CORGI 1/48 RAF ROYAL AIR FORCE ROYAL AIRCRAFT FACTORY SE5a D3511 (AA37709)

By the time he was appointed commander of RFC No. 40 Squadron in March 1918, Dallas had at least 30 victories to his name and traded his Sopwith fighter for a Royal Aircraft Factory SE5a, an aircraft in which he would go on to score a further nine victories. Unusually, his aircraft was one of a handful of SE5a fighters which were given an experimental camouflage finish, thought to have been trialed on aircraft engaged in ground strafing operations. Australian Great War ace ‘Stan’ Dallas was officially credited with 39 aerial victories, which places him as the second most successful Australian ace of WWI, behind the 47 victories of Robert A. Little. Post war research later revealed that due to the fact Dallas had a somewhat casual attitude to claiming victories his actual total may have exceeded 50 aerial victories, which would have seen him earning the title of ‘Australia’s most successful fighter ace’.