Mitsubishi Zero......Free French Air Force

[beowulf]

Another from my Alternative Time Line project that i have running elsewhere

1945
The World War takes a sudden turn..........
In the Far East the Japanese Empire is attacked............
The Soviets have designed small nuclear weapons but lack the long range aircraft to deliver them to the Japanese homelands...............they enlist the help of the Commonwealth who supply two of its most up to date submarines........HMS Templar and HMAS Hobart.........over a 4 day period they deliver the 7 to 8 kiloton devices by torpedo to the ports of Nigota, Muroran, Kagoshima on the main land and Shanghai in China.........although of small yield the death toll reaches 150,000 within 2 days of the attacks................Japan, appalled at the loss of life offer unconditional  surrender.
 
The Axis Alliance in Europe also takes immediate notice of what's happened, and realising it has no defence against the new technology developed by the Soviets, sue for an immediate truce which the Soviets agree to. The Axis withdraws from any Soviet occupied territory to its pre-invasion borders.
This all has the effect of completely changing the face of the war...............the Soviets, no longer at war with the Axis, have a surplus of manpower and march into the Far East, reclaiming lost Siberian territory, occupying the former Japanese Empire. The Japanese home lands are put under a ruthless military occupation ... Manchuria, IndoChina and Mongolia receive puppet Communist Government

In Europe the Axis Alliance also have freed up personnel.....a Border Force from Estonia in the Baltic to Romania on the Black sea stare at a similar Soviet force...........but the bulk of its Forces are now free to escalate the conflict in the resource rich North and West African campaign against the Commonwealth
No longer needing the steady supply of heavy bombers from the Commonwealth, the Soviets bring to an end the mutual trade agreement. They will now start a programme to develop their own. This leaves the Commonwealth with a problem as it depended on Soviet supplied fighter aircraft to supplement its own produced aircraft but the Soviets have a short term solution...........

Upon the surrender, the Soviets demilitarised the Japanese Armed Forces and so came into ownership of a large amount of usable materiel...........but it has no use for it, preferring its own familiar equipment..............it either destroys it or donates it as a 'thankyou' gesture to the Commonwealth.

Up until 1946 the Free French Forces have had little in the way of an identity.........along with the exiled governments of Belgium, Nederland's and many other Western European countries who managed to flee in 1939, its has been based in Quebec, Canada.........its Armed Forces working alongside with, and indeed absorbed into, the Commonwealth Forces but now it's given a chance to operate as its own entity

Part of the ex-Japanese materiel was the Aircraft carrier Taiho..........renamed the Joseph Joffre; she becomes part of the fleet protecting convoys in the Indian and Atlantic Ocean's.  Its complement of aircraft are a strange mix of Seafires, A6 Zero's and Aichi B7.............unfortunately the Joffre would be sunk in 1949 near Ceylon after being torpedoed by a Spanish u-boat.

Shown is a modified Mitsubishi A6M7 Zero of the Escadron de Chasse 01.002...the famous 'Stork' squadron with a linage back to WW1.....although outdated it soldiers on as a fighter bomber as the Joffre operates in a theatre of operations where it is unlikely to meet the latest Axis fighters.....the aircraft shown took part in the rare occasion when the Joffre was used in support of a land attack..........supporting other Commonwealth Aircraft Carriers an attack was carried out on the Axis controlled former French colony of the Ivory Coast, West Africa in 1947 to try and cripple the port to prevent it being used by Axis surface raiders








Kit is Revells Zero in 1/72.........made a slight cock-up on the scheme.............i was after the Corsair scheme like this but got the colour slightly wrong.....bit too bright, came out closer to the El Salvador colour....lots of matt varnish toned it down somewhat....but hey ho...i quite like it anyway

[jorel62]

Very cool.....

[Slerski]

Cigognes with anchors on the wings Such a silly idea but 

[frank2056]

That Zero looks great! Your ATL isn't too far off. The French did fly several ex-Japanese aircraft after the war; they flew the Ki-43III on several missions, and they had a Jake float plane, as well as a Dinah III that was written off after its first landing. They also had some Zeros, but they were flown by Japanese pilots for the French.

[srkirad]

Wow! Very refreshing livery for Zero!

[NARSES2]

That scheme does look nice

[Joe C-P]

Now that's different! That colour makes the Zeke almost unrecognizable. Nice work! 

[Brian da Basher]

This is what the late Bob Ross would call a "Happy Accident", beowulf! The blue may not have been what you initially planned, but I think it looks even better in that shade!

Most excellent!

Brian da Basher

[beowulf]

thanks for the comments, guys.....appreciated 

[ysi_maniac]

Neat model!

[Tophe]

In France you may be crucified for having built this weird model and credible backstory (this means you are a very good what-ifer , which is almost forbidden in this country overfilled with TV propaganda)...
--Tophe, from France--

[Cobra]

Superb Job You've done Better than could be Expected with the Zero!!!!!!!!! Hope to see More Great work from You :cheers:Dan

[sequoiaranger]

This particular Zero model kit is weird in that the propeller supplied with the kit rotates opposite of the real Zero. (Why did they do that??). Easy to fix on this whif--a French Gnome-Rhone engine instead of a Japanese Sakae!

[CAO 700]

Oh, so funny!

[Taiidantomcat]

That is really great looking, I like that Vibrant blue better than the "normal" (<-Boring) color