Swedish Spitfire over Murmansk

A model of the Swedish S31 reconnaissance aircraft from 1949. Yes, it is the Spitfire. No guns, no rockets, no missiles, just cameras and the pilot's own skill to fly fast and stealthy.

In 1949, a Swedish pilot, Colonel Ingemar Wängström, was tasked to fly a photo reconnaissance mission over Murmansk, to verify the information from Soviet defectors that the Soviet Union had established ballistic missile sites directed towards Sweden there.

In case he would be shot down, Colonel Wängström was dressed in civilian clothes and was equipped with a fake Soviet passport in his pocket although he could only speak very little Russian.

According to some unverified sources, the Swedish national roundels of his Spitfire had been painted over with black (actually quite unlikely as any of the other markings would have given away the nationality of the intruder) and the cameras had been equipped with delayed explosive charges so they could be destroyed in case of an emergency landing in hostile territory.

Colonel Wängström took off from the F21 Luleå Airbase in Sweden, flew very high across Finland and then penetrated deep into Soviet airspace. He reached his target and managed to shoot over 200 meter of film before he turned his Spitfire homeward again.

On his way back, he was detected by Soviet defense systems and several MiG-15 fighters were scrambled to intercept him. He was fired upon, but managed to climb to a wuthering altitude of 45.000 feet, where the MiG-15's simply couldn't follow him.

Colonel Wängström safely returned to Sweden and handed over the film to the analysis team. The footage from the mission revealed no missile sites - the information from the defectors had been incorrect.

The Soviet Union blamed Finland for the airspace intrusion and it took a long time until the truth was revealed.

I think this story is just too cool to not pay homage to by building a model of his aircraft. Also the blue paintwork just looks awesome!

Airfix model kit with a bunch of aftermarket extras.