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'Night Fright' is an Aviation Archive delight
Welcome to the latest edition of Corgi Die-cast Diaries, your regular blog review of all the news, updates and topical stories from the captivating world of Corgi die-cast model collecting.
We Corgi fans are so lucky. Whilst all the other Hornby brands announce their annual range launches at the beginning of the year, we decided to chart a slightly different course with our own range launches, bringing our loyal collectors three opportunities to get excited about a new collection of models each year. As most of you will know, our latest May - August 2023 model range was announced last Friday and whilst most readers will have no doubt already visited the Corgi website to view our latest model collection, you will not be surprised to learn that this latest range is going to be the subject of this latest edition of Die-cast Diaries. With an impressive selection of new models to bring you, in addition to the first website appearance of several others which may have featured in previous editions of the blog, but were not at that time available to pre-order, we have much to show you and are excited to be doing so. If you have yet to download your pdf version of the latest catalogue, you can do so HERE, because we know that many of you like to save a copy for your files.
So, our intention for this update is to provide an overview of the new range, encouraging everyone to go and visit the Corgi website for themselves, before actually featuring just one of the new models in some detail this time, even though this particular model is rather special. We will save those details for a little later, but as the title of this blog has given the game away somewhat, there are no prizes for guessing which model we are talking about.
We will end by including the latest range launch video recently posted on the official Corgi YouTube channel, once again presented by our Head of Brand David Mather, where he walks you through the latest model developments from the world of Corgi. We know we have quite the historic weekend coming up, but if you do have a spare couple of minutes, please do take a look at our latest range launch video.
A summer of Die-cast delights
There's nothing like heading into the summer with a new collection of Corgi models to admire.
When we were planning our range launch release dates for 2023, we didn't think that our summer announcement would have to compete with one of the most historic occasions in the history of the nation, a time when everyone will be watching the coronation of a new British monarch for the first time in two generations, but that's just how everything has turned out. Thankfully, we think we have a splendidly grandiose collection of models for your delectation, so when the festivities are over and all the pomp and ceremony dies down, you may find some consolation in our latest collection of Corgi model collectables.
The first blog after range launch is always a difficult one to produce, because there are always so many appealing new models to feature, but where on earth do we start? We know that everyone will have their own particular favourites, but also know that we will be providing ongoing development updates on all the new model announcements in forthcoming editions of our blog, so on these occasions, a brief overview and a gentle nudge towards the Corgi website always seems to be the most appropriate way to proceed. Our range launch video will be available at the end of this blog, but for now, let's take a look at some of the main additions to the latest range.
As some of the largest models in any Corgi range, our Aviation Archive models are as impactful as they are popular and we are delighted to confirm that this latest range announcement includes no fewer than eight new models and a couple of previous releases which have proved so popular that they will become unavailable in the very near future. Although our new 1/48th scale BAe Harrier II has featured in previous updates, this is the first time that the model has been included in a range and available for pre-order and it's already creating quite a stir. A stunning addition to the range, the launch image shows details of the rather famous initial scheme our Harrier will be wearing and even though the product image is one rendered from the CAD design files, we are looking forward to bringing you plenty of actual project updates in the weeks to come.
Another page from the new catalogue, this time featuring the latest new additions to our Great War aviation range, the third releases from both our 1/48th scale Fokker Eindecker and Bristol F2B Fighter toolings.
The second release from our spectacular Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 tooling presents an aircraft which took part in Operation Ellamy and marked the use of the Typhoon in a ground attack role, one which the aircraft proved to be rather adept at doing. A marked contrast from the commemorative scheme applied to the previous release, this one represents an aircraft which is now very much the workhorse of the Royal Air Force. Staying with 1/48th scale, we have two new additions to our ever popular range of Great War aircraft, a Fokker Eindecker which was the mount of ace pilot Ernst Udet and a beautifully presented Bristol F2B fighter, which could hardly look more different from the previous two releases.
