Has "the war to end all wars" really ended?....
After the false armistice of November 1918 the victorious Entente has failed to heal and give hope to a shattered generation.
Feeding on this disillusionment, the Bolshevik revolution spreads conflict and division across Europe in the ideological vacuum that follows the Great War.
Can former adversaries forge new alliances, explore new technologies and stem the Red Tide?
Recent customers "Luftkrieg1919" inspired creations!
The technological advances made in the First World War meant that land, sea and air warfare was changed forever and many inspired and revolutionary concepts were being developed at the war's end that were not pursued by the Allies in the years following the Armistice. The laziness of peace meant that the RAF went well into the 1930's equipped with biplanes and was ill-prepared for Germany's ambitions in 1939.
Even as a child the final "fighter trial" scene in "the Blue Max" film gripped me and the realisation, much later, that it was based on actual events and much intrigue led me to study the world of WW1 prototypes and "what if?" projects.
The arrival of a recent new range of superb 1/32 kits from Wingnut Wings and others by Roden etc give us some scratch building opportunities at least to convert and model some of these fascinating Fighter Competition contenders and others.
But what of the people and stories that would have accompanied these designs should they have gone into production?
In my mind I started populating imagined airfields with known personalities, given another, invented but plausible storyline. It was just too tempting to develop the idea further and with the success of Aviattic's regular WW1 product ranges I began to commission some sculpts to get this idea "off the ground"!
As well as inspiring a growing range of figures the "1919" scenario has led to dreams of developing this idea into a table top war-game and a series of graphic novels, even a film?! Anyone wishing to help bring these ideas to reality is welcome to Email me! [email protected]
I brought the first of many characters to life with the help of some masters in their respective fields.
Most were inspired by real personalities, some of whom have disappeared from the history books on land, sea and aerial warfare.
Many coincidences occurred as I researched each character, which helped drive their stories and the intertwined plots that bind them..
Heroes (and some villains) thrown into a new and terrifying conflict with new stories to tell.
Ltn Walter Karjus really flew alongside von Richthofen with a hook for a hand (re-imagined, later, as a robotic arm). With the shortage of experienced pilots and leaders he is propelled into command of a defence Jagdstaffel that tests and challenges everything he believes..
Amelia Earheart (re-imagined as "Airheart"!) was a teenage nurse, caring for returning wounded soldiers in Canada. Already a pilot, could she have been inspired to join the cause in Poland and, ultimately fall in love with "Buck" Crawford, real Kosciusko Squadron commander?
Many young men, after months of training to fight a common enemy, arrived in Europe too late to see service or action. The idea of the real Kosciusko Squadron was formulated in the bars and brothels of Paris in 1919 as a disparate group of flying adventurers offered their services to the blighted Polish government, earning a place in the annals of that proud country's resistance to Russian rule for ever. Sometimes you don't need to make this stuff up...
Captain Kinkead was part of an elite task force (including Raymond Collishaw!) sent to aid the White Russian forces in 1919. I imagine him left behind with the survivors of his squadron in the chaos of the withdrawal, joining a gang of brigands and saboteurs hell-bent on halting the Red advance..
Otto, "the Giant" - the Zeppelin re-fuelling crewman - I based on a photo I found of a wrestler who earned his living at the Coney Island fairground.
Re-imagining him as a German immigrant who returns to the Fatherland and pursues his dream of flight, assigned to the flight deck of one of the new, mighty, super-Zeppelins, "Wodin", that roams the upper reaches of the atmosphere, re-fuelling and re-arming the aircraft that can then return to the perpetual fray below.. These re-purposed airships are the ultimate prize in the new air war and are fought over like galleons in the sea battles of old. Newly developed, highly compressed engined fighters struggle to achieve the ceiling heights necessary to reach them in the icy, sunlit wastes of the lower atmosphere.
Captain Peter Strasser was one of the leading supporters of and commanders of the wartime Zeppelin fleet and its bombing campaign. He and his crew were brought down over the Channel during the last airship raid on Britain in 1918.
I have given him a new lease of life, rescued, severely injured from the sea and returning to command the new Zeppelin fleet with his feverishly loyal crews, drawn from the ranks of wounded and scarred ex-servicemen, shunned by polite society at home but welcome in his "Brotherhood of the Skies"..
Kati von Otersdorf allegedly nursed von Richthofen back to health (of sorts..) in 1917 after receiving a serious head wound. An affair has long been speculated, I took that as her awakening and the loss of Manfred leads her down a very different path.
Seeing the shortage of male pilots as a worrying issue, High Command accepts her application to Flight School seeing the public relations potential and her plan to train female pilots to ferry newly-built aircraft to the hard-pressed front line units.
