Preserving history with Aviation Archive

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.

When the Corgi team travel about the country visiting some of the nation’s most celebrated museums and preservation sites, it’s always a proud moment when you spot an impressive collection of Aviation Archive models on display or visit a retail outlet which does something that little bit more creative with their sales presentations. Sometimes, these displays carry incredible historic significance with them, but in many cases, go unnoticed by the thousands of people who admire them.

Such a situation revealed itself during a recent visit to the superb Royal Air Force Museum Midlands site, where one of the Aviation Models on display in their National Cold War Exhibition shop area had a direct connection to a historic aviation artefact currently on display in a different part of the museum, a piece of original artwork which was carried on the actual aircraft which inspired its replication in scale die-cast form.

In this latest edition of Die-cast Diaries, we will be taking a closer look at this association and another piece of genuine WWII artwork currently on display at the museum and how both have been immortalised in scale die-cast form within the Aviation Archive range.

We will also be paying an image rich visit to the fabulous Wonderworks display at our Margate Headquarters (obviously with an unashamed Corgi leaning), in addition to placing everyone on notice of the impending announcement of our latest May to August model range. Knowing what we know, we can confidently predict that Corgi collectors have much to look forward to over the coming weeks and months.

Figaro the cat a fighter pilot’s constant companion

The unusual artwork replicated on the latest Hawker Hurricane model in the Aviation Archive range helps to tell the scale story of a celebrated RAF fighter pilot and a unique piece of artwork which is currently on display in the RAF Museum.

The ‘unofficial’ artwork carried by many of the aircraft which contested the air war during WWII have been a source of fascination for many people since the end of the Second World War and has provided a rich source of subject material for model companies and decal manufacturers alike during this period. The Corgi Aviation Archive range has been no exception and over the course of the past 25 years, a great many model releases have commemorated aircraft carrying such artwork additions, from the fighters of the Great War, right through to the mighty strike jets which took part in more recent conflicts.

These artwork additions were sometimes intended to provide a warning to enemy airmen not to mess with this particular aircraft and crew, but were more often than not an artistic reminder of home, the reason why they were fighting and where they hoped to be back soon, often relating to a wife or sweetheart. During the early stages of the war, such artistic additions were rarely found on the fighter aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force, but on the few aircraft which did have such distinctive features, they have become a source of fascination ever since, particularly if surviving photographs confirm their authenticity.

One RAF pilot who famously carried his personal emblem on every aircraft he was personally assigned during his wartime service, Flight Lieutenant Ian Richard ‘Widge’ Gleed painted his representation of Figaro the cat from the film Pinocchio on his first Hawker Hurricane Mk.I, serial number P2798. At a time when the RAF were losing fighters with alarming regularity, this particular Hurricane ended up being one of the longest serving machines of the conflict, surviving from the spring of 1940 until the autumn of the following year.

Ian Gleed would fly this Hurricane until August 1941 and during that period, it would be repainted twice, first when Gleed’s unit changed from day to night fighting and then later repainted back into the famous temperate day fighter scheme of the Royal Air Force. Even when the fighter was painted black, Gleed instructed the team repainting the aircraft not to paint out his Figaro emblem, meaning that whilst the rest of his fighter sported a smart black finish, the starboard emergency door panel on which Figaro resided was left in its original day scheme colour.

A fascinating piece of Britain’s aviation heritage, the escape panel from Ian Gleed’s Hurricane is currently on display at Cosford’s magnificent museum. 

What makes this story all the more fascinating is that this artwork and the Hurricane panel on which it was painted, was retained by the pilot when exchanging his aircraft and kept in the possession of his family, but later presented to the Royal Air Force Museum. The artwork is currently on display at the Museum’s Midlands site (Cosford), at the entrance to the Test Flight hangar and whilst many visitors will no doubt stop and admire it, few will make the association between this and the Corgi Aviation Archive Hurricane model on display in the Museum shop. 

Perhaps the fact that the artwork panel is RAF Dark Green and not the overall black colour of the Hurricane nightfighter we have modelled may lead to some confusion, however, this is obviously correct for the replication of this aircraft, as the panel was unusually left in its day fighter scheme, just so Figaro would continue to stand out. Interestingly, if you look closely at the panel on display at Cosford, it is possible to see some of the black paint used to camouflage the Hurricane when it made its switch from day to night fighter.

Let’s take a look at the release details relating to our Ian Gleed and Figaro painted Hurricane again now.