In 1/72nd scale, we commemorate the air war in the Mediterranean Theatre with our second new Spitfire Mk.IX tooling release and a beautiful Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6, one which was supplied to the Regia Aeronautica by the Germans, in an attempt to help stem the advance of the Allies. This is a particularly appealing model and we are looking forward to seeing how this unusual subject matter is received by our knowledgeable Aviation Archive collector base. The final two releases in this scale are a stunning Lockheed P-38 Lightning in the markings of one of the most influential airmen of the Pacific campaign and something we have been working on for quite some time now, but we will have more on that a little later.
Vanguards heavyweights at the double, these two new models have the distinction of being the longest and heaviest models ever introduced to the range, with the Transit being the scale tipper.
The Vanguards range can also boast an impressive number of new model additions to its ranks, with new tooling additions featuring quite heavily. Collectors will be pleased to see that some of the new tooling projects we have been keeping you informed about since the start of the year have benefitted from inclusion in the range and are therefore now available for pre-order. Both our Ford Ranger Raptor and Transit Custom toolings have something of an unusual Vanguards claim to fame, as they are respectively the longest and heaviest models to have ever featured in this popular range. With Police vehicles always proving popular subjects, we have the old and the new from a Vanguards perspective, with a new Ranger Raptor demonstrator looking distinctly different from the workhorse Mk.5 Ford Cortina in the markings of the Essex Police.
The always beautiful Triumph TR6 is now presented in Mimosa Yellow, complete with hard top and to mark the 75th Anniversary of the venerable Morris Minor, we have a suitably regal looking Moggie in Snowberry White within the range, just the thing to commemorate this motoring classic and popular restoration project in this anniversary year. Other significant new model additions include a new range of Wallace & Gromit models which are guaranteed to raise a smile and add a welcome splash of colour to many a model collection, our spectacular Triumph TR6 Trophy motorcycle from The Great Escape film and the return of some classic Corgi models to our Corgi Toys range.
There really is much be excited about in our latest model range and whilst we endeavour to bring you all the latest development updates from each future release in forthcoming editions of our blog as you would expect, this is probably the ideal time for you to head over to the Corgi website and spend a pleasant few minutes discovering all the new models for yourself. In our next update, we will let you know which of the new models are proving to be the most popular with collectors, as we approach the one month live point.
A historic weekend is upon us
As this weekend marks a truly historic moment for Britain, we hope you won't mind indulging us for a moment, as we include this commemorative model release feature for the second blog running, but for quite obvious reasons. The Corgi team have worked incredibly hard to make sure this model is available in time for the big day and whilst some of the obstacles placed before them proved quite challenging, we are delighted to say that they were successful in their endeavours and the model is now in stock and available.
This Saturday will mark one of the most important days in the history of our nation and the first coronation of an English monarch for almost 70 years, an occasion which will see millions of us glued to our television sets and millions more watching the event all around the world. As we have done many times over the years with various significant Royal anniversaries and events, we have produced an attractive die-cast collectable model with which to commemorate the event, one which captures this historic moment for posterity and one which will hopefully be of interest to die-cast collectors, followers of British history and those collecting Royal memorabilia. An attractive physical commemorative keepsake for what is certain to be an extremely memorable occasion, we are delighted to have this new model available for the big day and hope it will help to play its own small part in the celebrations.
The most popular Corgi model of the moment and rightly so.
The Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III on Saturday 6th May 2023 marks a significant moment in the history of the United Kingdom. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, served as the longest reigning monarch in British history, loved and respected around the world for the seventy years she sat as Head of State. For many members of the population of the United Kingdom, this is the first time they will have witnessed the Coronation of a new monarch, with all of the attendant pageantry and traditions that come with it.
King Charles III’s Coronation is only the third Coronation of an English monarch to take place on a Saturday; the first was King Harold II on January 6th 1066, who was also the last Anglo-Saxon monarch. Harold was notably the first monarch to be crowned at Westminster Abbey in London; the Abbey has been preserved as the traditional venue for Coronations ever since.
By Royal Appointment, the only way to travel to your coronation.
