On the 23-24 July 1944, three Gotha Go 242 landed on the Vercors plateau at Vassieux in support of the DFS 230 that had already landed. They could carry 20 fully armed men and support weapons, about the double capacity of the DFS 230. One of them brought a 20mm AA gun which reinforced Schäffer´s men.
What has been puzzling me is the rest of the number "2" that you can see at the tail, while the "019" at the front is clearly seen at the only known photo of one of the Vassieux Gothas, present in the Osprey book on Vercors 1944. This photo also shows up in French videos on the subject and most probably in other publications.
I tried everything, all forms of AI , books and the rest of internet and nothing. There is a very dark and blurry shadow over the number (and probaly the Balkreuz) so its very difficult to decipher the rest of the numbers and letters. Like that the number "2" was left alone until one day someone can solve the mistery. Sometimes I think that I need to go to the Vercors Resistance museum for some clarifications. Maybe when I get retired... but will I remember I need that by then? :)
The camouflage was made of Vallejo Russian Infantry Green and darkened medium blue giving very aproximate colors to the originals. These Gothas also got different types of camouflage, this one being one of the most usual. The B/W photo of the Vassieux Gotha shows some strange blotches at the front but they may be due to the poor quality of the photo.
The model is a Retroaranda 3d printed PLA model from Spain. The models are quite nice as Retroaranda solves the problematic PLA plastic by dividing and cleaning around 30 parts, making this model very easy to put together and with no extra plastic around. The only problem is that, probably due to the cleaning process, you need a bit over 20 days for the parcel to arrive from a neighboring country. In the end you get a nice model 2/3 times cheaper that the one from Italeri or IBG.
Next: a video on the USMC in WW2
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