COBI Nieuport 17 C.1 Polish Air Force Set 2998

COBI's Nieuport 17 C.1 in Polish Air Force markings is a 1:32 model built from 274 blocks, 19 cm long with a 25.5 cm wingspan. A figure of an airman in a period Polish uniform is included, plus a plaque with the aircraft name, scale and the Polish and French flags. The red and white chequerboard is printed onto the blocks — the set contains no stickers.

The chequerboard

The marking on this aircraft is the szachownica, and Poland was inventing it at the time. When the country regained independence in 1918 after more than a century of partition, its new air force was assembled from whatever aircraft could be found — German, Austrian, French, some captured, some bought — and it needed a national marking that could be painted over anything.

A red and white square divided into four, with the colours opposed, was adopted in December 1918. Nieuport 17s delivered to Poland were among the first aircraft to carry it. It has been the marking of Polish military aircraft ever since, and it is still on Polish F-16s today.

These aircraft flew in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919 to 1921. By then the Nieuport was obsolete by Western standards, but it was reliable, easy to maintain and still remarkably agile, which suited an air force that was being built from nothing while already at war.

In the COBI range

Set 2997 is the same aircraft in the French markings of Georges Guynemer.

Specifications

Pieces: 274 · Figures: 1 pilot · Scale: 1:32 · Age: 9+ · No stickers
Model dimensions: 19 × 25.5 × 8.5 cm (7.5 × 10.0 × 3.3 in)