[parsig9]

Do any of you know stories of pilots who flew the liveries EM has done. I'm liking White 5 but either of the French ones will be a nice addition to the collection.
The Finnish one is sweet too but I would like to sponge some intel off one of you who has figured out if the wing marking can be uncovered like on the Hurricane.

Thanks

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by parsig9

Do any of you know stories of pilots who flew the liveries EM has done. I'm liking White 5 but either of the French ones will be a nice addition to the collection.
The Finnish one is sweet too but I would like to sponge some intel off one of you who has figured out if the wing marking can be uncovered like on the Hurricane.

Thanks

Osprey's French Aces of World War 2 has some good photos of and information on the MS 406, but no photos of the MS 406s that EM put out. Same for the Finnish EM version in Ospreys issue covering the Finnish aces. Odd that EM did not do SSgt Urho Lehtovaara's MS 406, he racked up 15 victories, and aircraft had a much neater looking paint scheme.

[Epapazian]

Originally Posted by parsig9

Do any of you know stories of pilots who flew the liveries EM has done. I'm liking White 5 but either of the French ones will be a nice addition to the collection.
The Finnish one is sweet too but I would like to sponge some intel off one of you who has figured out if the wing marking can be uncovered like on the Hurricane.

Thanks

The Finnish MS-406 was flown by Lt. Lasse kurten in 1943 ( 1/LeLv 14 ) and it's major claim to fame was the shark mouth marking, which was the only one of its kind in the Finnish air force. As for Kurten's exploits, I've found nothing so far.

The French MS-406, No. 5 with the two white stripes, was flown by Jean Bertrand, adjudant, serving with the 6th Escadrille of GC III/7 early in 1940. The white stripes indicate his section leader status. As for exploits, so far I've got nothing.

The Vichy MS-406 is harder to match up. I get conflicting serial numbers on this one. A very similar plane flew in Indo China in 1941, piloted by Lt. Hutter. I believe I've heard this name before so he may have fought against the Siamese and even the Japanese air arms.

I have all three Easy Model versions and am busily making small, but needed corrections. I'll post pictures soon. The Vichy plane looks very good with that red and yellow striping.

[Epapazian]

I've just finished "correcting" the first two of my Easy Model MS-406s. Both are dulled down, pitot tubes are added, the tail planes or stabilizers are bent down to near horizontal, the struts are re glued, some glue spots were removed or painted over, the gunsight was repainted ,etc.There still are some fit issues, which I am ignoring for now and I haven't tried to weather these models as the panel lines are too shallow. They look pretty good, considering what they are---and the price.

[Epapazian]

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by Epapazian

The Finnish MS-406 was flown by Lt. Lasse kurten in 1943 ( 1/LeLv 14 ) and it's major claim to fame was the shark mouth marking, which was the only one of its kind in the Finnish air force. As for Kurten's exploits, I've found nothing so far.

The French MS-406, No. 5 with the two white stripes, was flown by Jean Bertrand, adjudant, serving with the 6th Escadrille of GC III/7 early in 1940. The white stripes indicate his section leader status. As for exploits, so far I've got nothing.

The Vichy MS-406 is harder to match up. I get conflicting serial numbers on this one. A very similar plane flew in Indo China in 1941, piloted by Lt. Hutter. I believe I've heard this name before so he may have fought against the Siamese and even the Japanese air arms.

I did a little digging based on this and found a Camille-Jean Bertrand who scored 6 victories and was killed in action 26 August 1944. As for the Finnish MS 406, its claim to fame may just be the paint scheme. Came across a list of Finnish pilots who scored .33 victories or more, and his name was not on it. I also found another variation of the Indochina Vichy MS 406 paint scheme. Found one that has the stripes on the nose, but the tail section is solid red.

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by Epapazian

I've just finished "correcting" the first two of my Easy Model MS-406s. Both are dulled down, pitot tubes are added, the tail planes or stabilizers are bent down to near horizontal, the struts are re glued, some glue spots were removed or painted over, the gunsight was repainted ,etc.There still are some fit issues, which I am ignoring for now and I haven't tried to weather these models as the panel lines are too shallow. They look pretty good, considering what they are---and the price.

You did a first rate job on them. Definitely improved their look.

[parsig9]

Thanks so much for that. Even pilots' names gives me something to go on. Really a good start.

Originally Posted by Epapazian

The Finnish MS-406 was flown by Lt. Lasse kurten in 1943 ( 1/LeLv 14 ) and it's major claim to fame was the shark mouth marking, which was the only one of its kind in the Finnish air force. As for Kurten's exploits, I've found nothing so far.

The French MS-406, No. 5 with the two white stripes, was flown by Jean Bertrand, adjudant, serving with the 6th Escadrille of GC III/7 early in 1940. The white stripes indicate his section leader status. As for exploits, so far I've got nothing.

The Vichy MS-406 is harder to match up. I get conflicting serial numbers on this one. A very similar plane flew in Indo China in 1941, piloted by Lt. Hutter. I believe I've heard this name before so he may have fought against the Siamese and even the Japanese air arms.

I have all three Easy Model versions and am busily making small, but needed corrections. I'll post pictures soon. The Vichy plane looks very good with that red and yellow striping.

[Epapazian]

Just examined my Finnish MS-406 and, once again, it raises quality control concerns for this line. The antenna and one of the support struts linking the tail to a horizontal stabilizer were broken, and there was a large, thick glue smear on a stabilizer that defies correction. Also, the PC insignia appear as they seem in the pictures. Unlike the IXO s, and a previous EM Finnish Hurricane, there isn't any overlying white decalling to wash off, revealing the real swastika----at least nothing I could detect. Extra decals to correct the insignias were not included. So this one goes into the "bin". I'm not going to try to fix it.

[SkyBuffalo]

Taken from the FlyingMule, here's the info. on the MS 406 in the Vichy markings :

Easy Model Platinum Collection 36329 MS.406 Display Model Armee de l'Air EC 2/596, No.341, Lt.Hutter, Tong, Tonkin (Indochina), 1941

And from Page 1 of this thread :

Originally Posted by 1250ships

The situation in French Indochina was very confused. When France fell the Japanese took advantage of the situation to force the French to close the Vietnamese ports that were being used to supply China in its war with Japan. There was some fighting involved but it was relatively minor and the French authorities effectively gave in to the Japanese demands. Japan was allowed to station troops in Indochina but did not replace the French administration or disarm the Vichy forces.

In October 1940 fighting broke out between the Vichy forces and Thailand. Thailand got the better of the French and there was air fighting between the Vichy forces equipped with nine Ms 406s and the Royal Thai Air Force with twenty five Curtiss Hawk 75Ns. Apparently the Thais won the air war and the ground fighting though the Vichy Navy did well at sea. Japan mediated an end to the conflict.

The Vichy government remained in administrative control until March 1945 when the Japanese took complete control of the territory and presumably disarmed the Vichy forces. The armed forces might have been disarmed sooner than that- I know the French light cruiser that was the flagship of the colonial fleet was disarmed at Saigon in December 1941.