Cactus, A Little More on the Invader, A Spad in the Med

Tribute to the Hard Corps

Those of you who read history, and I'm presuming that would be almost everyone who's interested in this blog, are aware to one extent or another about the struggle for Guadalcanal. It was a pretty tough fight in its early days, a struggle against a well-trained, highly-motivated and aggressive enemy who held most of the advantages. The initial assault on the island (and on neighboring Tulagi) was a Navy show at the beginning, quickly transitioning to a Marine affair as the corps was able to get aviation assets on the ground. Let's do a quick photo essay on the Marines at the 'Canal. It's the right thing to do today, I think.

Field conditions on the 'Canal were primitive at best. Here's one way to refuel a fighter; not the preferred method, but it works. This photo was shot in the October/November 1942 time frame, after the worst of the fighting was done. Still, "That Damned Island" was a dangerous place.  Admiral Nimitz Collection via Bruce Smith

Taxiing out for a mission. The Wildcat could be fitted with a centerline auxilliary tank and that tank was used early on. The later, 58-gallon underwing tanks were preferred when available and it wasn't unusual to see a tank slung from the port wing only. The Bad Guys were never far away on The 'Canal.  (Note the presentation of the side number on the nose; this is actually Number 21; the photo has been printed backwards.)  Admiral Nimitz Collection via Bruce Smith

Sometimes aviation writers use the expression "often seen", which would describe this moderately famous shot. Still, it provides the flavor of air ops in the Solomons and is well worth inclusion for that reason. Note how the fabric covering on the rudder shows up as a completely different shade than the adjacent fin and rudder trim tab. Modelers beware!  Admiral Nimitz Collection via Bruce Smith

Another one we've seen before, but interesting because of the side number treatment on the aircraft in the foreground. The Wildcat on the left has its side number in black and the number is fairly small, with the tops of the numbers even with the top of the right-hand star point, while the one on the right has a much larger presentation in white.  This photo really tells the story of Marine air in the Solomons.  Admiral Nimitz Collection via Bruce Smith

The Japanese Naval Air Force bombed the Guadalcanal complex of airfields with a great degree of regularity, particularly in the early days, but it was the warships of the Imperial Navy that wrought the most damage. Here a Marine F4F-4 burns in the aftermath of a nocturnal Japanese bombardment.  Admiral Nimitz Collection via Bruce Smith

This admittedly poor photograph is remarkable because it depicts a Marine Wildcat on patrol near Guadalcanal. Air-to-air photographs of any Marine aircraft operating out of the island are rare in the extreme, making this shot significant. Up and at 'em!  Admiral Nimitz Collection via Bruce Smith

Tribute. A young Marine aviator sits on the wing root of his fighter, posing for the folks back home. Thanks, Gyrene, to you and the thousands of others who stood up when you were needed. We all owe you, and your kind, a debt we can never repay. Semper Fi!  Admiral Nimitz Collection via Bruce Smith

A Variety of Color

Yesterday we ran a photograph of a "Nimrod" B-26 operating out of NKP, Thailand, during the Vietnam War. It was in camouflage, which I'm sure you all noticed. Here's a scan of the appropriate page from T.O. 1-1-4 defining that camouflage should like like according to regulation:

The Air Commando Invaders didn't always conform to the standards defined by 1-1-4. By the time yesterday's bird was photographed most B-26s had black bellies, and there were other variances in the official scheme as well. It's stuff like this that makes it fun!  Friddell Collection

And now for something completely different! Here's N8417H, an A-26 owned and operated by CalSpan during the 1960s. There was a time when the Invader was popular for corporate use because of its speed and range---remember that there was no such thing as a purpose-built corporate aircraft back then! In theory the civil A-26s had it all but the noise, coupled with the fact that entrance and egress was through the bomb bay, limited its appeal to some extent. The Howard 350 and 500 quickly took over the converted warbird corporate marketplace and the introduction of the Lear Jet quickly relegated the converted bombers to relic status. They sure were pretty, though...  John Kerr Collection

Calm Before the Storm

The Douglas AD Skyraider series, redesignated the A-1 during the 1962 realignment, had an operational career that spanned two major conflicts before its retirement. Most of us think of the "spAD" in one or the other of its wartime guises, but a great part of its career was spent in non-combat deployments. Rick Morgan sent in this shot a few months ago and I've been putting off running it til an appropriate time. This holiday would seem to be that day.

 BuNo 137456, a VA-176 A-1, traps aboard the Saratoga during her 1967 cruise to the Med. Note the SEA mission markers under the canopy. "Sara's" Air Wing during this cruise (CVAW-3) boasted one of the weakest attack components of the era, with just VA-176 and VA-216 (A-4Bs) aboard; there was no medium attack component on this deployment. There's a "Vigi" from RVAH-9 in the background. Of interest to modelers is the staggered placement of the A-1's underwing pylons---they weren't evenly spaced and that shows up well in this photo. If memory serves, every kit of the Skyraider got this detail wrong. This was the last Med deployment of the single-seat A-1s.  USN via Rick Morgan

A Thought. Just a Thought.

Today's a special day; a holiday that honors this nation's fighting men and women. Take a minute to thank a GI, active or retired, the next time you meet one. It's the right thing to do.

Meanwhile, be good to your neighbor and we'll see you again real soon.
phil

A Blue Day, 'Cause They're All Navy Birds One Way or Another

Coming and Going

Which is what I'm going to be doing for a little while. We talked about things being a little erratic while Jenny's mom & aunt are visiting and we're in the midst of that evolution even as this is written. Please bear with the lack of frequency and the probable brevity of my efforts during the coming month. Since we all have relatives someplace I'm sure everybody knows the drill and will understand.

