The Czech Defector - Arma Hobby 1/72 Hurricane 1
Aug 2, 2019 16:49:54 GMT 1
Beemer, viscount, and 4 more like this
Post by acklington on Aug 2, 2019 16:49:54 GMT 1
This is an update to my original thread on this model. I have now finished writing up a history of the Czech Defector, and to do so I searched various Czech websites, using 'google translate' to try and confuse me further! There is plenty of information, but it appears that no one has ever tried plotting his flight path on 'google earth' and measuring the distances. RAF Ouston to the village of Ortho, Belgium = 450 miles. Still air range of a Hurricane 1 with Rotol propellor = 425 miles, and that is without him starting off with a training exercise with a Polish pilot. Result, it just didn't add up, and there was a strong smell of rats!
More digging, and I'm now claiming to have revealed a very carefully planned defection, designed to protect his UK (RAF?) handler, combined with a second flight that same day so the Gestapo could frighten civilians into not helping Allied airmen.
My stab at this story can be found here sites.google.com/view/raf-ouston-research/the-czech-defector
It still needs a bit of tidying up, but hopefully it will be of interest, and it just shows where a plastic aeroplane kit will lead you!
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Just finished, another limited run kit from Poland. Beautifully detailed and accurate, but what a b**** to persuade to go together! I think that the trouble with these CAD models is that there is no built-in tolerance between the parts, they might fit perfectly on the computer, but not in real life. Anyway, a very interesting story to this Hurricane;
W9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
W9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (5) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
W9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (10) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
W9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (16) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
W9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (21) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
W9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (24) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
W9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (26) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
W9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (12) bw by Philip Pain, on Flickr
It is a Gloster built Hawker Hurricane Mk.1 (with Rotol propellor), serial W9147 of 55 OTU based at RAF Usworth, Sunderland in 1941. It was the 'personal' aircraft of 55 OTU's commander, Wing Commander K.W. Gough AFC and carries his pennant below the cockpit. 55 OTU was a very large outfit and as a result they made much use of nearby RAF Ouston, Northumberland, as a satellite airfield. It was at Ouston on 18th September 1941 that W9147 was being flown by one of 55 OTU's Instructors, Sergeant Pilot Augustin Precuil, a Czech. He took off with a Polish pilot pupil for a training flight, and later the Pole returned alone, to report that he had last seen W9147 diving down to the sea where he lost sight of it. The RAF inquiry concluded engine failure as the likely cause and Precuil was listed as missing.
No doubt Wng Cmdr Gough would have been annoyed at the loss of his aircraft, but probably even more so when it subsequently turned up on public display in the Reich Aviation Museum in Berlin!
55 OTU W9147_in_Berlin_Museum by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Precuil was working for the Gestapo, and after defecting in W9147 he landed in Belgium near the Ardennes, damaging the propellor and probably shock-loading the engine. He was hid by Belgian farmers that first night, and in the morning he revealed himself to the Germans and betrayed the Belgians. One report says that two were immediately executed, another that the family was imprisoned. Precuil collected a reward and was put to work infiltrating prison camps and openly assisting in the interrogation of allied airmen. At the War's end he was arrested, tried, and hanged for Treason in April 1947. W9147 didn't last as long, an RAF raid on Berlin in November 1943 destroyed much of the Reich Aviation Museum.
There are some unexplained aspects to the story. Precuil apparently got married to a British girl some three months before he defected. Maybe he made a bad choice, but then she was a Sunderland girl (I'm from Newcastle, which has a better football team). Also, why defect when he did? The Hurricane was of no intelligence value to the Germans, and neither was Precuil currently in a security sensitive post, nor had he been. Perhaps he got spooked that his game was almost up, and the opportunity of being at RAF Ouston, where any odd behaviour was less likely to be noticed, plus having the WingCo's aircraft, and a rookie pilot in tow, all became too good an opportunity to miss? Finally, it seems that the British security service files on the incident are still sealed.
Thanks for looking, and I will be writing up the full story of Augustin Precuil on my "RAF Ouston Research" website which can be found here sites.google.com/view/raf-ouston-research/home
More digging, and I'm now claiming to have revealed a very carefully planned defection, designed to protect his UK (RAF?) handler, combined with a second flight that same day so the Gestapo could frighten civilians into not helping Allied airmen.
My stab at this story can be found here sites.google.com/view/raf-ouston-research/the-czech-defector
It still needs a bit of tidying up, but hopefully it will be of interest, and it just shows where a plastic aeroplane kit will lead you!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just finished, another limited run kit from Poland. Beautifully detailed and accurate, but what a b**** to persuade to go together! I think that the trouble with these CAD models is that there is no built-in tolerance between the parts, they might fit perfectly on the computer, but not in real life. Anyway, a very interesting story to this Hurricane;
W9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (2) w by Philip Pain, on FlickrW9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (5) w by Philip Pain, on FlickrW9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (10) w by Philip Pain, on FlickrW9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (16) w by Philip Pain, on FlickrW9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (21) w by Philip Pain, on FlickrW9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (24) w by Philip Pain, on FlickrW9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (26) w by Philip Pain, on FlickrW9147, 55 OTU, RAF Ouston, 18 Sept 1941 (12) bw by Philip Pain, on FlickrIt is a Gloster built Hawker Hurricane Mk.1 (with Rotol propellor), serial W9147 of 55 OTU based at RAF Usworth, Sunderland in 1941. It was the 'personal' aircraft of 55 OTU's commander, Wing Commander K.W. Gough AFC and carries his pennant below the cockpit. 55 OTU was a very large outfit and as a result they made much use of nearby RAF Ouston, Northumberland, as a satellite airfield. It was at Ouston on 18th September 1941 that W9147 was being flown by one of 55 OTU's Instructors, Sergeant Pilot Augustin Precuil, a Czech. He took off with a Polish pilot pupil for a training flight, and later the Pole returned alone, to report that he had last seen W9147 diving down to the sea where he lost sight of it. The RAF inquiry concluded engine failure as the likely cause and Precuil was listed as missing.
No doubt Wng Cmdr Gough would have been annoyed at the loss of his aircraft, but probably even more so when it subsequently turned up on public display in the Reich Aviation Museum in Berlin!
55 OTU W9147_in_Berlin_Museum by Philip Pain, on FlickrPrecuil was working for the Gestapo, and after defecting in W9147 he landed in Belgium near the Ardennes, damaging the propellor and probably shock-loading the engine. He was hid by Belgian farmers that first night, and in the morning he revealed himself to the Germans and betrayed the Belgians. One report says that two were immediately executed, another that the family was imprisoned. Precuil collected a reward and was put to work infiltrating prison camps and openly assisting in the interrogation of allied airmen. At the War's end he was arrested, tried, and hanged for Treason in April 1947. W9147 didn't last as long, an RAF raid on Berlin in November 1943 destroyed much of the Reich Aviation Museum.
There are some unexplained aspects to the story. Precuil apparently got married to a British girl some three months before he defected. Maybe he made a bad choice, but then she was a Sunderland girl (I'm from Newcastle, which has a better football team). Also, why defect when he did? The Hurricane was of no intelligence value to the Germans, and neither was Precuil currently in a security sensitive post, nor had he been. Perhaps he got spooked that his game was almost up, and the opportunity of being at RAF Ouston, where any odd behaviour was less likely to be noticed, plus having the WingCo's aircraft, and a rookie pilot in tow, all became too good an opportunity to miss? Finally, it seems that the British security service files on the incident are still sealed.
Thanks for looking, and I will be writing up the full story of Augustin Precuil on my "RAF Ouston Research" website which can be found here sites.google.com/view/raf-ouston-research/home
