Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation CA-13 Boomerang by Airfix

1/72 scale
Kit No. 02099
Retail: $15.00
Decals: Two versions, both Royal Australian Air Force
Comments: Raised panel lines and rivet detail, includes engine assembly and pilot figure

History

The CAC Boomerang, sometimes called “Australia’s Panic Fighter” was designed and built in haste in the gloomy months immediately following the Pearl Harbor attack, advancing from the drawing board to first flight in only 16 weeks. It was a highly effective ground support aircraft with good firepower and armor protection, but being underpowered, lacked the speed to be an effective interceptor. It has the distinction of never having shot down a single enemy aircraft, but when scrambled in time could and did scare Japanese bombers off, preventing them from hitting their assigned targets on several occasions. At low altitude it often emitted a whistling sound due to the air rushing into its gun ports, and was also known as “Smokey Joe” due to its infantry support role in marking targets with smoke, and the fact that its exhaust emitted a tell-tale smoke trail at low altitude.

When the Japanese Empire launched the war in the Pacific with a series of coordinated attacks on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor and the British, French and Dutch colonies throughout Southeast Asia, it triggered a period of extreme anxiety in Australia, the Western nation closest to Japan and directly in the path of the Japanese onslaught in the Pacific. In December 1941, the Australia government recognized that it was under threat as Japan swept through Southeast Asia and took Indonesia and Northern New Guinea, within a few hundred miles of Queensland, Australia’s northeastern most province.

Australia confronted the fact that it now lay at the very doorstep of Japan’s ironically named “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere,” and was now well within range of Japanese bombers. The fear of possible invasion was quite realistic given Japanse bombing raids, which soon began targeting sites in Northern Australia in the prelude to an effort to cut Australia off from the Allies.

As part of the British Commonwealth, the Australians hoped for timely military assistance from the United Kingdom, but as far back as July 1940, the eve of the Battle of Britain, the Australian government released a statement that it could no longer rely on aircraft materials or equipment from the UK. Even after the Battle of Britain, the UK was locked in a fight for its very survival due to the U-boat threat aimed at choking off the supplies that came by sea, and which the British needed to stay in the war.

What surplus resources the British had were claimed by the campaign in North Africa, which could never be abandoned so long as the British needed continued access to oil from the Middle East. There was likewise little chance of meaningful help from America, since the Japanese had dealt the U.S. a grievous blow at Pearl Harbor, and had attacked the Phillipines so swiftly on the heels of the Hawaiian debacle, that American forces there were on the defensive and in desperate need of relief themselves.

Against this backdrop, in late 1941 Australia was in urgent and desperate need of a build-up in its land and air forces. Upon the outbreak of war, Australia’s entire army consisted of 3,000 men — hardly more than brigade-size. There was also a homegrown militia, the Civilian Military Forces, consisting of 80,000 lightly equipped volunteers. The Air Force, 3,500 men strong, had just a few hundred aircraft, many of them trainers and all outdated as combat aircraft. The Navy consisted of a collection of cruisers, and had neither battleships nor aircraft carriers.

The government turned to the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, first formed in 1936 and comprised of several companies. CAC had already produced two effective military trainers, the Wirraway, a copy of the North Amercan AT-6/NA-16, and the Wackett, which first flew in September 1939. There had been a faint hope of getting more advanced aircraft from the UK or the US, but as the war news went from bad to worse in the first several weeks of the conflict, it gradually became obvious that no help would be forthcoming, not for some time. CAC was therefore charged with developing Australia’s first indigenously produced fighter.

Fortunately for Australia, CAC had in its employ Fred David, an Austrian refugee and aircraft designer living in Australia who had worked for Heinkel in Germany and Mitsubishi in Japan. In late 1941, under David’s direction, CAC began a serious effort to design and build Australia’s first fighter — with a certain amount of haste. The result was a small, compact monoplane comprised of parts of other aircraft already in production. It featured the wings, center fuselage, tail and undercarriage of the Wirraway, combined with a new cockpit, new canopy and a new nose. For a powerplant it had a larger engine, a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radial of 1200 hp (double the power of the Wirraway’s engine), one of more powerful engines CAC had access to at the time, and the same powerplant used in the Bristol Beaufort, which was being license built in Australia.

Dubbed the Boomerang and ordered right off the drawing board due to the emergency conditions, the prototype was first flown on May 29, 1942. It had gone from the drawing board to first flight in just 16 weeks, and performed so well that a contract for 105 aircraft was executed immediately. It was put into production with two minor modifications, the addition of a spinner on the propeller, and the enlargement of an oil cooler air intake to stop overheating.

The Boomerang had armor plating and solid armament in the form of two 20mm cannon and either two or four .303 caliber machine guns in the wings. Even with the powerful Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engine, the Boomerang was underpowered due to its gross weight of 7,699 lbs (3492 kg), a bit on the heavy side given its small dimensions (length of 25 ft. 6 in. and wingspan of 36 feet) and armor protection. This limited its top speed to just 305 mph at 15,000 ft. – well below that of the Wildcat, Spitfire, Zero and even the American Brewster Buffalo. More importantly, it would prevent the Boomerang from being an effective interceptor. Often when scrambled to go after Japanese bombers, it was not fast enough to close the distance with them and shoot them down — but it could get close enough to induce some raiders to drop their bombs early and head for home. Unfortunately, its performance fell off above 15,000 feet.

Deliveries began in mid-1942, with Boomerangs fully equipping training units by October. Combat units took their first delivery of the new fighter in April 1943. The Boomerang served as a defensive interceptor, but despite its excellent armament it had poor performance chiefly due to its lack of speed. Records indicate that the Boomerang never downed a single enemy aircraft. It frequently chased, made contact, and exchanged gunfire with them, but it was unable to catch enemy bombers or fighters, partly due to engine power falling off above 15,000 feet.

