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Westland Lysander Model Aeroplane WW2

oldMohawk

oldMohawk

gone but not forgotten
Looking through a box of my old photos today I found this photo which shows a model of a Westland Lysander which my dad built during the early years of WW2. He worked at the Castle Bromwich Spitfire factory helping to build Spitfires but in the evenings after clearing the kitchen table, he used to work on the model as I sat watching him. I think my life long interest in aviation was started from then. Like most model aircraft of those times it was powered by strands of elastic which were wound up by turning the propeller. My dad must have suspended the model from the clothes line and took the photo with our old 'box-brownie' camera.
Dadsplane.jpg
 
old Mohawk, did he design it himself, or was it from a kit. it looks very good and it obviously flies which is the main purpose. I have completed many kit models of WW2 a/c but they were static display models that is non flying. Eric
 
Hi Eric, I think he built it from his own design because it was in wartime and stocks of kits were running out. One problem was getting decent elastic for the power because with none being produced only old stocks were available. Winding the propeller was a tense time and I remember one occasion when the elastic broke and flailed about inside the fuselage causing considerable damage. As far as I remember it never flew because it really needed a model aero engine which were unobtainable at the time. He did build a model of a Defiant but the amyl acetate dope was unobtainable and he could not shrink the tissue cover.

His first kit plane was the Pirate from Keilcraft with a Mills .75cc engine, all bought from the Aerodrome shop in Temple Row.. We took it to Sutton Park, filled up the tank started the engine and it climbed in circles to disappear in the sky above us never to be seen again.
Phil
 
I remember that shop in Temple Row, bought many a kit there, cannot remember when it closed, more recently have used Bob's Models in Sheldon but that has now closed, think its the competition from the internet, much wider choice and usually cheaper, shame though. Looking at your pic I thought the model was actually airborne. Eric
 
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