Spitfire Mk Vb (T o L EP 706), piloté par George
"Buzz" Beurling lors de la bataille de Malte en Sept-Oct 1942 du 249ème
« Squadron » de la
RAF. Kit Revell « Seafire » ©1969 H294-380A 1/32ème,
terminée
par Patrice Poyet en 2005 En
Californie depuis 12/2010. ©Patrice Poyet 2005.
La maquette au 1/32 :
L’avion
représenté est le Spitfire Mk Vb (T o L EP 706),
qui était piloté par George "Buzz" Beurling lors de la bataille de
Malte en Sept-Oct 1942 alors qu’il appartenait au 249ème
« Squadron » de la RAF. Malte
avait un tel besoin de Spitfire, bien qu’ils soient acheminés autant que faire
se pouvait par les porte-avions « Wasp » and « Eagle », que
les pilotes partageaient leurs montures afin de maintenir un maximum de
présence pour la défense de Malte. Ainsi, cette machine était elle partagée
avec le S/L Maurice Stephens. Beurling est le pilote Canadien le plus titré de
la seconde guerre mondiale c’était un maître du tir avec déflection pour qui le
tir et le pilotage ne faisaient qu’un et avait réussi à abattre 27 avions en
seulement 14 jours à Malte. Il est mort le 20 Mai 1948 à Rome dans un
mystérieux accident de convoyage à destination d’Israël. Il est enterré au
Cimetière militaire du Mont Carmel en Israël où un hommage lui fut rendu par
les forces aériennes israéliennes. L’envie de réaliser cet appareil m’est venue
de la lecture de « Une Journée à Malte" dans "Feux du Ciel"
de Pierre Clostermann, 1951. Pierre Clostermann y indique page 77 que
« Beurling – screwball pour les amis – s’est écrasé en 1948 en décollant
de Rome sur un vieil avion des surplus américains, bourré de munitions
destinées à Israël au moment de la guerre de Palestine. »
L’avion :
Plus de
20 300 appareils furent construits, et les Spitfire sont restés en
service jusque dans les cinquante. Le Spitfire
Mk Vb possédait une cellule renforcée pour recevoir le Merlin 45 de 1 460 ch (ou le Merlin 50 de 1 490 ch
et le nombre d'exemplaires construits de cette version sont : 94 Mk VA, 3
923 Mk VB et 2 447 Mk VC). Les caractéristiques de l’appareil sont un moteur
Rolls-Royce Merlin 61 12-Cylindres en V de 1470 ch, refroidis par liquide de 12
cylindres en V, une puissance unitaire de 1470 ch, une envergure de 9.1 m, une longueur de 9,8 m, une hauteur de 3,86 m, une surface alaire
de 22,48 m2,
une masse à vide de 2 300
kg, une masse maximale de 3 100 kg, une vitesse
maximale de 575 km/h,
un plafond de 13 105m, une vitesse ascensionnelle de 810 m/min et un rayon
d’action de 724 km,
un armement interne de 2 canons Hispano Mk II de 20 mm (60 obus/arme) et de 4
mitrailleuses Browning 1919 de 7,7
mm (350 coups/arme), capacité d’emport externe d’une
bombe de 230 kg.
The 1/32 scale model :
This is the Spitfire Mk Vb (T o L EP 706), airplane flown by Pilot Officer George "Buzz" Beurling while flying with 249 RAF Squadron in Malta during Sept-Oct of 1942. Because Malta was so short of Spitfires, even though ferried off of the Carrier's Wasp and Eagle, pilots shared their mounts with fellow pilots. S/L Maurice Stephens also flew this particular bird. Beurling, a master at deflection shooting, amassed 32 confirmed kills during WWII flying Spitfires.
George
"Buzz" Beurling DSO, DFC, DFM & Bar, RCAF (6
December 1921 – 20 May 1948), was the most successful Canadian fighter pilot of the Second World War. Beurling was recognized as "Canada's
most famous hero of Second World War", as "The Falcon of Malta"
and the "Knight of Malta", having shot down 27 Axis aircraft in just
14 days over the besieged Mediterranean island. Beurling lost his life in on 20
May 1948 (aged 26) at Rome (Italy) in a crash while delivering an aircraft
to Israel. This model was
inspired from "Une Journée à Malte" in "Feux du Ciel" from
Pierre Clostermann, 1951.
The aircraft:
The Spitfire was designed as a
short-range, high-performance interceptor
aircraft by R. J. Mitchell, chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works with characteristic
elliptical wings. The Seafire, a name derived from Sea Spitfire,
was a naval version of the Spitfire specially adapted for
operation from aircraft
carriers. Beurling’s seafire had taken off from HMS Eagle
carrier for Malta
on the 9th of June 1942 to let his pilot write a page of fame in the
history of military aviation. After Malta, Beurling rejoined the war as
a member of the RCAF, flying in 403 Squadron. Beurling's insubordination
increased to the point where he was transferred to 412 Squadron RCAF to avoid
an otherwise inevitable court martial. When that proved no better, Beurling was
repatriated to Canada
in late 1943 to serve as a ferry pilot. Unable to find anyone willing to send
him back to an operational squadron, in 1944 Beurling submitted a letter of
resignation to the RCAF, which quickly accepted it.
In
spring 1948, Beurling offered his services to Ben Dunkelman, the Jewish agent
in Montreal
responsible for recruiting aircrew. When questioned, Dunkelman remembers: “I
told him we had no money to pay him, no uniforms, and no airframes except for a
few Piper Cubs”. He said he didn't care about the money. He already had offers
from three armies who wanted him. He told me: "The Jews deserve a state of
their own after wandering around homeless for thousands of years. I just want
to offer my help." Beurling spent a few months in Canada after having committed to
fly for the Jewish state but before leaving. In that interval, he granted an
interview to Maclean's (a Canadian newsmagazine) in which "he talked a
little too boldly about being a mercenary." On the morning of May 20, he
and Len Cohen, a British Marshall pilot, took off from that city's Urbe
airfield to test-fly a Norseman and crashed, both pilots being killed. The best explanation for Beurling's
death is that he had an unfortunate accident. The most intriguing and, of all
alternate scenarios, the most probable is that he was offed by the British. It
was reported that British agents had been given the mission to do
"whatever they could to prevent planes and volunteers from reaching Palestine". The fact
that Canadian officials and his family hesitated to claim Beurling's body who
was Canadian’s top ace and that two years later Israel would claim his body and
re-inter him in Mount Carmel Cemetery as an Israeli hero contribute to the
mystery of the Legend.
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