"Eddie Rickenbacker's Nieuport 28 in 1/72nd scale" Topic

I have just finished this Revell Nieuport 28 in 1/72nd scale. it's in Eddie Rickenbacker's livery from the 94th Aero Squadron in 1918. Please have a look here:

link

Thanks for dropping by!

Thatīs very well done! And you were right to add the rigging, it looks fantastic!

You know, I have seen through the years conflicting information on the number of guns this plane carried. I remember in the old AH game Richthofenīs War, N28s were allotted one mg, while in later reading I saw they had two. The wiki article you link to in your blog talks about the American version having twin guns. Do you know for sure what Rickenbackerīs carried? I remember him being very critical of the aircraft in his memoir, but I donīt remember the details.

Oh, and I would respectfully disagree with you on the most famous user of Rickenbacker guitars. John Lennon, if my memory serves, had a Rickenbacker 325

Great looking model! Other Rick users: Tom Petty, Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, Cliff Burton..

Thanks guys, Jack, I read on the Wiki article that initially Rickenbacker's N28 was UNarmed! I'm not sure how he scored any kills with that… But the model came with two and I just followed the instructions. I'm sure there are authorities on here better suited than myself to answer that question.

As for Rickenbacker users, Lemmy is more famous in my house than Lennon! :-) And I completely forgot about Cliff Burton!! I shoulda posted (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth!!

Nice model.

Lennon, McCartney and Harrison all used Rickenbackers at various times. Pete Townsend, Weller and Suzanna Hoffs also Ricky users.

Well Abwehr, no matter how many guns it has or who you listen to, that is a fine looking plane!

I can't figure how to post a photo but there is one that shows Rick in his N-28 and it has two guns.

It's a beaut-the plane and the guitar.

Looks like two guns

Another view

He hated the Nieuport 28 because they had a habit of shedding the wing fabric in a dive

Here is the story on the wing

Great looking model, thanks!

Excellent thread guys, thanks for the info those pictures!

@BW1959: That source has it wrong about Hall, I believe: I'm pretty sure that Hall was shot down when he took an unexploded AA shell in the engine of his Spad. He and Charles Nordhoff collaborated later on the novel, Falcons of France, in which Hall's demise was given to the central character, Charlie Selden, resulting in his capture, as had happened to Hall….

HOWEVER, this page link on his daughter's website says the "cover on his wing came apart", so "shot down" is problematic. I don't know and memory does not serve….

I just found this in a free download of "High Adventure", Hall's history of flying up to the point of his demise:

Offiziers-Kriegsgefangenen Lager, Karlsruhe, Baden, Deutschland July 27, 1918

"I told you briefly, on my card, how I happened to be taken prisoner. We were a patrol of three and attacked a German formation at some distance behind their lines. I was diving vertically on an Albatross when my upper right plane gave way under the strain. Fortunately, the structure of the wing did not break. It was only the fabric covering it, which ripped off in great strips. I immediately turned toward our lines and should have reached them, I believe, even in my crippled condition; but by that time I was very low and under a heavy fire from the ground. A German anti-air craft battery made a direct hit on my motor. It was a terrific smash and almost knocked the motor out of the frame. My machine went down in a spin and I had another of those moments of intense fear common to the experience of aviators. Well, by Jove! I hardly know how I managed it, but I kept from crashing nose down. I struck the ground at an angle of about 30 degrees, the motor, which was just hanging on, spilled out, and I went skidding along, with the fuselage of the machine, the landing chassis having been snapped off as though the braces were so many toothpicks."

James Norman Hall. High Adventure / A Narrative of Air Fighting in France (Kindle Locations 2038-2039).

So! Apparently Hall was downgraded from a Spad VII in French service, to a N. 28 in American service, and was both stripped of wing fabric AND shot down literally (as he and Nordhoff later depicted in their fictional crash of their character Charlie Selden, but in a Spad XIII). And so is memory ill served and confused by the combining of fact and fiction, from the things we read in youth….

Thanks for the info Great Ace! I always liked the Ni.28 but knew it was never well liked by the pilots due to the wing issue.

Yeah, thanks for the information Great War Ace, there's some interesting stuff in there!