Tag Archives: Supermarine

Super Supermarine

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It’s the 29th of December 1944, and RCAF Squadron 411 is in a battle with a group of Luftwaffe fighters over Osnabrück in western Germany.

At the controls of his Supermarine Spitfire IXe, Fight Lieutenant Dick Audet has an FW190 in his sights. The Spitfire’s guns tear into the enemy aircraft, until – after a moment – it rolls over and plunges downwards to destruction.

Audet watches for a few seconds, before snapping back to the fight raging around him, and turns his sights to the next German fighter. Over the next five to seven minutes Audet destroys a further four enemy aircraft, astonishingly becoming both an ‘Ace-in-a-Day’ and the only Spitfire pilot to achieve Ace status in a single sortie.

Audet would go on to fly over fifty sorties, claiming eleven enemy kills, before he too was killed in action, brought down in March of 1945 by the anti-aircraft defences of the German train he was strafing.

This spectacular homage to Fight Lieutenant Dick Audet was discovered by one of our Elves on Flickr, and comes from crash_cramer, who has recreated Audet’s glorious Supermarine Spitfire IXe in massive 1:9 scale.

Measuring over a metre long and with a 120cm wingspan, this incredible brick-built replica doesn’t look like LEGO at all, such is its phenomenal realism. Admittedly, that might be because a few components are not in fact LEGO, with the propellor spinner, exhausts, wheel caps, guns, aerial, and outer-wing leading edges meticulously 3D-printed, whilst the cockpit canopy is vacuum-formed.

A green vinyl wrap recreates the Spitfire’s camouflage, with superb decals replicating the roundels and squadron markings of Audet’s fighter.

The result is very probably the most accurate aircraft that this site has ever featured, and you can find all of the stunning imagery, plus read more about the build and the amazing story of Fight Lieutenant Dick Audet, at crash_cramer’s photostream. Join us there via the link in the text above.

Brothers Rolls-Royce

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The phenomenal Rolls-Royce Merlin engine is surely one of the reasons that Nazi Germany and the Axis Powers were eventually defeated, bringing World War 2 to its end. Fitted to a huge array of aircraft, including JuliusZ D.’s recently blogged P-51B Mustang, the 27-litre British V12 is perhaps most famous for one particular application; the beautiful Supermarine Spitfire fighter.

Joining his P-51B Mustang, Juliusz has updated his Supermarine Spitfire model, photographing the two Allied fighters together (as shown in the image above), and refining the design much like the British engineers did during the conflict, with this variant being a Mk.XVIe as operated by the Polish Air Force.

Juliusz’s stunning build quality and presentation are immediately evident, and you can see more of his spectacular Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XVIe, plus the North American P-51B Mustang which shared the Spitfire’s iconic Merlin engine, at his photostream; click these words to take a look.

Battle of Britain

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There are a few machines of the many that were borne out of the Second World War that changed the course of it. The Russian T34-85 tank, the American Willys Jeep, and this; the British Supermarine Spitfire.

First flying just before Britain entered the conflict, the Spitfire became the backbone of the Royal Air Force’s defence of the skies over the British Isles, which – had they been lost – would have enabled a German invasion and likely a very different world to the one we live in now.

Produced throughout the entire conflict, both the Spitfire and the formidable Rolls-Royce Merlin engine that powered it were upgraded and improved multiple times in just a few years, with the design operating not only with the Royal Air Force but with several Allied partners, with this example representing a unit flown by the Canadian Air Force.

It’s the work of Juliusz D., who has captured a ‘clipped wing’ variant of the Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk. XVIe beautifully in brick form.

Wonderful building techniques, excellent decals, and top quality presentation make this a model worth a closer look, and you can take to the skies over Europe in 1944 in the defence of liberty via the link above.

Stop! Hangar Time

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War isn’t won just with planes, tanks and ships. Behind the scenes a huge machine needs to operate to keep the frontline moving, from medical care to mechanics and cookery to construction.

With shifting territory and short aircraft ranges in both world wars, runway and hangar building was as important to the war effort as the aircraft that used them. Often overlooked by Lego builders we have two builds today that recognise the behind-the-scenes heroes of the Allied victory in both wars.

First above (above) is Dread Pirate Wesley‘s superb First World War diorama, set somewhere in Northern France and featuring wonderful SE5a and Sopwith Camel biplanes alongside a brilliantly recreated canvas and wood hangar. It’s a stunning scene and one that you can see more of via the link to Wesley’s photostream above, where you can also find a trio of German Fokkers ready to meet the British fighters in the skies over France.

