory fresh. The
best out of the tin match I have found for this is certain batches of Xtracolor
Duraluminium. This paint looks more like silver paint than metal, but
unfortunately the colour consistency seem a bit erratic with noticeable
variations in tone between the three I have bought. One tin was even
unusable as it had turned to "goo" without having been opened.
The aircraft would be touched up, so it wasn't uncommon to see panels in
slightly different shades. To weather the aircraft and show some contrast
to fresh paint, I dabbed some Testor's Metallizer Aluminium around access panels
on the nose and other high-wear areas. The model was then clear coated
with Polly S and the gorgeous decals from Vingtor Decals - no. 72-009, also
available in 1:48th as 48-007 - were applied. The sheet
provides a complete set of stencils for two aircraft - one with a silver backing
(they were stickers in real life) and one set without (that were painted
directly onto the aircraft). The instructions mention the batches by
serial number that had which type of stencilling - that takes the guesswork out
of it. The sheets allow you to build any line jet from all units using the
type between 1966 and 1972, and as you get two sets of roundels, you could build
two models from it. As you'd expect from Cartograf printed decals, they
went on with no problems, and then a coat of Polly S clear flat for that dull
finish. RF-5s often flew fully loaded with tanks, and this would add some
variety as the aircraft didn't carry any unit markings in their time with 717
Squadron other than the squadron codes "AZ-" until this practice was
discontinued in 1972. A directive specified that the F-5s should be
camouflaged, and a number of fuel tanks were camouflaged before the trials had
concluded. The outcome was that the camouflage made the aircraft more
visible in the air, and it was therefore decided to retain the overall silver
finish. The already painted tanks were not repainted until the F-5s went
grey in the late 80s. Some tanks were painted overall green, while
others were painted dark grey upper surfaces with a scalloped edge separating
the light grey lower surface, and it was not uncommon to see aircraft carrying
tanks in all variations on the same aircraft. Weathering other than
simulating touch ups was kept very light - photos don't show a lot of grime or
leaks, so I just went for the standard streaking behind the wheel wells and
under the engines as well as some highlighting of the detail and control
surfaces with oil paint washes.
Jens
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