Just as the A-1H Skyraider, NE/572 “Paper Tiger II” was being shot off the deck of the USS MIDWAY, a 1MC message came from the bridge, ‘What the hell was on 572’s right wing?’ Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction……….. According to Squadron Historian Holt Livesay, on 4 November on the last mission of the […]
A-1H Skyraider. — THE SCALE MODEL HANGAR
We’ve looked at the story of how the Japanese exploded across the Pacific at the start of the Pacific War a few times. Now let’s take a look at where the line finally held, and one of the most successful early pilots. At the start of World War II in the Pacific there were virtually […]
Curtiss P-40E Warhawk — Plane Dave
With a nickname like that, you know the plane has got to be something special, right? Well, what could be more special that a plane of which there is still, in 2021, no other mainline injected kit than the 1978-vintage Matchbox original? The Supermarine Stranraer was something like a big-brother to the (marginally more famous?) […]
Matchbox’s Whistling Outhouse — The Sprue Lagoon
If I don’t build my Monogram PBY next, it’s not for lack of motivators like Jeff…
A PBY-5A Catalina amphibian from VP-61 flies over the rugged Aleutian landscape in March 1943. Aerials for the surface search radar can be seen under the wings.
Another photograph from the Aleutians shows this PBY moored to a buoy with others visible in the background. Flying boat squadrons could be based in sheltered bays and supported from seaplane tenders, many of which in the US Navy were converted from flush-deck destroyers.
A pre-war photograph taken in 1939 shows a Catalina from Patrol Squadron 51 in the colorful yellow wings markings. Posed in front of the aircraft is the Governor of Puerto Rico, William P. Leahy.
VADM Patrick Bellinger presides over a ceremony at NAS Norfolk. The PBY is finished in the Atlantic ASW scheme of Gull Gray over White. Note the asymmetric demarcation of the color separation on the fuselage.
VP-94 transfers their PBY-5A’s to the Brazilian Navy in this…
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John C Waldron The Devastator is best known for the sacrifice of it’s crews at the Battle of Midway. In particular, Torpedo 8 which lost all of their aircraft and most of their personnel in one attack. Let’s look at a prime mover behind the well known story. John C Waldron was born in 1900 […]
Douglass TBD-1 Devastator
Making history…
”The ability to predict what will happen or be needed in the future.“
In the 37 days between 1 May and 6 June 1944 the RAF’s No.140 Squadron flew at total of 143 operational sorties over France in an effort to provide badly needed foresight to the Allied Supreme Command on what would happen on Invasion…
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My Forgotten Hobby III 