Hawker Hurricane Mk.I, P2798 LK-A, Sqn Ldr Ian Richard ‘Widge’ Gleed, RAF No.87 Squadron, Colerne, February – April 1941.

Another look at the original Hurricane artwork panel we replicated on this beautiful Hurricane model release.

When the Hawker Hurricane entered squadron service at the end of December 1937, it heralded a new era of aviation for a Royal Air Force which could now boast the introduction of their first high speed monoplane fighter. From a design perspective, the Hurricane was probably more evolutionary than revolutionary, taking many of its design philosophies from the successful series of sleek Hawker biplanes which preceded it - in fact, the new fighter was initially referred to by Hawkers as the ‘Fury Monoplane’ project. A clever combination of traditional design and manufacturing techniques, whilst at the same time introducing many technological ‘firsts’ for a British monoplane, such as an enclosed cockpit, retractable undercarriage and the adoption of eight machine gun armament, the Hurricane could be described as the right British aeroplane at exactly the right time in history. In the days when speed was the main requirement in securing superiority in the skies, the Hurricane was the first RAF fighter to exceed 300 mph in level flight, which at that time represented an incredible 100 mph increase over existing biplane fighters already in service.

An extremely rugged aeroplane, the traditional manufacturing techniques adopted by Hawker designers meant that the Hurricane was less complicated and much cheaper to produce than the revolutionary Spitfire which followed it into service. Perhaps of even greater significance, it was also much easier to repair if sustaining damage in combat, because after all, these aircraft needed to be in the air and fighting, as opposed to being in a hangar needing to be patched up. Despite the Spitfire taking the popular accolade of being Britain’s aviation saviour during the Battle of Britain, the competent and dependable Hurricane actually accounted for 2/3rds of the RAF’s aerial victories claimed during the Battle of Britain, a fact which arguably makes the Hawker Hurricane the most important fighter aircraft in British aviation history. 

Having proved instrumental in defeating the Luftwaffe by day during the summer of 1940, the Hurricane was also called upon to challenge them by night as the conflict moved to a nocturnal bombing campaign following their inability to overcome the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain.

Having already gained his pilot’s licence as a civilian, Ian Richard Gleed successfully applied for an RAF commission in 1936 and on completion of his training, was posted to No.46 Squadron at Kenley, where he would fly Gloster Gauntlet fighters. Later transferring to No.266 Squadron as a Flight Commander, Gleed was fortunate to survive an incident in early 1940 when the Spitfire in which he was flying broke up in mid-air, however, whilst he was able to get out of the aircraft safely, the incident did result in him requiring a period of hospitalisation. 

On his return to flying duties, Gleed was posted to No.87 Squadron who were flying Hawker Hurricane fighters at the time, but soon found himself in France as part of the Royal Air Force component of the British Expeditionary Force. He would immediately make his mark on the fighting in France, not only showing great courage in the face of the enemy, but also taking a heavy toll of Luftwaffe aircraft along the way. It is thought that Flt. Lt. Gleed may have achieved ‘Ace’ status in a shorter time than any other RAF pilot in WWII, taking just two days to dispatch 2 Bf 110s, a Bf 109 and two Do17 bombers, with several other aircraft claimed as either shared victories or ‘probables’ during the same period. Despite this, the inexorable advance of German forces could not be halted, and the Hurricanes of No.87 Squadron would soon be forced to fly back to England.

Once back in Britain, No.87 Squadron were initially stationed at Church Fenton in Yorkshire, but were soon on the move again, this time south to Exeter. Unusually, the Squadron refused the opportunity to trade their Hurricanes for new Spitfires, as it was reported that Gleed and fellow pilot Roland Beamont were easily able to out-manoeuvre Spitfires during mock dogfight trials and actually preferred the Hawker aircraft. Seeing service throughout the Battle of Britain, once the Luftwaffe’s raids moved to night bombing attacks, No.87 Squadron were given the task of providing nightfighter protection for the Bristol area and whilst this nocturnal force was still very much in its infancy, Gleed was able to add a further two Luftwaffe aircraft to his growing victory tally.

Preserving history the Aviation Archive way. This range of models not only look great in our display cabinets, but they also help to preserve history in a scale die-cast sense, as they have done throughout the 26-year history of the range.

