Get Those Guys Off My Boat, Another Jug or Two, Some Guard Mainstays, And a Couple of SEA Phantoms

The Skyhawk Hits the Big Time

Everybody knows the Douglas TA-4J had a lengthy career with the Navy's Training Command, and everybody knows that TraCom had a dedicated aircraft carrier assigned to it. What a lot of folks might not know is that the "Scooter" occasionally bounced off the Big Boats as well. Rick Morgan was on CV-65 USS Enterprise in September of 1987 and took these fascinating images:

Coming aboard. It's easy to forget how tiny the TA-4J really is until you have something nearby to put the size (or lack of it!) into perspective.This "Scooter" from TW-2 is in position for a textbook-perfect three-wire trap and is absolutely dwarfed by Enterprise's deck. There was good reason for that whole "Bantam Bomber" nickname!  Rick Morgan

Sometimes it's tough to find a parking place even when you aren't at the mall. This assemblage of "Scooters" includes aircraft marked for TW-2, TW-3, and VT-7, and at least one of them carries the legend "MARINES" rather than "NAVY" on the port side of the fin. It's interesting to see the way the Insignia Red under the slats is displayed when said slats are deployed. (On the A-4 the slats were aerodynamic and therefore extended when the aircraft was parked, the A-4Fs of the Blue Angels being the exception to the rule, and that exception being A Story for Another Day.)  Note the different styles and colors of the unit designators on the vertical stabs.  Rick Morgan

Taxiing out. Those TraCom birds were used pretty hard and their paintwork could suffer as a result. This TW-2 bird is a fine example; note the overall condition of her paint and, in particular, the badly-worn and faded paintwork under her starboard slat. The "Scooters" shown in this piece display two distinctly different wing-walk treatments as well; check out that photo of the pack that we ran just above this one for a perfect illustration of what we're talking about.  Rick Morgan

It's been fun, but it's time to go home now! 735 is one of at least two VT-7 aircraft that carries the "MARINES" identifier on the port side of the fin; the starboard side still reads "NAVY" on both aircraft. The Navy Reserves used to do it this way, but it's not all that common in TraCom. Note that, in direct comparision to our previous photo, this aircraft is immaculate and quite possibly just out of the NARF. Fly Navy!  Rick Morgan

Hey, That's Not Gabby's Airplane!

Republic's legendary P-47 Thunderbolt achieved fame and glory in both the Pacific theater and in Europe back during The Big One, but the airplane soldiered on for quite a while afterwards in the Guard and, to a far more limited extent, the regular Air Force. Those airplanes were tired and mostly gone by the time of the Korean Unpleasantness so their combat time was limited to the Second World War and a few skirmishes in Latin America, which means most folks aren't familiar with them in their post-War plummage. Today, thanks to the kindness of Jim Sullivan and Dave Menard, we're going to take a look at some of those almost-forgotten D models.

They're late enough to have their "PE" buzz number appended to the lower wings and fuselage, but other than that we don't know a whole lot about this shot except that it was taken in late 1947 and there are a whole bunch of "Jugs" sitting on that patch of PSP.  Jim Sullivan Collection

Virginia had this unusually configured F-47D on strength after the conversion to the "new" national insignia in 1947. That ADF football on the fuselage spine behind the canopy isn't very common on the "Jug" and really sets this one apart.  Jim Sullivan Collection

The year is now 1948, and here's what a whole bunch of 149th FS Virginia ANG P-47Ds look like when they're all running up at once. Sharp-eyed readers will notice that these aircraft are bereft of the fuselage star and bar, not an uncommon thing on Guard birds of the late 1940s.  Jim Sullivan Collection

New York's 136th FS flew the "Jug" post-War; here we see 44-32669 from that unit sitting placidly on the ramp. There were all sorts of ways to display the "NG" identifier on the Thunderbolt. Here's one of the more creative ones.  Peter Bowers via Menard Collection

Very few people think of Rhode Island when they think of fighter aircraft, but their National Guard flew them briefly after the war. 44-32927 sits on the ramp at Providence in this classic shot; note the squadron badge and presentation of the Rhode Island ANG designator. Menard Collection

