A Neat A-26 Ramp, Another Batch of Deuces, More Photo Phantoms, A Way to Get Out of There, And a Neat Memory

There's No Such Thing As Too Many Invaders

Or at least that's how we feel about it around here. Everybody knows that the AAF used the Invader during The Big One, and they're also familiar withUSAF employment of the type during both the Korean fracas and SEA, but how many of you can recall French use of the airplane? The Air Force transferred quite a few B-26s to France for use in their fracas in what was then French IndoChina, and we've come across a really neat shot of one of those pre-delivery ramps courtesy Don Jay.

The B-26s you see here (at Clark Field) are primarily B-models and come from at least a couple of different units. All are what you might call well-used, and most have the WW2 gun nose with 6 .50-cals displaced horizontally in pairs of two.  Don Jay 

Here's what Don has to say about it: Attached is an interesting bit of trivia: Right after the truce in Korea, USAF sent a number of B-26s to the French in IndoChina. Here is part of the transfer process ongoing. Its at Clark sometime in Fall of 53. You can just make out a French crewman or two in this photo. The B-26  coded BC-372 was returned to USAF control next year. dj

With any luck you aren't sick of Invaders yet, because there are probably a few more to come in the months ahead. Why's that, you might ask? Because we like 'em, that's why, so watch this space!

Bet You Thought We Forgot All About It

Nope! That's not the case, although you could certainly be forgiven for thinking that we'd run our course with the F-102. The truth of the matter is that we were waiting for some photography which, thanks to Marty Isham and Rick Morgan, is now here. Today's going to be an Isham Day, so let's take a look at some of the photos:

You just don't see all that much of the short-tailed "Deuce" in color, so we thought this would be a good way to start the show. 54-1396 was an F-102A-35-CO and ultimately ended up with a tall tail, but this was her original build state. She was photographed in July of 1957 with the 327th FIS at George AFB, and looks really nice with her checkerboards and command stripes. It's tough to get to an early F-102 from any of the currently available plastic kits (none of them have the proper details for an early "Deuce") but this one would make a really neat model. OK, you guys; who's brave enough to do it? Isham Collection

This is closer to what we're used to seeing. 56-1103 was an F-102A-55-CO and ended up at MASDC in 1970. She was photographed in 1958 in all her early operational glory with the 86th FIS, replete with nose art. "Mr Magoo II' is pristine in this picture and is carrying natural metal gas bags under the wings, not that uncommon but not often seen either. Way back when we did the original print article on the F-102 Jim made the comment that the type went through several distinct markings phases, one of which he termed the Neuter Period. Except for the nose art that term certainly applies to this aircraft.  Isham Collection

Nobody ever looks on the F-102 family as racing aircraft, but they were considered fast when they first entered service. These 27th FIS birds were based out of Griffiss AFB, and were involved with the Bendix Trophy race when this photo was taken. Check out the Roman numeral "IV" on the tail of 56-1229. Pretty classy, huh?  Isham Collection

There are Races for Fun, and there are Races That Matter. This photo depicts a three-ship of F-102As from the 327th FIS at Thule in February of 1959, back when their sort of racing really and truly did matter. The aircraft are from the alert section and are getting ready to rumble in -35 degree F temperatures. ADC was never an easy date, no matter how glamorous it looked to outsiders.  Isham Collection

Sometimes the best squadron markings are the simple ones. 57-0811 was built as an F-102A-90-CO and was with the 329th FIS when photographed in May of 1958 at an air show. That B-66B is interesting too; wonder if anybody photographed it as well?  Isham Collection

56-1413 was an F-102A-75-CO and was with the 61st FIS/327th FG when this photograph was taken on 21 May, 1960. She was serving as the group commander's airplane at the time and is painted in ADC's typical Aircraft Grey, although her gas bags appear to be in natural metal. Check out the orange speedbag on the pilot; ADC drivers much preferred the international orange flight suits and wore them long after everyone else had gone to sage green. It was a point of pride.  Isham Collection

Every military airplane has a set of schemes that we think of as "classic", and this is one of them. These "Deuces" were with the 325th FIS when photographed at McEntire AFB in August of 1963. The scheme is simply stunning, and check out those excercise stripes on the fuselage and wings. We've said it more than once regarding this airplane, but the F-102 was a gorgeous bird.  Isham Collection

Hot dog; would you look at that! F-102A-41-CO, s/n 55-3372, has the "old" national insignia placement, gorgeous tail markings, and a command stripe to boot. It's hard to top this scheme, although we're certainly going to try to do that in our next installment, but this F-102A from the 327th FIS at George is a good way to end today's feature, since we started it off with an earlier scheme from the same squadron. We'll continue with the F-102 next issue, but now it's time to look at something else for a while. Isham Collection

Even More of Those Phabulous Photo Phantoms, or the Ram Rhinos Strike Again

This piece of camera bay art says it all, even though it has nothing to do with Nevada's "High Rollers", who are the object of our affections today. It just screams RAM, though, and the 67th was the host unit for the meet. It makes sense to me! P. Friddell

Anyway, it seems we've mentioned it once before, but we like F-4s around here. We like 'em a lot, but you probably figured that one out for yourselves, right? Anyway, here are another couple of RF-4Cs we photographed at RAM 90. We should probably do a separate piece on the RAM meets, but to be honest about it we just aren't that organized, so getting the photos in dribs and drabs is how things will have to be for a while. On the other hand, organization is often considered to be a Good Thing, however seldom you encounter it on these pages, so today we're going to concentrate on the RAM team from the 192nd TRS/152nd TRW, Nevada ANG, aka "The High Rollers".

