B-24 Liberator Under Attack! (Commission)
Impatient Virgin from Dunkeswell

Here’s a project I’ve been working on for a good few weeks now. This is a small diorama I’ve built for the Dunkeswell Airfield Museum in East Devon.

The story opens on the 4th September 1943 when six Ju-88 of 13/KG40 intercepted Lt James H Alexander’s B-24 ‘G’ B-7, the “Impatient Virgin” of VB-103 off the Spanish coast while on an anti-submarine mission.

Alexander’s gunners shot down Lt Gerhard Blankenberg’s Ju-88 but the B-24 was damaged by another, forcing Alexander and crew to ditch. They floated on a life raft for 36 hours when they were eventually picked up by a Spanish fishing vessel. After a month recuperating they were repatriated back to England where Alexander was awarded the Navy Cross, the co-pilot and navigator received the DFC and the rest of the crew earned the Air Medal.

Built as a commission for the Dunkeswell Airfield Heritage Centre. South West Airfields Trust