A Feline Tub, A Tall Tale That Might Be True, Photo Phantoms, and A Turkey or Two,

That Tango Cougar

Way back in the 1950s, back when the Navy was getting into jets in a Big Way, it became evident that a swept-wing jet trainer might be useful for getting aspiring young aviators up to speed (no pun intended, mostly) on the then-new types entering service. Grumman had already begun delivering F9F-6 fighters to the Fleet and their handling characteristics, particularly around the boat, were a far cry from the relatively benign straight-winged types most naval aviators were accustomed to. That in turn led to the requirement for a trainer variant of the Cougar, which resulted in the modification of the F9F-8 fighter into the F9F-8T two-seater. Let's start the day with a few photos of that then-revolutionary trainer.

Where it all began.  BuNo 141667 was the prototype for the F9F-8T and proved the concept was viable. She's shown here on an early test flight, all shiny in natural metal. The airplane looked a little goofy with that big humped-up canopy, but it was a shape that would indure in TraCom for years to come. Grumman History Center Neg Unknown

It didn't take long for 141667 to get a coat of sorely-needed paint. The grey and white Navy tactical scheme of the 50s through early 80s called for all control surfaces to be painted white, as shown to advantage here. Part of the Cougar's roll control was provided by spoilers, and the horizontal stab was of the all-flying variety, which caused it to be painted entirely white both above and below. Of particular interest is the blast shield for the aft seat, visible beneath the canopy.  Grumman History Office 56552

A different, and somewhat colder, day in the test regime. 667 is shown here on approach to the Grumman facility at Bethpage with everything hanging and the canopy racked open, providing us with an excellent shot of that blast shield. That's snow down there; bet that was one cold final!  Grumman History Office 56333

Time for some new clothes! In this shot 667 has acquired some orange trim and a candy stripe on her test boom. The F9F-8T retained a pair of 20mm cannon and the ability to carry ordnance beneath the wings, as illustrated here by a quartet of AIM-9B Sidewinders. Those cannon and hardpoints allowed the Cougar to go to war in the 1960s, serving as a Fast FAC for the Marines. Grumman History Office 57534

Here's that "new" scheme again, this time on 142438. Most of the airframe is now white, with black anti-skid walkways, red-orange trim, and Corrogard leading edges; that Corrogard treatment is nicely defined here.  142438 was the second production F9F-8T  Grumman History Office Neg Unknown

141667 was used for weapons trials, among other evalulations, and she's shown here dumping fuel on one of those flights. The test boom has been replaced by the Cougar's standard IFR probe and she looks like a production aircraft. Grumman History Office 57545

This is yet another shot of 667, but taken when she was still configured with the test boom. The missile rails are shown to advantage and we get a good look at the gun ports and speed brakes too. The F9F Cougars weren't the best fighters out there (none of the early Navy jets were, with the possible exception of the FJ series) but they trained thousands of naval aviators in their day. Not too shabby...  Grumman History Center 57536  

Say goodbye to the folks, 667! This literal parting shot gives us an excellent view of the paint demarcation and those speed boards. Fly Navy!  Grumman History Office 57542

The Flapping Takeoff

If you meet enough military aviators you'll hear your share of there-I-was stories, some of which probably contain some element of truth. One of my friends in the small Texas town I call home is a former Naval Aviator, an IP with TraCom for the better part of his mid-60s flying career. He swears this is true.

It seems that our Intrepid Young Instructor was taking a student on his first cross country and was returning to NAS Corpus Christi via the Southern route and, is as well-known, the F9F-8T didn't have much in the way of legs, causing several refueling stops to be added to the flight plan. One of those stops was Davis Monthan AFB, a facility with sufficient runway length to accomodate even the most ground-bound of Republic's I'm-Not-Leaving-This-Runway fighters. That runway length, coupled to the natural proclivity of all Naval aviators to stick it to the Air Force whenever such an opportunity presented itself, led to a practical joke of legendary proportions.

Our aforementioned Intrepid Young Instructor and his student and recovered at DM with no problems and topped off the tanks, preparing for the next leg of the flight back to Texas, when an idea was born. Our IYI suspected that the tower at Davis Monthan didn't deal with all that many Navy airplanes; it was entirely possible back in those days for a Navy pilot to talk to an Air Force tower and use terminology that was foreign to said Tower. Our IP saw Opportunity looming, and there's no doubt in my mind that there was a big old pie-eating grin under the oxygen mask as the Cougar lined up on the active that day:

"Tower, this is Navy Two-Niner requesting takeoff from runway fill-in-the-blank".

