PZL P.23B Karas by IBG Models

1/72 scale
Kit No. 72506
Cost: $19.99
Decals: One version – Polish Air Force
Comments: Engraved panel lines; highly detailed cockpit and defensive armament; photo-etched details; external stores consist of six 100 kg bombs between fixed main landing gear

 

History

The PZL P.23B arose from a Polish Air Force doctrine of the 1920’s strongly emphasizing aircraft built for armed reconnaissance, rather than dedicated fighters or attack aircraft. This had its roots in the last war Poland had experienced at the time, the Russo-Polish War of 1920. In that conflict, both sides had relatively few aircraft, those on hand were mostly used for close infantry support or reconnaissance, and they generally had complete freedom of the skies. This doctrine unfortunately did not incorporate advances in military aircraft or tactics by the mid- to late 1930’s, least of all the aerial component of the German tactical doctrine of Blitzkrieg.

The P.23B was based on the P.13, a fast, single-engine monoplane transport of all-metal cantilever construction initially commissioned by the Polish Ministry of Transport, but cancelled in the Spring of 1931 despite evidence of its advanced design. Although the P.13 was shelved, it soon became the template for a new, three-seat Army cooperation aircraft. The powerplant was to be a Bristol Pegasus radial engine of 500 hp, an improvement over the 450 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp radial intended for the P.13.

The Polish Government approved the design in the Spring of 1932, but ordered the simple cut-out in the fuselage bottom for a ventral machine gun replaced with a ventral gondola, offering improved facilities for a bomb sight, and an increased field of fire for the machine gun. By the Fall of 1932, PZL were ordered to build three flying prototypes, the first of which flew in August 1934, revealing several problems: the large, internal bomb bay occuppied so much space within the fuselage that the cockpit space was cramped; visibility from the cockpit was poor, not just for the pilot, but the other crewmen. Modifications began with the second and third prototypes. The engine was lowered to a point below the longitudinal axis of the fuselage, giving the P.23 its “hump-nose” appearance; the bomb bay was deleted from the fuselage and the entire bomb load carried on external racks under the wing center section, between the main landing gear; the pilot’s and observer’s compartments were made roomier and more comfortable and enclosed by a new, extensively glazed canopy; and there were modifications to the wings, the product of a revolutionary “torsion box” design that was an early metal sandwich structure.

The second prototype powered by a Bristol Pegasus radial engine flew in the Spring of 1935 and proved superior to the first. But visibility from the cockpit remained inadequate, so further improvements were made to the third prototype which flew two months later. The engine was lowered yet again, the pilot’s seat raised and a new, re-designed windscreen and a higher canopy were installed. But the second prototype would crash on take off under maximum load conditions in the Summer of 1935, killing the crew, and the third prototype would be re-engined with a more powerful 680 hp Pegasus engine before the P.23 was ready to enter production.

A total of 250 aircraft were ordered for the Polish Air Force, which did not take the first deliveries until July 1936, the delay being due to teething problems with the Pegasus engines; early versions of the Bristol-built powerplants suffered from jammed reduction gears and crankshaft fractures. Correspondence with Bristol revealed that many of their British subcontractors had experienced the same difficulties that the Poles had, and made a series of modficiations as a result — the bugs were eventually worked out as the Poles began manufacturing the engines themselves. Polish-built powerplants were dubbed Bristol Pegasus III.

Forty of the initial production machines were P.23A’s, and 210 were P.23B’s with the more powerful of the Pegasus engines.  Production of the P.23B’s also began that summer. Armament consisted of one or two 7.7mm fixed machine guns firing through the propeller arc, and two flexible 7.7mm Vickers guns at the rear gunner’s position. The P.23 could carry up to 700 kg (1,543 lbs.) of bombs on center section racks between the main landing gear. Standard loads were six 100 kg (220 lb.) bombs, or eight 50 kg (110 lb.) bombs, or twenty-four 12.5 kg (27.5 lbs) of fragmentation bombs, or some combination thereof.

Operational Service

Due to the limitations of the Bristol II powerplant, all P.23A’s were relegated to the training role, after some were used as conversion aircraft by front-line squadrons, at least until the P.23B’s, fitted with Bristol III engines, began rolling off the assembly line in the Autumn of 1936, with the first examples going to the First Air Regiment. By early 1938, seventeen Karas squadrons had been formed with the new P.23B.

Once the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was signed on August 27, 1939, the Polish Government must have expected an attack; the Poles were able to read at least some secret German military signals traffic, and just a few weeks before had turned over a treasure trove of data on the German Enigma cipher machine to the British. In any event, between August 27 and August 31, nearly all P.23B squadrons were shifted from their peacetime bases to secret combat airfields — a move which would significantly prolong Poland’s ability to resist the German invasion launched on September 1st.  Despite their slow speed, obsolescence, and limited payload, the Karas’ were flown extensively throughout the first two weeks of September in defense of Poland, carrying out at least 15 major bombing raids against concentrations of German armor. On September 2, eighteen aircraft of Nos. 64 and 65 Squadrons inflicted heavy casualties on the Germans in a coordinated bombing attack, but only 11 aircraft returned from the mission, and three of these were damaged on landing. On September 3, twenty-eight Karas of Nos. 21, 22 and 55 Squadrons launched three attacks against enemy armor in the Radomsko region, destroying 30 percent of the panzer force there.

