The old saying of “If it looks right, it flies right” is not to be taken lightly. Before computer controls, that was a good rule of thumb. So, then, I’m assuming that you can also say “If it looks fat, slow and pedestrian, it’ll fly like a moving truck” and be similarly correct. Well, as it turns out, that WAS in fact the case! To help prove it, though, the good folks at Supermarine designed the fat, straight-winged, tail-dragging Attacker for the Royal Navy. To call it “transitional” is being kind, but it did find itself at an odd point in the development of jets and without the benefit of German swept wing data.
Amazingly, this rather forlorn addition to Supermarine’s legacy was given several 1/48 kits by Trumpeter a few years back. Being a “loser plane” it immediately appealed to me. So much so, that I even worked outside my “normal” 1/72 scale just so I could have a nice new Attacker kit on my display shelves. As it turns out, though, the kit was almost as pedestrian and disappointing as the real thing, at least in spots! Check out the 1/48 Trumpeter Attacker F.1 on the Planes page. You’ll feel thinner and faster… trust me!
The Sprue Lagoon 