Sculpted by my all time favourite sculptor Mike Owen this little chap was a treat to paint and I'm really looking forward to give his little friends a lick of paint.
For all of you beeing interested in old planes there was one just above my roof-deck today.
She is a restaurated Junkers Ju-52 of the Lufthansa. She was built 1936 in the Junkers plants in Dessau and had her maiden flight the same year. First employed by the Lufthansa she later alternately flew as well in Germany as in Norway for almost 20 years. In 1955 she was to be put out of service in Norway.
As she was to big for a museum in Oslo she was sold to South-America and there she flew from 1957 till 1963 in Equador. There, at the airport of Quito she was all but forgotten and left to stand out in the open exposed to the weather. In 1969 she was saved by an American plane enthusiast. Later known as "Iron Annie" she was to be seen on flight shows all over the U.S.A. before she was to be purchased by the Lufthansa again in 1984. In troublesome detail work she was restaurated before she took to the air again in 1986 (Source: http://www.dlbs.de/de/Die-Flotte/Junkers-JU-52/index.php)
In summer she's making sightseeing flights from several German airports. So if you ever should visit Germany in the summer you'll eventually want to check out if you can have a ride on "Alte Tante Ju" (Old aunty Ju as the type of airplane was known to and loved by the German Landsers).
Thanks for watchung and hope you enjoyed!
Awesome!! That is so cool. There is something really nice about seeing and hearing the old war planes flying around!
ReplyDeleteSo true ... but those very sounds must have been terrifying back in the days of the war!
DeleteAlte Tante Ju! Amazing to see that the Grande Dame of aviation has to do about 650 planned flights in 2014. Very agile for her 80 years...But the JU-52 was a commercial airplane not a warplane (although it was constructed with the option to find use in that way) ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather (wartime pilot on a FW190) always said about the JU "rugged and reliable" so little wonder the old lady feels best in her natural element.
DeleteBeautiful figure Nick! I'll have to check the Lead Adventure Forum to have a look.
DeleteFantastic post on the Ju-52 as well! I find the pictures rather haunting actually.
I think several thousand Spaniards of Guernica would pointedly argue with Opa's assertion that the Ju-52 was a commercial airplane and not a warplane since it was used extensively as a bomber during the Spanish Civil War (and was even pressed into service as a bomber against Warsaw in 1939).
Super pictures - you can't mistake the sound of some of these old aircraft - it always makes you look up! Then you do the 'double take' and think... no, it can't be...! Great that they are still flying :)
ReplyDeleteNice figure too!
Very nice figure Nick and it must have been fun watching the plane fly!
ReplyDeleteChristopher
Great looking mini and nice pics!
ReplyDeleteA very nice miniature, and excellent paint
ReplyDeleteLovely painting!
ReplyDeleteExcellent work with that figure. A beauty!
ReplyDeleteConcerning the plane:
We presented such a flight to my father when he turned 60 five years ago and it was great. Before the flight there was a lot of time to inspect the plane and take photos and during the one hour lift the pilot explained a lot about the "Tante Ju" on the one hand and the area they very flying over on the other hand. Although it wasn't cheap it was an excellent event for my father who worked at Düsseldorf Airport for about 40 years and got a certain interest in planes for that reason.
Cheers
Stefan
Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletePan exquisite offering to the GWPC. And interesting the plane is still flying!
ReplyDelete