The Little World

The Israeli Beaufighter you see here – D 171 – was part of a group of five planes that were purchased in the UK in the 40’s by Israeli agents. They were supposed to be used by a film company in Scotland to make a documentary on Coastal Command.

They were given permission to fly north from an English airfield for this purpose. They took off, turned the wrong way, and kept going. Four of them eventually made it to Israel, where they participated in the independence war for the new state.

My model is far too clean for this – the planes were described as being in pretty chatty condition when they arrived. But mine is a museum example. Even here I am just using imagination…D 171 never survived the wars to make it into a museum.

This old Airfix kit is nowhere near as detailed or accurate as their new release. But it is very satisfying nevertheless. And as it is a stash model from John Evans, it has kindly associations as well.