Despite its deficiencies, the Boomerang found its niche as a ground attack aircraft, artillery spotter, and target marker. In these roles it excelled due to its excellent maneuverability, armor, and ability to maintain speed at low altitude. Production of the Boomerang continued until 1945, but was the war progressed and the situation improved for the Allies, Australia began to rely on foreign aircraft for air combat/interception roles.

Operational Record

The Boomerang was assigned to a front line air defense unit, No. 84 Squadron, stationed at the strategically important Horn Island airfield in Torres Straight in the archipelago of islands north of Queensland. Here the Boomerangs were in a position to block Japanese raids launched from New Guinea, replacing both Brewster Buffalos and P-39’s. For pilots new to the Boomerang, it could be a handful. The Wirraway had been more docile,but Boomerang could be temperamental. It’s large nose offered a poor forward view, which was a problem on takeoff and landing.

Limited visibility also effected offensive operations, making strafing runs as well as dogfighting more challenging.  Two early engagements points up the Boomerang’s key deficiencies. On May 16, 1943, Boomerangs were scrambled to intercept three Japanese Betty bombers. The Boomerangs closed gap rapidly and opened fire at 250 yards. They hit but did not shoot down the Betty’s, nor did they catch fire. Nonetheless, the Japanese turned into the clouds and withdrew.

On May 20, 1943, when Boomerangs intercepted yet another enemy raid, the Japanese again dropped their bombs early and withdrew. This happened repeatedly; the Boomerang simply was not fast enough. It featured rugged construction, heavy armament, and superior maneuverability at low altitude. The Boomerang was soon called upon to escort USAAF bombers striking the Japanese in New Guinea. It was able to fend off enemy fighters, but did not have the speed to chase them away. Repeated episodes of this type led the RAAF to ditch the Boomerang in favor of P-40’s (which had a better top speed and overall performance) for escort duty.

The Boomerang excelled as a ground attack and reconnaissance platform. It became a workhorse of Army cooperation squadrons in the Southwest Pacific area. Its slower speed was ideal for concentrating fire and maximizing damage against fortified enemy positions on the ground. Pilots flying ground support missions often returned to base with damage — bullet holes pockmarked the fuselage, and branches and leaves were wedged in the airframe spoke to the low-level nature of their operations. Their survival can be attributed to armor protection and the robust aluminum and wood airframe.

The last major action of the Boomerang was participation in the invasion of Borneo August 1945. Aircraft of No. 4 Squadron – part of 1st Tactical Air force — engaged in intense offensive ground operations, causing great damage to the enemy and cementing its reputation as an excellent all around ground support aircraft.

Construction

Fit was nearly flawless. The kit assembled smoothly with one exception: the landing gear. For the main gear onto which the wheels are fitted are a little thick, and at 1/72 scale, the gear are too delicate to try to force the wheels onto the gear. Dry fitting in advance is highly recommended, and it may be necessary to enlarge the opening in the wheels to get them onto the gear without difficulty.

Painting

The Boomerang is airbrushed in a camouflage scheme of Model Master Dark Tan, an enamel, and Tamiya acrylic NATO Green XF-67, which is dark enough to approximate RAAF Foliage Green. The under surfaces are airbrushed in Polly Scale Pale Blue Gray (No. 505326), an acrylic. The cockpit and wheel wells are painted by hand in a Humbrol enamel, British Interior Green. Curiously, the Airfix instructions call for painting the under surfaces a color called Vellum, a pale tan similar to the color of faded parchment. The few color images I was able to obtain of the Boomerang did not support this. Instead, Boomerangs were often painted in overall Dark Green/Foliage Green, or with a camouflage scheme of Dark Earth and RAAF Foliage Green with Light Blue under surfaces — sometimes with a white tail section.

Decals

Applying decals proved challenging, but not due to the raised rivet detail. The challenge had to do with the decals themselves. The kit decals, a reprint of the original Airfix decals, had such a flat finish that I expected silvering and were not in register — especially the roundels, which exhibited color bleed. I relied on an aftermarket set by Novascale of Australia, N.72049 – CAC Boomerang, RAAF – WWII. The aircraft depicted, LBE, serial no. AA46-57, was a machine of No. 84 Squadron RAAF, based at Horn Island off the Cape York peninsula which forms the northernmost point of Australia’s coast, in mid-1944. The nose art, “Brena,” is my own addition, a decal by Peddinghaus of Germany from their US Pin-up Girls sheet, set no. 48-3124.

The Novascale markings, while a definite improvement over the kit decals, still presented a challenge. The blue in the RAAF roundels was not a solid blue and looking closely, it was possible to see the pixels in them. However, they were thin yet rugged — thin enough to conform to the kit’s riveted surface — and responded well to decal solvent. The roundels, once applied against the tan-and-green camouflaged surface of the kit, did not betray the less than solid nature of the blue in the roundels. But the white portion of some of the roundels was disappointingly translucent.

Conclusion

This is a fun little kit of an oft-maligned but nonetheless important fighter of World War II. Like the P-36, the Brewster Buffalo, and even the P-40, the Boomerang held the line and faced off Japanese air power until better aircraft could enter the fight. For the Australians, it was undoubtedly a morale booster, as well as a tangible icon of Australia’s readiness to oppose an implacable enemy. The CAC Boomerang will never enter the pantheon of World War II’s best fighters…but it gave an isolated island nation a psychological boost and by its very existence contributed to the ultimate Allied victory.

References

www.wikipedia.org