I used to be organized, but that was a very long time ago. When I was organized I could've found my RAM 90 notes and given you all the serial numbers for every team, but that was Then. In the present reality we'll just do our best until those notes turn up. Meanwhile, here's the Nevada team; three Reno RF-4Cs lined up behind one of the 67th's birds. Every air force base has (or had, since most of them are closed now) it's own distinguishing architecture. At Bergstrom the signature edifices were those accursed light poles that sprouted all over the perimeter of the ramp, making it difficult indeed to photograph an airplane without some portion of one growing out of the fus or tail of same. Since we don't PhotoShop things around here you're stuck with that phenomena; we're mentioning it so you don't think that's some super-duper-secret antenna growing out of the vertical stab on 897.  P. Friddell

64-1068 was an RF-4C-23-MC and was the oldest airplane on the 192nd's team that year, but was in pristine condition when photographed in August of 1990. All of the Reno birds were in a high-gloss finish, and all were using those distinctive intake covers. They were proud of those airplanes!  P. Friddell

Second verse, same as the first, except that this time the airplane is 64-x897; we aren't sure of the full serial number on this one and reader input is welcomed. All the Nevada Phantoms looked the same at RAM, with the serial number on the tail being the only visual difference between airplanes. Check out those inboard stations; most of you have probably known this for years, but the RF-4 family used the same inboard pylons as the Navy's Phantoms, while the straight-up Air Force fighter variants carried a different design in that position. Modelers take note! P. Friddell

And finally, here's the new kid on the team; 65-0870, an RF-4C-26-MC. Nevada's RF's were old, but they were solid, making all their scheduled sorties during the meet. P. Friddell

This markings presentation was found on every 192nd RF-4 at the meet, with the serial being the only difference between airplanes (but we already said that, didn't we?). That white fin cap with the "High Rollers" logo really worked well with the low-conspicuity greys on the airframe.  P. Friddell

This is 0870 again, but all of the RF-4Cs on the 192nd's team carried that distinctive RAM zap. It was low-key but distinctive. We like it!  P. Friddell 

Most folks don't end a photo essay with a dead-on nose shot of an airplane but convention hasn't stopped us from doing anything yet and probably never will, besides which this seems as good a way as any to end today's RAM 90 feature. Now then, let's see who'll be the first modeler to duplicate those intake covers...  P Friddell

And Now For Something You Never Really Think Of

There we were, some time back in the late 70s or early 80s, standing on the transient line at Randolph with camera in hand waiting for the Cross Country Weekend Rush to arrive, when an AV-8A recovered and taxiied up close to where we were standing. The pilot got everything squared away in the cockpit and shut down the airplane, opened the canopy, and sat there while the transient guys went looking for a stepladder that would work with the Harrier. It probably only took a few minutes for somebody to find some sort of ladder, but the intrepid Marine aviator in that airplane got tired of waiting; he secured the seat, managed to get to the wing, walked down the span of same, and hopped to the ground at the wing tip. He looked at us standing there festooned with cameras, said something along the lines of "happens all the time at Air Force bases", and walked off in search of the O Club.

The lowly stepladder is the military aviator's friend when at a strange field, but there are specialized ladders available for every airplane in United States military service, even though few of us ever think of such things. Here's a photo to prove the point:

It's the 27th of September, 1985, and this assortment of boarding ladders is hanging on a tubular rack by the Kelly base ops blast fence. Our ex-military readers will probably recognize most of them, and immediately figure out that they're for Air Force birds only. There's not a step ladder in sight, although you can bet there's at least one or two leaning on the wall in the ops hangar, ready for use.  P. Friddell

The Way It Was

You hear quite a bit from Don Jay around here and for good reason; he submits some really neat stuff to us. This week is no exception, although it's far from original---Don tells us this particular contribution has been around on the internet for a while now. Still, it's good reading, and a fitting way to end the day:

This is a True Story.

As a pilot in the Air Commandos stationed at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand [NKP] during the Vietnam War. I flew the A-26 Invader aircraft that had proven itself time and again during both WW-II and the Korean war. The A-26 was flown by us on night reconnaissance and interdiction missions on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. NKP was referred to as NAKED FANNY by those of us fortunate to be stationed at the base which was located on the western bank of the Mekong River which put us uncomfortably close to Communist activity.

I dropped empty Pearl beer bottles at least once a week on various roads in Laos and North Viet Nam. We would close the bomb bay doors and then fill the bomb bay up with the bottles. It was a great morale booster as we all laughed our butts off thinking about the reaction of the enemy to this harassment. The crew chief didn't particularly like it as his aircraft would smell of stale beer for a week after. We often wondered what the bad guy's after-action reports looked like after receiving this incoming!!