"Roger, Navy Two-Niner. You're cleared for takeoff."

"Ah, roger, Tower. Permission to do a flapping takeoff, over?"

There can be no doubt the poor airman in the tower had not the slightest idea what a flapping takeoff might be, but no blue-suiter wants to come across as uninormed, particularly where the Navy might be involved, so permission was given:

"Roger, Navy Two-Niner. Proceed with flapping takeoff."

The grin in the front seat of the Cougar's cockpit got bigger as the throttle was advanced to allow a moderate taxi speed (remember that runway length; it's important to the story!) and a mischievious hand reached for the wing-fold control. The wings were cycled three, four, then five times, then locked down as the throttle was pushed forward for launch. We can only imagine what it must have looked like from the tower; it was, by Jingo, a flapping takeoff!

We can only hope it was true...

Some Photo Rhinos

The mighty F-4 Phantom served the Air Forces of the world for years, and in pretty much every role one could possibly imagine. The fighter that was purpose-designed for the defense of the Fleet proved to be much more capable than that, and its speed made it a natural for the photo recon role. Here are a couple of examples of the F-4 in that guise.

A whole phlock of photo Phantoms! (I'm sorry; it was in me and it had to come out!) This shot was taken at Kadena AB, Okinawa, during the late 1970s and shows a lineup of 18th TFW RF-4Cs in the squadron area. That fence doesn't add a whole lot of ambiance to the picture, but it's what we've got!  John Kerr Collection

The 67th TRW was stationed at now-defunct Bergstrom AFB for a number of years. RF-4C 66-474 was being prepped for public display at the BAFB airshow on 7 August 1988 when this picture was taken; 474 was ostensibly the wing commander's aircraft and is so marked beneath the tail codes. The paintwork is typical 1980s USAF Shades of Gray, while all three 67th TRW squadron colors are displayed on the fin tip. She was a pretty airplane.  Friddell

In 1988 the 16th TRS/363rd TRW sent a section of their RF-4Cs to participate in RAM 88. No serial number was evident on the exterior of the aircraft; the legend "16th TRS AMU" sits on the vertical stab in the place it should be, while her fuselage data block had been painted over. She was another grey-on-grey bird, with a really tasty cheat line on the nose. Beauty!  Friddell

Remember the Turkey?

There was a time, and it wasn't all that long ago, when the Grumman F-14 was the best fighter in the world. Time, technology, and an ever-increasing maintenance burden on an aging fleet of aircraft eventually did the Tomcat in, but the airplane was a Class Act from start to finish. We don't do much with the F-14 around here, but these photos make me wonder why that is. Maybe we'll have to do something about it. Meanwhile:

The 70s Navy was a colorful Navy. Here's a deck shot from the Saratoga, date unknown, showing her tactical types to advantage. That's a VF-11 Red Rippers F-14A closest to the camera; looks like we're getting ready for a launch cycle.  Rudy Bejar

A better view of the flight deck, this time showing an example from each of Sara's F-14 squadrons, VF-2 and VF-31. The pre-TPS "Easter Egg" markings are well-depicted here. I don't think the ship is rolling that badly given the sea state, but you never know...  Rudy Bejar 

Coming aboard! A Fighting Thirty-One  F-14 recovers aboard the Saratoga in this dramatic photo. The weapons sleds are carrying a pair of AIM-54 Phoenix missiles, and the fin of an AIM-7 Sparrow is visible on the far side of the aircraft. That, plus the gas bags, implies that this aircraft is returning from a CAP sortie. Rudy Bejar

A few calm moments before things start to get Really Busy. 102 was assigned to VF-21 when this photo was taken aboard the Connie in 1984 and provides the modeler with a great idea for a diorama. Gotta love the cheat line on that anti-glare panel!  Rick Morgan

Taxiing to the cat and ready to rumble. 210 is another VF-21 Tomcat and is caught moving away from the pack in this July 1985 shot. She's configured for CAP and pretty much loaded for bear as she leads out a second F-14, this time from VF-154. The boat is CV-64 Constellation.  Rick Morgan  

And here's a shot of one of Fighting One-Fifty-Four's F-14s, also on the Connie in July of '85. Note the VFA-25 F-18A taxiing forward. Although this photo shows an apparently calm deck, it's bustling with activity; note that every Deck Division hand near 102 has his eyes on the aircraft. There's a reason for that...  Rick Morgan

By the 1980s the Tomcat was a regular part of the Reserve component. This F-14A TARPS (159591) was photographed at Last Chance during RAM 88. She's from VF-302 and is about to spend her day whizzing low above the South Texas countryside.  Friddell

