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'Above all, Unseen'
The "Photo Recce SIG"
was only formed in June of 2006, started by myself as a
means of getting to display my little collection of models
at SMW 2006!, but at the same time to try and publicise what
I have always felt was a little known subject, which I have
always found surprising as the main reason military aviation
started, was to "see over the hill" in front of the Army.
Most Air Forces started primarily as observation forces,
before developing into what we now see.
The SIG has half a dozen members, but we have yet to exhibit
as a group, the first time will probably be at SMW 2006. The
SIG is about all forms of aerial reconnaissance, not only
photographic, as obviously technology has progressed beyond
the camera with a film in it.
My own collection started primarily with my interest in one
version of the Supermarine Spitfire, the PR XIX. I have
always felt that it was (and is) the best looking of all the
versions to have flown, being unencumbered by cannons
sticking out of the wings or bombs underneath, painted a
beautiful pale blue, flying high, fast and alone far over
enemy territory, the pilots having to contend with cold
temperatures, the danger of anoxia, all the while trying to
photograph something 5-6 miles beneath them, oh, and avoid
getting shot down at the same time…There's was a
difficult and dangerous job, at the edges of the technology
at the time, in many respects, that continued to be the case
for many years afterwards.
In my efforts to research the aircraft, I came to discover
that there was no kit of it, as such, and I learnt a lot
about the subject. The model collection then started to
diversify with many of the earlier PR aircraft being
included, until I eventually arrived at a collection of all
the PR Spitfires, and then added Mosquitoes, another iconic
aircraft that performed Photo Recce, indeed the first and
last Mosquito operational flights, although some ten years
apart, were both PR flights. Since then I have added models
of the lesser known "prop" Recce aircraft that the RAF have
used, De Havilland Hornet, and strangely enough a North
American Mitchell along with a Hurricane. My plans for the
future, are the RAF jet PR aircraft, Meteors, Canberra's,
Swifts, Hunters and eventually the more modern types such as
The Phantom, Jaguars and Tornados, after that..I think I'll
have a go at the "unmanned aerial vehicles" that today fly
over such places as Afghanistan yet are "flown" by a pilot
in Nevada….How the world has changed.
The other SIG members, so far seem to have models of more
modern types such as Phantoms, Banshees, Crusaders and WW II
aircraft, hopefully in the future we shall add to the
diversity of aircraft, but it's early days, come and have a
look at us!
Our displays will not only focus upon the aircraft models
but also the subject as a whole. The men, and women, behind
the operations, the squadrons, the technology, and the
untold tales of Photo Recce. We have come across lots of
reference material in our research, and would like to share
this with fellow interested modellers.
I have often heard the cry that "Fighters make headlines, it
was the bombers that make history!", well I would have to
respond along the lines of, None of them would have known
where to go if it hadn't been for a Recce Pilot, going in
front of them ...
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