I can't say enough about the crew chiefs, gun-plummers and maintenance folks that we had at NKP. They were the best that I was associated with during three tours in Viet Nam. They worked during the day with no shelter, slept in bare barracks, but unfailingly produced the aircraft that we flew each evening. What a Group. There was no Unions, no "It's not my job" responses. We had enthusiastic Gun plummers working on engines and dedicated crew chiefs helping to load bombs. If I had to go to war again, that's the group of flight line folks that I would want to fight with. I was privileged to have served with them. No enemy could defeat such spirit and "can do" attitude.

Flying the A-26 in combat was exciting.　It was a thrill a minute attacking trucks and other transportation vehicles and even AAA sites at night on the HCM Trail winding into South Vietnam.　We encountered lots of enemy anti-aircraft weapons and small arms fire lighting up the black nights to pucker the seat cushions on the A-26. Night combat is always a challenge. Although it was exciting and demanding, it was also a lot of fun as long as you kept your wits and retained your sense of humor. Joe Kittinger

What a neat story; bet you couldn't get away with that nowadays! Thanks, Mr. Kittenger, for writing this, and special thanks to Don for forwarding it along. Neat stuff!

Happy Snaps

Today's photo is a final T-38 shot from Doug Barbier, taken during his stint as a Williams AFB T-38 flight instructor. It's an artistic sort of photograph, doesn't show much of anything in the way of markings, and is about ten kinds of pretty. Enjoy!

You can almost hear the narrator from the John Ford movie of your choice talking about riding off into the sunset, can't you? Beauty!  Doug Barbier

The Relief Tube

Remember that A-6 shot we ran last time? The guy who sent it to us, Mark Morgan, has been able to fill in the details of that unique assemblage of aircraft and folks and link it to a very special, and sad, event:

Phil - Hadn't looked at your latest blog yet, Rick mentioned the A-6 photo. You've got the basics, obviously, here are the details:



This was the day of the ceremony - both coasts, NUW and NTU - marking the official retirement of the A-6 Intruder and the attack community from US Navy service. The last two VA squadrons in the Navy, VA-196 and VA-75, hosted the events at their respective stations, appropriate seeing as VA-75 was the first fleet A-6A squadron while VA-196 was the first AirPac squadron.

Approximately 1000 people crammed into the VQ-1 hangar (formerly occupied by VA-128 plus several fleet squadrons); 10 former VA-196 COs showed up for the event, including CAPT Leo Profilet - my last Professor of Naval Science at UNM NROTC and a former POW - and CAPT John Pieguss, my second skipper at VA-42. The legendary Lyle Bull (Navy Cross; former CO VA-196, VA-128, CARGRU-7) gave the speech for the squadron disestablishment and CAPT Jim McKenzie did similar honors for Attack Wing Pacific.

The former COs trooped the line with CDR Dave Frederick, the last skipper of VA-196; COMNAVAIRPAC, VADM Brent Bennett, then presented the AIRPAC Battle E to the squadron. The last Commander, Attack Wing Pacific, Capt Terry "T-Tom" Toms got up and did an extended talk about what the Navy was losing by getting rid of bombardier/navigators ("A HUD won't loan you $50 when you get stuck at a divert," among other comments) and finishing (with voice breaking), "When someone asks me what I did in the Navy, I'm going to puff up my chest and say, 'By God, I flew Intruders.'" Not too many dry eyes in the place.

The photo depicts the aftermath: the "piping over the side" of the last AIRPAC CAG bird, to the accompaniment of bagpipes by the Canadian Seaforth Highlander Regiment. We all then adjourned to the club where the party went well into the night.


Any questions or if you need any more details, give me a holler. MK

Thanks, Mark. that must've been a really special day.

On a somewhat different and more technical note, we wanted to mention that some of our photo files tend toget to be a little on the large side, but we feel that resolution is definitely our friend. To reinforce that point, here's a comment from Marty Isham:

Hey Bud...concerning that F-94A, FA-551 shot of the 5th on the ramp. Because of your blow up, I can now ID those 84s, they are 2nd FIS a/c. In the fall of 52 for some odd reason usaf/ADC replaced the 2nd 94As with F-84Gs, they flew with the 2nd until the 86Ds arrived. I wonder how long it took those 84s to intercecpt any SAC bombers at altitude. Cheers....M

Glad we could help, Mr. Isham! And, while we're on the topic of large images, we've historically run most of the photos we've scanned or personally taken in a fairly large size, which we think is a Good Thing in terms of allowing our readers to see as much detail in a photo as they want to be able to see. On the other hand, there's a school of thought that says they're just too danged big for some folks. Truth be told, that sort of thing can be easily addressed by setting your monitor to accomodate large images; the monitor we use around here is set to automatically re-size everything to fit the available screen (although you can certainly enlarge the photos if you want to by the simple action of left-clicking on the image). That said, we're working on finding a viable middle ground that will make everybody happy but without compromising image quality. Stay tuned...

