Sunday, September 18, 2016

French firepower almost ready to take flight

Work on the R.11 and Letord 2 models discussed in a previous post is almost complete. All that is left is the final gloss and matt finish coats and adding a magnet for basing the models.

First up, the Letord 2. A nice, mid-war twin engine, three seater that packs a punch.









And of course, the Caudron R.11 "Heavy Fighter". Here's something that you see twenty years later in similar form in things like the Me110, the Potez 630,the Russian Pe-2 culminating in the P-61. But in the Great War, we're still hammering out the details and the concept.

The Caudron R.11 was envisioned as a robust recon bombing aircraft with enough armament that it could defend itself from attacking fighters. The two twin machine gun mounts gave it quite an effective punch. A mediocre bomber (The BR-14 was far superior) The R.11 found a role as a 'battle plane' serving as an escort to the bomber groups. Not a good dog fighter, but a solid powerful escort that could keep up with the bombers all the way to the target and back. In place of the bombs, a fifth machine gun was added that fired into the lower rear sector, covering the 'blind spot' the other guns could not reach. 








2 comments:

  1. Good looking birds! You've captured the French scheme very well. The color choices look spot on!

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  2. Full credit to Scott. He gave my the color palette selection that he used on the Salmson he painted a couple of years ago.

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