Flying at night, with new night-vision and listening equipment, chance encounters with roaming enemy patrols lead her and her "Fledermausen" to forbidden combats and victories en-route that become the stuff of legend to the smitten squadron personnel and impoverished public at home , hungry for a new breed of hero to be inspired by and follow.
Yumiko (I chose the name because I liked it - by pure, strange coincidence it means "Arrow girl") was inspired by a photo found of a stunning Japanese model. Descended from one of the fallen Samurai dynasties (her family were renowned archers) she was gifted to the Emperor of Japan as a child and becomes one of his concubines. Along with many other such children, these trusted elite are trained to defend their master and, with the gift from Germany of the Zeppelin "Imperial Cloud", along with squadrons of the latest fighter aircraft, she takes to the skies as the war with China is waged below.
Herman Göring, the narcissistic, incompetent and drug-addled buffon as he is now known was a successful WW1 fighter pilot, succeeding the Baron in leading Jagdstaffel 11 until the war's end. Racked with pain from premature arthritis he turned to opiates for relief and I imagine him hiding his growing addiction, paranoia and frustration as he returns his squadron to Germany to fight the Bolsheviks threatening to overrun Berlin. The unit's spirited and inspirational defence of the capital earns him the title "the Beast of Berlin" as he leads attack after frenzied attack, ordering waves of "Mistel" guided bombs against the Reds and demanding the ultimate sacrifice from many of his pilots..
Natalya Gagarina, daughter of "disappeared" intellectual parents in the Czar's death camps and, along with many "orphans of the Revolution", imprisoned in cold, damp, windowless cells until their liberation in 1917 the imagining of Natalya came from the idea that such children could be easily trained and taught to avenge such terrible injustices rather than attempt to re-habilitate them. Her daylight-less existence has resulted in her and her brethren having the ability to see in the dark and so their training as night-fighter pilots to seek out and raid enemy airfields is a logical role for these emaciated, damaged teenagers. Natalya will, one day, find comfort with the birth of a son..
Anthony Fokker, the legendary aircraft pioneer and designer, was a Dutchman who offered his services to the Royal Flying Corps but, after being politely turned away by the British air ministry turned to a welcoming Germany and helped create one of the finest and most formidable fighting services in history. A wily businessman in reality he managed to return to his native Holland, even smuggling banned aircraft out of the country and was allowed to start a successful airline...
I re-imagine him in 1918 seeing the tide turning in favour of the new Russia and, evading a court martial for sabotage (he was renowned for unsatisfactory and cost-cutting construction practices) he escapes to put a new, revolutionary collection of fighter and bomber aircraft into production in secret factories in Russia and its newly captured territories..
Many thanks to Guillaume Menuel (Ubisoft) for enthusiastically helping to bring my ideas to life with his paintings.
Sculptors Patrick Masson (www.artiktoys.com), Doug Craner and Nino Pizzichemi for embracing the concept and bringing their flair to the magnificent sculpts that are now part of the Luftkrieg 1919 range!
Existing Aviattic products were designed with cross-over potential for 1919 and so we have imagined "Freikorps" camouflaged Marienfeld lorries (thanks Bo!), late war pilot figures who, with the latest breathing apparatus and high performance engines are able to reach new altitudes, the Ansaldo Balilla kit in Polish "Kosciusko" Squadron markings - the real beginning and inspiration of the story...
So, where would a continued conflict have taken the design and development of 20th century warfare? The leaps made in aerial warfare alone in the four years of the Great War were astounding...imagine a 1920's aesthetic added to the combination of many nations skills and talents...imagine a Revolutionary Russia attracting idealistic (or just opportunistic) designers, engineers, fighters...imagine Japan under attack from emboldened, Bolshevik-backed China...imagine the United States, its citizens tired and wary of another foreign conflict, unhappy to commit and support to recent enemies...imagine young men and women choosing to fight and defend what they believe in rather than the governments they have lost faith in..
Richard Andrews, Stroud, October 2018
All stories and characters copyright Aviattic 2018
Some inspiration..
Luftkrieg 1919 products..
LUFT1601 Lt Kati Otersdorf (smoking) "Die Fledermaus"
Sculpted in 1/16th scale (figure is approx 110mm high) by master sculptor Patrick Masson
Design and concept by Richard Andrews
Concept art by Guillaume Menuel
LUFT1602 Lt Kati Otersdorf (with Spandau machine gun) "Die Fledermaus"
Baron von Richthofen's nurse, Kati, imagined as an avenging night fighter pilot, as the Great War continues into 1919 and a new enemy emerges from the chaos ...