Today’s second wartime hangar (below) jumps forward around twenty-five years to the Second World War, with the canvas and wood replaced by concrete and tin, and the biplanes by the far more sophisticated Supermarine Spitfire, very probably the greatest fighter of the conflict. Builder Didier Burtin has curved LEGO’s grey baseplates under tension to create the impressive hangar, equipping with everything required to keep the pair of Spitfires airworthy.

There’s more to see of Didier’s beautiful Second World War diorama at his photostream via the link above, where you can also see what happens when a part fails on a 1940s fighter plane, and therefore why the heroes behind the scenes were as vital as those in the cockpits.

The Most Beautiful Model…

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Lego Supermarine Spitfire

…of the most beautiful aircraft ever built. This is of course the thunderous Supermarine Spitfire, recreated in astonishing realism in Mk. 1a form by Lennart C of Flickr. There really aren’t words to do the photos justice, so we’ll get straight to the link. Click here to see more of this incredible creation.

Lego Supermarine Spitfire

Not a Car

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Lego Supermarine Spitfire

But, in this writer’s opinion, the most beautiful aircraft of the Second World War. This gorgeous Supermarine Spitfire comes from Mike Fifer of MOCpages, and it contains some of the most brilliantly-built colouring of any model we’ve found. It’s not just the superb camouflage you can see in these pictures either, as the underside is rather special too. Click the link above to find out why.

Lego Supermarine Spitfire

Three Little Birds

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Lego Grumman F4F Wildcat

It’s been a while since we posted a historic warplane here at The Lego Car Blog, so in rectification today we’ve got three! First up (above) is JBIronWorks’ beautiful blue Grumman F4F Wildcat and accompanying diorama. There’s more to see on Flickr by clicking here.

Lego Supermarine Spitfire

The second of today’s trio of Word War 2 fighters comes from Daniel Siskind, who has constructed a brilliant mini-figure scale replica of the legendary Supermarine Spitfire. Daniel’s version pictured here is a Mark V in desert camouflage and there’s lots more too see at his photostream – click the link above to make the trip.

Lego Messerschmitt BF-109

The final creation in today’s threesome, representing the Axis Powers – and the nemesis of the Spitfire above, is the formidable Messerschmitt BF-109. This stunning recreation of the famous fighter has been built by Flickr’s Lennart C, and you can see more of his model by clicking here.

Supermarine Spitfire

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Lego Supermarine Spitfire

We’ve not posted a plane for a while, so here’s one of our favourites; the beautiful Supermarine Spitfire, built here in Mk. IX form by Henrik Jensen on MOCpages. See all the photos at Henrik’s MOCpage.

Supermarine

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Lego Supermarine Spitfire

This wonderful little Supermarine Spitfire MkV comes from Dornbi on Flickr. Surely one of the most beautiful, and important, aircraft ever built, the Spitfire and its comrade the Hurricane saved British skies from German invasion. And therefore possibly saved Europe too.

Digging for Spitfires

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Spitfire

The most beautiful fighter plane ever?

This incredible Supermarine Spitfire is the work of K Wigboldy aka Thirdwigg on MOCpages. Probably the the most beautiful plane ever designed, and one of the saviors of European, Australian and Soviet skies during World War II, the Supermarine fought throughout the war for the Allied Forces before retiring from RAF service in 1961. Powered by monstrous supercharged Rolls Royce engines the Supermarine nearly went supersonic in dives and paved the way for the supersonic fighters that followed the war.

Today only 40-odd airworthy planes remain from the 20,000 produced – but all that could change in 2013. A long rumored cache of buried Spitfires in Burma is due to be excavated this year, with up to 60 of the planes hidden neatly in unopened packing crates for 60 years. The Supermarines were shipped to Burma to equip the Allies in the war in the Pacific. However the war finished before they could be built, and the MOD deemed it more economical to bury them than ship them back to the UK. Now that’s a rumor worth buying a metal detector for.

K Wigboldy’s Lego version of the famous fighter is more than a beautiful sculpture. Inside the full-stud body he’s packed in Power Functions control for the Rolls Royce engine, variable-pitch propellor and landing gear, as well as complete cockpit control for the flaps, elevators and rudder. To see more of this amazing creation click the link at the top of the post for MOCpages, or view it on Flickr here.

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