Finally, you might want to watch out for our next edition; our Google stats tell us it's our 100th, and we've got some special things planned for it in celebration. Meanwhile, please keep those cards, letters, and photographs coming ( replicainscale@yahoo.com ) and be good to your neighbor. We'll meet again soon.
phil

Who Likes Invaders?, P-2 Redux, While We're Looking at Big Stuff, How About a Fighter?, The Liftowheel, A SpAD, and A Big P-40

Just Can't Get Enough of The A-26!

With any luck you feel the same way about what is arguably the prettiest attack aircraft ever built. Mark Nankivil sent in a nice set of photos from the Tulsa Air and Space Museum's archives, highly appropriate since the Invader was built in Tulsa after that plant shut down production of the SBD and A-24. As is the norm around here, we'll let the pictures do the talking.

If you know anything about me at all you'll remember that I'm a sucker for aircraft under construction. Here's a fascinating view of an early Invader being built; it's mostly an airplane at this point but completion is still a couple of weeks away. The nacelles appear to be OD 41, making this A-26B an extremely early example of the type.  Tulsa Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

Round and round we go, as 44-35281, an A-26C-30-DT, scrubs away all the rubber on it's port mlg tire! At first I thought we were looking at compass alignment here, but have since changed my mind. Maybe. Whatever they're doing, it would seem that quite a few airplanes have been down that road before,  at least if all the rubber in the middle of the apron is any indication of same. There's a placard on the nose of that bird that says Iron Project, and I have no idea what that signifies either; I've been through every resource at my disposal and can find nothing by that name. Nada. Zip. I even checked the Highly Unreliable But Everybody Goes There Anyway internet; still no joy! If any of you can shed some light on whatever this is, please drop us a line at the usual replicainscale@yahoo.com address. Please.  Tulsa Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

If you're going to build it sooner or later you'll have to fly it. Here's 43-22254, an A-26B-5-DT, on a test hop out of Tulsa. Check out that nose; there are no guns and apparently no provision for them either; that's an extremely atypical proboscis we're looking at. There also appears to be some sort of funky antenna sprouting from the fuselage just aft of the pilot's window. Mystery Meat, as it were!  Tulsa Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

Can't Get Enough of Those Oddball Neptunes

Those goofy SEA P-2s we ran a few days ago have stirred a bit of interest, it seems. Mark Nankivil took another look in his collection and came up with a few more photos that I think you'll enjoy. Who knows; you may even start buying up some of those unloved but highly-buildable Hasegawa P-2s for some conversion work. I know I'm sure getting tempted!

Here's a better shot of one of those green OP-2Es from VO-67. I'm particularly fond of this perspective because it gives a clean view of the underwing hardpoints---those appear to be TERs hanging off them. Note that this bird has far less green overspray on the national insignia than did 128416, which we looked at last time around. This photo was probably taken at either DaNang or CamRahn Bay in February of '68.  Bob Burgess via Mark Nankivil



And another 1st Radio Research RP-2E as operated by the Army in 1968. Although deployed to VietNam, Republic of, at the time, this aircraft is shown taxiing out at MCAS Iwakuni in Japan. Given the overall cleanliness of the aircraft I'd guess she's a recent arrival, probably en route to theater when this photo was taken.  Tom Doll Collection


Blackbird Singin' in the Dead of Night

Here's something a little bit different to round out our selection of Big Navy Airplanes for today. Enjoy!

You may have seen photos of this airplane before---I know I have, but not of this quality! A-3B BuNo 144847 was shot at NAS Alameda in May of 1967, immediately prior to her deployment to Places West. Note the deployed crew hatch just aft of the nose gear, and the insignia red warning trim around the gear doors. Tom Doll Collection

Now here's something you don't see every day! 149673 was also photographed at Alameda in May of 1967. The full-sized full-color national insignia, BuNo, and "NAVY" legend on the aft fuselage compromise the camouflage somewhat, but Holy Cow---what a neat looking airplane! 673 was a P-3A, but backdating the 1/72nd scale Hasegawa P-3C to this configuration would be a simple proposition, and those markings would be a breeze for anyone with a decent stock of decals on hand. Beauty!  Tom Doll Collection

If We're Talking Vietnam There's Only One Fighter Bomber

And that would be the legendary Republic F-105 Thunderchief, affectionately known as the "Thud" by former aircrew and aviation enthusiasts around the world. The 105 flew the majority of early and mid-war USAF strike missions over North Vietnam and suffered accordingly; the attrition rate for the type was nothing short of horrendous. If you're interested in such things, former "Thud" driver Jack Broughton wrote two of the best first-person accounts of F-105 operations in Vietnam; Thud Ridge and Going Downtown, both of which I highly recommend to you. The Thunderchief was heavily photographed during her combat career, but high-quality wartime photos can be difficult to find, which makes this one something special:

"Big Kahuna" was an F-105D-20-RE assigned to the 357th TFS/355th TFW during 1969. Note the red trim on her gear doors and the extensive damage to the paint around the wing pylon and gas bag, as well as the strake in the area of the over-run hook which allows the yellow Mil-P-8585 zinc chromate primer to show through. Like so many of her breed, 61-0109 ended the war in a heap of twisted metal outside of Hanoi. She was shot down on 2 March 1969, with her pilot MIA.   Bob Burgess via Mark Nankivil

Of course, some of the F-105 fleet managed to survive the war, finishing up their days in AFRES or ANG units. Here's an interesting example of one of those airframes.