Sculpted in 1/16th scale (figure is approx 110mm high) by master sculptor Patrick Masson,
Design and concept by Richard Andrews
Concept art by Guillaume Menuel
Includes 3d printed Spandau machine gun commissioned from Gaspatch Models
LUFT1604 "Zeppelin Defence Commander "Yumiko"
The Emperor's favourite geisha, descended from a family of noble Samurai archers, defends her master's Zeppelin, "The Imperial Cloud" with a squadron of newly developed aircraft giftedfrom the German government.
Yumiko prefers to despatch her prey from close quarters from the cockpit with her heirloom bow and arrows...
Yumiko is supplied with two optional heads..hair down and hair up in traditional style and two right arms, one holding her oxygen mask and one holding an arrow
Sculpted in 1/16th scale by master sculptor Patrick Masson
Concept and design by Richard Andrews
Concept art by Guillaume Menuel
LUFT3201 1/32 Captain Peter Strasser Zeppelin Commander
Rescued, badly burned, from the English Channel the legendary airship commander returns with a new, high altitude fleet of floating airfields. Strasser picks his crews of wounded and disabled veterans who embrace this opportunity to serve the Fatherland again and escape the gaze of the public at home, their loyalty to each other creating a formidable force that supports the exhausted Fliegertruppe in the ever-changing air war across the skies of Europe and beyond..
We all remember the dead from the Great War, Strasser and his crew is my tribute to the thousands of scarred and mutilated veterans who had, somehow, to return to civilian and family life with their injuries..and memories.
Sculpted in 1/32 scale by master sculptor Nino Pizzichemi
Concept and design by Richard Andrews
Concept art by Guillaume Menuel
LUFT3202 1/32 Otto Mars "the Giant", Zeppelin re-fueller
Returning from the U.S to achieve his dream of flying with the new Zeppelin fleet, Otto operates on the flight deck of the Imperial airship "Wodin", battling the elements to re-fuel and re-arm the high altitude fighters that manage to land and returning them to the maelstrom of conflict below. Always scouring the skies for enemy attackers he can disconnect his oxygen and heating pipes and man one of the Becker cannons positioned in one of the many defence gondolas along the apron of the landing strip.
Sculpted in 1/32 scale by master sculptor Nino Pizzichemi
Concept and design by Richard Andrews
Concept art by Guillaume Menuel
LUFT3203 1/32 Ltn. Walter Karjus
JOINING THE GERMAN WAR EFFORT EARLY, WALTER FLEW MANY MISSIONS AS AN OBSERVER EARNING GREAT DISTINCTION AND LOSING A HAND TO A BURST FLAK SHELL IN THE PROCESS.
UNDETERRED HE HAD A PROSTHETIC FASHIONED INTO A HOOK AND APPLIED FOR PILOT TRAINING.
THIS FIGHTING SPIRIT APPEALED TO THE MASTER, MANFRED VON RICHTOFEN,WHO INVITED HIM TO JOIN HIS ELITE SQUADRON, JASTA 11.
AFTER THE BARON'S DEATH JASTA 11 WAS LED BY THE BULLYISH ACE PILOT HERMAN GÖRING AND WALTER WAS DISMISSED TO LEAD JASTA 24 WHICH HE DID UNTIL THE WAR'S END.
1919...
LEADING AN ORDERLY RETREAT OF HIS UNIT TO GERMANY AFTER UNWILLINGLY SURRENDERING THEIR MACHINES TO THE ALLIES, WALTER STUMBLES ACROSS A DESERTED AERODROME WITH TWELVE PRISTINE NEW EXPERIMENTAL KONDOR MONOPLANES HIDDEN IN HANGARS.
HASTILY RE-FUELLED AND ARMED BEFORE THE ALLIED OCCUPATION OF THE AREA HE AND HIS PILOTS SPEED TO BERLIN WHICH IS BESIEGED BY COMMUNISTS AND RELIEVES THE EXHAUSTED GÖRING AND JASTA 11 WHO HAVE ACHIEVED A FEARSOME REPUTATION FOR THE AERIAL DEFENCE OF THE CITY, MERCILESSLY STRAFING AND BOMBING THE RUSSIAN TROOPS AT THE CITY GATES AND CLEARING THE SKIES OF THEIR OUTDATED EX-BRITISH AIRCRAFT.
GÖRING, NOW DRUG ADDICTED AND BLOATED WITH
SELF-IMPORTANCE, IMMEDIATELY COMMANDEERS THE FINEST OF THE NEW MACHINES FOR HIS PILOTS AND HAS THE BEST PAINTED IN HIS USUAL WHITE "AVENGING ANGEL" LIVERY.