New England was apparently a hotbed of fighter activity as far as the Guard was concerned, with large numbers of F-47 and F-51 units concentrated there during the late 40s and early 50s. This gorgeous example is from Massachusett's 131st FS. We're guessing her paintwork is red and white over a natural metal airframe with flat black anti-glare panels, and her markings are simple enough that she could be modeled with no requirement for decals beyond national insignia, letters and numbers. Anybody out there looking for a somewhat out-of-the-ordinary subject to build?  Besecker via Menard Collection

If you frequent any of the various modeling periodicals or internet boards, you'll eventually read where somebody or other is lamenting that it was the F-51 that went to Korea rather than the F-47. It's a little-known fact that some National Guard P-47 units were still around at the outbreak of that particular party, and that at least a couple of them were Federalized as a result of the conflict. 44-32894 belongs to either New Jersey's 141st FS or Virginia's 149th, and it's shown here getting ready to get ready to rumble. The Air Force saw things differently, though, and the somewhat limited supply pipeline for the Thunderbolt plus large numbers of F-51Ds and Ks already in the Far East guaranteed that it was to be the Mustang's war.  Menard Collection

Here's a nose shot of 894. We could argue the point that this airplane belongs in your collection of Korean War models since its parent unit was Federalized for that conflict---there's logic there, and it would definitely be a conversation-starter among knowledgeable modelers! Any takers?  Menard Collection

Republic built a whole bunch of Thunderbolts during the course of just a couple of short years, but in the post-War world there just wasn't any room for a piston-engined fighter, no matter how good it was. A few airplanes of the species had survived both conflict and the passage of time and one lived on to be restored by the factory in honor of the type's 20th birthday in 1961. Here's 44-32691 in all her restoration glory, gleaming in the sunshine. She looks proud, doesn't she?  Menard Collection

This isn't our favorite picture of the "Jug", but it defines how a great many of them ended up. A substantial number of the species survived conflict to be scrapped at the end of the war, while some of those that had served in the Pacific were simply bull-dozed into the ocean. A handful survived in Latin American, and a tiny percentage of P-47s are flying today as Warbirds. The airplane deserved a better fate.  Menard Collection

At some point in the very near future we'll take a look at the post-War P-47N, so hang around. We'll make it worth your while!

And While We're Talkin' About the Guard

We've been traveling down the post-War ANG path quite a bit of late, and there's certainly no reason to stop now! We've mostly covered piston-engined fighters so far, but Mark Nankivil has provided us with a couple of photos of Guard birds that aren't fighters. We think you'll like 'em!

When we were in elementary school (that "we" being Third Person Speak for me, in case you hadn't figured it out yet) the TB-25N was a normal part of life; Sheppard AFB was still operating the type as a trainer and it wasn't at all unusual to look up and see one chugging along overhead. That, plus a featured role for the airplane in the movie No Time for Sergeants, pretty much guarantees that it's a favorite around here, which makes this TB-25N of the Missouri ANG a special treat. Oh yeah, and check out the way the ANG markings are presented on this airframe!  Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

Our next-door-neighbor's sons had this enormous yellow T-6G hanging from their ceiling when your editor was a kid at Sheppard in 1957. That makes it yet another personal favorite, and also means that we really like this photo from Mark's collection. The airplane is pretty typical for an ANG T-6; late-model canopies, an ADF football, and lots of yellow paint. Beauty!  Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

The Bent-Wing Bug Sucker at War

Since we've been riding that F-4 horse of late, it's only appropriate that we run another shot or two of them today. These are from the collection of Chris Williamson and depict aircraft involved in the latter days of the Vietnam conflict.