All previous special commemorative Royal die-cast bus models produced by Corgi have used the iconic Classic Routemaster; for the first time, and to mark the beginning of a new chapter in our nation’s history, this model uses the modern New Routemaster to celebrate His Majesty’s Coronation. As the youngster who would become King said in 1954: “There is nothing nicer in the world than a bus.”
Restoring an aviation classic - C-47 Skytrain 'Night Fright'
This stunning new model has benefitted from the expert input of the Night Fright restoration team and is a stunning representation of this historic aircraft.
The Corgi team are proud to finally be in a position to announce a particularly spectacular addition to the Aviation Archive range with this latest range launch, a model collaboration we have been working on for quite some time now and one which is just that little bit special to us. As one of the most significant aircraft restoration projects to take place in Britain, Douglas C-47A Skytrain 42-100521 'Night Fright' has been attracting plenty of attention over the past couple of years, particularly as this aircraft will ultimately find a new home at the former WWII airfield from where she took off with her cargo of paratroopers on the night of D-Day. A project which will see this magnificent aircraft triumphantly returning to the skies once more, both we and the Night Fright restoration team are hoping that 2023 will be a significant year in the history of this aircraft. Not only will she have a stunning 1/72nd scale die-cast collectable model made in honour of her, but she will also hopefully be making her first post restoration flight as well.
As we all know, the past few years have proved challenging for everyone, however, please spare a thought for the team responsible for the restoration of a large WWII era warbird, in the knowledge that every delay, whether enforced or not, will not only push back proposed schedule dates, but can also prove incredibly expensive. We are extremely fortunate to have been allowed to visit the Night Fright restoration at Coventry Airport several times over the past few years and knowing the effort and passion project lead Charlie Walker and his team have devoted to this magnificent aircraft, we are almost as excited as they are at the prospect of seeing the aircraft taking her place on the UK Airshow circuit.
If these models stick around for long enough, this box might be a popular sight on trade stands at Airshows up and down the country this year.
Charlie has been instrumental in helping us to mark the resurrection of this magnificent aircraft in scale die-cast form from the very beginning, kindly allowing us to visit the restoration hangar on several occasions and being so open in both discussing the things we would like to achieve and providing details of the history of an aircraft he has become something of an expert on. Of particular note, he provided extremely rare references for the para racks and packs this aircraft carried, a feature we have replicated on this new model and a first in the die-cast model collecting world. He was also keen that we replicate the hastily applied D-Day identification markings more accurately than is usually the case on model representations of aircraft from this period, as in most cases, they were anything but dead straight.
Although Charlie and his team have seen a pre-production sample model of our Night Fright tribute, this is the first time they will have seen it available for pre-order on the Corgi website and we are all delighted that this particular Aviation Archive secret has now broken cover. The release details supporting this new model are:
With the long-anticipated invasion of Europe now imminent, some new arrivals turned up at US Station 466 Membury airfield in the last few days of May 1944, the paratroopers of the famous 101st Airborne Division ‘Screaming Eagles’, members of the 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion and a detachment of the 326th Airborne Medical Company. These men would be putting their lives in the hands of the crews of the home based Douglas C-47 Skytrain crews, but would have trained exhaustively for the historic mission which lay ahead of them. Many would take part in detailed briefings to give them information regarding flight routes, timings, drop-zones and known enemy anti-aircraft gun locations and on 3rd June, base personnel were given orders to paint black and white stripes around the rear fuselage and wings of all their aircraft.
With so many aircraft in the air at the same time and with this possibility of friendly-fire casualties resulting not only from aircraft attack, but from ground and seaborne anti-aircraft fire, Allied D-Day planners called for ‘invasion stripes’ to be painted on the majority of Allied aircraft, in an effort to clearly identify them to other friendly units. For everyone involved in this momentous day, the situation was now crystal clear – ‘if it ain’t got stripes, shoot it down’. In order to prevent German spies and reconnaissance aircraft from discovering this black and white secret, the plan was a matter of the utmost secrecy and was only divulged in the days immediately prior to invasion, increasing an already hectic workload for airfield personnel.
