History

Every standing army in the world before and during the turn of 20th century had specially trained personnel that dealt with destructive ordinance weapons. In the German aviation table of organization each individual unit had allocations for men that armed, installed or trained newer members to become qualified ordinance handlers. In the beginning many of the Grenadier Cavalry found new service duties in the air arm of each country. This meant each aviation unit was assigned men who were trained in machine gun maintenance and explosive ordinance handling. The men that were reassigned to the Specialist Troops were further trained in aerial dispensed bombs. As the war dragged on well into 1918 there were several series of bomb designs. After the Spring Offensive “Operation Michael” began on 21 March 1918. Men were often pulled from these units to be placed back into the trenches replacing the casualties of these front line units. In the end almost every enlisted man was doing double and triple duty in aviation units as mechanics, fitters, unit mess, ordinance, office paper work and guard duty.

the kit

Copper State Models Ltd has given us the next in their series of German Aerodrome Personnel. Set # 5 in their figures group is a pair of German enlisted soldiers handling a 10 – 20 Kg Karbonit bomb. These were typically seen in two-seater aircraft. As “High Explosives” they were divided into either incendiary or shrapnel types. The Spreagstoff AG Karbonit – Schlerbusch bombs replaced the APK models in 4.5, 10, 20 & 50Kg bombs sizes. The allied version was the Cooper type bombs.

The figures can be painted in a limited number of ways. I stuck with making them enlisted men the Prussian Specialist Troops. I added red piping to the trousers as a reference to their original Prussian infantry affiliations. The fellow on the ground is wearing a light colored linen tunic usually reserved for warm weather duties. It was considered an undergarment to the wool tunic (or blouse). Men assigned to mess, ordinance or other inside duties were allowed to wear just the linen tunic. The other fellow receiving the bomb, is wearing a typical uniform except he has fabric leg wraps (puttees in the English vernacular) and low quarter shoes. The “pork pie” caps have the colors of the Specialist Troops.

Conclusion

The figure was sculpted by master Andrey Blyoskina.It is a very easy build. Sometimes you must fidget with arms to get them to fall like the manufacture's example. Not so with this Copper State Models item. The arms seem to lock in place and makes resetting a thing of the past. The detail and fit are excellent! The stance of the figure shows a human carrying a weight at mid chest level. I give it top marks.

Methods of purchase are listed on the Copper State Models website. As of the date of publication, you must contact them through their website for prices and delivery schedules.

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