There's just something about an F-4D with a towel rack on it that makes us want to reach for the old Monogram F-4C/D kit. Here's a fine reason why; this example is undergoing last-minute maintenance at Udorn during the early 1970s. She belonged to the 435th TFS/8th TFW when the photo was taken, and was very likely involved in the early deployment of "smart" munitions to the theater. The photo is probably a little bit faded and those SEA colors were notoriously prone to fading all by themselves without help from anyone's camera, but this shot provides a great illustration of how paint went south in the field. Camouflage pedantics beware!  Williamson Collection

It's good to be home. The airplane is an early F-4E and is from either the 307th or 308th TFS/31st TFW, and appears to be coming off a combat mission. The year is probably 1972, and she's a well-used Phantom. Have we ever mentioned that we like the F-4?  Williamson Collection

We don't know how you might feel about it, but this airplane is carrying a load full of hurt that we'd just as soon avoid. She was with the 13th TFS/432nd TFW when this photo was taken, and is another LORAN-equipped F-4D. A lot of those towel-racked Delta-models had black bellies and spent more than a little time dropping laser-guided munitions, but this bird is configured for an in-country strike. Check out that emblem on the intake splitter!  Williamson Collection

Happy Snaps

A few weeks ago Doug Barbier, former fighter pilot and photographer extraordinaire, sent us a small series of air-to-air F-16 shots for this section of the blog. Here's the final one in that series for your enjoyment today.

You gotta admit it; Doug Barbier knows his way around a camera. This beautifully-marked "Electric Jet" is from Michigan's 191st TFS and was taken shortly before they gave up the fighter business for good. It was a sad day for all concerned but obviously a wonderful photo op. We miss the 191st, though...  Doug Barbier

The Relief Tube

And here we are again, with another batch of corrections, additions, and comments, which is as good a time as any to ask that our readership feel free to write us regarding same. The address is replicainscale@yahoo.com and we answer our mail. We also welcome contributions as long as they fall within the rather obvious parameters we've set for the project, so please consider contributing photography if you're so inclined!

We're going to start off a little differently than we normally do, with a request for help on a project. If you've got any previously-unpublished pictures of the 58th FG in the Pacific during WW2, would you consider scanning them (at a high resolution, please, since they're intended for print publication rather than electronic) and forwarding them to that now-famous replicainscale@yahoo.com address? Friend of Replica and author Frank Emmett is working on a monograph of the unit and could use a few more photos. Full credit will be given for any images used. And now; back to our never-scheduled corrections and comments!

We were talking about FH-1 Phantoms a couple of issues ago, and made mention of those yellow covers on the nose. Tommy Thomason thought about that for a while and offered this thought:   Looking more closely at those yellow "access panels" on the FH-1 color picture, I'm pretty sure that they are yellow zinc-chromate painted vents, added after delivery to resolve some problem like compartment cooling or gun-gas buildup. They would have come from McDonnell, primed but unpainted, and locally installed. Apparently painting them the exterior color was a low priority. Another example of an unpainted fleet modification is attached, the gun-gas vent on the F9F Panther nose.  T

Here's Tommy's photo of the gun gas vent on an F9F to substantiate the thought that those covers are yellow zinc chromate (Mil-P-8585T). Based on this shot we'd tend to agree.  Thomason Collection

Another one of our readers sent in the following comments regarding the TAF-9 photos we ran last issue. The clanger we dropped on that one was large enough to merit instant correction, but here's Rex's comment on the mistake:  Phil, those "TF-9As" would have been either TAF-9Js if they were single seaters or TF-9Js if they were two seaters, both were based on F9F-8 which became F-9J, or F9F-8B which became AF-9J. Hope this helps!   RexTN  Thanks, Rex! (You just never know what we're going to mis-identify next!)

A further note and some insight on that whole TraCom thing from one who was there is provided by former "Stoof" driver Doug Siegfried:  Phillip, the shots of TraCom were over the top. Great shots of the real oldies. By the way - a correction. In the summer of 1971 the Naval Air training Command was reorganized for the first time since late 1945. TraCom disestablished the Basic and Advanced Training commands and coordinated all flight training through eight new training wings under the single base concept. The new TraWings 1 thru 8 were to be at NAS Meridian, Chase, Kingsville, Corpus, Whiting, Pensacola, Saufley and Glynco. The wings at Glynco and Saufley were disestablished when the two bases closed. There were no Tra Wings in 1964. The squadrons belonged to the base and the the Basic and Advanced Training Commands. Great shots all the way around.  Cheers, Doug  Many thanks, Doug!

