J. Menapace's HS-123

[G. Scott Long]

For some reason I have always loved the tough, little HS-123 and I'm currently working on the Am-Tech kit of this plane. I've wanted to build Josef Menapace's plane on the Russian front. Recently I've seen his a/c depicted with a yellow verticle bar instead of the usual red one. Does anyone have any info on this a/c?
best wishes,
Scott

[Jim P.]

There is also a photo in some book or other that shows his 123 had a white outlined black triangle behind the fuselage cross - not an item commonly depicted in drawings of this machine. While I do specifically remember the photo, I can't remember the particular source though, possibly from an old German Modell Magazin issue. Maybe George M. will pipe in on this...he's got a better memory than me.

[G. Scott Long]

Thanks, Jim. In the latest Classic Publications Schlachtflieger book there is a great profile of Menapace's 123 with a yellow verticle bar. But in the caption beside the profile, it says the bar was red. ?????
best wishes,
Scott

[piero]

hello,
considering that the disc with mouse (RLN 24) is slightly darker than the bar, the yellow is probable

HTH

piero

[Snautzer]

from Flugzeug Profile

[Jim P.]

The Sept. 2007 issue of Model Airplane International has a nice color drawing of this machine by Richard Caruana which includes the triangle behind the cross.

[Modeldad]

Be careful of those profiles. Without independent photographic or other evidence, I would consider the profile to be conjecture. After going through my photos and references, the black triangle may or may not have been applied. The Classic publication "Schlachtflieger" by Smith, Goss, et al shows Menapace's aircraft without a black triangle.

But what is odd is that the vertical bar is shown in yellow, but the caption says red. Like I said, never trust a profile.

[Jim P.]

The triangle was definitely applied. I have a photo somewhere, an old German hobby magazine I think, that does show that it was there. I remember this particularly because my friend George M. (sometimes post as GRM) got very excited when we discovered the photo.

[Jim P.]

Found the picture. Its in the June 1978 issue of Modell magazin. It only shows the lower left corner of the triangle, but is definitely there. If somebody wants to tell me how to attach a photo I'll post it.

[Modeldad]

easiest to email it to me if you have it scanned in a jpg. format. I can post it for you.

modeldad@verizon.net