Majesty. An unknown Navy photographer captured this formation from VF-142 during the mid-80s. Other than that I know nothing about the photograph, but it's really pretty and sometimes that's enough.  Friddell Collection

The Relief Tube

When last we met a reader had asked a question regarding roll control on the S2F. Here are some comments regarding that topic from Tommy Thomason:

The S2F roll control consisted of 1) circular arc spoilers in the outboard wing panel located ahead of the flap and 2) small "feel" ailerons out at the wing tips. The spoilers extended upward only, with a maximum extension equal to 8.6% of the wing chord. I haven't found any pictures yet that depict them up but I vaguely remember seeing a bit of extension with the wings folded. I think the system is similar to the one on the P-61.

Tommy kept looking, and sent us a couple of photographs showing those spoilers in the deployed condition:

Tommy stresses that this photo is most likely on the prototype, but it gives us a pretty good idea of how the spoilers looked. Thomason Collection

A second view of the prototype installation.  Thomason Collection

This just might be the Money Shot; it depicts an extended spoiler on the port wing of an early S2F-1. Thomason Collection

Here's how they looked when the wings were folded. This is a production S-2E on the boat.  Thomason Collection

A detail shot of the extended spoiler on that S-2E. A final comment from Tommy:  A note on the picture with the wings vertical and both spoilers extended. As a result of the kinematics of the mechanical control system, both ailerons are deflected "up" at that point, which means that the spoilers on both wings extend, since they come out only when "their" aileron is up (wing to go down). Normally, only one side is extended since only one aileron is up at any time in flight. Pictures of that are pretty rare.
Thomason collection

And regarding the new Kinetic kit:  I made offers to help to two different contact points at the company. Got no response. As far as I can tell from pictures of the sprues, there are a few S2F-1 details on the S-2E parts. Nothing major but typical of the difficulty of properly segregating the different configurations of an aircraft that was upgraded over time. Definitely something to remember if you build that kit! Thanks, Tommy!

Contributor/reader Doug Siegfried, who has more than a few hours in the "Stoof", added these comments:

Hi Phil:  Nice coverage of my favorite airplane the S-2. A correction on the air to air shot that I took. We were flying off USS Kitty Hawk CV-63. The Princeton at the time was razor blades. Also, both pilots in the burning S-2 survived the ditching. It was fortunate that both pilots were instructors - one was an instructor under training. Helps to have two pros handle an emergency such as this one.

And a pilot's perspective on flying the S2F:  In the S2F, C-1 and E-1 you had to use a little muscle to make turns. Once you got used to the controls it was no problem. The S2F-3 (D,E and G) had very easy control and you had to be careful to not over control. You never, never thought about spinning the S-2 or all its variants. Grumman did it once and it did some very strange things so there were no spin recovery methods in the NATOPS. You just did not get into unusual attitudes in the S-2. You could do great angle of bank turns at altitude or down low to the water with no problem. We did have one guy in my first squadron that tried a barrel roll in the S2 and it lost several thousand feet before he got it back to normal flight. He had to wring out his flight suit after that and did not recommend anyone every try it. The most serious emergency in the S-2 was fire in flight - leave it or ditch now. It was great plane to fly and do what it was designed for which was ASW work. Looking forward to the new S-2 model. Cheers, Doug

This issue of Replica in Scale is respectfully dedicated to the memory of Frank Garcia, who loved Naval aviation.

And that's what I know for now. Be good to your neighbor and we'll meet again soon.
phil

More of Dora Than You Probably Wanted, and Turkey Feathers

Reducton to Production: The Dismantling

Here we are, movin' right along with the rebuild of Black 12. Before we start in on the hulk let's discuss how we got here and why I picked this particular airframe to model. The story starts back in the mid-60s, when Lindberg issued a quartet of Luftwaffe subjects in 1/72nd scale. One of those kits (all of which were molded in a stomach churning yucky green color) was a Dora, the second kit to be released of that variant in 1/72nd scale and seemingly an improvement on the aging Airfix offering. We thought the Lindberg kit had everything going for it because it had, among other "improvements", a blown canopy. In retrospect it was  pretty poor but it was what we had, and it was cheap. Kookaburra released their monographs on the Fw190 series shortly thereafter, and I discovered Black 12. I have absolutely no idea why I wanted to model that particular airplane but I had to do it, and model it I did, religiously following the color plate in that little book. That particular Dora had a place of honor on my display shelf until late 1982, when my 2-year old son rearranged the components of approximately 60% of my miniature air force. Black 12 was one of the models that ended up being scrapped, but I was still fond of it.