Our last F-102 installment included a photo of F-102A 56-1334. Marty Isham and Dave Menard both sent unit IDs on that one, and Dave also added some comments regarding the F-84F factory shot we ran:

Hi, Phil. Two more (corrections) for you! That Deuce 61334 is from the 332nd FIS, who was based at beautiful Thule AB Greenland, not Alaska. I was TDY up there during April, May and June of 1958 and know those hangers well! Also, that factory fresh F-84F was 53-6776, not 56, as there were no F-84s built with a higher FY than 1953. That shortened tail number was a result of some moron in HQ USAF deciding that radio call numbers (the official name for tail numbers) should only be four digits. This meant that many a/c got totally SNAFUed numbers for a year or so til sanity returned. I know of one F-86D 210035 that wound up with 2035 as her number. Will try to dig up some shots of this farce to send along. Oh, yes, the Thunderbird F-84Fs got the four digits only scheme. Since they flew that model in late 55 and then into 1956, that will help ID possible dating for future photos perhaps? Great job on the blog, usual. Cheers, dave 

We'll run that shot of 52-10035 in a minute, but first let's hear from Marty about that "Deuce":  Hi Bud...just a bit of a geography lesson, the 332nd was based at Thule AB, not Alaska, from July 60 to Apr 65, last 5 a/c left to Perrin. Hanger space only allowed 12 a/c. 332nd inactivated on 1 July 1965.  Cheers....Marty
Thanks as always, guys! And here's that F-86D that Dave mentioned:

                                                                                   A. Pendleton via Menard
 

                                                                                             Menard Collection

Look closely at these photos, then read Dave's explanation above. Sometimes it's possible to overthink a problem and come up with a truly goofy solution...  Menard Collection

It's not often we get to see where the airplanes we feature ended up, but reader Kevin Kuhn found one of them on display:  It was with some amazement that I opened the first photo in your selection of Texas Voodoos to see F-101B 57-0308, a Voodoo I've become quite familiar with over the past few years. By some weird twist of fate, she's now the gateguard at Wilmington Airpark (ex-Airborne Airpark) in Wilmington, Ohio. As I go to school just south of Cincinnati, and live in Columbus, I've tried to stop and photograph her whenever I'm traveling between the two cities. Her presence is probably a result of the airport's former status as Clinton County Air Force Base, but I'm at a loss as to why, as I don't think it was ever a fighter base, and the only Voodoos in Ohio that I'm aware of were based in my hometown of Columbus, at Rickenbacker AFB. I've attached a pair of photos of the old lady as she appears today; she's looking a bit rough but she's still a proud bird standing her guard post. They're probably not nearly as interesting as the in-service pictures but if you'd like to publish them go right ahead, just credit me as Kevin Kuhn.

I've only seen one other photo of 308 while in service, found here: http://www.airfighters.com/photo/39499/L/USA-Air-Force/McDonnell-F-101B-Voodoo/57-0308/
To be honest I'd never expected to find any photo of her while in service, let alone two. If you happen to come across any photos of F-86H 53-1528 while still in service please let me know, as she's another airframe I've got some connection to. I'm a big fan of your blog-only discovered it recently but the wealth of photographic information contained in it is astounding. Enjoy the photos, and keep up the good work!  Kevin Kuhn  Thanks, Kevin, both for your kind words and for the photos!

She looked a lot better when she was in active service, but at least 308 ended up with a home that didn't include incorporation into a set of cookware. Many thanks to Kevin for providing these photos. (And if any of our readers have a photo of F-86H 53-1528 in their collections, please consider forwarding it to us at replicainscale@yahoo.com . Kevin would enjoy it and we'd like to see it too!)  Both photos by Kevin Kuhn

As a final note, we don't do much with aircraft of the Second World War around here, but we've recently been offered some extremely interesting images that we think you'll all enjoy. We'll begin looking at a few of them next issue but until then, be good to your neighbor. We'll meet again soon.
phil

Another Big 'Un, An Unusual Phantom Shot or Two, A Cold Corsair, and An Unfamiliar Shape

We Missed a Week

You noticed that; I'm certain of it. That sort of thing happens from time to time and I don't like it any more than you do, but it's a fact of life that such things will occur during the course of what other projects call production. One-man operations are like that. Please accept my apologies if that matters to you, or ignore this paragraph completely and get on with the rest of our humble offerings if it doesn't. Either way, we've got some spiffy stuff to look at today, so let's get on with it.

