School Days, A Different Delta, A Couple of Demons, and a Tamiya Mustang

You Need Schoolin'; I Ain't Foolin' (With Apologies to Zep)

OK, it's a corny intro, but it's all I've got so we'll have to live with it. The point to be taken (and we've taken it at least once before on these pages) is that you've got to go to school to learn to fly, and you're probably going to do that learning in a purpose-built airplane called a trainer.

Regarding those trainers; nowadays we tend to buy them off-the-shelf from other countries, but it wasn't always that way. Nope, for a great many years we designed and built our own, but rising costs put the kibosh on that sort of thing, since it eventually became far more cost-effective to buy something that was already out there than to start from scratch, but the do-it-in-country approach produced a number of classic airplanes. We're going to look at a couple of them today. Call it nostalgia (except you'll have to be really old to personally remember one of them!).

Ever seen a Consolidated PT-3A before? If you haven't, today's your Lucky Day, because we've got a fine study of one for your consideration. The type was a direct descendent of the PT-1, with a different empennage and the installation of a Wright J-5 (R-790) radial. It was more widely used than you might imagine, with 130 PT-3s and 120 PT-3As being built before termination of production in favor of yet another set of mods that created the PT-11.  Friddell Collection

Remember that part where we said Consolidated built a bunch of PT-3s and 3As? Here's what an American Southerner might call a whole slew of them, both 3s and 3As, at Randolph Field on 25 June, 1939. I haven't tried counting them but there are more than just a few of them in this shot!  AAF G722-467J-PD via RAFB PAO

OK, so you never heard of the PT-3, but you've probably heard of this one and maybe even seen one fly or, just maybe, have flown one yourself---the survival rate for the immortal PT-13 is pretty high. This absolutely gorgeous ramp shot was taken at Randolph Field on 08 January, 1938. Click on this photo to enlarge it and spend a couple of minutes studying it. Now then; why is it we can get kit after kit of all the major fighters of WW2 but can't get a decent PT-13? What an ideal candidate for a 1/32nd scale model...
AAF G107A-467J-PD) via RAFB PAO

And here's another PT-13, or maybe not. The PT-13 became the PT-17 with an engine change to the Continental R-670-5, and the PT-17 became the most widely-produced of the Kaydet family. Wartime production demands quickly outstripped the available supply of R-670s though, and the PT-17 became the PT-18 with the installation of the Jacobs R-755-7, 150 of which were produced. That's a PT-18 shown above. Maybe some of our Czech readers could have a word with the folks at Special Hobby?  USAF via John Kerr

It's a Delta But It Ain't a "Deuce"

Nope, but it's sure a close relative to the F-102. The Delta Dagger quickly changed from being a cutting edge weapons system to an interim design that held the fort until a more advanced interceptor could be built. Convair's take on that more advanced design thing was the F-102B, which quickly morphed into the F-106A for budgetary reasons. Mark Morgan sent these "Six" shots to us last week, and since we're waiting for a special bunch of "Deuce" photos that haven't arrived yet, this seemed as good a time as any to run them.

The late, lamented Air Defense Command, aka ADC, was never a command to shy away from pretty markings as typified by these "Sixes" from the 5th FIS. The F-106 benefitted from the F-102's growing pains and was good almost right from the beginning. Pretty...  via Mark Morgan

Hoo Boy, is this neat or what? Another 4-ship, this time from the 318th FIS, poses over the Pacific Northwest near Mt Ranier. The F-106 was a higly effective interceptor, and one of two Century Series fighters that never saw service with a foreign air arm. (The F-105 was the other.) It was an amazing airframe that lasted for 3 decades in USAF and Air National Guard service and wore an amazing assortment of markings while serving with the regulars and the Guard, yet to date we've only got one elderly (albeit quite good) 1/72nd scale kit of the type, and one rapidly-aging 1/48th scale offering, plus the remains of a mere handful of detailing sets and a few decal sheets. You'd expect more.  via Mark Morgan

And finally, here's a bird from the 318th in flight over Mt Ranier. The "Six" simply exudes class. It is, not to put too fine a point on it, an interceptor!  via Mark Morgan

A McDonnell Spook Revisited

We haven't heard from Mark Nankivil for a while, but he's introduced us to quite a bit of remarkable photography and we think it's time to look at some more of it. Today's subject is the McDonnell F3H Demon, one of many 1950s Navy jets that could have been a contender but was crippled by engine problems for much of its service life. On the other hand, it (and the F-101) are the direct sires of the immortal F-4 Phantom family, making the pain worth the gain, as it were.