Perhaps one of the most famous Hurricanes of the entire Battle of Britain period, Ian Gleed’s Hurricane P2798 was the subject of several famous wartime photographs which have appeared in numerous reference books over the years, ones which show the aircraft in several distinctly different presentations. Featuring a distinctive red spinner and unusual red painted area on the engine cowling behind the spinner, the aircraft also sports unique ‘Figaro the Cat’ artwork on the starboard side of the fuselage, under the cockpit – Figaro appears to be enthusiastically taking issue with a swastika. Once transferred to night operations, the standard day camouflage of this aircraft was almost completely overpainted in black, except for the rudder and Gleed’s personal markings, which retained the camouflage sections on which they were originally painted, including the area under ‘Figaro’ the cat.

We like to think that in our own small way, the Aviation Archive range helps to preserve aviation history in a really appealing and highly collectable way, not only preserving the legacy of the aircraft immortalised as a scale die-cast model representation, but also often preserving the human stories of the brave pilots and aircrews who flew and maintained them, stories which are so incredibly engaging.

At the time of writing this latest blog post, our beautiful Gleed Hurricane nightfighter is still available via the Corgi website, an Aviation Archive release with a fascinating story to tell. Whether you have this model in your collection or not, when you next visit the Royal Air Force Museum Midlands, please do go and find this artwork panel display, because you are looking at a fascinating piece of Britain’s aviation history and one pilot’s beloved wartime mascot.

A Halifax bomber not for the superstitious

Our scale representation of this famous Halifax bomber is one of the most sought-after models in the entire Aviation Archive range.

Before we leave the subject of wartime British aircraft and their distinctive, historic  artwork, the interesting artefacts currently on display at the RAF Museum Midlands which have links to classic Aviation Archive model releases actually extend beyond Figaro the cat. On display as part of the excellent Bomber Command Exhibition unveiled at Cosford just under a year ago, and in addition to the magnificent Wellington which had previously been in long term restoration in the on-site Michael Beetham Conservation Centre, one of the walls has a unique display of original WWII RAF bomber nose artwork, including extensive original panels from a famous Halifax bomber.

Handley Page Halifax B.III LV907 would earn an enviable reputation amongst Bomber Command aircraft during WWII, even though the name given to it by its crew was unusual to say the least and certainly not for anyone of a superstitious nature. Bomber Command operations during the Second World War were incredibly hazardous for crews, with many bombers failing to return from the nightly missions mounted against enemy targets. These incredible attrition rates had not escaped the men of RAF No.158 Squadron based at Lissett, and in particular, bombers carrying the fuselage code ‘F for Freddie’ at the airfield. During a particularly disastrous period of operational losses, no fewer than SEVEN bombers carrying the ‘F’ code had been lost, something which had not gone unnoticed by aircrews at the base.

As a result of these losses, morale at Lissett was significantly affected, to a point where some crews flatly refused to fly replacement bombers bearing what they felt was the unlucky ‘F’ code, risking official reprimand in doing so. As the latest replacement ‘F coded’ Halifax was flown into Lissett (LV907), most crews were determined to avoid it like the plague.

On its first raid, the aircraft was allocated to a crew who should have been on a rest day, but due to their usual aircraft being flown by the Squadron Leader that night on what was a maximum effort raid, they were allocated to fly the new ‘F for Freddie’ Halifax. The raid to Nuremberg proved to be disastrous for Bomber Command, with 95 bombers being lost, a figure which represented 11.9% of the total force, a figure which included the aircraft being flown by the unit’s Squadron Leader. The aircraft most of those at Lissett regarded as being jinxed, Halifax LV907 ‘F for Freddie’, managed to bring its crew home safely, the beginning of an incredible Bomber Command story.

Once officially assigned to a permanent crew, the new pilot of the latest ‘F for Freddie’ knew exactly what he had to do in order to reassure the rest of his crew and turn this superstitious nonsense into an operational positive. He had a new name painted on the port side of the bomber, specifically designed to take on the ‘F for Freddie’ curse – he christened LV907 ‘Friday the 13th’. Not content with this, he also ordered the inclusion of artwork which depicted the Grim Reaper, in the form of a skull and crossbones, positioned underneath a scythe, complete with an upside-down horseshoe. All slightly macabre and definitely not for the feint hearted or superstitious. 

The actual artwork from Halifax B.III LV907 ‘Friday the 13th’ is currently on display as part of the Bomber Command exhibition at the RAF Museum’s Cosford site.  

One final piece of artwork proved to be a step too far though. He also included a painted ladder above the crew access hatch, a visual representation of the fact that this bomber’s crew would have to symbolically walk underneath that ladder every time they got into the aircraft. This particular addition proved too much for base commanders to bear, who ordered its immediate removal.

