Having a rainy day is a great incentive to start building what I bought seven months ago.
One thing Airfix did was to provide us with clear instructions.
Some cockpit parts are delicate, and I broke part C21 when I removed it from the sprue. Luckily it won’t show.
The rest of the assembly was easy except for installing part D28.
Installing parts D20 and D21 was a breeze.
Next time on My Forgotten Hobby, Step 12 which I already did taking advantage of a sleeping cat…
I know that the best way to start a build is to lay it all out on the table…
In my case it’s on the kitchen table.
Then I just have to wait for the dopamine to kick in… or a cat to drop by?
Updated 8 August 2020
Where was I the last time when I finished my last build?
Building Monogram 1/48 scale SBD Dauntless.
Where was I?
I had found all about Gérard Pelletier, a French-Canadian air gunner, who is still missing since September 3rd, 1942.
Then I bought some model kits…
And I created a blog about RAF 264 Squadron, and along the way finding a new addictive hobby…
Colorising photos!
Avro Anson
A mail carrier B-17 with the RCAF
Learning more about Buzz Beurling
More on these 425 Alouette Squadron airmen
About a postwar Mosquito in Canada
More 425 Alouette Squadron airmen
Ground crew posing with a RCAF 410 Squadron Defiant based at RAF Drem
A French-Canadian fighter pilot Joseph Desloges who took part in the Battle of Britain.
A modified painting of a BCATP Fairey Battle
Two well-known RAF 264 Squadron pilot and air gunner
Pilots with RCAF 416 Squadron
425 Alouette Squadron (September 1944)
Buzz Beurling’s friend
Gordon McKenzie Hill, a RCAF 416 Squadron pilot
A Fleet Finch stationed at No.4 EFTS Windsor Mills, Quebec
Fleet Finches stationed at No.4 EFTS Windsor Mills, Quebec (1940)
A Typhoon pilot
Gordon McKenzie Hill, a RCAF 416 Squadron pilot
425 Alouette Squadron Handley Page Halifax III
Laurent Lamontagne, a friend’s father
Jean-Paul Corbeil and Pierre Gauthier with 425 Alouette (May 1944)
“Tush” Laviolette (425 Squadron)
LAC Leslie Scott
P-40
Prang!
Sergeant Gérard Pelletier
Squadron Leader Chadburn (416 Squadron)
A Tiger Moth stationed at No.4 EFTS Windsor Mills, Quebec
Tiger Moths stationed at No.4 EFTS Windsor Mills, Quebec
Hawker Typhoon
Picture colorised for Clarence Simonsen to be used for an upcoming research.
Where was I the last time when I finished my last build?
I thought you would never ask!
Next time…
Spoiler here about Bill Moncur…
I am having my second cup of coffee.
I was not sure about the name of the airman on the left.
Bill Moncur ? and Johnnie Horan
The Boys of “624” at Dispersal
So very little information about Bill Moncur ? on the Internet unless Bill becomes William.
And then…?
Then a door opens just a little on the Internet…
In French!
Les 14 Français à avoir participé à la bataille d’Angleterre sont:
Pierre Blaise,
Henri Bouquillard,
Yves Brière,
Maurice Choron,
Jean Demozay,
Emile Fayolle,
Charles Guérin,
François de Labouchère,
Henri Lafont,
William Moncur,
Xavier de Montbron,
René Mouchotte,
Georges Perrin,
Phillippe de Scitivaux.
Les autres n’ont pas pris part aux 114 jours de combat, ils se trouvaient pour la plupart dans des unités d’entraînement.
Then, the same information pops up again in 2006.
Almost 11 years ago!
LISTE DES PILOTES FRANÇAIS AYANT PARTICIPÉ À LA BATAILLE D’ANGLETERRE (Affectés entre le 9 septembre et le 31 octobre 1940)
Didier Beghin : affecté au squadron 245 le 15 octobre 1940. Tué le 26 novembre 1944 au-dessus de la Hollande. Compagnon de la Libération.
Pierre Blaize : squadron 111. Tué en opérations aériennes le 14 avril 1941.
Yves Brière : affecté au squadron 232 le 14 septembre 1940. Tué en opérations aériennes le 13 mai 1941.
