ACpilot

Corgi AA39704
Royal Air Force Hawker Hurricane IIc, No.34 Squadron, HW840
Flight Lieutenant Jimmy Whalen RCAF, DFC
South East Asia Command (SEAC), 1944
1/72 Scale

Released as part of the 2014 Corgi Catalogue.



I decided to add this to my Canadian Collection because although this Hurricane served in a RAF Squadron, the pilot was a member of the RCAF.

Flight Lieutenant James Henry (Jimmy) Whalen DFC was born in my hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia. He served as a member of the RCAF in RAF formations in both Europe and Ceylon.

An excellent account of his wartime service can be found in the link below.

James "Jimmy" Whalen

Sadly, Jimmy lost his life on 18 April 1944, 5 days before his 24th birthday, during the Battle for Kohima. He had carried out 176 sorties against the enemy, 107 being over enemy territory and 23 at night. He had to his credit 3 ME-109s destroyed and 1 damaged whilst flying from England and 3 Japanese Navy Val Type 99s destroyed over Ceylon.

In 2013, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight painted their aircraft (PZ865 and the last Hurricane built) to represent Jimmy Whalen's aircraft.

The Model

There were no issues with the model. The paint was great and all the parts fit together well. The canopy fit was particularly good. While some may deride the gap in the tail - it really isn't all that noticeable in this scale.

Overall, a very nice model by Corgi and easily recommended.

Dan


Below: The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's Hurricane painted to represent Jimmy Whalen's aircraft.





Below: The artwork on the nose of Whalen's Hurricane featured a closed fist holding a lightning bolt with 6 Victory symbols (3 German and 3 Japanese).

PBRStreetgang

Rather smart looking model there Dan.

SEAC, traditionally has not done exceptionally well in the past, but this being a Canadian pilot I suspect your countrymen will give this a little kick along with sales.

Nice review Dan.

By the way, if anyone has a mind.....look up the Battle of Kohima. It was a gutter fight of the worst kind. Interestingly some of the key terrain at Kohima was, would you believe a tennis court, and the horror of that place is something to be believed.

Roydair

Woah, I see the Pooch still likes to show its customers where the pieces join each other! Done by a more quality interested company with a tighter mold I'd definitely buy this aircraft. I guess no one let the folks at the Pooch know that this Hurricane was flown by a Canadian or they never would have done it!

Woof Woof

JetA1

As Dan mentioned, the close-up photos exaggerate the tail gap. Given the paucity of SEA WW2 schemes, especially ones with a strong Canadian connection, I too have no qualms about having this model in my collection.

Zendocon

I hadn't considered this model until reading this thread. I could be convinced now.

ACpilot

Corgi is currently having a "Black Friday Sale" direct to customers and this model can be had for the ridiculously low price of £14.99 (Free Shipping in the U.K. and free shipping to Canada if you purchase £100 worth). Lots of other bargains as well.

Black Friday Sale - Shop Corgi


AA39704 Hawker Hurricane IIc, HW840, Flight Lieutenant Jimmy Whalen DFC, South East Asia Command, 1944 - Black Friday Sale - Shop Corgi

Dan