Earlier today, Corgi revealed their May through August 2024 new aircraft introductions, the bulk of which have something to do with the D-Day landings of June 1944. We’ve listed all of the latest models discussed in the accompanying video and have opened the pre-order window accordingly. Enjoy!
The Martin B-26 Marauder was one of the most controversial American combat aircraft of the Second World War. It was primarily used in Europe, and was in fact numerically the most important USAAF medium bomber used in that theatre of action. However, on four occasions, investigation boards had met to decide if the development and production of the Marauder should continue. The Marauder survived all attempts to remove it from service, and by 1944, the B-26s of the US 9th Air Force had the lowest loss rate on operational missions of any American aircraft in the European theatre, reaching a point less than one half of one percent.
Despite its high landing speed of 130 mph, which remained essentially unchanged throughout the entire production career of the B-26 in spite of numerous modifications made to reduce it, the Marauder had no really vicious flying characteristics and its single-engine performance was actually fairly good. Although at one time the B-26 was considered so dangerous an aircraft that aircrews tried to avoid getting assigned to Marauder-equipped units and civilian ferry crews actually refused to fly B-26s, it turned out that the Marauder could be safely flown if crews were adequately trained and knew what they were doing. It nevertheless did demand somewhat of a higher standard of training from its crews than did its stablemate, the B-25 Mitchell. However, once mastered, the B-26 offered a level of operational immunity to its crews unmatched by any other aircraft in its class.
A total of 5157 B-26 Marauders were built. Although on paper the B-26 was a more advanced aircraft than its stablemate, the North American B-25 Mitchell, it was built in much fewer numbers because it was more expensive to manufacture and had a higher accident rate.
Martin B-26B-15-MA Marauder 41-31576/AN-Z ‘Dinah Might’, was given the important task of leading an anti-beach fortification raid against Widerstandsnest 5 (which means ‘nest of resistance’, or ‘strongpoint’) overlooking Utah beach. The raid happened only a couple of minutes before the landing craft released their troops on their assigned beaches on D-Day itself, one of the final missions to take place before the landings.
Flown by Major David Dewhurst, the experienced Commander of the 553rd Bomb Squadron, US 8th Air Force, this was one final opportunity to neutralize German defensive fortifications, therefore giving Allied troops a better chance of making it off their assigned landing beach in the terrifying hours to come.
Dewhurst’s aircraft, which was named ‘Dinah Might’ after a Bing Crosby tune of the day, released its bombs at exactly 06.24.30 on D-Day, with navigation and timing critical to the success of the mission and the safety of the men waiting to make their historic seaborne assault.
The details behind this final bombing raid of D-Day clearly illustrate why the Utah Beach D-Day Museum elected to finish their preserved Marauder in this historic scheme and why it forms such a poignant center piece for their impressive museum.
‘Dinah Might’s’ target on that fateful morning in June 1944 was only meters from where this magnificent preserved aircraft is displayed today, even though it’s actually only a representation of that famous wartime aircraft.
“Dinah Might” pays homage to the men and machines that fought to seize a foothold on the European mainland that fateful June, and is expected to take wing later this spring.
As is customary with Corgi, the Company discussed plans for the next few months with a slick video that was uploaded to YouTube. According to the Corgi brand manager, several new aircraft are in the wings, including a Junkers Ju-88C bomber. Towards the end of the presentation, the spokesperson indicated that a Messerschmitt Me 410 heavy fighter is currently in production. While no word was mentioned regarding its price and release date, the Me 410 is certainly one of those subjects that have been routinely requested by their clientele and, to the best of our knowledge, no other modelmaker has plans to produce for the foreseeable future.
In a related development, Paramount acknowledged that they are discussing the third installment in their highly-acclaimed Top Gun movie franchise. Considering the success of Corgi’s Showcase series of Top-Gun-themed merchandise, its a good bet that the modelmaker will once again look to court Paramount with licensing so that they can continue to produce an assortment of Top Gun-related merchandise.
In an effort to become more current and reduce the time it takes to get product to market and into the hands of would-be collectors, Corgi announced last week that all upcoming products will be announced to the public as well as the trade one week before they are actually released. This represents the third time Corgi has decided to change their product announcement plans, moving from a yearly showing, to a quadmester and now virtually a day-and-date release schedule.
While we applaud their decision to maintain marketing momentum from product announcement to its actual release, the problem is that the trade isn’t quite as nimble as the manufacturer, oftentimes taking days or even weeks to formally list a new item to their web site. This becomes even more acute when the announcement occurs in conjunction with major showing events such as International Toy Fairs. Moreover, Corgi has, in the past, oftentimes taken weeks to post images for a new product. In the case of their RAAF English Electric Canberra Mk.20 Light Bomber – No.2 Squadron, Phan Rang Air Base, South Vietnam, 1969, the item was first debuted back in July yet product photos didn’t surface until mid September. As a result, its difficult for a dealer to forecast their pre-order needs when they cannot so much as show what the item will look like to their clientele.
So, for this strategy to work, Corgi has to ensure that product and marketing materials are available at the time an announcement is made, and, more importantly, give the trade a bit more time to get new items up and listed properly. A better formula might be a one-month window, which allows dealers, marketers and other entities a bit more time to work out the logistical issues that inevitably crop up each time a new item pops up on the radar.
Earlier today we were informed by our Corgi representative that they performed some stock balancing between their wholesale warehouse and their retail unit responsible for handling online sales. In so doing, they uncovered several aircraft that they believed were sold out but are now being made available to select retailers. Some models, such as “Witchcraft”, a B-24 Liberator that sold extremely well last year, turned up in the routine administrative process. Naturally, we jumped on the opportunity to purchase it and several other aircraft once indicated as being sold out that have been unearthed and are now shown in our Products in Transit section. I just wanted to point out that since Corgi is located in the state of Washington and we’re clear across the country in Florida, we will likely take delivery of the entire cache by early next week. So, if you’re interested in any of these fan favorites, we recommend you peruse the list and pre-order those you may find tickle your fancy.