There was a period of hiatus from modeling during the late 90s, after which I rediscovered the hobby with a vengeance. By then Tamiya had released their 1/48th scale Dora, and The Modeling World had yet to tag it as a poor model. (It does have its faults, and we may even fix a couple of them in this R to P project although the jury's still out on that.) I bought one, drug out that old Kookaburra pub, and built myself a brand new Black 12. Then came JAPO and Jerry Crandall, each offering a two-volume set of books containing anything anybody could possibly want to know about the camouflage and markings of the Fw190D series. Volume I of both sets included Black 12 in considerably more detail than we'd been privy too before, and both proved the aging Kookaburra monograph to be in error in regard to colors. "Live with it", said I, but it was a bitter pill to swallow. The time would come when I'd fix the thing, do it right. After a little bit of thought I came to the conclusion that the Production part of the R to P deal would result in the rebuild of my old friend, Black 12. The die is cast. Black 12 it is.

Here are a couple of photos to show you what I'm doing with the airplane. It's not a major sort of rework and, with any luck at all, will show just how quickly you can accomplish such a task (and don't anybody even think about using the word "makeover"; not now, not ever!).

Here we are, all disassembled. The transparencies came off easily because I always attach that sort of thing with white glue, while the prop was easy to pull off thanks to those nifty little nylon bushings the Japanese are so fond of putting in their kits. The spinner fell apart when I took the prop off, thus saving me the trouble of separating it later. One of the exhausts fell off too, as did the cowl ring which I'd apparently never bothered to glue in place. (Laziness has some virtues, don't you think?) Neither of those things was in The Plan but it's ok. It'll all turn out ok in the end.

The belly of the beast. The undersurface color is RLM 76 and not the late-war greenish tint of same, although the lighting (it's always that darned lighting, isn't it?) makes it look that way. There's an issue with the kit down here in the form of inaccurate cartridge case ejection ports, but we'll fix that (or maybe just ignore it, since it's almost impossible to see if you've got the drop tank installed as we go long. There's no plan to detail the wheel wells or add an engine. This is going to be relatively quick and dirty.

There will bit quite a bit done on the paint, but the intention is to salvage as much of what's there as possible. The interior would be a bear to re-do so the only thing that'll happen in that department is the addition of the ubiquitous Eduard belts and harnesses and maybe, but only maybe, a better gunsight. Most of the work on this rebuild will occur in the paint shop. Stay tuned...

Sometimes We Get There Before We Should

Whch means that I'm here by myself, never a good idea in the best of circumstances. I'm supposed to be cleaning the garage (my Sunday Project, but not particularly one of my choosing), but we're piddling on the Dora instead. Since last we spoke (a mere column-inch or so ago) I decided that taking the air scoop off the starboard nose would be a really good idea. The panel around the exhaust stacks needs to be painted black, and the masking thereof will be substantially easier without that Big Ol' Honkin' Scoop in the way. It popped right off of there, so the masking will be easy. We're going to talk about what I've been doing for a minute or two, because the techniques used might be of use to you on one of your own projects.

Black 12 was a pretty famous Focke Wulf; the very first D-model to fall intact into Allied hands. Its pilot whacked a bird during Operation Bodenplatte, thus turning himself into an instant PoW and his aircraft into an Object of Affection for the RAF. The airplane was studied in considerable detail and notes were made that, with a tiny bit of circumspection, serve us well today. The wings and horizontal tail were noted as being in a dark green and a lighter shade of same, with the light color described as substantially brighter than normally observed. The fuselage was in the late-War Focke Wulf treatment of RLM 75/83, although most of us didn't snap to that fact Way Back When, which resulted in a lot of green on green on blue renditions of Black 12. To make things worse, the demarcation lines of those two greens were poorly defined by almost everybody. The JAPO and Crandall books come close to agreeing on the color separation, etc., making that part of the job pretty easy to figure out. First, though, let's talk about those techniques.

This is a rebuild of an existing model, and my personal philosophy on that sort of thing is to try to preserve what you can and only rework or replace what actually needs fixing. With that thought in mind, there seemed to be no great need to remove most of the existing decals. True, they're Tamiya kit decals and therefore on the thick side, but DullCote hides a multitude of sins and we're going to do some sin-hiding on this particular Dora anyway. Let's salvage what we can.