BESIDE HIMSELF WITH IMPOTENT RAGE, WALTER DISAPPEARS INTO THE CITY'S HEART TO DROWN HIS SORROWS.
THERE, IN A TAVERN HE MEETS A WAR-DISABLED ENGINEER WHO, AFTER MANY SCHNAPPS, SUGGESTS HE CREATE A NEW PROSTHETIC ARM AND HAND FOR THIS BRAVE HERO. AFTER A FEW WEEKS THE NEW ARM IS DELIVERED. IN A PAINFUL OPERATION , ONLY PARTLY ANAESTHETISED, WALTER'S TENDONS ARE CONNECTED TO THE OPERATING RODS AND LEVERS IN THE STRANGE CONTRAPTION AND, AS HE HAZILY RECOVERS, IT'S CREATOR DISAPPEARS BACK INTO THE BOWELS OF THE CITY...
Sculpted in 1/32 scale by master sculptor Nino Pizzichemi
Concept and design by Richard Andrews
Concept art by Guillaume Menuel
LUFT3204 Herman Göring "the Beast of Berlin"
HERMAN GÖRING WAS ALWAYS HIS OWN WORST ENEMY.
WITH A POMPOUS DEMEANOUR AND AGGRESSIVE PERSONALITY HE WAS HARD TO LIKE BUT TRANSFERRING FROM RECONNAISSANCE TO FIGHTER AIRCRAFT HE FOUND HIS TRUE HOME IN THE AIR AND SOON RACKED UP AN IMPRESSIVE KILL RATE IN THE SKIES ABOVE FRANCE AND BELGIUM.
RACKED WITH PAIN FROM ARTHRITIC JOINTS HE TOOK COCKTAILS OF PAIN-RELIEVING DRUGS WHICH HE BECAME MORE AND MORE ADDICTED TO - PERHAPS PARTLY EXPLAINING HIS ALOOF AND SUPERIOR MANNER AND BEHAVIOUR..
1919...
AFTER ACHIEVING THE COMMAND OF THE BARON'S ELITE JASTA AND THE GRUDGING RESPECT OF HIS MEN, AT THE WAR'S END HERMAN HAS THE INDIGNITY OF BEING ORDERED TO HAND OVER HIS 'FLYING CIRCUS' OF FOKKER DVII'S TO THE CONQUERING ALLIES - THE ONLY AIRCRAFT SPECIFICALLY NAMED AS A THREAT TO PEACE IN THE TERMS OF THE BELITTLING ARMISTICE..
THIS, OF COURSE, HE REFUSES AND UNDER FIRE FROM STARTLED AMERICAN TROOPS AT THE CAPTURED AERODROME OPENS THE THROTTLE OF THE WHITE DVII'S BMW ENGINE AND WITHIN SECONDS IS HEADING FOR HIS HOMELAND WITH SEVERAL OF HIS OLD COLLEAGUES CLOSE BEHIND.
FINDING UNEXPECTED CHAOS AMONG THE VARIOUS ILL-LED MILITIAS OF RETURNED SOLDIERS, SAILORS AND AIRMEN AT HOME HE SOON IMPOSES A STRICT DISCIPLINE ON THOSE AROUND HIM AND FORMS AN ARM OF THE FREIKORPS TO ORGANISE A RESISTANCE AGAINST THE ONCOMING BOLSHEVIK HORDES.
CHANNELLING HIS PAIN AND THE ANGER AND HURT IN THE BROKEN AND DEFEATED ALL AROUND HIM HE HAS ONCE AGAIN FOUND HIS PLACE...
THE "BEAST OF BERLIN" GETS TO WORK...
Sculpted in 1/32 scale by master sculptor Nino Pizzichemi
Concept and design by Richard Andrews
Concept art by Guillaume Menuel
LUFT3205 Ltn. George "Buck" Crawford
1ST LIEUTENANT CRAWFORD FLEW WITH THE 20TH BOMBER GROUP, US AIR FORCE, UNTIL BEING SHOT DOWN IN SEPTEMBER 1918 AND SPENDING THE REST OF THE WAR AS A P.O.W.
LIKE SO MANY DISPLACED AND BORED US SERVICEMEN, TRAINED BUT TOO LATE TO THE WAR BE TRULY "BLOODED" HE GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED THE CALL TO JOIN A BAND OF MERCENARIES, FORMED AT THE BAR TABLES OF PARIS INTO A SQUADRON AND PLANNING TO OFFER THEIR SERVICES TO THE POLISH GOVERNMENT.