Fighting Forty-One operated the F3H for a while. 143479 was an F3H-2 and a CAG bird when Duane Kasulka shot her at MCAS Yuma in December of 1959. She's getting a little worn but still looks great. Kasulka via Nankivil

Ever wonder what a big airplane like the Demon looks like when it's in the hangar deck? This April, 1956-vintage shot of one aboard the Forrestal answers the question. It's not as bad as stuffing a "Vigi" or a "Whale" in there, but it's bad enough!  Careful with that tug, Leroy!  Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

Of course, sooner or later it comes out of the hangar and goes flying. This colorfully-marked VF-31 Demon is being towed to the cat prior to launch. I don't know about you guys, but I we could look at this kind of stuff all day long! Roos via Nankivil

The Demon had quite an angle of attack when sitting on the deck, as depicted by this F3H-2N from VF-112. Imagine manning up on a pitching deck in bad weather; it's a long way down...  Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

And finally, a shot taken at Miramar in January of 1963, when the F3H had morphed into the F-3B thanks to the joint services designation realignment madness. We've run this one before, but it's just too neat to omit; the airplane is gorgeous, it's from the last days of the Demon with the Fleet, and the photo provides a lot of detail for the modeler.  Duane Kasulka via Nankivil

Not the Tamiya Mustang You Wanted to See, But a Tamiya Mustang Nontheless

It's official; Tamiya's next 1/32nd scale kit will be the P-51D Mustang, with release scheduled for mid-summer of this year. It ought to be quite a kit, although there are any number of other subjects equally deserving of the honor, and we're guessing that a huge number of folks publicly proclaiming enthusiasm with buy the kit but never build it. Then again, we're a little bit prejudiced, since The Big T could have produced state-of-the-art 1/48th FJ-3Ms and F3H-2s instead, thus curtailing our ongoing whining about same. (We call that "prejudice", and are not ashamed of it. We want a Fury!)

Be that as it may, Tamiya has another Mustang out there that you can buy right now, in 1/48th scale. It's been released three times that we're aware of; once as a straight WW2 version, once in a "Korean War" release (the one to get because of the additional parts, mostly ordnance, that are included, plus the Aeroproducts prop), and once as a special WW2 release that includes a staff car. It's a good kit with a few minor glitches, such as a soft cockpit, a non-prototypical way of mounting the deployed flaps (important to the Mustang since those flaps were generally down when the airplane was parked), and a "rivet" pattern on the upper surfaces of the wings, towards the leading edge, that directly reflects a repair (most likely a doubler of some sort) on the real P-51 they scaled the model from. There's a fair amount of aftermarket available for the kit including a spiffy little F-6D conversion from QuickBoost, and more decals than you could imagine, although the majority of the latter are for European-based Second World War birds.

The kit is, like every other Tamiya kit you've ever built, quick and easy to get together, and you can tart it up as much as you want to with that aforementioned aftermarket.

This is what the 1/48th scale Tamiya Mustang looks like when built. The model represents an aircraft from the 458th FS/506th FG when flying out of Ie Shima on VLR escort missions in May of 1945. The interior is loaded with Eduard photo-etch but is still not quite where it ought to be, and the flaps were left alone since the model is pinned to that Eduard base (literally pinned, with cut-down insect pins in the wheels attaching the model to the base) and nobody will ever see the compromise Tamiya made in that area. The goofy rivet pattern specific to the P-51 warbird that Tamiya used as a full-scale reference has been filled, sanded and polished, and the exhausts were replaced with articles from QuickBoost. The stickies came from AeroMaster sheet 48-794 "The Iwo Jima Mustangs" Pt 1 and worked really well, but be forewarned that proper alignment of those stripes on the tail is a True Test of Manhood, and you will, in all likelyhood, utter a great many politically incorrect imprecations as a result of that test. The only visible mod required for a VLR (that stands for Very Long Range, by the way) P-51 is the fitment of the AN/ARA-8 radio homing device (nicknamed "Uncle Dog"), which is the reason for those two wooden antenna masts jst aft of the canopy. The kit's existing radio mast is still utilized, but moved to a position on the lower nose. The "Uncle Dog" masts were created using .020 styrene strip, in case you were wondering.

