I'm running a Blood Red Skies event at Pendraken Miniatures on 25th June themed around the Blitzkrieg period. I have plenty of painted Squadron options available, but it seems like a good excuse to paint something new.
I always wanted to do a Polish Squadron. Technically I already have a Polish Squadron but that's late war in RAF service (Spitfire IXs). One option would be the Caudron C714 which the Poles in exile flew for a short while in 1940 with the French, but that is probably the worse fighter plane in BRS (really) and although there may be some appearing in the future, not now.
That leaves the redoubtable PZL P11. It was the standard fighter of the Polish Airforce in 1939, and a bit odd. If you have not seen it , it is a high wing monoplane with an open cockpit and gull wings (cranked, like an inverted Stuka) with a fixed undercarriage.
Though it looks a bit strange, and admittedly it was a bit of a dead end design wise, the Poles had thought quite a bit about it when they designed it and it has some "interesting" features - such as the guns (four of them) being harmonised (focussed) in pairs at different points. I don't know why they did that, but err they did. Some of the other features are more easily explained. That gull wing was designed to improve visibility both forward and down, and the fixed undercarriage gave it an excellent rough strip capability.
Enough of the historical musings. If I am going to use these for Summer Scramble I will need to get eight ready in three weeks - eight because the PZL is quite cheap due to it being slow and not exactly hard hitting. Not too hard a challenge (?)
We shall see - wish me luck!
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