Look at the yellow vest. For a fighter pilot in 1940, the English Channel was as dangerous as any enemy — a man who bailed out or ditched had only minutes in the cold water before it killed him. The bright kapok Schwimmweste, the "Mae West," was meant to keep him afloat until rescue, and here the Luftwaffe was ahead of its foe: its Seenotdienst air-sea rescue service flew floatplanes and anchored rescue buoys in the Channel to pluck downed airmen from the sea. British crews, who had little of the sort in 1940, took hard lessons from the German example and built their own service to match.

The pilot stands hands on hips in the classic flier's pose, the yellow Schwimmweste over his leather flight jacket and the blue-grey peaked cap — black patent peak, silver cap-cords and bullion Luftwaffe eagle — that marked him out on any airfield. He is the everyman behind the ace: pose him with Adolf Galland, who commanded pilots like him, and the Bomber Pilot he escorted, then set him against his Channel adversary, the RAF Fighter Pilot. Two airfields with one narrow strip of water between them make a natural Battle of Britain display.

W. Britain model 10107. 1/30 scale, matte-painted metal. Single figure — a Luftwaffe fighter pilot in flight jacket, yellow life vest and peaked cap. Boxed.