The Little World

Poor old Chinese. They were at war with everyone – including themselves, often as not. They seem to have fought the Russians, the Japanese, the Americans, The British, the Canadians, the Turks, and the Koreans at some stage of the game in the last 150 years. And not a lot of wins on the board, either.

The 30’s and 40’s were probably the worst period – if you discount the various 19th century bloodbaths they engaged upon within their own dynasties. They needed to fight the Japanese in the air but had to do it with small parcels of warplanes. They seem to have cast about everywhere for everything. These Henschel 123’s were in the 15th Squadron as dive bombers.. They’d proved themselves in Spain killing Europeans so they could be used in Asia to kill Asians…

A big aircraft for a biplane – big and well-shaped. Widely-spaced landing gear with sturdy legs and no retracting mechanism to go wrong. Well-suited for operation from primitive fields. A couple of good strafing machine guns, and sufficient internal bracing to stand up to dive stresses. A competent hauler. Not quite a Skyraider, but the same principle – though easy meat for modern monoplane fighters.

Didn’t last too long in China, but at least I have one for the collection. If I was more ambitious I would declare myself an air-generalissimo and demand tribute from the local peasants.