19 January 2023
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Corgi Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 - Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary
As Britain prepared to mark the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain in the early summer of 2015, the RAF was determined that any tribute would be a particularly impressive one. Under a cloak of relative secrecy, but soon to delight aviation enthusiasts everywhere, Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 ZK349 emerged from the paint shops at RAF Coningsby, in Lincolnshire, wearing very different markings to the standard grey scheme worn by the rest of the squadron. This commemorative tribute aircraft was finished in a representation of a 1940 Fighter Command Battle of Britain scheme and RAF officials proudly announced that it would also be performing a synchro pair display routine with one of the BBMF's Spitfires at several airshows that summer.
The markings were a representation of the scheme worn by Hawker Hurricane Mk.I P3576 of No.249 Squadron, the mount of Flight Lieutenant James Brindley Nicolson on 16th August 1940, the day on which he would be awarded Fighter Command's only Victoria Cross of World War II. Wearing the same GN-A fuselage codes as Nicholson's Hurricane and displaying his personal Red Devil emblem under the cockpit canopy, this Typhoon immediately became something of an airshow phenomenon and was simply referred to as "GiNA" by Britain's army of besotted enthusiasts. Doing much for RAF public relations and recruitment numbers, this beautiful Typhoon definitely became the most popular individual RAF aircraft of the modern era.
As the latest incarnation of these classic air defence fighters, the Eurofighter Typhoon is an incredibly capable fourth-generation combat aircraft, and one which is the product of a collaborative programme between the UK, Germany Italy and Spain, with the Royal Air Force currently having around 150 examples of the aircraft in service. An aircraft which is still being continually upgraded, the Typhoon has matured into a true multi-role combat aircraft and one which is likely to be in service for at least another 20 years, by which time it will have been wearing the roundel of the Royal Air Force for almost 40 years.
As with all modern releases in Corgi's Aviation Archive range, an incredible amount of research has gone into this model. This is clear to see in the amount of detailing throughout, all finished off with the stunning retrospective livery perfectly applied. Although there is one area that you might have already noticed that is not quite correct. The cockpit interior should be black, not grey. So our sample has been moved to the workbench for a little refettling in due course. We'll report on this in due course.
But don't let that put you off acquiring what is a truly spectacular piece of miniature engineering by the design and production teams at Corgi. With extra parts supplied to enable you to display this on the supplied stand with the undercarriage retracted in 'in flight' mode, or 'wheels down' for static display, there is also some weaponry supplied for underside mounting.
Other features of note are the positionable forward canard wings, the deployable air brake (not shown, but it's the hinged panel on top of the fuselage immediately behind the cockpit that is pushed upwards by a hydraulic ram for landing), and the interchangeable engine exhaust thrust-vectoring nozzles. The image to the left has the parts fitted to display the nozzles fully open and the image above shows the tapered nozzles fitted.
Corgi's first large-scale release of the mighty Typhoon is truly stunning, especially wearing this special livery.