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Talvimerenkulkua VL Valppaalla 1980-luvulla.
Kuvaaja: Kari-Matti Riipinen
Kymenlaakson museo, Merivartiomuseo
MVMMVMV60:87
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background
With the ending of World War II in 1945, the Valtion Lentokonetehdas and other state owned factories were merged into the company Valtion Metallitehtaat Lentokonetehdas (State Metal Factories, often abbreviated to V.M.T. or VMT). This company did not only focus on aircraft but on anything from general house-hold machinery to engines.
At that time the Ilmavoimat, the Finnish air Force, was left with Messerschmitt 109 Gs and some other obsolete types. The Finnish aircraft design declined during a number of years and it was not until 1947 when a new design was flown – the VMT
The aircraft was not completely new. It was based on the VL Pyörremyrsky (Hurricane) from 1944, a local evolution of the Me 109 G. The use of wood in the construction of the aircraft was maximised due to the sparseness of metals. The goal was to create a fighter with similar flight qualities to the German Messerschmitt Bf 109G. The engine and the propeller were directly taken from the Bf 109G. The landing gear was significantly widened in order to address one of the German fighter's most noteworthy shortcomings, the handling on ground.
Like its stillborn progenitor, the VL Pyörremyrsky, the new Salama (‘Lightning’) would share most of its airframe with a proven model, and in fact the Salam's structure was by more than 60% based on the Bf 109G airframe. Unfortunately for the design team around Torsti Verkkola, the Salama's proposed DB 603A engine was not available anymore due to the Paris peace talks of 1947. These forbade the use of German technology and put other limitations on the FAF, so the Finnish designers and engineers had to look for an alternative and chose the French SNECMA 12H00 engine, ultimately a derivative of the German Jumo 213A engine from WWII.
This different inverted V-12 engine required some reconstruction of the engine cowling. The supercharger intake was relocated to the starboard side of the cowling, and cooling system had to be adapted, too. Furthermore, the new aircraft featured an enlarged wing area, a taller tail, an Erla Haube-style canopy of later Bf 109G variants, a broad-track landing gear which improved ground handling considerably, and an annular radiator for the inline engine which gave the aircraft a superficial resemblance to a radial engine and to the very similar installation on the German WWII Focke-Wulf Fw 190D.
As the project progressed, the Salama I evolved from a simple, enhanced version of the Bf 109 to a progressively more capable fighter - a measure to keep up with the fast jet fighter development after WWII. The Salama I lacked the high turn rate and higher rate of roll of the Bf 109, but it was faster, however, with a maximum speed of more than 700km/h (434 mph) at 6,600 meters (21,650 ft), and it handled well.
Serial production started in December 1949. The Salama featured armament of one engine-mounted 30 mm (1.18 in) ADEN 30 cannon with 65 RPG, plus two 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannons in the wing roots with 250 RPG. The machines also featured three weapon hardpoints: one under the fuselage, for a drop tank or bombs up to 500kg, one under each wing, for lighter bombs, unguided rockets or podded 20mm guns with 135 RPG each.
Only 55 Salamas I were built, and none survived the type's short career: after only 5 years it was clear that the piston-engined fighter was outdated. Together with the remaining Finnish Me 109 G the Salama continued in service until spring 1954 when the FAF entered the Jet Age. The last flight was on 21 March 1954.
General characteristics
Crew: One pilot
Length: 9.74 m (31 ft 11 in)
Wingspan: 10.95 m (35 ft 11 in)
Height: 4.00 m (13 ft 1 in)
Wing area: 17.2 m² (185 ft²)
Empty weight: 3,200 kg (7,050 lb)
Loaded weight: 4,085 kg (8,987 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × SNECMA 12H00 inverted V-12 piston engine with 1,750 PS (1,726 hp, 1,287 kW); the engine could produce 2,100 PS (2,071 hp, 1,545 kW) of emergency power with MW 50 injection
Performance
Maximum speed: 724 km/h (450 mph)
Service ceiling: 11,600 m (38,030 ft)
Wing loading: 238 kg/m² (49 lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 0.36 kW/kg (0.22 hp/lb)
Armament
1 × 30 mm (1.18 in) ADEN 30 cannon, 65 RPG
2 × 20 mm (.78 in) Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon, 250 RPG
Up to 900kg (2.000 lbs) extrenal ordnance on three hardpoints under the wings and fuselage
The kit and its assembly
Finland is another country with a relatively rich aircraft industry and with one of the oldest air forces in the world. So, why not "contribute" a fictional whif aircraft?