Her's a shot of the nose that shows the relocated kit radio mast to advantage. Those are QuickBoost un-faired P-51 exhausts and, although they're a substantial improvement over the kit representation of same, most folks will never notice the difference. Still, they're inexpensive and made me feel better about the model. This shot proves that duplicating a natural metal finish is an ongoing education. It would be fair to say there's a ways to go yet...

While we're talking about this particular Mustang, let's look at a couple of other things too. First, there's the background color of the pin-up under the windscreen. AeroMaster provided that background in red, yellow, and blue, stating that blue was the most likely color for that particular bit of art. Since the 458th's squadron color was blue that seems a very logical presumption, so that's the color we used. If any of you have a color photograph of this airplane that shows otherwise, we'd love to see it.

AeroMaster did four separate decal sheets for VLR P-51Ds, and there's also a decal sheet for that subject included in AJ Press's 506th Fighter Group, the History of 506th Fighter Group, Iwo Jima 1945, as well as markings included in at least one of Kagero's monographs on late Pacific War aircraft. We're extremely enthusiastic about the fact that so many markings variations are available for such a seemingly esoteric subject, but do have one minor complaint. There was a fair amount of what could only be described as "ribald" artwork on those Iwo Mustangs, but AeroMaster are the only folks to include that sort of thing on their decal sheets, and there's not much of it even then. The AJ book provides both drawings and photographs of pinup art on the 506th's birds, but includes none of it on their decal sheets. There's even one such aircraft ("The Enchantress") depicted on the cover of the book, for crying out loud! Some pinup art would've been nice, ya'll.

Finally, that base is a little-known Eduard offering that really helps out a static model such as this. They make two different sizes of that PSP base; this size for fighters and a larger one for light and medium bombers, and they're well-worth looking for, although it's possible that they're presently out of production. They're one piece and provide an adequate, but not outstanding, representation of PSP and look pretty good after painting and weathering. They're inexpensive and definitely worth the money. You can even use the nameplate from the appropriate Eduard photo-etch set like we did.  Just a thought, as it were...

One more note, this time of an historical nature. "Madam Wham-Dam" was lost on an escort mission on 01 June, 1945, when Harvey Sandrett, the deputy commander of the 506th, flew her into a storm while leading a strike. That makes you a little more aware of just how dangerous the VLR mission could be, I think.

Happy Snaps

In our last edition we provided a shot taken by Doug Barbier when he was an IP. Today's photo is also by Doug, but from his F-4 days with the Guard:

The B-52 was from the 410th BWg at K.I. Sawyer, and taken at 1,000 AGL in the upper peninsula, just below the base of the Keewenaw. Big MOA up there and we used to go up and work with the bombers at low altitude. 4+ hours down low chasing buffs with multiple A/Rs. Great fun! Doug

It definitely looks like fun! Thanks for sharing this one with us, Doug. And, as a reminder to our readers, if you've got any air-to-air you'd like to share with us (we prefer that you took it yourself, hence the title "Happy Snaps"), please forward a scan to us at replicainscale@yahoo.com . We'd really like to see it.

And that's it for today. Be good to your neighbor, and we'll meet again soon.
phil

The Dauntless' Daddy, A Dart, Fox Peter 2, and Another Cat

The Dauntless' Daddy

Everybody knows about the Douglas SBD, and most people are also aware that it turned the tide of the war in the Pacific almost single-handedly. That's a bold and perhaps even rash statement (I'm no stranger to that sort of thing; it's part of my charm.), but think back for a minute. The first significant reprisal strikes on the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbor were made with air groups that counted two SBD squadrons (one scouting squadron and one bombing squadron on each ship) in their complement of aircraft. Then came Coral Sea, what amounted to a command performance at Midway, and finally Guadalcanal and the Solomons. The Dauntless was obsolescent at the beginning of the war and lasted so long in the Fleet primarily because its designated replacement (the Curtiss SB2C series) experienced so many technical problems that it was months after its initial deployment before it finally became a viable weapon. As a result the Navy had to use the SBD far longer than they had ever wanted to do, but it proved itself up to the task right to the end. It was a classic weapon, and a pretty good looking airplane too.

There are probably still folks out there who don't realize that it was a development of two other aircraft; it's immediate parent, the XBT-2, and it's true sire, the Douglas BT-1. The XBT-2 wasn't all that far from being a Dauntless, and you can recognize the lineage without any trouble at all. It was, in point of fact, designed and built to correct the shortcomings (poor speed and handling during flight deck operations, which is to say that it was scary to fly around the boat) of the original design, the BT-1. In fact the BT-1 looks more like a Northrop design than anything by Douglas, which isn't unreasonable when you remember that Jack Northrop was heavily involved in the BT-1's conception. A great many of the BT-1's technical problems were sorted out by a relative newcomer named Ed Heinemann (first with Northrop and then with Douglas), but the design's Northrop parentage is extremely obvious.

