Manufacturer: Hasegawa
Scale: 1/72
Additional parts: none
Model build: Jun-Aug 2018
Arado P71 Ente
Hasegawa
1/72
1/72
Duck hunt
Captain Hans Steinauer gripped the control stick, knuckles white. The Arado P71 vibrated beneath him, a sleek, unfamiliar beast straining at the leash. Unlike the familiar Messerschmitt he usually flew, the P71 had a radical design – a smaller canard wing jutting ahead of the main one. It looked ungainly on the ground, but wind tunnel tests promised incredible agility at high altitudes.
Today was the day to put theory to the test. April 25th, 1945. The war was a dying gasp, the Reich in ruins. Yet, Hans and his wingman, Lieutenant Franz Schmidt, were tasked with taking up two prototype P71s on a "routine" test flight over the North Sea. Routine felt like a bad joke. Intel suggested a large formation of British bombers might be heading for the Wangerooge island bunkers.
As they roared down the runway at Rechlin, the P71 surprised Hans. The canard design, initially touchy, now responded beautifully. The fighter climbed like a startled panther, leaving the familiar Me 262s trailing in the dust. Reaching cruising altitude, Hans’ radio crackled. A frantic voice reported a massive bomber raid approaching Wangerooge. Routine was officially out the window.
"Schmitt, stay with me!" Hans barked, eyes scanning the horizon. A shiver ran down his spine. There, glinting in the distance, a tight formation of Lancasters, their boxy shapes unmistakable. Below them, Mosquito fighter-bombers danced like gnats. Adrenaline surged through Hans. This was it. Their baptism by fire, in an untested plane.
With a battle cry that echoed only in his own head, Hans dove. The P71 shrieked in protest as he pushed it beyond its designed limits. He weaved in and out of the lumbering Lancasters, his four 30mm cannons spitting fire. One Lancaster shuddered, smoke billowing from a punctured engine. It peeled away, doomed.
Schmidt, ever the steady hand, picked off another Lancaster with a surgical burst. The remaining bombers scattered in panic. But the victory was far from over. The agile Mosquitos were on them in a flash. Hans fought like a man possessed, the P71 surprisingly maneuverable in the dogfight. He blasted one Mosquito into oblivion, the fireball a grim reminder of the stakes.
Suddenly, a searing pain ripped through his arm. The cockpit filled with acrid smoke. His P71 was leaking fuel, a Mosquito round finding its mark. With a heavy heart, Hans knew he was done. "Franz," he rasped into the radio, "get out of here! Save yourself!"
A beat of silence, then a determined voice crackled back. "Never leaving you, Captain!"
Hans cursed. He couldn't let Franz die because of him. Spotting a sliver of coastline, he nursed the crippled P71 towards it, praying for a miracle.
The miracle arrived in the form of a well-placed burst from Franz. The last remaining Mosquito sputtered and went down in flames. Hans, his vision blurring, managed a shaky landing on the beach. He slumped over, the weight of the battle and the war finally crushing him.
He woke up in a makeshift field hospital, his arm bandaged. Franz sat beside him, a tired grin on his face. "Three Lancs, Hans," he said, a touch of awe in his voice. "And a bloody Mosquito for good measure. Not bad for a 'routine' test flight, eh?"
Hans chuckled weakly. "Not bad at all, Franz. Not bad at all."
The P71, a plane born too late, had proven its worth in the skies over the North Sea. A small victory in a vast defeat, but a victory nonetheless. And as Hans closed his eyes, he couldn't help but wonder what this extraordinary aircraft could have achieved, had it been given a chance.
As part of the German-Japanese Aircraft cooperation, Arado and Kyushu started to work on a high speed, high altitude fighter against allied bombers. Although the Luftwaffe preferred jet engines for new fighter designs, the unreliability of the early engines forced to think about alternative designs with piston engines.
After experimental work started in early 1943, deign of the Arado P71 and its Japanese counterpart, the Kyūshū J7W started in mid-1944 with the first German prototypes completed by February 1945. Struggling with the engines, the Japanese model was not ready at that time.
Even if the unusual layout - a canard wing - was tested on models and gliders before, the first flights at Rechlin showed a quite unstable flight performance at the beginning which was only solved after several smaller adjustments were made in the wing and control surface configuration.
With its four 30-mm guns in its nose, the aircraft was equally armed like the Me-262 and was a dangerous opponent for B17 or B24 bombers. Less than 20 aircraft were built until the surrender of Germany in May 1945, all of them used for test flights and evaluation.
However on one occasion on April 25, 1945, a flight of two Arado P71 - fully equipped and armed - on a test flight over the North Sea, was able to shoot down 3 British Lancaster bombers and a Mosquito during an air attack on the coastal bunkers on Wangerooge.
At the surrender of Germany, most of the planes were destroyed, only three of them were captured by allied forces (2 British, 1 American). None of those planes have survived until today.
Due to material shortages, the Japanese version made its first flight in August of 1945. Only two prototypes were built, one is now on display in the USA.
The model shows the Arado P71 "Ente" in April 1945
This is a 1/72 Hasegawa model of the Kyushu J7W1. Build OOB, it was airbrushed in Luftwaffe colors with Revell Aqua Color. Decals were taken from the spare part box, plus some of the original model.
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