Before There Was Old Shakey

Douglas pretty much had the whole transport thing sewed up way back when airplanes had reciprocating engines and propellers, and most of us are familiar with that particular family tree. There's one Douglas product that frequently escapes the scrutiny of enthusiasts though; the capable, homely, and largely unsung C-74 Globemaster. The type was designed as a heavy airlifter and flew combat support missions during the Korean War, before it morphed into the immensely more capable C-124 Globemaster II.

Contributor Mark Morgan had promised some fighters to us a while back (well, to me anyhow---I never said anything about it to anybody else), then mentioned that he was having a tough time finding the photos he was after and that we'd have to wait a bit longer. That's not a problem for me, given the uniqueness of many of Mark's contributions, so we're going to presume it's not an issue for any of you either. Unique is unique, and sometimes that means Big Airplanes. That said, let's look at some pictures!

I don't know about you, but I've really got a thing for sepia tone photos, even though that spiffy color means that Bad Things are in the process of happening to them. This soon-to-fade-away-but-for-the-magic-of-electronic-imaging photo depicts 42-65408 during an engine run-up, time and location unknown. Check out the dust cloud behind the aircraft; that dust, plus a liberal dose of oil droplets from four thundering radials, was probably making quite a mess out of a number of uniforms that day. Betcha there were some colorful metaphors on that ramp!  AMC History Office via Mark Morgan

Doing what it did best. 42-65412 is loading up in this photo taken at Bolling in 1951. Note the aft cargo pallet in its lowered position, a feature that carried over to the C-124. The Globemaster was a capable transport, but its offspring, the Globemaster II, upped the ante beyond all recognition. That's a tantalizing ramp, isn't it?  AMC History Office via Mark Morgan

This is one of those photographs that just screams for a caption, but I'm not going to be the one to write it. I'm also not going to print any that might be submitted, although there's certainly a temptation to do that. Nope; we're running this shot to illustrate the small handling boom in the front corner of that cargo hatch. Details like that make military transports fascinating kit subjects, although decent models of such things are few and far between. This bird's on the ground at the Middletown Air Technical Service Command facility at Olmstead (Harrisburg, PA), date unknown. The C-74 was a lot smaller than the C-124 that replaced it, but it was still a pretty big airplane.  AMC History Office via Mark Morgan

It's a sad ending, but at least this one's not on the scrap pile yet. This is how 42-65412 ended up, sitting apparently derelect on the ramp at Long Beach. She's carrying an N-number, although I don't know much more than that. Maddog, consider this an open invitation to educate us!  AMC History Office via Mark Morgan

Sometimes Airplanes Get Makeovers Too

Which means you've got to do an acceptance flight before you give it back to the customer, which is what's happening here:

Let's see if it works...  F-4C-17-MC 64-7455 manning up for a pre-acceptance test flight. This sort of thing isn't particularly glamorous but can certainly have it's share of what we might call "interesting moments", and it's a fact of life for any new airplane, military or otherwise. It's also the norm for refurbished birds coming out of overhaul, which is the case here. Note the scuffed overall finish, a direct result of paint stripping, and the serial and line numbers on the fuselage. Strip lights have been added to the airframe, and the sharp-eyed among us will notice the yaw string hanging down from the top of the radome. Her next stop will be a visit to Corrosion Control for a coat of primer and a new paint job. The location is the old Douglas Tulsa plant.  Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

And here's where that unpainted Phantom came from. This photo depicts the PDM line at Douglas Tulsa and was taken on 31 April, 1981 when the F-4 was still the primary fighter for the Air Force. These birds will eventually be as good as new, but they sure don't look it here. Note that all these F-4s have brand new canopies---that covering won't be removed until just prior to acceptance testing.  Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil 

A Cold Corsair

If you're at all familiar with the Korean War, you're aware that a big part of it was fought in the dead of winter. Cold weather operations at sea were a special treat, as typified by our next shot.