First there are those underwing crosses. They were a little bit wrinkled on my model, mostly due to poor application when it was originally built. (Put those decals on the bottom of the wings, then turn the thing over and start on the top---NOT!!!) A light sanding with 2400 grit polishing cloth knocked down the wrinkles, and application of succeedingly finer grits of cloth completely restored the surface finish with no need for a repaint or different decals.

The crosses on the top wings are next, and they have to go if we intend to correct the upper surface paint demarcation lines. The crosses that used to live there have therefore been sanded off, and the model will have its plastic surface restored to like-new condition with applications of polishing cloth, once again starting with 2400 grit and working up. When the polishing is finished the wings will be repainted and new crosses applied. It doesn't get a whole lot easier than that.

The fuselage is next, and that's where we get to have some fun! Not a week goes by that you can't find a discussion on the relative merits of different airbrushes someplace on the internet. You'll find proponents of just about any brand you can imagine and, as is usual with internet discussions, things can get a little bit passionate as folks write in to extoll the virtues of their particular favorite. My weapon of choice is the Omni 3000, a Thayer and Chandler design now sold by Badger. You can, and this is no exageration, get a line with that brush that's so fine it's almost impossible to detect the overspray. By using a combination of that Omni plus low air pressure and really thin paint, I was able to add the RLM 74 around the cockpit area by painting around the numbers on the fuselage. It was accomplished without compromising those numbers and very little was masked. I can't recommend the Omni strongly enough, especially since street price is generally under a hundred bucks. Anybody who sells Badger can get one for you, although they may not know that since Badger really doesn't press the issue. Let me know if you want one and can't find it; maybe I can help.

The underwing crosses sanded smooth. Nothing had been polished out when this was taken. Note the Big Nasty Fingerprint under the starboard wing (that's the one on the left side of the picture). That smudge is the result of a messy thumb and lack of situational awareness; looks like there's a little unscheduled sanding in my future!

The upper wings have had their decals completely removed by sanding. Polishing is underway but not yet completed. Some of the upper fuselage has been repainted in RLM 74 and 83, but it's not finished yet; final demarcation will come after careful study of JAPO/Crandall to make sure everything's where it should be. Look at that Shiny Propeller at upper right. That's Testor RLM 70 Black Green over a dark blueish-black base. Mr. DullCote will be our friend!

The port side of the fus showing how fuselage colors have been sprayed around the existing markings. There's still a quite a bit to do here to match existing photos of Black 12, but we're well underway. The RLM 76 blue areas will need to be repainted too, once again to match the photos. That washed-out yellow on the rudder and under the nose will stay as-is; they were applied with a temporary paint on the actual aircraft and the RAF report states that the original colors were showing through. No reason to change that.

And the starboard side. Lots of work yet to do, but you can get an idea of how easy it is to paint around things. Get yourself a decent airbrush and practice, then go practice some more. It's easy to do once you get the hang of it!

Turkey Feathers

It seems like a lot of folks were interested in last Friday's photo essay on the EA-6B nose art, so I figured we'd do a reprise to apologize to those of you who don't care about Luftwaffe subjects. Today's offering is another from Rick Morgan (you can all say THANK YOU, Rick!), also from the Roosevelt while she was involved in Desert Storm.

A semi-Easter Egg in an age of TPS. Here's BuNo 162689 "Queen of Spades" from Fighting 41. The artwork is best defined as restrained.  Rick Morgan Photo

Remember that part where we used the word "restraint"? Looks like we might've been mistaken! Here's "Queen of Spades" in all her glory. There was a time when the Air Force had most of the good nose art. Those days are gone...  Rick Morgan Photo

Anytime, Baby! This is what the Tomcat's all about. Check out the weapons load and the gas bags; defense of the Fleet is the name of the game, and 162692 "Cat Snatch Fever" from VF-84 is ready to make it all happen.  Rick Morgan Photo

A great shot of the verticals on BuNo 162692. Fighting 84's Skull & Crossbones looks particularly menacing in this shot. Of interest is the considerable paint touch-up at the base of the fins. TPS works well as a camouflage system but the corrosion control guys don't care for it very much---as this photo proves, it's a first classs booger to keep clean.  Rick Morgan Photo

Here's the office of 162692. This is a well-used Tomcat and provides an excellent example of the way TPS fades and discolors. Sometimes the paintwork gets so nasty you'd swear it was a deliberate attempt at camouflage. Does anybody besides me miss the old Easter Egg Navy?  Rick Morgan Photo

You know, we really don't need to say anything here. FLY NAVY!!!  Rick Morgan Photo

Be good to your neighbor. We'll see you tomorrow! 

phil