Anyway, the pitfall is that the use of a German aircraft as a development basis in Finland after WWII was rather unlikely after the Paris peace talks of 1947. The Fins were inventive, though, and why shouldn’t they have taken the Pyörremyrsky fighter from 1944 further – only 1 prototype had ever been assembled? It would have certainly looked like the Me 209 V5. And the Fins could have used the import loophole for the Jumo 213 from France, so: why not?
The basic kit is HUMA’s German Me 209 V5 from WWII. In the real world only four prototypes were eventually built, and the design was superseded by the Focke Wulf Ta 152 and the evn more promising Me 262 jet fighter. Just in the whiffy outline above, a great aircraft just came to late.
HUMA's kit is simple, with recessed panel lines and a sprue with very fine injected styrene materials (instead of etched parts). Fit is average, though, the HUMA kit is more or less like a good Mtahcbox kit. You need some experience and dedication to make something from it, and for what you get it is IMHO overpriced, despite being an exotic aircraft.
I did not modify much, just the spinner was exchanged for a longer, more pointed piece (from a Matchbox Wellington), and the tail wheel received a well with covers - the original Me 209 V5 only had a semi-retractable tail wheel. The gun pods come with the original kit. I just added a pilot figure and cut the canopy open, and some struts were added inside of the landing gear wells. Other small changes include the omitted engine-mounted machine guns (just filled them with putty), as well as lowered flaps and slats for a non-static look.
Painting
I must admit that I love the unique, typical Finnish WWII camouflage scheme very much. Officially, the upper colors are called Oliivinvihreä (Olive Green), Musta (Black) and Vaaleansininen (Light Blue) or Vaaleanharmaa (Very Light Grey) for the undersides, separated by a wavy demarcation.
Finding appropriate tones is not easy, manufacturers' recommendations are contradictive, so checking pictures of real life aircraft is IMHO the best way to go. My choice fell on Testors 2027 (FS 34096, a grayish-green tone, originally used on SAC B-52s!) and mix of Humbrol 66 with 33, for a very dark olive drab color with potential for some even darker shades. Pure black is just too dark, and many pictures show the dark tone in a very deteriotated state, yielding a greenish hue. For the lower sides I went for Testors 2078 - this is German RLM 65 from WWII, and the authentic tone for light blue Finnish aircraft underside. The Testors paint is not as bright as the Humbrol color, adding to a rather worn and faded look. This was further enhanced by some shading with lighter basic tones on the upper surfaces (including Humbrol 86 and some RLM 02 from Testors, plus some Humbrol 168, Hemp), as well as a light emphasis of panel lines with darker tones and a light black ink wash.
The interior was painted with Humbrol 225 (Mid Stone) and 81 (Chromate Yellow) - not certain if this would fit, but I know that Finnish P-36 had this color inside, and I did not want a uniform greyish tone like RLM 02, since the exterior bears a similar basic color.
The black and yellow spiral on the spinner is a fantasy detail, even though I found several Bf 109Gs with similar decorations, or with black spinner of which a 1/3 segment has been painted white. Anyway, it's a nice, colorful detail on the otherwise simple aircraft.
The Finnish roundels and the squadron emblem were puzzled together from the scrap box, from various MiG-21 kits. The bort numbers were improvised with single aftermarket decal letters/digits from TL Modellbau. Overall, the aircraft was supposed to look simple and reveal its whiffy nature only at second glance.
Not a spectacular whif, but IMHO a good story for an aircraft that failed to live up to its expectations.
Rurtalbahn Br 189-VL / ES 64 F4 EuroSprinter, 189 103 / ES 64 F4-103, passes through Eindhoven with a service from Maasvlakte (Rotterdam) to the inland terminal Trimodal Container Terminal (TCT) Venlo.
189 103 is operated by Rurtalbahn Cargo and is leased from MRCE Dispolok. Rurtalbahn are operating the service for European Gateway Services, owned by ECT. Four return trips between Rotterdam and Venlo run each day.
189 103 is one of two locomotives with the European Gateway Services branding, which was applied in October 2013
A pair of VL class locomotives are seen hauling the daily "Paper Train" from the Paper Mill in Morwell to Melbourne. The train is seen on the outskirts of Warragul on the Melbourne side.
The train is operated by Qube Logistics.
Here the double track section of line (East and West lines) have very different gradients and the Paper Train is seen on the West Line which was rebuilt in VR days to provide better gradients for the frieght trains that used the line.
Trains and Railway items in Gippsland - January 2022.