Cold War project.....

[Kyushuj7w]

Looking at the zombie builds got me thinking of two kits that are sitting partially completed in their boxes. This thread is a mix of builds and diecast. I'll let the mods decide if it stays . I think I will restart the zombies as they were the last in a string of kits and a few cold war diecast assembled when I got into the fact there were Nike Missile sites pretty close by and had talked to one vets who manned them. Imagine, being willing to set off small nukes over New Jersey to protect Philadelphia and NYC. At least wait till a Bear or Bison got over one of our big trash mountans first guys. Pretty surprising what is around you. I was in a small town last weekend and saw the old fallout shelter sign from the 1950's still attached I bet if I walked in there and asked to see the shelter i'd get a "what" look from the staffers.

So here we go.

Anyone under 60 will look at you in surprise if you tell them they live within a few miles of a old missile site used to defend their city from Russian bombers. There were jet fighters built and based nearby carrying small nukes just to intercept them. The military actually planned to use air burst nukes to take down the bombers . Long before subs and ICBM's we lived in a world that looking back, wasn't any safer than it is today.

Aircraft have their adversaries and the baby boomers in the USA especially will remember kiddie dog tags, Bert the Turtles Duck and Cover drills, fall out shelters, atomic toys, cereal prizes, comic books and the science fiction of the times. Some of you will recognize and perhaps enjoy some of these photos.

I've always had an interest in this subject being born in the later half of the 50' s. I remember well the bomb scare of the early 60's, helping my dad and neighbors digging under the crawl spaces beneath our houses to create our shelters "just in case" the Russians decided to hit nearby Ft Knox to obliterate much of the nations gold reserves and tank training facility during the Cuban missile crisis.

My kids just look at me and say your kidding right? People did not really believed we were going to war and dug fall out shelters. In the 80's people thought Ronald Regan was going to push us into one. Every time you think your living through something uniquely bad you only need to look back a few generations.

When I saw these kits and with several abandoned Nike missile bases around me I thought give them a go. These are Renwal ( ex Revel's) 1/32 and 1/40 scale reissue of the Nike point defense missile system designed to defend major US cities like Philadelphia and military bases from Soviet bombers like the TU-95.

So you all know how this starts.... Hey I have a missile so I need a bomber

The bombers are 1/200 in scale and I'm surprised at the size. They were in operation in the late 50's and early 60's and the kids of the pilots of some of these planes fly them still today. Thus begins my slow slide into scales other than 1/48.

Pulled the Nike data from various web sites. Most of it a direct copy and paste job.

The Nike surface to air missile system was named after the winged goddess of victory in Greek mythology. Two versions of this system defended the U.S. and other places from hostile aircraft. The 1st version, the Nike Ajax, was deployed in the U.S. from 1954 to the early 1960s. It had an effective range of 25 miles and a speed of mach 2.5.
Technical Specifications Overall length: 34 ft. 10 in. with booster. Missile only 21 ft.
Diameter: 12 inches
Wingspan: 4 ft., 6 in.
Overall weight: 2455 pounds.
Missile only 1000 pounds.
Fuel: Missile sustainer motor: JP4 aviation fuel and; hypergolic starter fluid 1.) Aniline/furfuryl alcohol. 2.) Dimethyl-hydrazine. 3.) Red fuming nitric acid. Red fuming nitric acid was the last starter fluid used.
Booster: Solid propellant Range: 25 to 30 miles
Speed: Mach 2.3 (1679 mph) Altitude limit: 70,000 feet
Guidance: Command guidance from ground emplacement
Warhead: High-explosive fragmentation. Three separate warheads located in the nose, mid-section, and aft section.
The missile was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft in California. The booster section was manufacture by the Hercules Powder Company, Radford Arsenal Virginia. The missile sustainer motor was manufactured by Bell Aircraft in Buffalo New York. The guidance system was manufactured by Western Electric.

Below is a map showing the rings of Nike sites around major east coast cities. With a range of only 25 miles and a conventional warhead if they did knock the bomber down, what was then relatively open country side would have been splattered with the radioactive wreckage. Even back then Jersey couldn't catch a break...