A Photo Cat

How do you folks feel about the Grumman Cougar? Me, I love it; it's gotta be the hottest thing since toasted bread as far as Good Looks are concerned. It's true that the sweptwing F9Fs were an interim design, but they were pretty capable and held the fort until better aircraft became available. Let's do a Quick and Dirty photo essay on the photo-recon variant of the airplane using official Grumman photography. (That means that you're on your own for color schemes this time. I'll try to dig some up to show you on another day but for now you'll just have to make do with these Grumman factory photos.)

BuNo 131063 (the first F9F-8) as converted to F9F-8P configuration. The F9F-8P was developed just as the Nav changed over from Glossy Sea Blue to the Light Gull Gray and White camouflage scheme. Note the use of Corrogard on the leading edges; it's particularly noticeable here but is found on all Cougars. The test boom doesn't do a whole lot for the looks of the airplane, does it? Grumman History Center P-88386

Here's the second production airframe, BuNo141669, posing with its camera suite. The aircraft is in test configuration (note the striped refueling probe) but is otherwise a "normal" production aircraft.  Grumman History Center P-88852

And here's how it looks with the camera bay opened up. Grumman History Center P-88847

A closeup of the nose of 141669 with everything buttoned up. Most American military aircraft of the 50s had fairly extensive maintenance stencilling painted on the airframe. We don't normally think of the Cougar as having much stencilling at all, but there's a fair amount of it evident here.  Grumman History Office P-88851

This is the first production F9F-8P, BuNo141668, in flight. Of particular interest is the separation between the white undersurfaces and 36440 uppersurfaces on the nose. You can see quite a bit more of that stencilling in this shot too.  Grumman History Office 558241

A 3/4 upper view of 141668 that shows to advantage the Navy's practice of painting all control surfaces white; note the all white horizontal stabilator and the white flaperons on the wings.  Grumman History Office 55819

And the undersurfaces of 141668.  Grumman History Office 55847

Substantially farther into the production build, here's a shot of BuNo144412 undergoing pre-delivery flight test. I've included this shot because the refueling probe is in place in this aircraft. There's an interesting markings anomaly on this bird as well; the last digit of the bureau number is substantially larger than the 5 numbers that precede it.   Why is that, you might reasonably ask? I dunno; it's a mystery to me! Grumman History Center 56360

The Inside Scoop

You've probably noticed by now that I don't normally run photographs of aircraft interiors. These, however, are just too good to pass by; they're of the F9F-8P and should answer a lot of questions for the modelers amoung us.

Here's some ejection seat and canopy detail. Note the color of the seat, and that the back sides of the mirrors and the inside canopy framing are painted non-specular black. I'm not certain of the purpose of those brackets on either side of the headrest but suspect they may be camera mounts since they were photographed on the first production airframe (141668). The entire seat design is different from that normally found on the -8 series Cougars and is also painted gray, while the normal production seat (the Martin-Baker Q7A) was painted black.  Grumman History Office P-88761

The instrument panel and cockpit floor of 141668. Note that the inside of the windscreen framing is in non-specular black. A piece of plywood has been taped to the viewfinder of the photographic system. The cockpit is apparently "hot" if that placard stating that the emergency ignition igniter shells have been installed can be believed.  Grumman History Office P-88762

The starboard cockpit side of 141669 (a typo by the folks at Grumman? The other photos in this sequence are of 141668) showing that funky early seat again. Those little buttons down near the cockpit floor are circuit breakers. Ergonomics? What ergonomics?   Grumman History Office P-88764

The port side of 141668's cockpit. You now have enough photographic reference to build a pretty decent interior for a Photo Cougar. Sure wish there was a 1/48th scale kit to work with!  Grumman History Office P-88763

A schematic of the camera bay. This is from NavAer 01-85FGF-2-8 dated 1 February 1960, and was crooked when I got it; normally I'd straighten it out but before publication I'm pressed for time today so you'll have to go with what you've got. I think we'll all survive it...  via Grumman History Office

Call It a Fruitfly or Call It a SLUF...

The LTV A-7 Corsair II series is arguably the most effective light attack aircraft ever built, and certainly one of the most capable. It was called the "Fruitfly" by the Navy, and the "SLUF" (an acronym for Slow Little Ugly F-----") by the Air Force, although their PR guys like to say "Fella" instead of what the type's drivers really called it. Go figure! Like most airplanes I cared about, this one's long-gone from service, but I've got quite a bit of photography on hand so let's look at a couple of snaps.

A-7D-14-CV,  AF 73-1000, on the ground at Laughlin AFB in March of 1987. This green and gray example is from the Ohio Air National Guard's 166th TFS/121st TFW.  Friddell

And here's 72-0180, an A-7D-12-CV, from Ohio's 112th TFS/180th TFG photographed at Bergstrom AFB in August of the same year. This ship was in two shades of gray.  Friddell

A Turkey to End the Day

I read a lot of the modeling boards, usually on a daily basis. A couple of days ago there was an inquiry on one of them asking if TBFs were based out of Henderson Field at Guadalcanal. The answer is Yes, and here's a final shot for the day that shows one on the ground at Cactus in December of 1942.

Things are beginning to settle down on The 'Canal; note that this TBF-1 is parked in a hastily-constructed earthen revetment. Camouflage and markings are standard for the period. Sure wish we could see the side number!  Admiral Nimitz Museum via Bruce Smith

And that's it for today! I'll be back again as time allows, but meantime, be good to your neighbor and we'll see you again as soon as we can!
phil