A couple of kits have been issued of the BT-1 over the years, but they've been difficult to obtain and required a fair dose of modeling skills (That keeps coming up, that modeling skills thing...) to produce a good replica. It would be really neat if somebody would give us a more user-friendly kit and up-to-date kit, and maybe someday somebody with a Czech last name will do just that, but for now we pretty much have an Empty Bag. Here's a photo to whet your apetite, just on the off-chance that some day some one will produce a kit for us.

Here's BuNo 0615 as it appeared when it was assigned to VB-5 aboard the USS Yorktown. It's a classic study in pre-War colors, with silver fuselage, yellow upper wing surfaces, colored tail, and a section leader's colored cowl. Bombing Five's leaping ram is visible in black under the windscreen. This shot leaves no doubt that the BT-1 was a Northrop design.  Douglas via Harry Gann

It's Funny Now, But I Bet That Guy Was Pretty Scared

We've touched briefly on the Air Force's Air Material Command and the various repair and overhaul depots under that umbrella. The Late, Great Kelly AFB, now part of the Lackland AFB complex (an Odd Thing, since Lackland was originally created out of a wartime expansion of Kelly; funny how the circle is a wheel...) used to be prime on the Convair F-106 interceptor back when it was still San Antonio Air Logistics Center. Besides the normal overhaul and repair they also did developmental work (the frameless semi-bubble canopy and M61 Vulcan installation were both done there) and sometimes provided aircraft for special purposes. To that end the depot "owned" an F-106A and an F-106B, and they could be frequently seen overhead during the 80s if you were anywhere near Kelly.

As for the Funny Story, it's one of those deals that's funny because everything turned out all right in the end. It was almost a tragedy, the sort of thing that you'd see on the national news at 5 o'clock. It could've been Real Bad.

I used to work at a company that had its production facilities immediately off the north end of Kelly's runway, and I made a practice of looking skyward any time I was outdoors. I was involved in materials management at the time, and some of our raw materials were stored outside, so that was an easy thing to do, just in case you were wondering. You can always find a reason to chase airplanes, right?

Anyway, I was out there one fine, sunny morning, when I heard the unmistakeable sound of Tactical Aviation approaching from the north. I looked up and there was F-106A AF 59-0061 in lead, with an F-101B (maybe from Ellington ANGB, but I'm not sure on that) on its starboard wing, tucked in really tight and looking good. They were at 500 feet, give or take, and the Six snapped into a break immediately after they crossed the Kelly perimeter, immediately followed by the Voodoo. Therein lies The Rub, and also the crux of this story.

The F-106 was designed as a true delta-winged fighter, and was possessed of an initial turn rate that few of its contemporaries could match. The F-101, on the other hand, had little-bitty wings and a tee-tail that was easily blanked off by the rest of the aircraft during certain flight parameters; things like high angle of attack or in the course of a really tight turn. Our Six was apparently living large that day, and cranked in what could only be described as The Mother of All Really Tight Turns. The Voodoo driver followed. The Six turned. The F-101 had what some folks might call "issues" as the airplane effectively masked the empennage surfaces, creating an immenent stall. At 500 feet, over a heavily-populated Air Force base. You could see that F-101 shudder, even from my vantage point about 300 yards away, and then watch it as it dropped like a stone heading for Mother Earth.

Most afterburning jet fighters designed during the 1950s were possessed of what's known as a "hard light" when said AB was called into play. This "hard light" produced almost-instant thrust, accompanied by a resounding BOOM. The 101 turned. The 101 shuddered and dropped like a rock. Then the Miracle occured (at least I thought it was one!). The nose of the Voodoo perceptably straightened out, accompanied by an earth-shattering BOOM-BOOM as the pilot crammed the throttles into AB some 350 feet overhead. The F-101 ceased to fall, and began to accellerate, albeit somewhat slowly, into a more normal flight path.