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION HAD GIVEN MANY SMALLER COUNTRIES AND STATES THE OPPORTUNITY TO BREAK A AWAY FROM THE SHACKLES OF IMPERIALIST OCCUPATION - BUT THE BOLSHEVIKS HAD OTHER IDEAS AND UNITY WAS PARAMOUNT TO THEIR EXPANSIONIST IDEAS..
CRAWFORD FLEW AND FOUGHT WELL WITH THIS BRAVE UNIT, BEFORE DISAPPEARING INTO THE PAGES OF HISTORY.
1919...
AWAITING DE-MOBILISATION IN PARIS HE MEETS A PRETTY, CONFIDENT YOUNG NURSE NAMED AMELIA AIRHEART AND THEY FALL IN LOVE.
SHE HAS HEARD MANY THRILLING STORIES OF FLIGHT FROM THE WOUNDED SERVICEMEN SHE HAS NURSED AND SEEN DIE..
SHE CONVINCES GEORGE TO TAKE HER FOR A FLIGHT IN A TWO-SEATER EX-SERVICE MACHINE THAT GEORGE IS CONTEMPLATING BUYING FROM THE AIR DEPOT AT ISSOUDUN.
IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS HE TEACHES HIS WILLING STUDENT TO FLY AND WHEN THE OFFER OF JOINING THE "KOŚIUSZKO SQUADRON" IN WARSAW IS MADE THEY BOTH EMBARK ON THE ADVENTURE THEY SO LONG FOR, AMELIA AT THE CONTROLS...
Sculpted in 1/32 scale by master sculptor Nino Pizzichemi
Concept and design by Richard Andrews
Concept art by Guillaume Menuel
LUFT3206 Ltn. Amelia Airheart
Having put herself through flying school in Canada Amelia works as a nurse in a casualty clearing station and hears many harrowing stories of a war, far away but somehow calling her. With the phoney peace of the winter of 1918 she decides to visit Europe and meets and falls in love with the idealistic "Buck" Crawford. He is on his way to Poland to join the newly formed volunteer "Kościuszko Squadron" in its struggle against overwhelming Bolshevik forces. Amelia has no hesitation in joining him and soon proves her worth as a combat pilot..
Sculpted in 1/32 scale by master sculptor Nino Pizzichemi
Concept and design by Richard Andrews
Concept art by Guillaume Menuel
LUFT3207 Starshina Natalya Gagarina "the Night Witch"
NATALIA IS ONE OF THE CZAR'S ORPHANS, THE CHILDREN OF DISSIDENTS LOCKED AWAY IN WINDOWLESS, FREEZING CELLS DURING THE INTELLECTUAL PURGES OF THE OLD REGIME BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.
EMACIATED, PALE SKINNED AND, DUE TO THEIR IMPRISONMENT, ABLE TO SEE IN THE DARK, THESE YOUTHS WERE LIBERATED FROM THEIR NIGHTMARE AND THEIR DESIRE FOR REVENGE AGAINST THE IMPERIALIST ENEMY IS HARNESSED AS THEY ARE FORMED INTO CRACK NIGHT FIGHTING SQUADRONS - SOON TO BE FEARED AS "THE NIGHT WITCHES"...
Sculpted in 1/32 scale by master sculptor Nino Pizzichemi
Concept and design by Richard Andrews
Concept art by Guillaume Menuel
LUFT3208 Captain Kinkead, 47 Squadron RAF, Russia 1919
Assigned to the Kuban air force with 47 Squadron the true story of Sam Kinkead and the RAF's involvement with White Russian forces and their subsequent retreat is fascinating enough...
The 'Luftkrieg 1919' scenario sees him shot down over enemy territory and evading capture to eventually meet up with a motley brigade of saboteurs and assassins resisting the Bolsheviks advance across Northern Europe.
Utilising found, stolen and salvaged equipment with devastating effect, they soon find they have a bounty placed on their heads and have been deserted by their masters in London...
Sculpted in 1/32 scale by master sculptor Nino Pizzichemi
Concept and design by Richard Andrews
Concept art by Guillaume Menuel
ATTKIT007 1/32 Ansaldo A1 "Balilla" (resin & multi media kit) POLISH version
Instructions are a downloadable PDF, available on the website.
SOLD OUT - PRODUCTION FINISHED
ATTKIT008 1/32 WW1 German "Marienfelde" Lorry (multi media)
Used in every theatre of the Great War and in many variants this versatile vehicle was one of the workhorses of the Army, Navy and Fliegertruppe.
Mastered and drawn by Dennis Loep
Resin, brass, acetate kit with decals and full instructions
Box art by Ron Cole
Graphic design, additional research by Bo Monroe
SOLD OUT