Remember that MiG-17 Mike McMurtrey photographed outside a Texas antique store a few months ago? Here's a companion for it! "Rebel Rider" is an F-105D-5-RE that went to MASDC in 1981 after a career with the Guard and now resides behind an automotive repair shop in St Louis! She appears to be largely intact and a good candidate for restoration as a display aircraft. Restoring her to flying condition (and supporting her maintenance requirements and thirst for JP-4) would be a different matter entirely!  Fred Harl

And here's her nose, or more properly; fuselage, art. Judging from those punctures "Rebel Rider" may have served as a BDA airframe at some point after retirement from active status. Anybody have any shots of her when she was flying?  Fred Harl

It's Not An Airplane, But It's For An Airplane...

We don't shy away from the unusual around here---if it has anything to do with American military aviation there's a good chance it'll end up on these pages sooner or later. In that vein here's something a little out of the ordinary  for your viewing pleasure; the Republic Liftowheel!

So there you are, taxiing along in the F-105 of your choice, when BANG, you get a blowout! (Or maybe HISSSSS, you get a flat; it's all the same for the purpose of this discussion!) Do you call Triple A? Do you reach in the trunk and pull out your lug wrench and jack? NO! You call for a Republic Liftowheel. Frequent contributor Mark Nankivil sent along this shot along with some commentary:

One item of curious interest was the Republic Liftowheel. I have never seen this before and the owner claims to have not found reference to it in any manuals related to the F-105. If you look at the main landing gear doors for the Thud, at the bottom is a square panel that can be detached. This allows access to the back of the wheel axle and is where the Liftowheel is physically attached to the wheel/axle. In the event of a flat tire, this panel is detached and the Liftowheel slipped onto the back of the axle. What's interesting is that the axle point of the Liftowheel is eccentric and is a wheel within a wheel of the whole unit. Once mounted, the aircraft can be rolled away with the Liftowheel taking the load of the flat tire. Very interesting! Ever seen this before or know of reference material for it?

Not me! How about it, readers? Anybody out there have anything to say about this? Maybe a T.O reference? If so, you surely know the drill; the address is replicainscale@yahoo.com . Bring it on!

Another VNAF SpAD

The VNAF were a gutsy bunch, no doubt about it. Their A-1 Skyraiders were frequently ridden hard and put away wet but never failed to perform, and the courage of their pilots is well-known to all.

Gettin' ready to go find Charlie. This 23rd Tactical Wing A-1H, formerly BuNo 135322, taxis out for another mission on 20 May 1968. The aircraft is minimally loaded, carrying only a quartet of Mk 82 GP bombs and a full load of 20mm. Note the Gull Grey canopy frame, and the natural metal areas of the cowling. Of particular interest to modelers is the extensive exhaust staining on her fuselage. Operational Skyraiders were generally dirty Skyraiders!  Bob Burgess via Mark Nankivil

As Finished as It's Likely to Get

I've had a little bit of extra time here lately, and have in consequence been able to get a couple of long-term projects completed. One of those was the Hasegawa P-38G you saw a few installments ago--the one where I installed the props the wrong way (and am I ever glad to get that one done---no more P-38s for this buckaroo for a while, by Golly), but I also managed to complete that 1/32nd scale P-40N we were looking at. Here are a couple of photos to show how it came out:

All done, and an easy date in every respect. In spite of its modular fuselage breakdown and Hasegawa's undeserved reputation for making such things difficult, the kit pretty much built itself with little need for filler or profanity. The sliding portion of the canopy has an odd sit to it which I just noticed, but it's not attached to the airplane and can be easily tilted back into position. There's an antenna running from the main wire to that white insulator that's between the antenna mast and the position light, but it's really thin and you can barely see it here. There's a tiny bit, and by that I mean not much at all, of Eduard in that cockpit, mostly placards and a set of belts---all the big stuff is from the kit. A set of QuickBoost exhausts might be nice (I don't know if they make them for this kit or not, though) but that's about the only area that could stand significant improvement in my rarely humble opinion. It's a good kit, ya'll.

That canopy sits a little better in this view, and you can see that other antenna wire too! Sometimes a photograph will show something that's not easily noticed in real life, such as the light silvering around the fuselage national insignia decal! The stickies are by Zotz and are of excellent quality, but I have to admit to struggling a bit with those stars and bars. That seems odd to me since the nose art, which by its nature has quite a bit of clear decal incorporated into it, went on without a hitch. The stars were another story entirely, and this one will have to be fixed; no doubt about it. The white theater markings aren't actually white but rather a whitish grey, which I think looks better. You pays your money...