That was the part where I realized I'd been holding my breath the whole time. I watched as the two aircraft made another circuit, executed a far more leisurely break than before, and landed. It's been nearly 25 years since I saw that happen, and I can still see it as though it was yesterday. And, I'm still impressed to this day with the airmanship of the F-101 driver, and with his Abundant Good Luck. True, he got himself into it by trying to follow a Delta Dart in a turn, something that no American fighter could do until the advent of the F-15 and F-16, but he got himself out of it too. That's gotta count for something.

I wonder if it's hard to get stains out of Nomex?

Here's 59-0061 on the ground at Kelly in 1988. At the time the photo was taken it was owned by the SAALC and performing B-1 chase duties, as depicted in the artwork on the vertical stab. It's a pretty airplane and I'll run a shot for you in color once I get a slide scanner. Until then you'll need to be happy with this slightly over-developed (the negs are good; blame my darkroom skills or lack thereof) image of 0061.
Was the Delta Dart a good looking airplane or what?  Friddell

Fox Peter 2

On 4 July, 1952, the 31st Fighter Escort Wing left Turner Field, Georgia, for a air-refueled trans-Pacific flight to Misawa AB, Japan. The deployment, named Fox Peter 1, was successful. Slightly more than 90 days later (6 October 1952) the 31st was relieved by the 27th FEW out of Bergstrom AFB, Texas, who made the same journey and  provided air defense for Northern Honshu until relieved by the 508th Strategic Fighter Wing on 13 February 1953, when they returned to Bergstrom to transition from their F-84Gs to F-84Fs.

I've always had an interest in USAF activities at Misawa, and discovered that Mark Morgan had access to a series of photographs of Fox Peter 2. Mark was kind enough to share them with me, which allows us to view this brief photo essay of the deployment.

Saddling up. It's going to be a long day.  USAF via M. Morgan

The 27th FEW was based at Bergstrom AFB, but this may have been taken at Travis AFB in California immediately prior to the trans-Pacific leg of the flight. Bergstrom was a SAC base at the time and there are a lot of transports in the background of these photos, which would suggest the location to be Travis.  USAF via M. Morgan

The KB-29 provided sterling service as a tanker. This formation is preparing to provide refueling support to the 27th. The aircraft in the foreground (44-83883, presumeably a KB-29) is a bit of an enigma; that serial number was assigned to B-17G-95-DL. Clarification would be appreciated.  USAF via M. Morgan

Getting ready to pass a little gas before going feet wet. The Thunderjet is carrying every tank it's possible to hang on an F-84! The antenna mounted to the starboard nose is presumed to be associated with some sort of navigation equipment; once again clarification would be appreciated! Note the size of the USAF legend on the wing.  USAF via M. Morgan

Of poor quality but great historical interest, this newspaper photo apparently depicts the 27th's arrival in Japan. Bet he's tired!  USAF via M. Morgan

The photos shown above seem to raise more questions than they answer, which in turn leads me to ask if any of you have further information on them. If you do, please drop me a note at replicainscale@yahoo.com . I'd love to find out a little more about them.

And a Cat to End the Day

A while back the folks at Eduard released a model of the F6F-3. It was pretty well picked-over at that time, but the worst anyone could say about the kit was that the tires didn't have any tread and were a little too thin. Well, they don't have tread (certain subsequent releases have included resin tires/wheels to correct the problem) and they may be too thin, but in every other respect the kit lives up to its advance billing. It's an excellent representation of the real aircraft. Let's close out the day with a couple of photos of one I built a year or so ago.

The starboard side. The model was built as Alex Vraciu's VF-6 mount, "Gadget". I wasn't overly concerned about the tires and wheels when this was built so I didn't replace them; mostly I just wanted to see if the kit lived up to its hype. It did, right down to that infamous "Hellcat Grin" that's apparently been such a bugaboo to modelers the past few years. If you'll work on the premise that no model is, or ever will be, perfect, then this offering by Eduard is probably a 9 on a 10 Scale. It sure looks like a Hellcat!

The port side. I don't particularly care for the shade of blue in the national insignia, but that could have been easily addressed by a trip to the decal box if I'd been a little more energetic when I had it in the paint shop. About the only thing that really annoyed me about the kit was the fact that Eduard didn't provide photo-etch for the cockpit consoles, even though PE came with the kit. They later issued a supplementary set of PE to spiff up other areas of the model, and that fret included the consoles. It should've been in the original issue. Fie!

Yesterday's offering was a short one due to circumstances beyond my control. Today's offering is a late one (it's already tomorrow here, for cryin' out loud) but we're going to figure that Late is ok. In the meantime, be good to your neighbor. We'll meet again soon.
phil