Now that looks cold! This one's an F4U-4P from a VC-61 Det 3 aboard the Philippine Sea during her July 1950-March 1951 deployment off the coast of North Korea. That red thingy between the folded wing and the fuselage is called a wing fold jury strut, and secures the wing to the fus so it can't move around when it's folded. The 1/48th scale Tamiya kits include a pair of these; a neat touch to a fine little model.  Tailhook Association via Doug Siegfried  

A Model You Probably Didn't Expect to See Here

When I run pictures of models around here (something I try to do every issue if I can because of that whole Replica in Scale thing) they're usually of something I've built lately, and lately several of them have been of of Luftwaffe subjects. Today's modeling topic is a little bit different; it's something from the same general part of the world, but from The Other Side, as it were.

The Soviet VVS pretty much took it in the shorts during the early days of their country's involvement in the Second World War, but evolved into a highly effective and capable air arm able to stand up with the world's best by the end of that conflict. Today's model represents those early days and, at least to me, symbolizes the courage those airmen displayed during the dark early days of the war.

Accurate Miniatures did some really neat kits back when they were in their prime. They often stepped outside the box to produce kits of airplanes that other mainstream manufacturers wouldn't touch, and this kit's one of them. It's an early Il-2, a single-seater, and the two I've got on the shelf both originally came with skis. I'd be lying if I told you I knew much about the type, so I'm going to explain how I got to the model instead. The markings were inspired by an illustration on Erik Pilawkii's excellent VVS web site (vvs.hobbyvista.com) and depicts an early-War aircraft in the black and green scheme. The kit is pretty good and relatively easy to build, but I didn't like the guns provided and replaced them. I also added the tell-tales for landing gear extension, and a set of nice but largely un-necessary QuickBoost exhausts. You may note that there's no radio antenna between the mast and the vertical stab; not all Il-2s had radios installed, so I left it off. I may go back and add it some day, but that's honestly pretty doubtful at this point.

Here's one of the reasons I wanted to build this model---that black on green paint scheme has fascinated me from the first time I saw it. Pilawskii provided the details of the scheme, and ModelMaster supplied the paint. The black is Testor Interior Black enamel, while the green is a ModelMaster mix. If I'd been paying attention to what I was doing I would've documented that green color for you, but the kit was built several years ago and I have no idea what I mixed to get to that shade. Decals were a throw-together from several sources---this isn't a scheme offered by the kit. This view really shows what a tank the Il-2 family was.

A view that graphically illustrates why the airplane existed, and gives an idea of why it was so effective in combat. It could be fitted with 8 unguided rockets (not used here but included in the kit), and could carry bombs in small bays built into the center section or, as depicted in this photo, haul a pair of larger weapons under the wings. Those bombs are kit items, once again painted per an article on Pilawskii's site. The undersurface color is ModelMaster VVS Undersurface Blue. If memory serves I had to drill out the wheels and insert a set of brass axles in order to put normal (vs ski) landing gear on this one. Weathering, which may or may not be to your liking, was done with Grumbacher pastels. Every once in a while I sit this next to a 1/48th scale Me109 just to get a sense of what the aircrew on both sides were up against. It's pretty enlightening to do that, I think.

The Relief Tube

Sometimes we get a lot of entries for this part of the project and sometimes we don't. This time we did, so let's get started.

Let's begin with the "Ford". The Douglas F4D-1 Skyray has assumed a life of its own on these pages, or at least that's how it seems to me. The first installment of that series included a comment by me that the type had never been used by the Navy Reserve. That, my friends, was a serious error, although nobody commented on it at the time. Then, in the next installment, I ran a photo of one of those Reserve birds, and that provoked some informative reaction from The Morgan Boys:

Phil: regarding the Reserve F4Ds (F-6s); NAS Olathe, KS was the only base that got Reserve Fords, with the first arriving in the spring of 1962, replacing F9F-8s. They had four units (VF-881, -882 and VMF (AW)-113, 215) that shared around 20 aircraft at their peak. They lasted through early 1966, when the Marine units went to F-8A/Bs and Navy converted to Atkrons with A-4A/Bs. Their retirement left Naval Air Test Center and the Test Pilot School with the last of the type.
Rick

And from Mark:

Phil - Checked Steve Ginter's Ford book in the Naval Fighters series, also looked at some information collected by yours truly and brer Rick over the last few years.