Between September 4th and 8th, ten bombing raids marshalling a total of 100 Karas were launched against German armor in the Radomsko-Piotrkow sector of the central front and the Pultusk region of the northern front, causing heavy losses to the German 10th Army Group’s 4th Armored Division. Despite their valiant defense, attrition quickly took its toll on the Polish bomber force. The Poles continued to fly sorties with the Karas’ into mid-September, but as the size of their force dwindled, the attacks had steadily diminishing strength.

The P.23.B’s might have been more effective, but were not used by the Polish Air Force to maximum effect. They were scattered among various small units (full squadron strength was only 10 aircraft), more often used for reconnaissance than massed, dedicated bombing attacks. On the few ocassions that they were deployed for the latter purpose, they inflicted the kind of heavy losses that, had they continued, the Germans could not have sustained for more than a few days. The relatively small size of the total force at the onset of hostilities — about 210 aircraft — was another limiting factor. 112 machines were lost by mid-September, but contrary to German propaganda, the Polish Air Force was not systematically destroyed by the Luftwaffe in the opening hours of the war.

The Karas were shifted to alternate aerodromes in the days just prior to the German attack, and fought on until 90 percent of the force was destroyed over the course of the coming weeks. The Nazis did not destroy a P.23 on the ground until 14 September, when several of the Karas’ were caught unawares at an aerodrome and badly shot up the Luftwaffe. With the second disaster of the Russian attack from the East, the Polish Air Force evacuated all combat worthy aircraft, including the surviving Karas, to Romania on September 17. Karas continued to serve the Romanian Air Force in the reconnaissance and operational training role until 1945.

The P.23B will long be remembered as the aircraft that mounted a fiercely heroic but doomed defense of Poland during its hour of maximum danger, and its last gasp of independence for over half a century. History would record that after the Nazi occupation, Poland fell under Soviet domination for another 45 years, finally breathing free again in the 1990’s.

The Kit

IBG Models from Poland has created by far the most detailed kit of the PZL P23B in perhaps any scale, but certainly in 1/72. This offering is a quantum leap above the old Heller kit. IBG’s PZL 23B Karas is injection molded in grey and consists of 84 parts, 12 of which are clear plastic for the extensive canopy glazing, landing gear lights, belly window to assist bombing, and windows in the ventral gondola. While the kit features a nicely detailed, nine-cylinder radial engine, it will largely be hidden behind the one-piece cowling into which is molded the facade of a crankcase.

The kit bears engraved panel lines throughout the airframe and a highly detailed cockpit interior, starting with the raised detail in the two fuselage halves depicting the cockpit framing. Construction begins with the rear gunner’s station, which is comprised of detailed parts for a pedestal-and-stool assembly atop which is cemented a Vickers aerial machine gun. The forward cockpit follows with the pilot’s station, including a highly detailed floor, rudder pedals, control stick, and other detailed instrumentation helping form the cockpit’s internal structure. There is a smooth, flat part representing the main instrument panel for which a marking is provided on the kit’s decal sheet. A handful of photo-etch parts add to the cockpit detail.

There are two parts forming a detailed, longitudinal bulkhead running the length of the 23B’s cabin, with a large opening in it so as not to restrict the aircrew’s operations. Other internal details include tanks (these are either fire extinguishers or oil reservoirs) and remarkably detailed Vickers guns: one in the front cockpit firing forward through both an aperture in right side of the fuselage and the propellor arc, and one for the rear ventral gondola, in addition to the rear gunner in the aft cockpit section, almost directly above the gondola gunner station.

For the fixed landing gear, modelers are given a choice between spats, which cover virtually the entire gear, and slightly more aerodynamic sponsons from which the struts and the entire wheels protrude underneath. Both spats and sponsons feature a ssmall, clear plastic part for the landing lights. The ventral gondola is one of the last assemblies added to the airframe, along with the landing gear. A complement of bombs, which appear to be an assortment of six 250kg and two 113 kg explosives, completes the kit.

Decals

The kit markings are by Techmod and provide for a single version of the P23B, a machine of the 12th Reconnaissance Squadron, 1st Air Regiment of the Polish Air Force, in a paint scheme of Polish Khaki over Light Blue-Grey. The markings are typical of Techmod’s excellent quality and even include two examples of the PZL company logo, as well as a few stencils in Polish. While the kit instructions call out the colors of five manufacturers — Vallejo Model Air, Hataka, Life Color, Mr. Hobby, and AK Interactive — at no point do they provide any guidance on painting any of the plane’s internal spaces. Modelers will have to undertake a little research here.

Conclusion

This is an excellently detailed kit that will enhance IBG’s stature and put East European kit manufacturers on an altogether different footing with respect to their competitors in Asia and the West. Highly recommended.

Reference

Profile Publications No. 104: The P.Z.L. P-23 Karas; Copyright 1960 by Profile Publications Ltd.; Leatherhead, Surrey, England.