And this star's ok. The demarcation of the white theater markings on the tail is provisional; it's a typical treatment often seen on 7th FS/49th FG P-40Ns during the time period modeled (1944), but as far as I know there's no profile photo of 00 (or 10, which it was before it became 00, a fact that could give you another option for that nose art) showing the empennage. A nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse, I suppose...  Those spoked wheels come with the kit as an option, although my boxing (the famous 15,000th P-40) wants you to use the P-40E wheels that are also included with the model. That's because of the wheel cover markings on that particular airframe; if you're building any P-40N except for that one you'll probably want to use the smaller diameter spoked wheels seen on most operational Ns. I stuck a gas bag under the model because I like the look of that tank down there, but by the time 00 was flying combat ops a 500lb GP bomb (also included in the kit) would have been just as appropriate. All the photos I've seen of this airframe show it to be fairly clean, so weathering was kept to a bare minimum on the model. Sometimes that's The Right Thing to Do.

A lot of people buy Zotz decals because of their exceptional quality. A lot more people buy them because they do some of the best nose art around; this presentation is unquestionably the best scale representation of "Milk Wagon Express" ever offered to the modeling public. Panel lines that run through that artwork were lightly accentuated by scoring along them with an extremely sharp #3 artist's pencil, a trick I learned from Austin modeler Brad Perry. One thing about those markings; Zotz provides the thin white striping that appears on the nose of the real airplane, but they terminate it as an open "square". It's my opinion that the striping is actually the edging for a color, which I think was dark blue---photographs of the nose art appear to show a darker area forward of what I'm presuming was a trim line for said color. If I'm correct (and it ought to be pretty obvious that I think I am, since I built the model that way) then the color and its white trim most likely go further back than the decals provide for, terminating in a point. That sort of thing would be in keeping with pre-War AAC/AAF practice and makes a great deal of sense to me. Comments are welcomed.

The 49th had a long-standing history of putting different nose art on each side of its P-40s regardless of the variant. Most of us first became aware of the bawdy side of the 49th way back in the mid-60s when Len Morgan published Ernie McDowell's P-40 monograph which included several shots of the 7th's late-War N-models. That, plus subsequent publication of Squadron Signal's often-underated 49th FG title (also by McDowell) led a lot of us to believe that "Daddy Please" and "Milk Wagon Express" were two different airplanes, a misconception not helped by the fact that this particular airframe wore the same nose art with two different side numbers at different points in its career. A couple of things stand out in this photo: You can see once again how that cheat line goes back under the nose, and you can see that I never managed to get a clean demarcation on the tip color of that spinner! I tried, gang; Lord knows I tried, but I gave up on my 5th attempt. Sometimes I'm really good at that kind of stuff but sometimes I'm not, and painting concentric rings on a spinner can be a Puppy of a Different Persuasion under the best of circumstances. I did what I could...  Speaking of that prop and spinner, that gap you see is a direct result of using the kit-supplied poly cap for attachment. Omission of the cap and hard attachment by cement might be a better way to go. Finally, quite a few of the 49th's P-40Ns had white gauze filters inside those nose grills. I considered adding them after I'd drilled out all those holes in that panel but ultimately decided against doing it. Such is life.

The Relief Tube

Last time around I think we only had one entry in this ever-popular portion of our modest effort. Today we have a few more than that, so let's begin.

First out of the gate is one of the P-47Ns in our last installment, an airplane named "DNIF". In that piece I admitted I didn't have a clue what that meant. A couple of our readers did know and came to the rescue for the rest of us as noted here:

Interesting that you should run the Jahant P-47N images this weekend. I was searching Flickr.com for images of any 58th FG P-47s, and came across a collection of photos from Ie Shima posted by "saipanbolt". In his photostream of the 318th FG were a number of images from the 507th FG, also on the island, and there was a great shot of the starboard side of Chataugua with the same Indian princess facing forward and the name on the fuselage, too. That's a new one on me---thanks!!! pf



Also, "DNIF" is an acronym used frequently in the USAAF/USAF by we medical types, meaning Duty Not Involving Flying", i.e., you're grounded until medically released. It was only obscene to the pilot hearing those words or reading that stamped image.  Frank Emmett

And from contributor and aviator Keith Svendsen:

DNIF is a duty restriction imposed by the flight surgeon: Does Not Include Flying/Flight. Sick and shouldn't fly? You're DNIF!  Keith Svendsen

We recently ran some early FJ-3 Furies on these pages, leading Tommy Thomason to write:

Phil,



 If you noted that the later FJ-3s had a hard wing (no slats and a fuel tank) and that it was retrofitted, I missed it. Attached is a picture of one. (Unfortunately, I couldn't open the attachment. We'll run some shots of hard-edged -3s another day. pf) Note that the little leading edge piece on the ammo bay door is missing...  T

Thanks Tommy; I'm pretty sure that note was omitted! And speaking of notes, if you aren't already doing it you need to check out what Tommy's doing over at http://tommythomason.com/ .

Reader and old friend from our days at Misawa, way back in high school, Jack Dusenberry provides clarification on a photo we ran of his dad last time. 

I was tickled to see the picture of my dad and the mules on your blog. I decided to throw that one in to show how young he was . He says that one reason for his survival was that he had "old timers" as pilot and copilots(29 and 30 years old) . I also think there was more than a little bit of luck involved and his crew had good luck rituals that were strictly adhered to .He carried a lucky rabbit's foot ,some carried four leaf clovers ,and one crew member insisted on urinating on the same rock before each mission . The fellow forgot to perform his task before getting on the truck before one mission and the entire crew demanded that he be taken back to perform his task !