In some cases these missiles were put on former sites that had held 90MM AA guns that had been removed in the late 40's and early 50's from around major US cities.

Images of the times. Never hurts to put a pretty girl on your fallout shelter and HEY everyone get the facts on surviving ATOMIC WAR . Problem was the bombs we then faced were H-bombs and not the Hiroshima types that may have made duck and cover less of a farce. The average person really could not fathom the impact of the new bombs. The vision of Hiroshima in their minds but feeling many people still survived. The government did all it could to promote this idea. The Hydrogen bomb was more powerful than the A-bombs dropped Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those bombs were the equivalent of 15,000 tons of TNT. The first H-bomb produced the equivalent of 10,400,000 tons of TNT and have also been designed to expel more radioactive material into the air above the drop site. The results, as you can imagine, can be pretty destructive.


The build starts with the launching system. Not bad, very little flash no warping of any parts and the colors are not far from what the actuals were. The entire launch system when finished slides on the rails from one end to the other. Just like in the actual photo of a crew loading a site below.

A typical Nike air defense site consisted of two separate parcels of land. One area was known as the Integrated Fire Control (IFC) Area. This site contained the Nike system's ground-based radar and computer systems designed to detect and track hostile aircraft, and to guide the missiles to their targets. All sites were to provide overlapping cover and have between 3 and 6 missile bays.

The second parcel of land was known as the Launcher Area. At the launcher area, Nike missiles were stored horizontally within heavily constructed underground missile magazines. A large, missile elevator brought the Nikes to the surface of the site where they would be pushed (manually) by crewmen, across twin steel rails to one of four satellite launchers.

The missile was then attached to its launcher and erected to a near-vertical position for firing. The near-vertical firing position ensured that the missile's booster rocket (lower stage) would not crash directly back onto the missile site, but, instead, would land within a predetermined booster impact area.
The control and launcher areas were separated by a distance of 1,000 to 6,000 yards (roughly 0.5- to 3.5-miles) and were often located within different townships. Technical limitations of the guidance system required the two facilities to be separated by a minimum of 3,000 feet. Whenever possible, control areas were constructed on high ground in order to gain superior radar coverage of the area.

Nike Battery PH-49 Pitman, NJ 3 Battery system still physically exists in reasonably good shape as do remnants of others. See a few pictures below of the magazine and a period pic of the missile lift. Two sites in the USA have been restored. One site is on Sandy Hook NJ protecting NYC and the other just north of the Bay bridge protecting San Francisco

I used to drive by these sites when I was first transferred By GE in 1990 to help set up their new Aerospace plant in Bridgeport near the Delaware river. I could see the old towers near Swedesboro and the Pitman site was only a few miles from my home.

The Pitman Nike site was yet another 'classic' 3-magazine Nike installation. This site was not converted to use the Nike Hercules missile system, unlike its 'sister' sites at Lumberton, Berlin/Clementon and Swedesboro, and was inactivated during the 1960s. The site now houses a construction firm and the buildings hold a Christian school in the pictures below. The towers are the Swedesboro NJ site still owned by the GSA.

Launcher Area: Pitman, NJ Control Area: Pitman, NJ
Weapons Systems & Missile Load
Nike Ajax / 30
3 Magazines.
1 type 'B' and 2 type 'C'.
Types ACQR

Finished product

The Sandy Hook NJ Site took a beating in hurricane Sandy

Next the Nike Hercules. Advances were coming fast in the 50's. A missile and aircraft could be obsolete by the time it got into the field. The Hercules had a longer range and a small nuke. These were all designed for high altitude and could not cope with a low level attack that surely would have been tried. None of the cities were protected by a low altitude missile like the Hawk as a supplement to the Nike sites.

The Revel kit was one of the last reissues. Someone in accounting ( I can say that as I'm one) got the bright idea to reduce packaging costs. Things did fit in a plastic bag but the sprues were snapped off and many parts were lose in the box. The kit unlike the Renwal is a shiny green and the glue really eats into the plastic. Fit is poor so you want to dry fit and do a lot of sanding. I spent most of my time on the launcher which when I was finished with it I really like. I tried painting the missile white with a brush but stopped as I did not like the result and could tell I would not get coverage on the shiny green with one coat.