With the crews of the newly formed RAF No.617 Squadron now briefed on the targets they were being sent to attack, raid preparations for American pilot Flt Lt Joe McCarthy and his crew could hardly have been more challenging. Having practiced exhaustively in their usual aircraft ED915/AJ-Q ‘Queenie’, the crew discovered their Lancaster had developed a technical problem in the seconds immediately prior to taking off for ‘Operation Chastise’, the audacious RAF raid against the mighty dams of the Ruhr Valley. The issue was serious enough to force the crew to abandon their aircraft and transfer to reserve Lancaster ED825/G AJ-T ‘Tommy’ just minutes before they were due to take off. Their new aircraft eventually left Scampton at 22.01 hrs bound for arguably the most difficult target of the entire raid, the Sorpe Dam, which was protected by a huge earth bank.
Having practiced attacking targets flying low, straight and level towards them, they would instead have to drop their ‘Upkeep’ mine in a completely different manner. Flying low over the German village of Langscheid, they would have to avoid the tall steeple of the village church on the run-in, before diving steeply to extremely low altitude to fly along the length of the dam wall, dropping the non-spinning ‘Upkeep’ mine at exactly the halfway point. This attack approach proved so difficult that the aircraft’s bomb aimer George Leonard ‘Johnny’ Johnson could not release the mine on nine previous attack runs, however on the tenth and whilst flying at a little over 30 feet, the Lancaster was perfectly aligned. Johnson shouted, ‘Bomb gone!’ over the intercom, much to the relief of the aircraft’s crew, with the mine exploding exactly where intended, creating a huge crack in the structure. Unfortunately for them, the huge earth bank which supported the Sorpe Dam held firm, but would require extensive repair works to be undertaken in the weeks which followed the raid.
Lancaster ED825 arrived safely back at RAF Scampton at approximately 03.30 in the morning of 17th May 1943, where the crew would learn that whilst the raid had been a success, the men of No.617 Squadron had paid a terrible price. Of the 19 Lancasters which had left the airfield only hours earlier, eight aircraft and their crews had failed to return. The bomb aimer onboard Lancaster ED825/G AJ-T ‘Tommy’ during its attack against the Sorpe Dam and the man with the responsibility for releasing the aircraft’s ‘Upkeep’ mine was George Leonard ‘Johnny’ Johnson. Unless the aircraft was in the optimum position to deliver the mine on target, Johnson would not release the weapon, telling the pilot to go around and have another run at it. On that fateful night, it would take ten attack runs before he was happy to release the mine and allow the pilot to set course for home and their place in the history books.
At the age of 101, George Leonard ‘Johnny’ Johnson was the last surviving airman from the Dambusters raid, but sadly joined the rest of his comrades in early December last year. All 133 of the Dambusters heroes are now reunited once more.
“T for Tommy” is currently in stock and ready for imediate shipment.
On Friday, Corgi debuted its latest round of diecast warbirds, which spans everything from a 1:48 scale BAe Harrier jump jet to a diminutive 1:72 scale Messerschmitt operated by the Regia Aeronautica. Its an interesting roll call of combat fliers, which adds a number of eagerly requested warbirds from a litany of twenty- and twenty first century military engagements.
Also up for consideration is a 1:12 scale Triumph 1962 TR6R 650cc motorcycle that was used by Steve McQueen in the feature film The Great Escape.Its their second two-wheeler, and certainly looks like a winner for both McQueen diehards and bike enthusiasts world over.
We’ve listed all of the newest models in our May Additions section, and invite you to take a look and pre-order those models that could be of particular interest to you. As an aside, Corgi has put together this video which helps to add a bit of background information for each new introduction. Enjoy!
A couple of months back, Hornby let slip that they were looking to get into the sci-fi universe by offering a range of Star Trek-related products. Today, they confirmed the rumors on Facebook with the following post:
“Happy First Contact Day! We’re delighted to confirm that Corgi will be returning to The Final Frontier later this year as we begin to release a new range of officially licensed models from the Star Trek Universe!”
Its a sort of cryptic message with little substance behind it, since it still isn’t clear if they plan to resurrect the Eaglemoss line of Star Trek starships or launch their own fleet from the Trek yards. Either way, its welcome news for both Trekkies and diecast collectors, all of whom are eager to live out their next five year mission with the help of Corgi warping into space in the captain’s chair alongside them.
Capitalizing on the success of their Showcase Series twin aircraft sets, Corgi unexpectedly announced the imminent arrival of a brand new SKU that focuses solely on Pete “Maverick” Mitchell’s F/A-18 as depicted in the feature film Top Gun: Maverick. Nothing new has been added or embellished to the model but for those collectors that would prefer to nab his aircraft all by its lonesome, now you can do so. Best of all, these should be in stock by the beginning of October making them an ideal stocking stuffer for the upcoming holiday season. Word of advice — better “feel the need for speed” sooner rather than later cause these collectibles are almost certain to sell out once word pf Maverick’s legendary exploits spreads.
As promised, Corgi unveiled the third and last installment in their 2022 product roll out earlier this month. Several new aircraft are being introduced that are largely tapping into existing ranges, be they WWI fighters or WWII fighters. That said, one new range was launched — WWII: War Under the Sun, which, as its name implies, looks at aircraft flown by both sides of the conflict in the expansive Mediterranean Theatre of Operations. Here now the aircraft you can look forward to treating yourself this holiday season.
