La Sonia Française by William Alcott

William Alcott has kindly given permission to share these images of his  1/72 Hasegawa Ki-51 Sonia in the guise of a machine operated by the French in Indo-China. A surprising number of ex-Japanese aircraft were operated by French forces in their challenge to secure and maintain airpower in the immediate post-war aftermath in Indochina before ex-RAF Spitfires and various aircraft types developed for the US Navy replaced them in the delay of the inevitable.

William has a website dedicated to models of aircraft from the Air War Over French Indochina which is well worth visiting. There is a section on Japanese aircraft used by the French, the models are excellent (check out his convincingly realised Ki-43 Hayabusa) and accompanied by informative and useful build reviews in a style that used to feature in the best modelling magazines but which are now quite rare. 

William's Sonia model represents an aircraft of SAL 99 - Section Aérienne de Liaison n°99 (Air liaisons Section) which he notes became ELA 52 - Escadrille de Liaisons Aériennes n°52 (Air Liaison Flight). In the absence of other available types Sonia would have been a practical choice for such service, with its robust fixed undercarriage, ability to operate from rough landing grounds and to carry a passenger and a modest amount of freight. The Tachikawa Ki-36 Ida was also put to use by the French liaison unit.

Two additional model images were kindly shared by William and are shown below. The Ki-79 in overall white surrender finish with green cross markings and the Ki-54, also in French service with SAL 99,  which he has not yet added to his site. Looking forward to reading the build reviews for those!

With special thanks to William for sharing the images of these models from a most interesting collection.

Image credit: All © 2025 William Alcott and Air War Over Indochina