As for the crew, rather than being concerned by the superstitious artwork their bomber carried, they were determined in their resolve that their particular bomber was unlucky for the enemy and if any nightfighter attempted to prevent them from delivering their latest payload, they would bring the full wrath of their machine guns to bear on them. Incredibly, taking a base negative and turning it into a crew positive proved to be incredibly fortuitous for them and Halifax LV907 ‘Friday the 13th’ would go on to complete an incredible 128 operational missions and survive the war, more than any other RAF Halifax of the Second World War.

Although the aircraft would be unceremoniously scrapped at the end of the war, the bomber’s famous and incredibly distinctive artwork was saved and can now be viewed as part of the excellent Bomber Command Exhibition at Cosford. The Aviation Archive range includes a beautiful scale representation of this aircraft within its back catalogue, with AA37204 being released in 2008, one of the most popular models in the entire range and one which now commands a significant premium if you’re lucky enough to find someone willing to let their example go.

As this model was released prior to the Corgi brand coming under the protection of the Hornby Hobbies group of brands, we don’t have access to original imagery produced in support of this model’s release, which is why we have included a picture of the restored aircraft at the Yorkshire Air Museum in this review, an aircraft which is presented as Friday the 13th. If any DCD reader would care to send us pictures of their own Friday the 13th Halifax model, we will definitely include them in a future edition of the blog – please use our diecastdiaries@corgi.co.uk address.

WonderWorks a walk-through Corgi’s model heritage

Our WonderWorks display is lake a walk through the model heritage of the Corgi brand and a celebration of some of the most popular die-cast models ever produced.

With our Head Office WonderWorks attraction now well and truly up and running, and already proving to be one of the most popular visit destinations in Kent, we wanted to give you a visual update of this fantastic destination for anyone with even the slightest interest in Britain’s most famous hobby brands, in this latest edition. As is always the case with such attractions, photographs simply can’t do justice to having such a wave of nostalgia wash all over you and even though we’ll be doing our level best, there’s simply no substitute for visiting WonderWorks in person.

If you ever do find yourselves in this part of the world, please do make a point of coming to visit us – you never know, as well as a spectacular selection of historic Corgi models to admire, you might even catch one or two Corgi team members doing the rounds in WonderWorks during your visit.

The images included here were all supplied courtesy of our Head of Marketing David Mather, who also helped to curate and assemble this impressive collection of Corgi die-cast delights. The display includes some real die-cast hobby heavyweights from Corgi ranges past, including several priceless artefacts requisitioned from our model archives, which will no doubt bring back some happy memories from the formative years of a great many visitors. 

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You never know what model delights you might see on a visit to WonderWorks.

Cleared for take-off, the Aviation Archive range is now an incredibly popular series with Corgi collectors.

Classic releases one and all – some of the models on this display are now incredibly hard to find.

Produced to mark the 20th Anniversary of the range, we have examples of the Fassberg Flyer in both 1/144th and 1/72nd scales.

Spot the difference on these first release 1/48th scale Harrier models. One is the pre-production sample, with the other having passed through the hands of our eagle-eyed researcher.

Underlining the fact that Corgi model collecting still has a significant place in the hobby today and continues to add to the heritage of this magnificent brand with each new range launch, our display not only includes some of the most iconic models to have ever carried the Corgi name, but also includes displays which show the development cycle of some more contemporary models. Detailing everything from research gathering and the creation of product artwork, continuing through prototyping and first shot casting samples and on to the eventual production release, this is a fascinating look at Corgi model production and how the models we love to collect actually make their way into our display cabinets.

The display also shows how some of our pre-production sample models can exhibit some quite significant differences from the model which is eventually released to our collectors, something which underlines the work done by both our development teams and researchers.

We hope these pictures have provided a flavour of what’s on offer for Corgi collectors here at WonderWorks and may even encourage one or two readers to actually plan a visit to discover these die-cast delights for themselves.

New range launch on countdown

We end this latest edition of our Corgi blog by confirming two interesting facts – firstly, that our Head of Marketing is currently filming the latest of his popular range presentation videos and secondly, that the new May – August 2024 range is due to go live at 10am next Friday (April 26th). We are all really excited to show you our latest collection of models, which we all believe is something of a classic!

Please set at least two alarms for just before 10am next Friday, because we are on Corgi new model range countdown! 

That's all we have for you this time, however, please join us again in two weeks’ time for another exclusive insight into the wonderful world of Corgi. 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, collecting or Corgi model related, or perhaps to suggest a topic you might like to see us cover in a future edition, please do get in touch 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 your Die-cast Diaries blog. Our next edition is scheduled for publication on Friday 3rd May.

The Corgi Team