I thought we looked at their officer - as an ersatz
boat/landing-craft commander - way back at the start of the Blog (but can't find the post/image), these
are the other three, issued with a large, box scale (approximately 60mm/1:30?)
polystyrene model kit of the RAF's air[field]-defence Bristol (BAC) Bloodhound
missile by Frog-Penguin (Triang-Lines subsidiary) and apparently
manufactured for them by Poplar
Playthings.
I don't know if there is any empirical
evidence for the link, but PW have interviewed some of those concerned and they
certainly have some of the same 'hallmarks', the flat, baseless feet being an
obvious link with the Thomas/Poplar
Spacemen, Cowboys & Indians and Romans, the large size and clumsily-casual,
or laid-back posing being another link with the latter charioteers, although these guys are chunkier.
Described as being "Accurately detailed from official prints"
- referring, presumably, to the missile - the crew figures actually look more
like members of Dan Dare's space
police than any RAF 'erks I've met.
Picture: Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bristol_Bloodhound_missile.jpg
I remember coming into RAF Wildenrath half a
lifetime ago and seeing dozens of Bloodhounds out of the window in batteries of
maybe 6, arranged all around the end of the runway and out through the fields
to the tree-line, not white, or silver or any of the colour-schemes you see
them wearing in both old books and modern museums, but matt green and black,
like squat little Dalek combat-stations!
No comments:
Post a Comment