Heller 71211 Personnel de la Luftwaffe — 1/72 Scale Plastic model kit

Manufacturer: Heller

Kit/reference: 71211

EAN: 3279510712117

Subject: Luftwaffe personnel

Scale: 1/72

Type: Plastic military figures

Parts: approximately 48 figures/parts, according to a current second-hand listing

Era: Second World War

Country represented: Germany

Kit purpose: Aircraft dioramas, airfield scenes and WWII military displays
Heller and the origins of the figures

This particular item has an interesting history because the moulds are not originally a modern Heller creation.

Heller's military figure range incorporated a number of Airfix-origin figure sets. Collector research records the lineage of the related figure sets through Airfix, Humbrol/Heller and later Heller/Hornby releases.

For example, the collector history of the closely related RAF personnel set records:

1973: Airfix S47, 1/76

1976: Airfix S47, 1/76

1980: Airfix Products S47

1986: Humbrol/Heller 01747, 1/72

1999: Heller 79647, 1/72

2010: Heller 71211, 1/72

2013: Heller/Joustra 49647, 1/72

2019: Hornby/Airfix A00747V, reverting to 1/76.

That history explains why you can encounter reference 71211 associated with different personnel sets in online databases and marketplace listings. Some sellers have also incorrectly described 71211 as USAAF or RAF personnel. Current eBay results, for example, contain listings for both RAF and USAAF under 71211.

For your barcode collection, I would therefore record the EAN as the primary identifier, with the subject being Luftwaffe Personnel.
Kit contents

Unlike the aircraft kits you've been sending, this is not an aircraft model. It is a figure set intended to populate a 1/72 military scene.

The contents consist of multiple moulded plastic personnel figures representing German Luftwaffe ground personnel. The figures can be assembled and painted individually and arranged around aircraft, vehicles, buildings and airfield equipment.

The approximately 48-piece content figure is supported by current marketplace information.

The set is particularly useful alongside:

1/72 Luftwaffe aircraft;

airfield dioramas;

maintenance scenes;

aircraft dispersal areas;

WWII German vehicle scenes;

command and administrative scenes.

Because these are personnel rather than an aircraft, there is no full-size aircraft corresponding to this kit, so there is no single aircraft development history or full-size aircraft selling price to provide for this particular barcode.
Historical background — Luftwaffe ground personnel

The figures represent personnel associated with the Luftwaffe, the German air force during the Third Reich period.

The Luftwaffe was formally established in 1935, although Germany had maintained covert aviation organisations and training programmes during the years when the Treaty of Versailles restricted German military aviation.

Under Hermann Göring, the Luftwaffe rapidly expanded during the 1930s.

Although the best-known Luftwaffe personnel were pilots and aircrew, the organisation depended upon a very large ground organisation. Mechanics, armourers, refuellers, signals personnel, administrative staff, medical personnel, drivers and other specialists were essential to keeping aircraft operational.

This is why personnel sets are particularly useful in aircraft modelling: an aircraft sitting alone on an airfield does not accurately convey the enormous amount of ground activity required to operate it.
The importance of ground crews

A WWII combat aircraft required extensive ground support.

A typical Luftwaffe airfield could contain personnel involved in:

aircraft maintenance;

engine servicing;

weapons loading;

bomb handling;

ammunition supply;

fuelling;

communications;

weather observation;

vehicle operation;

administration;

medical support;

security;

aircraft recovery and repair.

The men represented by a set such as this therefore represent the infrastructure behind Luftwaffe aviation, rather than simply pilots.

For a 1/72 aircraft collection, that makes the set particularly useful for dioramas.
Modelling history and collector interest

The underlying Airfix/Humbrol/Heller figure lineage is considerably older than the barcode itself.

This is typical of European plastic modelling: a mould could remain commercially useful for decades while the company, packaging, catalogue number and even scale designation changed.

The related RAF set demonstrates this particularly clearly. The original Airfix mould was marked S47, originally marketed at 1/76, while later Heller versions were marketed at 1/72. The actual figures themselves did not necessarily change simply because the packaging and stated scale changed.

That makes these sets interesting to collectors of vintage Airfix/Heller military figures as well as to diorama builders.