Douglas P-67B Moonbat

CH-166 Comanche

Italeri, 1/48

Following the Islamic revolution in 2009 that swept through Saudi Arabia, the 14 RAH-66 Comanches on order for the Kingdom were embargoed by the US government. The Canadian armed forces had for several years been looking at supplementing their aging Bell 412 helicopters with a small force of “silver bullet” attack helicopters – the Comanche being the CAFs helicopter of choice, but the high cost of any new purchase had always stalled any attempts at a purchase.

However, Canadian defense minister Pomerleau was finally able to secure a small force of Comanches by purchasing the now surplus Saudi helicopters at cut price from Boeing who were glad to be able to sell the aircraft at little more than cost (It was the high point of the spectacular, yet short, political career of Pomerleau who had risen to Minister of Defense, only for his career to be dramatically ended after an all day “Hockey night in Canada” special (involving several crates of Molson on his behalf), when he rang the press to drunkenly inform them of his grand idea to split the Canadian Armed Forces back into its constituent parts, starting with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He might have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for his repeated references to the Detroit Deadwings and how they were “cheating cry-babies” and that they “sucked”. When his alcohol induced ramblings were played on national TV, Pomerleau was forced to resign in disgrace and a series of investigations revealed that he had been taking kickbacks from Molson Breweries in the form of crates of beer! It certainly helped explain many of his bizarre voting habits in parliament (though it should be noted that the aged Don Cherry agreed with his assessment of Detroit on the following Saturdays HNIC when he famously declared "Detroit are a bunch of cheating cry babies, eh!")

The CH-166 Comanche entered service with the Canadian Armed Forces (not RCAF, despite Pomerleaus best efforts) in 2011 and was a highly prized asset by the Canadians, particulary on the many peace-keeping missions performed by Canada throughout the world. The Comanche’s combination of blistering speed, jaw-dropping agility, stealth and advanced targeting and acquisition systems made it invaluable to their thinly stretched armed forces. The Canadian aircraft were also modified with the addition of the Projectile Approach Warning System (PAWS). 20 years of operating choppers in peacekeeping and low intensity combat situations had shown how vulnerable helicopters were to RPGs and shoulder launched SAMs launched at their rear quadrant. The PAWS system was designed to give the pilot 1 or 2 seconds warning of an incoming projectile, hopefully enough for him to take some sort of evasive action.

Of the 14 aircraft, 8 were kept on active duty based at CFB Alvis, Nova Scotia and the remaining 6 were allocated to a reserve squadron (Montreals 438 squadron "Wildcats").

In 2013 the Russian government started making threatening noises towards Finland in an attempt by the hardline communist government to revive the spirit of the old Soviet Union. Alarmed by this, Norway asked for help from NATO. Among the units deployed during the crisis were the Canadian Comanches, including the reserve aircraft, led by weekend warrior Colonel Olivier Lacombe. The Canadian contribution, under the codename Operation “Howling Mouse” saw the Comanches forward deployed at a remote location in Northern Norway, known as “Viper 29”. The helicopter shown depicts one of these Comanches in its Arctic camouflage scheme.

The kit is the Italeri 1/48 Comanche, which I received as a present from me mam a few Christmasses ago. What if old timers will know that this was meant to be my Canadarama entry, before "The Kitchen" intervened. Cockpit detail is pretty good, with a large clear canopy (2 of the panels can be posed in the open position) and a resin or EB set would really set it off. Construction is pretty straight forward and my biggest problem was eliminating the big seam line along the flat fuselage bottom. The weapons bays can be posed open, but to save time I chose to keep them closed - a decision which had the added benefit of being able to add a stack of Hellfires and Stingers to my spares box. The PAWS bulge under the fuselage was found in the spares box and the Mast Mounted Sight (MMS) came from an Italeri 1/72 KA-52 chin turret.

Following priming with good old Halfords Grey Primer, several coats of Aeromaster acrylic US Forest Green was brush painted on. Then Halfords white primer was sprayed on using blue tack rolls as a mask to provide a nice soft demarcation line. The decals came from the Italeri 1/72 Hercules.

I'm pretty happy with the kit - its typical Italeri really - no Tamigawa, but it is cheap and cheerful. It depicts an early prototype, so is already out of date regarding accuracy eg no MMS and the tail config has been changed on the real thing. It also only includes 1 decal option for an overall dark green prototype. BORING!!! As a result of depicting the original prototype and the unispiring colour option on offer it lends itself perfectly to what-iffing. And on top of all that, the Comanche is an outstanding helicopter. A documentary I watched on Discovery Wings about the development blew me away. Its agility and speed is like nothing I've ever seen in a helicopter - it makes the Lynx look like an overweight Chinook! We're talking about a chopper that can fly sideways at 70 knots! If you ever get the chance to see a Comanche at an airshow, make every effort to get there, you won't be disapointed!

Page created November 25, 2003