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Lying derelict in a field in France, this ME-109 has been sabotaged by the French Resistance and subsequently
abandoned by the Luftwaffe. The canopy glass has been smashed, engine parts removed and the plane as a whole rendered unserviceable.
Graffitti painted on the plane shows the Germans who the perpetrators were. "Pour la France" ("for France") is painted across
the fuselage, and "FFI" painted across the Balkan cross. FFI stood for "Forces Francaises de L'Interieur", meaning French
Forces of the Interior. This is an old kit that I had built in college and I carted it around with me for years. Rather
than throw it out, I instead used all the missing pieces to my advantage to simulate this derelict aircraft. The model was
so well beat up from age, little weathering was necessary. I had to rebuild the rudder, as it had long since been lost. I
used plastic ribbing for the framework and drapped painted Kleenex over it to simulate the fabric covering. I added some detail
to the engine, some detail to the destruction, and that was that!
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Above: A close up of the nose section of the 109. The guns have been removed, rags and a bucket hang from
the engine, and the paint is faded from sitting in the sun. The ground is real moss from my back yard (dried, painted and
dull coated), with tufts of tall grass made from rope.
I built this Spitfire at the same time as the 109, and it too was carted around for many years. So why not
build another crashed up model? This one took more time, as both horizontal stabilizers and all the ailerons had long
since disappeared and had to built from scratch. The landing gear was gone, and the right wing had been stepped on and crushed,
and a large section of the top of this wing was missing. I cut up a Monogram B-29 wing (from a diorama my cats had destroyed
long ago) and grafted a large section of it into the Spitfire wing. The pilot had managed to land his plane wheels down, but
hitting the rock to the right proved too much for the damaged gear and it buckled, dropping the plane into the gully with
the propeller still spinning. The landing gear is from some old kit, and the right gear can be seen just behind the right
wing. Miraculously, I still had the pilot, who is now toasting his survival. (See below) The bottle is Gilbey's gin. Next
to him can be seen the broken frame that held his plane's name, "Miss Jenny".
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