7K was the tailcode for Naval Air Reserve Training Olathe. The first F4D-1s showed up around May 1962, replacing F9F-8/8Bs. The last F-6A departed in early 1966, replaced by F-8As. The squadrons which took turns flying the aircraft were VF-881 (which transitioned to A-4Bs as VA-881 in 1964), VF-882, VMF(AW)-113 (inactivated October 1965 following a brief period in Crusaders) and yes, VMF(AW)-215, which inactivated 30 January 1970 with the shutdown of Olathe.


Hope this helps...and beware, beware, I have access to C-123 photos...MK

Thanks, guys! And let's talk about those C-123s...

Frequent contributor Doug Siegfried wrote in with a comment on our "Stoof" piece which, I think, means we're in for a treat in that direction in the near future!

Hi Phil:



Nice ME-109 and good shots of the F4Ds. I am crushed that you have not had many shots of the S-2 on your site. Since the S-2 and C-1 were primarily the only planes I flew in my 27 years in the Navy I think they should get some play... I will have to get you some S-2 shots from S2F-1s to S-2Gs since a 1/48th S-2D/E/G is lurking out there on the drawing board of one of the model companies. ...

Cheers,

Doug

How about it, Gang? Anybody up for a few more S2s? I know I am!

One of the really neat things about running this site is that it put me back in touch with one of my best friends from my high school days at Misawa. Jack Dusenberry and I learned to ride motorcycles together and also shared a common interest in building models of WW2 fighters. We never talked about what our dads had done during the war, and all I knew about Jack's father was that he was the base paymaster. We're going to go a little bit away from our norm here and, by inference if nothing else, pay a little respect to all those young men who answered the call in that far away time:

A farm boy at home. There's a story to this picture, though. Let's hear about it from Jack:

Phil,



I wish I had more pictures to send but my dad had pictures of himself and his crew that he has misplaced-I guess all that moving around will do that for you .I found this picture on the internet . (I'm pretty sensitive to potential copyright issues and have omitted that photo. pf) The crew in this picture is Dad's second crew. His first pilot was Charles Whitcombe - haven't found pictures of that one yet .


I also included a picture that one of my cousins thought was taken of Dad and his father's mules when he was in high school .As it turns out, this picture was actually taken after he returned from England with 35 combat missions under his belt at the ripe old age of 20-he does look young !(he enlisted when he was 17).


Hope you find the right Ducati -I think I'll stick with my Honda for now -I can get in enough trouble on it !

Jack

35 combat missions with the 8th AF... My hat's off to you, Major Dusenberry, and thank you for your service.

We also ran a photo of a VF-154 F8U-1 a while back. We identified the aircraft as being aboard the Hornet at the time, but Rick Morgan has another thought on it:

I wonder if the shot of the Grand Slammer (VF-154) F8U-1 was on Hancock vice Hornet; they made the first WestPac for the Crusader on Hancock in 1958. Hornet was a 27A; its cats and A/G supposedly couldn’t handle an F8U. Hornet was on its last WestPac as a CVA during the same period however, with ATG-4, F2H-3, FJ-3M, FJ-4B, AD-6.
Rick

And a final note on a project by a friend of mine. Some of you may have noticed a recent lack of contributions by friend and Corsair authority Jim Sullivan. He's been extremely busy of late, authoring yet another title on the U-Bird for Squadron Signal. I'm looking forward to its release early next year and recommend it to you if you've got an interest in the aircraft. Jim does good work, and anything he does with the Corsair is well worth getting.
And that's what I know. Be good to your neighbor, and we'll meet again soon.
phil