AZ Model Plastic Model kit Gotha P 60D-1 — 1:72

Manufacturer

AZ Model is a Czech specialist scale-model manufacturer known for short-run and limited-production aircraft kits, with a catalogue particularly strong in unusual subjects and less commonly modelled variants.

The AZ 7544 belongs to AZ Model's series of unusual German aircraft projects and represents the Gotha P 60D-1, a late-Second-World-War German jet-fighter project rather than an aircraft that reached operational production.
Kit contents

The AZ 7544 is a 1:72 injection-moulded plastic aircraft kit representing the projected P 60D-1 configuration.

The expected kit contents include:

Injection-moulded plastic airframe components

Fuselage

Swept wings

Twin-engine nacelles

Cockpit and pilot's position

Undercarriage components

Tail surfaces

Jet-engine/intake components

Clear cockpit component

Decals

Assembly instructions

As with other AZ Model short-run kits of this period, the kit is intended for experienced modellers and may require more preparation and test-fitting than a modern high-pressure injection kit.
History of the full-size aircraft

The Gotha P 60 was a German late-war jet fighter project developed by Gothaer Waggonfabrik during the final phase of the Second World War.

It originated from the German requirement for increasingly capable jet-powered fighters as Allied air superiority became overwhelming. The P 60 was conceived as a relatively advanced aircraft using the new generation of turbojet engines then becoming available.

The design incorporated a twin-engine configuration and swept wings. Several versions were proposed, reflecting the rapidly changing requirements and technical possibilities of German aircraft designers during 1944–45.

Unlike the Messerschmitt Me 262, which reached operational service, the Gotha P 60 remained a project. Germany's deteriorating military and industrial situation meant that there was insufficient time to complete development, flight testing and production.
The P 60D-1

The P 60D-1 was one of the proposed developments of the P 60 family.

The project illustrates how German designers were experimenting with different combinations of:

Twin turbojet propulsion

Swept wings

Improved aerodynamic layouts

Heavy armament

Increased speed

Simplified production

By 1945, German aircraft companies were producing numerous paper projects as they sought to find aircraft capable of countering Allied fighters and bombers. Many never progressed beyond drawings, wind-tunnel work or preliminary engineering.

The P 60 therefore belongs to the fascinating category of Luftwaffe “paper aircraft”—designs that reveal the direction German aviation technology was taking at the end of the war but never became operational aircraft.
Why the aircraft is historically interesting

The P 60 is representative of the extraordinary acceleration of fighter development during the last two years of the Second World War.

In 1939, the standard fighter was still predominantly a piston-engined aircraft. By 1944–45, Germany, Britain and the United States were developing operational and experimental jet fighters.

Germany's industry was simultaneously attempting to solve several problems: producing powerful and reliable turbojets, designing swept-wing aircraft, reducing manufacturing time and providing heavy armament capable of attacking Allied bomber formations.

The Gotha P 60 was one of numerous projects produced in response to those demands. Although it never flew, its proposed configuration demonstrates the increasingly sophisticated aerodynamic concepts being investigated immediately before the end of the war.