- Corgi is a premier line of diecast products that feature aircraft, trucks, tanks emergency vehicles and buses that has been producing models for over 50 years..
- The Aviation Archive is a range of high quality detailed die-cast model aircraft. Each model comes complete with an individually numbered Certificate of Authenticity detailing the significant history or each aircraft..
- Pose model in flight on display stand included with the model with fixed undercarriage..
- This 1:48th scale airplane includes detailed crew figure(s), fixed undercarriage, fine rigging detail, rotatable propeller(s)/ rotor(s) and wood grain effect propeller..
- A great gift for a buff and perfect to display on a shelf or desk..
German High Command instructed its aircraft manufacturers to
develop a new kind of plane, one which was intended to hunt other
airplanes and cl superiority of the skies. The result of that
search was the Fokker Eindecker, a mono wing fighter aircraft
which represented the very pinnacle of aviation technology at
that time, incorporating all the flight research data designers
had managed to amass and utilizing all the very latest
technological advances in aviation. With the ability to fire its
machine through the arc of the propeller by using a clever
interrupter gear mechanism, all the Eindecker's pilot had to do
was the nose of his aircraft in the direction of his target
and fire, something of a revolutionary concept in aviation, but
one which wasn't as simple as this description suggests. The
Eindecker was still rather primitive and relatively underpowered,
making their pilots true pioneers in their craft. Early Eindecker
pilots were effectively writing the rules of aerial combat as
they attempted to control the skies and with each hunting unit
usually being allocated three or four of the new fighters, they
were still quite an exclusive group of airmen. Relegated to
non-combat and reserve roles by 1917, the Fokker Eindecker would
also be used by the first fighter pilots of the Austro-Hungarian
and Turkish air forces during the Great War. Growing up in
Munich, a young Ernst Udet was fascinated by the subject of
aviation from an early age and would spend much of his free time
doing whatever jobs he could at the local aircraft manufacturing
company, whilst also helping to establish the Munich Aero-club.
He was finally able to make his first powered flight with a test
pilot from the aerodrome where he used to help out, but not
before he had almost killed himself attempting to fly a glider he
and his friends had built themselves. Following the start of WWI,
Udet applied to join the German Army, but standing just 5ft 3 ins
tall was told that he didn't qualify. He would later use his
motorcycle riding skills to gain a position in a
dispatch riding unit, but following an accident where he was
thrown from the motorcycle as it ran over a shell crater,
required a period of extensive recouperation. During his return
to , Udet befriended some men who were assigned to a flying
unit and convinced him to apply for pilot training, but after a
couple of disappointments, discovered that the only way to
guarantee acceptance in the Imperial German Air Service was to
hold a civilian pilots licence. Immediately returning home and to
the aerodrome a test pilot there agreed to teach him, but at his
own expense and on receipt of his licence was finally successful
with his application to join the Air Force. His initial posting
was as pilot in a reconnaissance squadron, flying spotting and
artillery ranging missions with his assigned observer. He would
be awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class for flying his damaged
aircraft back to his home airfield following the failure of a
wing brace anchor and with his observer on the wing, holding the
wing together, but was later placed under arrest for recklessly
overloading his aircraft with fuel and bombs when attempting to
attack the enemy. When asked to observe an early bombing mission
on his return to duty, where bombs were simply thrown from the
cockpit of attacking aircraft, Udet impressed his commander by
basically flying aerobatics in one of these primitive
aircraft, in an attempt to dislodge a bomb stuck in the
undercarriage of his aircraft. On landing, he was immediately
recommended for retraining as a fighter pilot. Udet's
introduction as a fighter pilot proved to be just as eventful as
his reconnaissance posting. Flying a Fokker Eindecker, he chose
to ignore combat instructions and attack a French aircraft head
on and as the two aircraft closed at speed, Udet inexplicably
froze. The French airman did not miss his rtunity and fired
on the German aircraft, with a bullet grazing Udet's cheek and
shattering his flying goggles, but failing to score a decisive
victory. Udet escaped this encounter relatively unscathed, but
resolved to never give his nent such a chance again and to
always fly decisively and aggressively when in combat, perfecting
his fighting style and to become an ace airman at the earliest
rtunity. It is thought that Udet may have scored his first
aerial victory whilst flying Fokker Eindecker E.III 105/15 in
March 1916, the aircraft we have modelled here and on landing, he
was immediately promoted to the rank of Vizefeldwebel. Ernst Udet
would quickly demonstrate his flying prowess and made good on the
promise he made to himself. With his victory tally standing at
20, he was visited by a rather famous flying celebrity, a man who
wanted him to join his celebrated Flying Circus, and when you are
approached by a man such as Manfred von Richthofen, you
definitely don't decline such an rtunity. Having witnessed
Udet shooting down an Allied artillery spotter during their first
combat sortie, interestingly by performing a frontal attack
similar to the one where he was almost killed, von Richthofen
immediately gave his new recruit command of his old squadron,
Jasta 11 and he would not regret the faith he showed in him. Udet
would end the war with 62 confirmed victories, the most
successful Great War air ace to survive the conflict and second
only in number to the great von Richthofen himself.