I think we all know this but here goes. One of the joys of Historical Wargaming, over and above fantasy \ sci fi, is the rabbit holes. You know, the subject or unit that drags you in unexpectedly . I know this to be true, because whenever four wargamers gather to start a new period, one of them suddenly goes off on a tangent, off the beaten path. Example - Sharp Practice. We decided to do some French for Sharp Practice, so we got French (me) French (Paul) and then Neuchatel (Rob) and Westphalians (Steve). Now let's be clear, theyre all viable and playable, but the last two have involved a lot more effort in thought and research even though they are, to all intents, just French in the game. Also yellow Rob wtf!
One of my rabbit holes is the Dutch Airforce for Blood Red Skies. They only fought (in Europe) for five days, but once I started "collecting" I have found myself with four "Squadrons", two of fighters FXXI and G1a's and two bombers TVs and CVs. Long ago this would have been impossible as models mostly would not have existed (armaments in Miniature do some but importing is not easy at the moment) but with the rise of 3d printing I'm now good to fight the whole five days the Militaire Luchvaart (ML) did.
Except for one plane type. The Douglas DB-8A/3N. Now I'm going to give anyone who doesn't know this plane a pass because in truth it is a rare bird, and until I was quite a ways down the rabbit hole before I even began to be aware of it. It is a bit more confusing because it is a variant of another slightly more well known plane but with a totally different name, and in Dutch service it was used in a role for which it was not designed or suited for, and all were lost in a single day (more later).
The DB-8A was a version of the Northrop A-17, aka the Nomad in UK service. This was a monoplane two seat attack bomber, essentially a dive bomber and a slight predecessor to the much more famous Dauntless. The A-17 entered production in 1935 and seems to have done reasonably well in the export market, and served with the USA, Peru, Sweden, Iraq, the UK, South Africa Canada and of course the Netherlands. I'm only aware of the Dutch seeing action though I think the Iraqi ones may well have been used in the Anglo Iraqi war of 1941, which is a rabbit hole all of it's own. The rest were mostly used as trainers, patrol aircraft and target tugs by their various owners. Anyway, back to the Dutch.
Being a bit contrary in all things air - have a look at the Fokker TV used a s a fighter, the Dutch thought the DB8 would fit well in the role of two seat fighter (!) with a side order of recce \ ground attack. My initial reading suggested the only unit equipped with them, 3V-2 LvR was wiped out on the ground on May 10th 1940 so they were pushed to the side of my mind for a time. Then I "did my own research" ie didn't rely on Wikipedia and bought a book!
It turns out they were not destroyed on the ground, and that a couple of flights managed to scramble and then in a series of rather desperate and valiant actions claimed at least three Luftwaffe planes before being overwhelmed by Bf110s.
So I now have a new, interesting and viable Squadron to model in Blood Red Skies. Where are the pictures I hear you ask?
Err the problem is, noone makes a model, or as far as I can see, even a viable .stl file. I'm regularly but gently badgering Roman Troyen of PlanePrinter fame, but this far my cries have fallen on deaf ears, which is a travesty of justice when you think he makes all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff. Ah well, until he get's around to it, it will have to be an unfulfilled dream.........
Hmm Anglo - Iraq war of 1941.........................
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