The C-47s of the 436th Troop Carrier Group were assigned to fly two ‘serials’ (sorties) into Normandy on D-Day. Serial #9 would be executed by the 79th and 82nd Troop Carrier Squadrons, delivering the 1st Battalion 502nd PIR, whilst the 80th and 81st TCS would fly Serial #10 carrying the 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion and the 326th AB Med Co into Normandy. Due to the heavy loads which needed to be carried for the 377th PFAB, which included their field guns and ammunition, the 85th TCS from the 437th TCG over at Ramsbury airfield were sent on detached service to the 436th and assigned as a third squadron for Serial #10.
The original planned departure date was to have been the 4th of June, however, a storm front forced a 24 hour delay - Operation Neptune finally got underway in the late evening of June 5th 1944. Para-packs were assembled ready to load onto the six racks beneath each aircraft, with the packs containing the component parts of disassembled field guns, ammunition, explosives, firearms and other essential equipment for war. Other packs including wheels for the howitzer field guns were loaded into the aircraft themselves, ready for the troopers to push out when the green light was turned on over the drop zone.
For the first time on a 1/72nd scale die-cast model release, our Night Fright includes the Para racks and packs this aircraft carried in the early hours of D-Day.
On the 5th of June, shortly before departure for ‘Mission Albany’, General Eisenhower and 101st Airborne Division Commander General Maxwell Taylor visited Membury airfield and the troops who were about to embark on their ‘Great Crusade’. Eisenhower visited all five airfields of the 53rd TCW that day to rally the troops but when he saw their determined, blackened faces and the number of weapons and knives each paratrooper was carrying, he knew that the men of the Screaming Eagles were ready for the coming fight. Douglas C-47A 42-100521 ‘Night Fright’ flew as Chalk No 20 in the first of the two serials which took-off from Membury at 2300 hours on the night of 5th June, carrying elements of 1st Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, arriving over Drop Zone ‘A’ near Saint-Germain-de-Varreville at approximately 01:08hrs on 6th June 1944. The flight crew on that fateful night were Pilot; William Watson, Co-pilot; James Hardt, Radio Operator; Robert McKnight, Navigator; Arthur E. Thornton and Crew Chief, Owen Voss.
Upon reaching the western coast of the Cherbourg peninsula, low cloud made staying in tight formation difficult for the C-47 crews, especially as German anti-aircraft fire became heavier and more accurate the closer they got to their Drop Zone. The navigators onboard the lead aircraft skilfully shepherded the formation and they successfully dropped the paratroopers over their intended primary drop zone, before turning and heading for home and what turned out to be a relatively uneventful return flight to Membury, were they landed just before 0400hrs.
Incredibly, all the C-47s of the 436th TCG made it back to Membury, even though many had sustained damage from the savage ground fire they encountered – ‘Night Fright’ herself sustained around one hundred separate bullet and shrapnel hits, which put her out of service for the next four days whilst she underwent repairs. The Group’s glider pilots were not so lucky, with several men being either killed or injured during the landing operations. Between June 9th and 13th, the 436th carried out a number of further sorties, towing CG-4A gliders full of supplies in an attempt to resupply troops fighting in the area around St. Mere Eglise.
Two images showing an advanced production sample of Night Fright and doesn't she look magnificent.
After undergoing repairs, 'Night Fright' returned to post D-Day operations, carrying out resupply missions, medical evacuations and freight-moving flights during the rest of this historic month.
After playing such an important role in helping secure eventual Allied victory during the Second World War, Douglas C-47A 42-100521 ‘Night Fright’ entered the US civilian register as NC65384, flying domestic routes with several operators over the next fifteen years. She was then sold to the French Navy, where she served as a navigational trainer and general communications aircraft, arriving in France during the summer of 1963 and joining Escadrille 56S at Nimes-Garons, where she was given the serial 18984 and fuselage code ‘84’.
