WWII Submarines
by Paul Helfrich

1/400 WWII Submarines (Various)

Here are some World War II submarines in 1/400 scale. They are a German Type IX D2, by Mirage; a Maquette Soviet M 172; Heller's generic German Type VII C; and JSC paper models of the British P 39 and P 52.

The helicopter like contraption on the Type IX D2 is an Fa 330 Bachstelze autogyro. It was an unpowered scout craft - really nothing more than a manned kite. The sub would have to be running on the service, into the wind, and then this thing, with pilot, could be flown like a kite. This was mostly done in the Indian Ocean where chances of detection were low, because if the sub was spotted, there wouldn't be time to retrieve the autogyro, and it would have to be cut loose, pilot and all. I imagine going up in that thing was probably not the most popular duty!

There has been an explosion of 1/400 scale submarines lately due to Mirage's recent release of an extensive line of WW II U boat variants.