The English Electric Canberra was developed during the late 40's as a successor to the very successful de Havilland Mosquito. Utilizing the new jet engine it was developed as a medium bomber. It became very popular for it's high altitude capabilities and was used widely across the world in no less than 17 countries. It also had roles as tactical bomber and photographic and electronic reconnaissance. Mainly produced in Britain it was also manufactured under license in both Australia and USA. The first planes were put into service in 1951 and a few is still in service in the USA.
Sweden bought two for use as secret electronic reconnaissance planes giving them type assignment as Tp52 (Tp for transport). Both are still in Sweden, one on display at Flygvapenmuseet in Linköping, Sweden and the other as Svedinos Bil & Flygumuseum in Ugglarp, Sweden. Both aircraft has been on display outdoors for decades and are in dire need of restoration. Below are pictures of both.
There is currently only one kit available in this scale. It's the Canberra from Airfix. It has a few years to it and has some drawbacks but it's the only one. You can read my review of the kit here. If you want to build the Swedish version there is a nose conversion from Maestro Models available.
While building the Swedish Canberra I needed reference pictures. I searched for pictures from both museums with the Canberras but without success. However I found some aircraft pictures from Svedinos Bil & Flygmuseum at http://hangflygning.se but not of the Canberra. So I contacted the blog owner, Mats Strömberg, and asked if he had any pictures of the Canberra. He returned and said "Alas no" and that Svedinos had closed for the season.
But then he contacted me again and told me that he had managed to talk himself into the closed museum and taken pictures of the Canberra and that he would send these to me. What a nice man! So, with Mats approval, I make these available here for you model builders. There is a lot of detail pictures and I have not spared you any. |