The picture of him and his crew (which we didn't run because of that copywrite thing. pf) appears to have come from Russell Strong's First over Germany  (long out of print) and Dad has an extra copy that he has promised to give to me but keeps forgetting to do so .I have seen copies on the internet with prices as high as $180.00 ,so I hope he remembers at some point.  Jack   What a treasure! Thanks for sharing your dad's memories with us, and give him our best. pf

Finally, here's a note from Don Jay that some of our younger readers may not quite understand.

After Dec 30, Kodachrome will be no more. Dwayne's Photo of Parsons Kansas is the last place to develop the film and they will stop this Thursday. For those who grew up with this iconic staple, it's demise has forced a change on us-like it or not.


I will mourn the loss of one more link to our manual, analog past. Twitter, Facebook, and email do not replace handwritten letters. Texting is not a phone call. MP3s and CDs cannot duplicate the richness of vinyl. The internet is not a newspaper. A blog is not a diary. And digital photography does not reproduce film's qualities.



Easier is definitely not always better and I fear these small losses of reality as we digitize ourselves are lessening us in some intangible way. Après moi, le deluge. dj

By way of explaination for those of our readership who might know only digital photography, Kodak's Kodachrome was the world's leading transparency (read "slide" here) film for decades. The stuff started out as K10 at an extremely slow ASA 10 rating, then morphed into the K25 and K64 that most of us knew and loved. Other manufacturers tried to equal it over the years but nobody else ever managed to get the same resolution, crispness, and color saturation of Kodachrome. I can only surmise how many thousands of frames of the stuff (mostly K25) were cranked through my Nikons while I was still shooting, and how many more thousands of frames were exposed by the folks who's work you regularly see on these pages.

Kodachrome was special. Just ask Dave Menard, Tommy Thomason, the Morgan Boys, Mark Nankivil, Maddog Kerr, Jim Wogstad, Keith Svendsen, Don Jay, or any of the other photographers who's names you've read on photo tag lines both here and other places over the years. To steal (or maybe paraphrase) a line from an old John Wayne movie: "It was a way of life. It was a good way." RIP, Kodachrome.

And that's what I know. Have yourself a happy (and safe and reasonably sane) New Year's Eve. Be good to your neighbor and we'll meet again real soon.
phil

A Nimrod Song, I Happen to LIKE the Fury, Even More Corsairs, An Oddball B-47, That Nate, and Any Old Albatros in a Storm

You Gotta Have a Theme Song, So Here's One For the Nimrods

Don Jay is our official Nimrod, having served with them and all, and he's sent us another bit of information on the outfit in the form of their unofficial song. This one's a little different than most Air Force songs because you can actually sing it in semi-polite company!

First, the lyrics:

On November 20, 1966, four Cricket FACs wrote this song in honor of the Nimrods. Woke up ops officer (Joe Kittinger) to sing it to him. Sung to the music of ""NIMROD BALLAD"



An old VC truck driver went out
One dark and rainy night

He would have to drive that dark trail
Without a beam of light

He knew that Uncle Ho Chi Minh
Would be so proud of him

So he loaded up his P-O-L
And headed out of Vinh


[chorus]
Nimrods, Nimrods, those truck killers of the night

He rattled through Mugia Pass
(missing verses)

The call came through the night ... Nimrod Lead this is Gombey 105 *
Lead your cleared in hot if you've got that truck in sight

They bombed and strafed and flared ... and blew that bastard up
Oh Nimrods, Nimrods ... Truck Killers of the night


[chorus]
Nimrods, Nimrods, those truck killers of the night.

(*) Gombey - call sign for the Cessna O1-E Bird Dog FAC

And he also gave us a link to a performance of the song, which hopefully will work if you copy and paste it into your browser bar (I think that's what they call it---this audio/visual stuff is a new wrinkle for me!)

http://www.woolyfsh .com/seasongs/ Nimrod.mp3

You Can Never Have Too Many FJ-3s!

That's how I feel about it, anyway! Here are another couple of shots of one of my favorite birds, obsolescent as it was when it was operational. (As were the Cougar, Banshee, and Demon too, come to think of it...)

Here's Randolph's flight deck ca. 1958. The FJ-3Ms are from VF-84 back before they assumed the Jolly Roger from VF-17---it's a heritage thing, right? Lots of aeroplanes on that flight deck!  Tailhook Association via Doug Siegfried

And some more FJ-3Ms from Fighting 121 during 1957. I don't think I ran this one before (I've had computer issues all day & am trying to get this thing published before the next crash!) but if I did please forgive the duplication. Stuff happens sometimes!  Tailhook Association via Doug Siegfried

The Argonauts of VF-33 had a crack at the Fury too. Here's one of their glossy sea blue FJ-3s in flight while deployed to the Med aboard Lake Champlain in 1955. It's possible that I'm just the least little bit prejudiced, but I don't think the Navy ever had prettier airplanes than the glossy sea blue jets!   Tailhook Association via Doug Siegfried