Henri Bouquillard : affecté au squadron 245 le 12 septembre 1940. Tué en opérations aériennes le 11 mars 1941. Il fut le premier Compagnon de la Libération des FAFL.
Maurice Choron : affecté au squadron 64 le 11 octobre 1940. Disparu en opérations aériennes le 10 avril 1942. Trois victoires homologuées et cinq probables. Compagnon de la Libération.
Jean-François Demozay : squadron 1. Colonel à la fin de la guerre. DSO (Distinguished service order et DFC and bar (Distinguished flying cross). Vingt-deux victoires. Tué en service aérien le 19 décembre 1945. Compagnon de la Libération.
François Fayolle : affecté au squadron 85 (celui de Peter Townsend) le 12 septembre 1940. Disparu le 19 août 1942 lors du débarquement de Dieppe à la tête du squadron 174. (Compagnon de la Libération. DFC.
Charles Guérin : affecté au sqadron 232 le 14 septembre 1940. Tué en opérations aériennes le 3 mai 1941.
François de La bouchère : affecté au squadron 85 le 12 septembre 1940. Disparu en opérations aériennes le 5 septembre 1942. Compagnon de la Libération. DFC.
Henri Lafont : affecté au squadron 245 le 11 septembre 1940. Colonel (ER).
Xavier de Montbon : affecté au squadron 64 le 16 septembre 1940. Tué en service aérien en 1949.
René Mouchotte : affecté au squadron 245 le 11 septembre 1940. Disparu en opérations aériennes le 27 août 1943 comme commandant du groupe de chasse « Alsace ». Compagnon de la Libération. DFC.
Georges Perrin : affecté au squadron 615 le 19 septembre 1940. Capitaine (ER).
Philippe de Scitivaux : affecté au squadron 245 le 16 octobre 1940. Il commanda le groupe de chasse « Île de France ». Vice-amiral d’escadre en retraite.
William Moncur (?) : affecté au squadron 65 le 14 octobre 1940.
This message from Jean-Christian B. was left on a forum on December 2nd, 2006 at 16:35, in Colmar, France. He couldn’t have invented something like that.
There has to be some truth in all this.
So last night I had to check it out in the Operations Record Books of 264 Squadron. Sergeant W Moncur flew with Sergeant J Horan after Michael Lister Haigh was transferred from 264 Squadron.
Source 264 Squadron Website
This would explain why Flight Sergeant Gerard Pelletier took that picture with a caption.
Bill Moncur and Johnnie Horan
Sergeant Moncur was most certainly that Free French pilot in World War Two who fought in the Battle of Britain with probably 65 Squadron according to unverified sources.
What I have verified though is that he flew Boulton Paul Defiant in 1941 and 1942 with John Horan as an air gunner, and later flew Mosquitos with his navigator Woodruff in 1943 and 1944 after 624 converted to Mosquitos…
All this information was found in the Operations Record Books of 264 Squadron.
Unknown, Bubbles Chandler, Bill Moncur, Fred Pelham, Johnnie Horan
Have you read the spoiler here about Bill Moncur?
Updated 7 July 2022
Will there be a i?
Looks like it doesn’t it?
This is what’s in the box.
I was a bit afraid to open it yesterday…LMF?
Lack of moral fiber?
Edward Rowland “Ted” Thorn and air gunner Fred Barker (source Internet)
I did not know what LMF was when I was a 10 year-old back in 1958 looking at model airplanes in the display window of a men’s store.
60 years later I know how these brave men must have felt aboard a Boulton Paul Defiant Mk. I. I know also that the Mk. II had some little problems to be ironed out. I read it in the Operations Record Book of RAF 264 Squadron.
I learn a lot reading those. Like what these unsung heroes did, seen here in Gérard Pelletier’s photo album.
The Boys at “264” Dispersal
Sergeant Fred Barker DFM and Bar
Bill Moncur and Johnnie Horan
Flight Sergeant Pelletier and Bill Moncur
Chandler, Rose, and Johnson
Mike and Tony Stuart
John Trigg
Edward Rowland “Ted” Thorn
Fred Pelham
Dan Corser and Ginger Lauder
You will understand why I won’t be building model kits for a little while yet even though the temptation is there to start building.
