I’m looking at doing a version of the top scoring British night fighter pilot’s aircraft but I’m having problems finding out who it exactly was and what kind of aircraft he flew. I wanna to do a Mosquito in 1/32. Does anyone have any info or know where I can get a pic of his aircraft whoever he is? Thanks, T.L.
i found this on this site http://www.thehistorynet.com/wwii/blgreatestaces/index2.html
"The most successful RAF night pilot, Branse A. Burbridge, obtained 20 of his 21 victories at night, flying de Havilland Mosquitos in No. 85 Squadron "
im sure theres more info out there, i just did a google
Can’t help with the research on the pilot, but I can tell you that if you’re modelling the Mossie in 1/32 you’ll be looking at a choice of ONE kit. The Revell/Monogram kit of the glass-nosed bomber. It’s a fairly basic kit, dating back to the 70s, originally tooled by the Mexican company Lodella.
The plane is basically the right shape, but suffers from poor shaping of the rear of the engine nacelles, and an AWFUL cockpit. It is so innacurate for any version of the mossie as to be a crime against realism!
I’ve stuck mine in the spares box and have begun the mammoth task of completely re-building the pit from scratch, using a 1/48th Aires resin pit as a template for the re-scaling.
If you plan on doing the fighter bomber with a gun-nose, MDC do a conversion, and a company I’ve never heard of is coming out with a full conversion kit, which includes the correctly shaped prop blades. Aviation Heritage, I think Mosquito Maiden called them. She’s currently waiting on hers to be delivered, but I’ve not been able to find them, so I’ve not even ordered yet.
Good luck! [;)]
I thought John “Cat Eyes” Cunningham was the top Nightfighter ace. Think his record stood at 20 though. He was the first to score a night kill with radar. Passed away in 2002 at age 84.
I would think that Group Captain Cunningham was the top scoring night fighter pilot of the RAF. There is a book and I will duck out and check it…
And I can’t find it!!
Will look further into the library and get back later.
Dai
Right on, thanks for all the help. I’ll look into those names. Does Eduard make a PE detail set or anybody for that matter? I wonder if there is a pic of one those guy’s Mossie in an osprey or squadron/signal book? I might have to check that out. T.L.
MDC make a nose update, plus Merlin updates, Paragon will probably be re-releasing their updates (not sure what they do), and somewhere, there’s another company doing a conversion to the gun-nose version. They’re called Aviation Heritage or similar?
No-one that I know of does a photo-etched set for the 32nd Mossie, which is why I’m scratch building the cockpit on mine.
Group Captain John Cunningham was certainly one of the highest scoring nightfighter pilots, but he is the most famous.
He was popularised in the wartime press as “Catseyes Cunningham”, and there is an excellent book about his exploits, written by his radar operator, C F “Jimmy” Rawnsley, and Robert Wright (ISBN: 0 907579 67 1) He began in Blenhims, progressed to Beaufighters, and then finished flying Mosquitos.
theres some Aircraft of the Aces books on the Mosquitos, there should be photos and colour plates in one of them, ive got them but all my wingy thiny books have been put away with all mys Aircraft kits
this should have the info in
http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=P7317~ser=ACE
There’s some cause for debate on this - depends whether you want someone who scored all their victories at night, or the one who scored the majority of their victories at night…
The top-scoring ace in the latter category was John Robert Daniel ‘Bob’ Braham. 29 victories, 2 probable and 5 damaged. He flew Blenheims. Beaufighters and (more to the point for this thread) Mossies. He shot down 8 aircraft using a variety of Mosquitoes (all FB VI models) between 5 March 1944 and 12 May 1944; he was shot down and taken prisoner after a Ranger op to Denmark on 12 June.
While flying the Mossie, Braham was Wing Commander Night Operations at HQ No 2 Group, so flew with a variety of units. According to Chris Shores and Clive Williams in their book ‘Aces High’ (published in the UK by Grub Street) The aircraft used were :
Mosquito FB VI Serial LR 364 Code SY- E (613 Sqn)
Mosquito FB VI Serial LR 374 Code SY- W (613 Sqn)
Mosquito FB VI Serial LR 355 Code SY-H (613 Sqn)
Mosquito FB VI Serial LR 313 Code SM - B (305 Sqn)
Mosquito FB VI Serial ‘422’ (letters of serial not given) Code SM-H (305 Sqn)
Mosquito FB VI Serial unknown, Code YH-G (21 Sqn)
Mosquito FB VI Serial NS 885B Code not given.
(His Beaufighter ‘kills’ were scored while with 29 and then 141 Sqns; the sole Blenheim kill was also with 29 Sqn).
Braham was released from captivity in 1945, and stayed in the RAF - including trips to the US where he flew F-94s, F2Hs and F-86s; then joined the Canadian Air Force, flying CF-100s. He retired from the RCAF after the unification of the services, but died in 1974, aged 53.
Branse Burbridge is credited with 21 victories, 2 probables, 1 damaged and 3 V-1s. He scored one victory on a Douglas Havoc II with 85 Sqn, and the remainder of his kills were with the same unit, flying Mosquito NF XVII, NF XIX and NF XXX. Of these, one of the V-1s and one of the ‘damaged’ credits were in daylight; the rest were at night. I think this is why there is a bit of confusion as to who counts as the leading ‘night fighter ace’.
Bubridge’s aircraft (unfortunately, no serials are given by Shores & Williams for these):
Havoc II Code VY-C
Mosquito NF XVII Codes VY-Y, VY-M;
Mosquito NF XIX Codes VY-K; VY-C; VY-Y and VY-N
Mosquito NF XXX Codes VY-Z; VY-P and VY-X
John Cuningham is credited with 20 victories, 3 probables and 7 damaged. The majority of these kills were on Beaufighters with 604 Sqn, the rest on Mosquito NF XII, NF XIII and NF XVIII with 85 Sqn.
There may be some different scores out there, but Shore and Williams seem to be recognised as being pretty accurate, given the vast amount of research they did into the subject of British & Commonwealth ‘aces’ of WW2.
Hope that helps.
Edited because I managed to send before completing first time round…
[:I]