DID I SAY I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO THE BUILD OF THE NEXT MISSILE?
DON'T DO THIS AT HOME KIDS I am not a professional. I could tell the brush paint would take too many coats on the green plastic so I stopped and figured get a small can of spray white.... SURE THAT SHOULD WORK JUST FINE

....I should have known better and stripped the brush paint completely off first. After 2 hours of stripping paint sanding and drying I tried the spray only to have the paint start to krinkle yet again. I re stripped it quickly this time down to the green plastic and tried thinner coats of white enamel. Spent a long time on this one item due to my own ineptitude with spray enamels.

The Nike Hercules, was developed which was faster, had a range of over 75 miles, and had nuclear capability. The Hercules was deployed starting in 1958. In 1963, there were 134 Nike Hercules and 77 Nike Ajax batteries defending the U. S. Both versions were made light and transportable by wheeled vehicles, transportable in cargo planes for "easy" mobility. With practice and preparation, a site could be moved in a long, hard day. As many parts as practical are made of aluminum or magnesium, the standard power frequency is 400 Hertz (cycles per second) saving iron and weight in transformers and motors as in aircraft. The Nike Hercules defended major U.S. target areas against aircraft attack from 1958 to 1974. Approximately 25,000 Nike Hercules were manufactured. Early models cost about $55,250 each, while most recent cost estimate, from Japan, was US$3 .0 million. It was finally deactivated in the 1980 being used in a non nuclear Air defense form in the EU up to the fall of the Soviet Union.

Tried out the launcher with the missile. the fit and positioning of the rail guides has to be just right or it does not slide into position well. The Renwal kit is without question the better of the two. The Nike Hercules was configured to carry a nuclear warhead. I can't find out if the bases actually had them available onsite. Maguire AFB here in New Jersey had nuke equipped Bomarc's but I really wonder if all these scattered sites had nukes in the magazines or if they were stored nearby to be perhaps choppered in. A veteran of these sites I reached out to told me they were stored miles away and they had no direct access to them. So if one considers how long between alert in a sneak attack and fitting the nukes on the missiles NYC and Philly may have been fried after all and only the Genie carrying 100 series fighters may have stood a chance.

Finished Product ...... I would not do another for all the borscht in Russia.

End Of The Nike Era
Although Nike was created in response to Soviet efforts to design and deploy long-range bomber aircraft during the early years of the Cold War, Soviet military strategy soon changed. By the late 1950s, fearing that their manned aircraft would be too vulnerable to attack by American interceptor aircraft armed with rockets and missiles, the Soviet Union focused more of its attention on developing ICBMs or Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles against which there existed, at that time, no effective defense. The Soviet long-range strategic bomber force continued to operate throughout the Cold War. However, these forces never achieved the size or capabilities of their American counterpart, the U.S. Air Force's Strategic Air Command or SAC.

UP NEXT TU-95 & B-52 BUILD
​

 

[Kyushuj7w]

TU-95 & B-52 BUILD
The Tupolev Tu-95 (Russian: Туполев Ту–95; NATO reporting name: Bear)[/B] is a large, four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber and missile platform. First flown in 1952, the Tu-95 entered service with the Soviet Union in 1956 and is expected to serve the Russian Air Force until at least 2040.

General characteristics

Crew: 6–7; pilot, co pilot, flight engineer, communications system operator, navigator, tail gunner plus sometimes another navigator.[35]
Length: 46.2 m[36] (151 ft 6 in[36])
Wingspan: 50.10 m[36] (164 ft 5 in[36])
Height: 12.12 m (39 ft 9 in)
Wing area: 310 m² (3,330 ft²)
Empty weight: 90,000 kg (198,000 lb)
Loaded weight: 171,000 kg (376,200 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 188,000 kg (414,500 lb)
Powerplant: 4 × Kuznetsov NK-12M turboprops, 11,000 kW (14,800 shp)[37] each

Performance

Maximum speed: 920 km/h (510 knots, 575 mph)
Range: 15,000 km (8,100 nmi, 9,400 mi)unrefueled
Service ceiling: 13,716 m (45,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 10 m/s (2,000 ft/min)
Wing loading: 606 kg/m² (124 lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 235 W/kg (0.143 hp/lb)

Armament

Radar-controlled Guns: 1 or 2 × 23 mm AM-23 autocannon in tail turret.
Missiles: Up to 15,000 kg (33,000 lb), including the Raduga Kh-20, Kh-22, Kh-26, and Kh-55/101/102 Air-to-surface missiles.


