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Zircus Rosaruis Special Missions Reviewed By Clarence E. Wentzel, #11478 |
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CED72114 - 1/72 Scale Decal from Cutting Edge $8.99 from Meteor Productions Also available CED48256, 48257 & 48258 During World War II, various allied aircraft were evaluated by the Axis powers. Some were obtained because they landed at the wrong field while others were constructed from crash-landed examples. The formal evaluation of these aircraft was assigned to Staffel 2 of the Versuchsverband Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe, a special unit with unique roles and missions. Following the basic evaluation of the aircraft, many of them were demonstrated to various front-line units in order to show the strengths and weaknesses of the Allied Fighters. Even mock dogfights were held to provide better training to the Luftwaffe pilots. The commander of Staffel 2 was Hauptmann Theodore Rosarius and the group of traveling demonstration aircraft was known as Beute-Zirkus Rosarius – the Rosarius Flying Circus. The aircraft of the Flying Circus could usually be readily recognized by the lavish application of yellow paint to the undersurfaces. The latest decals from Cutting Edge cover several aircraft of this unique group. The subject of this review is the 1/72 scale sheet that includes decals for six aircraft, a Mosquito IV B, three P-47D razorbacks and two P-51Bs. These six aircraft along with three additional models are provided on three different sheets for modelers of 1/48 scale. Cutting Edge is kind enough to provide a bibliography so that modelers can obtain additional information about the subjects. In some cases, this caused more questions about the markings. I have a copy of “Strangers in a Strange Land” which includes information on most of the aircraft on this sheet. I do not have “On Special Missions…” which may answer many of the questions that I encountered. Following are my comments and questions. Many of the captured aircraft were repainted in a dark green over yellow scheme. Cutting Edge indicates that the dark green color is RLM 74. I don’t consider myself a Luftwaffe expert but I would have thought that RLM 70 or 71, would be more readily available. It is possible that this late war color was available at the headquarters of Staffel 2 so I will defer to Cutting Edge on this one. The first aircraft is a Mosquito IV B. It is dark green and yellow with black markings of T9+XB. This will make a good-looking model. The second aircraft is a P-47D, also in dark green and yellow with black markings of T9+FK. “Strangers…” shows this aircraft as OD and Neutral Gray with a yellow tail. Also, the T9 markings were white. A small photo in the book shows this aircraft which indicates the white T9 marking. It also shows a very bright landing gear door and a smooth, dark upper surface. I would feel comfortable using the Cutting Edge scheme except that I would use the white T9 that is provided for one of the Mustangs. The third and sixth aircraft are P-51B Mustangs. The first one is natural metal with a partial red nose stripe and yellow undersurface and tail with the black markings of T9+HK while the other Mustang is dark green and yellow with white and black markings of T9+CK. “Strangers…” show a profile of the first plane with a complete red nose stripe but a photo in the book indicates that Cutting Edge are correct. The yellow undersurface covers the bottom of the stripe. With regard to T9+CK, the book indicates that this aircraft was initially OD with yellow undersurfaces and tail and white/black markings. It then had the OD stripped leaving it in natural metal and yellow with just an OD anti-glare panel and black markings. I can’t find any photos of this aircraft so I have no conclusions regarding which way to go. The Cutting Edge scheme looks good, however, and if the Germans could strip the paint on the airplane, they could also repaint it in dark green. The remaining two schemes cover a P-47 named “Beetle”, flown by 2nd Lt. William E. Roach. In November of 1943, Lt. Roach made the mistake of landing at the Luftwaffe base at Caen, France. The Germans quickly captured the aircraft and covered the American insignia with German markings on the wings and fuselage. They also added high visibility paint to the nose and (maybe) rudder. This airplane was extensively tested. In early 1944, “Beetle” was again repainted in American markings to star in a propaganda film. Cutting Edge provides markings for “Beetle” as it landed at the German airfield and then as it was quickly repainted in German markings. Per “Strangers…”, the markings of the airplane as it landed included a white nose stripe, a cartoon “Beetle” on both sides of the nose, white ID markings of YF*U, yellow serial number 222490 and national insignia with red surrounds. Cutting Edge agrees with this but also add a white stripe across the rudder/fin. No photos profess to show “Beetle” as it landed so I am not sure which way to go. There is a photo of the crashed airplane of Lt. Roach’s flight leader that does show a rudder/fin stripe plus white stripes above and below the horizontal stabilizers. Photos that are stated to show the airplane as repainted for the propaganda film do include the white stripes. I would probably believe the author of the book. He must have had some information that caused him to specifically state that the white stripes were absent from Lt. Roach’s plane. The scheme of “Beetle” with German markings also has questions. “Strangers…” indicates that the nose featured a red nose ring and red upper and lower cowl panels. Cutting Edge shows a yellow nose ring and yellow lower cowl panel. Cutting Edge also indicate that the rudder was painted yellow and that dark green was used to paint out the US national insignia and serial number prior to adding German markings. A photo in the book shows “Beetle” from the front and the color looks very light. I would go with the Cutting Edge color but I would also include a yellow upper cowl panel. This is very apparent in photos. I would also go with the yellow fin – a photo seems to indicate this – and the dark green marking over-painting sounds logical. 1/72-scale decals for “Beetle” have previously been produced by Three Guys Replicas. Their directions show a yellow nose ring, rudder and upper and lower cowl panels. The “Beetle” cartoon is significantly more detailed with the Cutting Edge decal making it worth while adding this sheet to your collection even if you have the previous decal. I love unique marking schemes and will be adding one or more of “Zirkus Rosarius” aircraft to my collection. I have used Cutting Edge decals in the past and have always found them to be thin, opaque and they readily snuggle down into surface details. Cutting Edge use two part decals for swastikas and fuel symbols when necessary to ensure proper register plus they include several small added sections of the national insignias where they cover the P-47 supercharger vents. A good looking full color instruction sheet is provided with partial wing views showing all decal placements. This decal sheet is well recommended. Please take my comments above as the opinion of a person with too many idiosyncrasies. If I hadn’t read the book, I would have jumped at the decal sheet just as it is with glee. I love the sheet and will probably build a P-47 and a P-51 with these markings. A big thanks to Cutting Edge for providing this very interesting decal sheet for review and for continuing to produce a number of very interesting decals in 1/72 scale as well as 1/48. Thanks also to John Noack for allowing me to have the fun of digging through various books and magazines to complete this review. Final note, Prior to submitting this review, I discussed my critique with Tom Tullis who was involved in the development of the decal. He indicated that the book “On Special Missions…” is very adamant on the RLM 74 so they followed that recommendation. He also said that apparently the Germans painted “Beetle” in stages and one of them included only a yellow lower cowl panel. Finally, he agreed that the T9 on the P-47 should probably be white. |
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