When the French finally disposed of their military C-47s in 1984, the aircraft came into the possession of Basler Flight Services, who arranged to fly her back to America. Now registered N98BF, she flew the famous wartime northern ferry route on her way back home, not stopping until she reached Texas. Reregistered once more as N308SF, she soon found herself hauling cargo in the colours of Sky Freighters Corporation and whilst she would be used as a load lugger for the next twenty years or so, she would do so under the ownership of several different companies. Underlining the excellence of the aircraft’s original design and the strength of its construction, this warbird would spend many years transporting anything from live chickens to electrical generators all across North and Central America, in addition to regularly turning up at airfields on various Caribbean islands.
For an aircraft which possessed such a rich wartime history, 'Night Fright' was later forced to suffer the ignominy of being listed on a well-known auction site, finally coming into the ownership of a company who were specialists in the dismantling and scrapping of aircraft. Fortunately, and for reasons which are still unclear, this former D-Day veteran was spared the scrapman’s attentions and sat forlornly at Walnut Ridge airfield, the same airfield she had returned to following the end of her wartime ETO service. It was from here that she was discovered by a group of people who had a very special restoration project in mind.
Douglas C-47A 42-100521 ‘Night Fright’ is now the subject of a meticulous restoration project taking place in a hangar at Coventry Airport in the UK and significantly, this project will see this D-Day veteran taking to the skies once more. Returning the aircraft to as close to her 5th June 1944 configuration as possible, once the 'Night Fright' restoration team have succeeded in their quest, the aircraft will serve as a unique flying memorial to the men and aircraft which took part in D-Day, allowing the public the opportunity to experience what it must have been like to be on board this very aircraft in the hours prior to making that historic flight.
As 'Night Fright' takes her place as a high-profile addition to the UK and European Airshow circuit, there are also ambitious plans to create a museum at the former US Station 466 Membury airfield site, the actual airfield that ‘Fright Night’ took off from on the night of 5th/6th June 1944. This is something which will clearly enhance the authenticity of this project, whilst also producing a popular visitor attraction for the region. Central to these plans, it's also intended that part of the original runway at Membury will be restored, to enable ‘Night Fright’ to operate from and to be based at her former wartime home airfield, a unique 'living' link to D-Day and a chance for us all to experience history.
Get ready to welcome a historic aviation phenomenon, when Night Fright joins the Airshow circuit, this distinctive logo will become familiar to millions of people all over the world.
As is the case with everyone aware of this fascinating project, we eagerly await the first post restoration flight of Douglas C-47A 42-100521 ‘Night Fright’ and wish the restoration team every success over the months and years to come.
We are delighted to say that our tribute to Night Fright has already proved to be a hit will Aviation Archive collectors and as things currently stand, is far and away the most heavily pre-ordered model from the recently announced May - August model range, but we have even better news than that. As our first blog exclusive following this second range launch of 2023, we can confirm that AA38211 Douglas C-47A 42-100521 ‘Night Fright’ is available RIGHT NOW!
We can all now have this beautiful model safely tucked away in our display cabinets as we watch this historic aircraft hopefully taking to the air from Coventry Airport at some point this year, the continuation of a fascinating story which will surely see this magnificent aircraft becoming a firm favourite on the UK and European Airshow circuits in the years to come.
New Corgi models for your viewing pleasure
We are afraid that's all we have for you in this latest edition of Corgi Die-cast Diaries but we will be back as usual in two weeks' time with a further selection of model project updates. Between editions, we are always interested to hear your views on all things Corgi, so if you feel like dropping us a line to comment on anything blog or Corgi model related, or indeed to suggest a topic you would like us to include in a future edition, please feel free to do so at diecastdiaries@corgi.co.uk.
If you can’t wait for the next blog, you will find plenty of Corgi model collecting discussions taking place on our official social media channels, access to which can be obtained by clicking on the respective links at the foot of the Corgi website homepage.
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Thank you for continuing to support our Die-cast Diaries blog. Our next edition is scheduled for publication on Friday 19th May.
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