The price was so right at $32 CAN that I bought two.
Royal Mail has just delivered two yesterday. I will have to fetch them at the post office later today.
What will I be getting?
Something that caught my attention in the background of this photo taken by Flight Sergeant Gerard Pelletier when he was stationed at West Malling with 264 Squadron.
It will make a nice addition to the diorama I will be building for Gerard Pelletier’s niece.
Why buy two?
Because I bought one to go along with the second Airfix Defiant I got in the mailbox yesterday.
I found this article in the Ottawa Journal, dated September 15, 1942. I thought I would find there more information about Flight Sergeant Gerard Pelletier.
Collection Flight Sergeant Gerard Pelletier
A veteran of many air sweep over Germany and France, and a member of the first class of wireless air gunners to see service in England, Flight Sgt. J. Gerard Pelletier, RCAF, 24, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. S Pelletier, 914 King Edward Ave., is reported missing and believed killed in air operations overseas. An only son, he was an airman who took part in a raid on St. Nazaire last March and was severely injured on his return when he had to bail out of his flaming plane in England at a height of 800 feet. His parachute billowed open only 80 feet off the ground and both his shoulders were broken when he struck the ground. “His pilot was killed… We didn’t think he would fly much after that”, said his father, J..S. Pelletier, senior clerk at the Ottawa postal terminal, “and he said he wouldn’t. He didn’t want us to worry.” Flight. Sgt Pelletier, who attended Ottawa University, was a member of the first wireless air gunner class at No. 1 station, Toronto. He trained as a student pilot at St Catharines and went to Jarvis as an air gunner and a Sergeant Pilot. He went overseas in February of 1941 with the first contingent and was first attached to the RAF – later transferring to the RCAF. On September 7 his family in Ottawa received a cable informing them that he was missing and believed killed on September 3.
Collection Flight Sergeant Gerard Pelletier
RAF Drem
March 1942
Collection Flight Sergeant Gerard Pelletier
As a footnote
Flight Sergeant Gerard Pelletier was injured on March 26, 1942.
Only his left shoulder was broken on March 26, 1942.
Collection Flight Sergeant Gerard Pelletier
Flight Sergeant Gerard Pelletier never took part in the raid on St. Nazaire which occurred on March 28, 1942.
Updated 13 December 2020
Are we too nostalgic about our hobby?
Westmount Hobby Shop was where I went in the mid 1960s. The owner was probably in his late sixties or early seventies. I don’t recall his name. I wish I could remember. It was so long ago.
Nothing about Westmount Hobby Shop on Google except this comment left on a Website by Tony in 2003…
Welcome aboard, Pat. I grew up in Montreal, in Westmount. There used to be a good hobby store on Victoria Bl named Westmount Hobby Shop. Probably long gone now. I’ve been living in Southern California since 1959, and this is Hobby Shop Heaven. Enjoy the site; there are lots of great modeling categories here.
Tony Ryan
I bought many of my model kits there as well as documentation to go along. And boy did I buy documentation there! Hundreds of Profile Publications… this is one of the lot.
All of the Camouflage & Markings series…with this one.
Little did I know back in the 1960s that the set was being staged for this!
Westmount Hobby Shop was on Sherbrooke Street, not Victoria Boulevard. Am I too nostalgic about my hobby?
Unsung heroes
You won’t find their names in history books. On some Websites maybe…
http://www.aircrewremembered.com/haines-frank-ernest.html
How all this research started is something to be told. Negatives that we never printed sitting in a box for 75 years. I don’t have all the details for now, but I believe this story has to be shared on My Forgotten Hobby.
I never thought I would buy another model kit. The temptation was too great when Flight Gerard Pelletier’s niece shared more than 200 images from negatives she scanned last year.
I just could not resist trying to find who were on these pictures and where they were taken.
I believe I have a good idea starting by who was this pilot seen so many times in the collection of Flight Sergeant Gerard Pelletier.
Flight Sergeant Gerard Pelletier
Flight Sergeant Gerard Pelletier is missing since September 3, 1942. He survived on March 26, 1942 when Sergeant Frank Haines told him to bale out of the plane.
Accident report…
Sergeant Frank Ernest Haines did not survived.
My Forgotten Hobby 