Wanted: Model Airplane Kits
Any Scale
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Roland Dressler
Vintage 1950's West German Luftwaffe Piaggio P-149
1/135 scale model kit
Pegaso aircraft airplane retro 50's Cold War military Aviation
PEGASO kit # 108
Equipo de plastico para armar
PIAGGIO P-149
escala 1/135( alas 8.5cm )
DESTUCHE DE EXHIBICION INCLUIDO
HECHO EN MEXICO
Nerdaderas Miniaturas
THIS IS AN OUT OF PRODUCTION MODEL KIT
THE LEGEND OF THE PIAGGIO P.149D AND PIAGGIO FW P.149D
The Piaggio P.149 was a four-seat touring aircraft developed from the P.148 two-seat primary trainer, which first flew on June 19, 1953.
The design came from the team of Giovanni Casiraghi, not as falsely stated by some excerpts as a design of Stelio Frati.
Adolf Galland, the famous fighter pilot and youngest general of the WW2 Luftwaffe and his co-pilot Eduard Neumann tested secretly the Piaggio while winning the First Prize of the Italian Air Tour Flying Rally, flying the Piaggio P.149 prototype in Summer 1954.
One year later the Luftwaffe had a fly-off to select the new trainer from the Beech T34, Saab 91 Safir and the Piaggio.
The flight demonstration was almost a full success, but the Piaggio Test Pilot forgot to lower the landing gear under a great laughter of the competition, he belly-landed.
The damage was small and the fact, that the aircraft was flying again next morning, made a great impression on the Luftwaffe brass.
From the P.149 was than developed the 4-seat P.149 D military trainer, which was selected by the new Luftwaffe in 1955 and one example, was delivered to Germany for evaluation in 1956. The 149 D got a stronger engine, joysticks and different instruments.
Piaggio was scheduled to supply 76 machines and a further 300 would be built under license by Focke-Wulf in Bremen, Germany.
The 149D was built exclusively for the German Luftwaffe.
Only one Piaggio was flown with the Italian Military insignia and was the personal mount of the Italian Air Force Military Attaché in Bonn, Germany.
These quantities were respectively reduced to 72 and 194 aircraft. Initial deliveries from Piaggio commenced in May 1957 and 16 were supplied in component form for Focke-Wulf to assemble. (These being included in the quantity from Focke-Wulf)
However, the in USA used designation of Focke Wulf FW P 149 D is false.
The licensing agreements between Piaggio and Focke-Wulf and the legal designation registered at the German LBA stating Piaggio P 149D and Piaggio FW P 149D
The first batches were delivered to the Flugzeugfuhrerschule FFS-S at Memmingen, and later to the FFS-C at Diepholz.
All the fighter, fighter-bomber, reconnaissance and two of the transport wings received several examples for communications and instrument rating purposes, as well as the three main flight trainings schools WS-10, 30 and 50.
Many of the non-operational units used them and although most of the aircraft were withdrawn from service in the early 1970s, by 1980 some 40 were still serving with the more-recently formed Jagdbombergeschwader 49 at Furstenfeldbruck.
On March 10, 1990 the last flight of the Piaggio was conducted with a celebration of over flight of the last 4-plane formation led by Hauptmann Scheuermeyer in the Werke No. 156, tail number 91+34, in a beautiful Good By paint job in Bavarian white and blue sporting the BavarianNational Flag on the tail surface as well as the crests of the four schools, the Piaggio had done there duty.
With 290.000 flight hours total, this proud bird was the aircraft with the longest time in service ever in a German Luftwaffe.
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