DeHavilland DH4 RNAS 212 Squadron

New tooling sees this WWI bi-plane in 1:72 scale, a replica of the two seater bi-plane day bomber designed by Geoffrey De Havilland and manufactured by Airco. It took its first flight in August 1916 and between production in Britain and then the USA, over 5000 aircraft were produced before its retirement in 1932. It entered service in 1917 for use by the RFC and saw action in Northern France and Italy. The DH4 was also flown by the RNAS/RAF on coastal patrols and it is one of the aircraft used in this role that is the subject of this version of the model. Our model is painted with dark green upper wings and buff coloured underwings, complete with the RFC roundels and red, white and blue tail markings. The two separate ? and quite widely spaced - cockpits also have buff coloured interiors and the rear cockpit houses a single machine gun. The front fuselage is painted in grey, with the rear taking on the same colour as the upper wings and finished with white banding. It is interesting to note that these aircraft were in real life quite flimsy, initially manufactured with wooden frames and a canvas covering, although later refinements saw them with steel frames. On the plus side, they had Rolls-Royce engines!