Developed by the Kuznetsov Design Bureau with participation of Ferdinand Brandner and other captured German engineers it's 4 engines drive contra-rotating propellers. It also remains the fastest ever and only turboprop-powered strategic bomber in operational use. Its distinctively swept-back wings are at 35°, a very sharp angle by the standards of propeller-driven aircraft, and justified by its operating speeds and altitudes. Its blades, whose tips move faster than the speed of sound, according to one media source, make it arguably the noisiest military aircraft on earth. It was reportedly so loud that the underwater hydrophones of submerged submarines and SOSUS could detect it. A new requirement was issued to both Tupolev and Myasishchev design bureaus in 1950: the proposed bomber had to have an un-refueled range of 8000 km (4,970 mi) — far enough to threaten key targets in the United States.

Like its American counterpart, the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, the Tu-95 has continued to operate in the Russian Air Force while several subsequent iterations of bomber design have come and gone. Part of the reason for this longevity was its suitability, like the B-52, for modification to different missions.


The Kit.

Fairly straight forward goes the build. The props are a &%$_ nightmare. Removing them with out breakage and trimming and sanding is where I spent a lot of time. This is a maritime variant with the big bulge under the aircraft belly. I have the option to leave this off for a more traditional bomber look. I will hang this one in the air ( flying in ) up so I will use elmers on the landing gear doors for the time when I might want to make a standing display. If you don't put a small lead sinker in the nose it will be a tail dragger.

This is a 1/200 scale but as you can see it's still a pretty long aircraft. I've never tried alcad the aluminum style paint.... I've heard it can be tricky to use and after my strip and sand on the Herc missile I don't want to experiment again for a while. Mine will not be as shiny but the elements and sea air I'm sure took the sheen off these pretty quickly.


The average comrades leaders made sure they were just as afraid of those capitalists as we were of those commies. But never fear our planes will avenge and protect. Published after Stalin's death, these posters reinforce the message that Soviet research and development of weapons and machinery is ongoing. Substantially funded by war reparations and technology from Germany, the Soviets were able to build the MiG-9 Fargo turbojet and strategic bombers with the help of reverse engineering of the interned B-29's. Soviet aviation minister Mikhail Khrunichev and aircraft designer A. S. Yakovlev suggested to Premier Joseph Stalin that the USSR buy the conservative but fully developed Nene engines from Rolls-Royce for the clandestine purpose copying them in a minimum of time. Somewhat logically, Stalin is said to have replied, "What fool will sell us his secrets?"

Looks like the Russians already had our XB-70 as our prime attack aircraft doesn't it?

To Stalin's amazement, the British Labour government and its Minister of Trade, Sir Stafford Cripps, were perfectly willing to provide technical information and a license to manufacture the Rolls-Royce Nene. This is where the story of the pool game that transferred the jet technology that enabled the Mig 15 to be developed came from. In 1946, before the Cold War had really begun, the new British Labour government under the Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, keen to improve diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, authorised Rolls-Royce to export 40 Rolls-Royce Nene centrifugal flow turbojet engines. .The engine was reverse-engineered, produced as the Klimov RD-45, and subsequently incorporated into the MiG-15. Rolls-Royce later attempted to claim £207 million in license fees but the Russians laughed that off.

The Bear tries to sneak in but we have our missiles at the ready .

We had this display case we used as a bookshelf for over 35 years now. My wife is giving my daughter some of our older wood furniture and asked me if I wanted it ... I figured with the off scales of the missiles and what I want to do with a cold war scene this would be a perfect unit and not spend any money on something new. It barely fit in the dropped ceiling basement but now that my civil war book collection has come down into the man cave all I need is that mini fridge the kids went off to college with. Just enough room on the tarmac for a F-102 and a F-106. Still trying to decide do I get the HM diecast or build that Hasegawa kit, both in 1/72.