And finally, another blue bird. This one's from VF-51 as deployed aboard the Kearsarge during 1955. You modelers might note that both the leading edge slats and the tail bumper are deployed on this FJ-3
Tailhook Association via Doug Siegfried

Old Hose Nose

The F4U series is one of my all-time favorites, and it's time for another picture of one, or maybe even more than that. Our first shot's from the collection of Jim Sullivan and shows a -5 on the boat:

An F4U-5 launches off the USS Wright on 3 November 1948. It's peacetime and this VF-21 bird is clean, with no ordnance or gas bags to ruin its lines. The -5 was, in my opinion, the most pugnacious appearing of the Corsairs, but what an airplane!  Sullivan Collection

This -5 is loaded for bear but it's not headed for combat. The photo was taken during July of 1951 and the bird is from VX-3 while based in Atlantic City. I don't think I'd want to be on the receiving end of that salvo!  Sullivan Collection

The Reserves used the -5 too. This Glenview bird is taxiing out in early 1952. Note the absence of that pesky "V" prefix to the BuNo!  Sullivan Collection

And another Glenview bird. This one shows the International Orange fuselage band and the matte blue anti-glare treatment to advantage. Few people model Reserve aircraft but I can't understand why---this one's a beauty!  Sullivan Collection

The Navy Flew Some Oddball Stuff From Time to Time

And here's a prime example of same. Rick Morgan dropped us a quick note after the last shots from Douglas Tulsa and commented that the Navy had a couple of EB-47Es there at one time. He's right, of course, and I'm thinking we need to see a photo or two of at least one of them:

A Navy EB-47E, originally AF52-0410 and flown as BuNo 24100 by the Navy, at Douglas Tulsa ca. 1974. Note the pylon with the Whatsis (either telemetry gear or a sensor pod, but I don't know which) hanging from it. I await your letters with anticipation!  Tulsa Air & Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

What a neat photo of 42100! Of considerable interest is the OU helmet on the nose; wish we knew what that tic-tac-toe thingy was for! Guess it's time to go look up some info on this program, huh?  Tulsa Air & Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

And here's the entire airplane. Note the pylon, which appears under both wings.  When the Navy first took possession of their two EB-47E-80s (52-0410 and 52-0412) the pylons were used for the mounting of podded sensors and telemetry gear. Later on the left pylon was used to mount a GE TF34 turbofan for testing. Tulsa Air & Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

And one final shot of 4120 . I think it's time to seriously investigate this program and see if I can turn up a little more photography on it. We aren't finished with this one, gang!  Tulsa Air & Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

As a postscript, 52-0412 (not illustrated here) ended up as a display aircraft at Dyess Linear Air Park in Abilene, Texas. It's not displayed in Navy markings, though!

And another postscript, because I just checked my e-mail! Rick Morgan is pretty sure the pod under that EB-47E is in fact an ALQ-31. Here's a shot of one on an RF-8G of VFP-62 to finish out our day:

And with this photo (and the additions you may have noticed on the preceeding B-47 piece) we really and truly are done with this for today. We are. I promise...  USN via Rick Morgan

So Where's the Nate?

Not done is where it is. I'm doing the panel lines right now, and it's so close to finished that it could almost fly off on its own, but it still isn't ready and there's nothing to show you that you haven't already seen, so No Nate Today! Instead, here are a couple of photos to prove that you can build the unbuildable, even though it might be a little bit of a challenge to do it!

Back before there were Wingnut Wings kits, Roden were pretty much it as far as Great War kits in 1/32nd scale were concerned. They did some neat subjects, but you could never call the kits easy to build. Here, as a case in point, is their 1/32nd scale Albatros DIII, more or less done in the markings of Otto Hartmann from Jasta 28 ca. 1917. 

Here's a 3/4 front view. The plywood effect was done with a stiff brush and pastels over light buff paint, each panel being done individually. I don't like the way I did the prop and may redo it some day, presuming I ever build another 1/32nd scale WWI model to go with this one.

This shot shows beyond any doubt why everybody hates Roden decals. Check out the cross on the left wing. Arghhh!

It looks pretty good in this view, though. There's truth in the saying that the camera never lies, but it's entirely possible to make it fib a little bit...

I like this shot quite a bit, but that's mostly because of the lighting. I don't like the prop, but we already discussed that. The rigging, which I don't think I mentioned before, is stainless steel wire; it actually serves a structural purpose on this model which might have fallen apart by now if it hadn't been used. Roden does their struts and affiliated attachment points in scale thickness, ya'll!

Eduard makes a photo-etch set for this kit, and it was used on the model you see before you. It's a great set and is essential if you're going to build this thing! In addition to that PE I also scratch-built the engine rocker arms and wound all the individual valve springs, which was fun but pretty much counterproductive at the end of the day. I like the model, but that's mostly because I'm a sucker for biplanes. It looks ok though, doesn't it?

Sometimes We Build Stuff For Our Kids

and that's where this came from, built back in the late 80s, I think. I put it in here just to see if you guys were paying attention. Letters to the editor are not necessary; it won't happen again!

And on that note I think it's probably time to say goodbye 'til next week! In the meantime, be good to your neighbor!
phil