Next the B-52 the BUFF the BIG UGLY FAT FELLOW ?

General characteristics

Crew: 5 (pilot, copilot, radar navigator (bombardier), navigator, and Electronic Warfare Officer)(Originally, there was an additional crew member - the tail gunner. This position was eliminated with removal of the tail gun in 1991.)
Length: 159 ft 4 in (48.5 m)
Wingspan: 185 ft 0 in (56.4 m)
Height: 40 ft 8 in (12.4 m)
Wing area: 4,000 sq ft (370 m²)
Airfoil: NACA 63A219.3 mod root, NACA 65A209.5 tip
Empty weight: 185,000 lb (83,250 kg)
Loaded weight: 265,000 lb (120,000 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 488,000 lb (220,000 kg)
Powerplant: 8 × Pratt & Whitney TF33-P-3/103 turbofans, 17,000 lbf (76 kN) each
Fuel capacity: 47,975 U.S. gal (39,948 imp gal; 181,610 L)
Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0119 (estimated)
Drag area: 47.60 sq ft (4.42 m²)
Aspect ratio: 8.56

Performance

Maximum speed: 560 kt (650 mph, 1,047 km/h)
Cruise speed: 442 kt (525 mph, 844 km/h)
Combat radius: 4,480 mi (3,890 nmi, 7,210 km)
Ferry range: 10,145 mi (8,764 nmi, 16,232 km)
Service ceiling: 50,000 ft (15,000 m)
Rate of climb: 6,270 ft/min (31.85 m/s)
Wing loading: 120 lb/ft² (586 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.31
Lift-to-drag ratio: 21.5 (estimated)

Armament

Guns: 1× 20 mm (0.787 in) M61 Vulcan cannon originally mounted in a remote controlled tail turret on the H-model, removed from all current operational aircraft in 1991
Bombs: Approximately 70,000 lb (31,500 kg) mixed ordnance; bombs, mines, missiles, in various configurations

The Kit

Not a lot of parts but a few are tiny. The end of wing landing gears can be barely held by a pair of tweezers muck less the wheels! I dropped one of them on the floor and it took a while to find it. The fit is not bad. The main wings fit tight in their slots so that helped in keeping them straight, but one did have some warp . and I used a hair dryer on high with that carpenters level sitting on it to take out the curve. The engine pylon ends are like needles and are fragile. The kit comes with two vertical stabilizers and I opted for the earlier version. The 50's and early 60's versions sported a flash white underside to reflect the radiation so I gave the spray can another try.

The smell was so overpowering on the first coat that I tried to take it out into the garage but was just to darn cold. Been a long time since I used a can of spray paint. Cindy said perhaps now due to kids using it to get high they make it obnoxious?

The pylons inboard of the engines can be used but I opted for the fairings to be used since my version is an nuclear bomber and not the Vietnam war version depicted on the box. The B-52 did have these hard points in the 50 and 60 to carry the hound dog stand off missile. As you can see the cockpit is really non existent and once the canopy is in place you could not see anything anyway. However if I had to choose a pilot

Who remembers Slim Pickens ride? This was at least a comedy spoof. Fail Safe was a lot scarier. I still remember the pilot in that one committing suicide after dropping his bomb. The sound of the phone when Moscow was vaporized by the remaining B-58 that got through the Russian version of our Hercules nuke AA missile screen.

This aircraft was certainly an icon of its era and is expect to fly for another 20 years???? The original pilots great granddchildren might be flying this thing.

The B-52 has been in active service with the USAF since 1955. As of 2012, 85 were in active service with nine in reserve. The bombers flew under the Strategic Air Command (SAC) until it was inactivated in 1992 and its aircraft absorbed into the Air Combat Command (ACC) Superior performance at high subsonic speeds and relatively low operating costs have kept the B-52 in service despite the advent of later aircraft, including the canceled Mach 3 B-70 Valkyrie, the variable-geometry B-1 Lancer, and the stealth B-2 Spirit. after being upgraded between 2013 and 2015, it is expected to serve into the 2040s.

This build came out a bit better than I thought. I'll have it in the air on final approach next week after the Vulcan gets here. Now for the decision on the F102 and F106. a kit or HM's versions.

 

[Kyushuj7w]

The Zombies The TU16 Badger and the B47 I will start to work again

The next part of the builds began with the SA2 Guideline.

Since its first deployment in 1957 it has become the most widely deployed air defense system in history. It scored the first destruction of an enemy aircraft by a surface-to-air missile, shooting down a Taiwanese Martin RB-57D Canberra over China, on October 7, 1959, hitting it with three V-750 (1D) missiles at an altitude of 20 km (65,600 ft). The success was attributed to Chinese fighters at the time in order to keep the S-75 program secret

This system first gained international fame when an S-75 battery, using the newer, longer-range and higher-altitude V-750VN (13D) missile shot down the U-2 of Francis Gary Powers overflying the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960. The system was also deployed in Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, where on October 27, 1962, it shot down a U-2 overflying Cuba flown by Rudolf Anderson, almost precipitating nuclear war.North Vietnamese forces used the S-75 extensively during the Vietnam War to defend Hanoi and Haiphong

The kit is a good one overall but it had a few frustrating bugs.


Like our Nike Systems, the S-75 Divina known to the west as the SA2-Guidline missile defended most Soviet cities with populations greater than 200,000. SA-2 sites were placed at some smaller urban areas which contained government control centers or other installations of critical importance. They were also deployed for defense of naval and port facilities, nuclear production and weapon storage Installations, missile test ranges, and Industrial facilities. Other major military installations, such as long-range missile sites and airfields of the long-range air force, are also defended by SA-2. A number of sites in border areas, which were unrelated to specific targets, were part of the deployment of peripheral defenses which eventually extended from the Kola Peninsula along the western and southern borders of the USSR into central Asia. Deployment in the Baltic coastal area was particularly dense. In mid-1962 about 750 sites were operational in defense of more than 200 target areas in the USSR. The Soviets eventually deployed roughly a thousand SA-2 sites in the USSR, with the major portion of the deployment completed by the mid-1960s.

Specs -
Type Surface-to-air missile
Place of origin Soviet Union
Production history -Variants V-750, V-750V, V-750VK, V-750VN, V-750M, V-750SM, V-750AK
Specifications (V-750)
Weight 2,300 kg (5,100 lb)
Length 10,600 mm (420 in)
Diameter 700 mm (28 in)
Warhead Frag-HE
Warhead weight 200 kg (440 lb)
Detonation mechanism - Command
Propellant Solid-fuel booster and a storable liquid-fuel upper stage
Operational range - 45 km (28 mi)
Flight altitude 25,000 m (82,000 ft)
Boost time 5 s boost, then 20 s sustain
Speed Mach 3.5
Guidance system - Radio control guidance
Accuracy 65 m
Launch platform Single rail, ground mounted (not mobile)
The idea of the bomber always getting through started to be challenged. The huge bomber programs of the 50's needed some rethinking and the age of Electronic counter measures became increasingly important. Speed no longer assured the bomber would always get through.

A typical layout. US and IDF aircrews would become all too familiar with this in the years to come.

There is little to no flash and the missile builds up quite easily. Compared to the Hercules it was a breeze. However there are some odd things like a strand of wire to attach the blast reflector plate to the launch unit. You have to drill your own holes!!! I don't know about the rest of you but I don't have those size drill bits. So a little Kentucky hillbilly ( my old home ) tech was used as my wife was tired of my ruining her sewing needles. Heat it to a glow and push it through.

The decals are a bit shiny but went on reasonably well. I painted the launcher olive drab and the missile a light gray. There are many configurations and paint schemes but this one seemed fairly common.


The finished product

The USAF and NAVY in addition to the IDF would face scores of these missiles in addition to Mig 17's , 19's, and the 21. While losses to the SA2 compared to directed AAA were no where nearly as significant in terms of sheer numbers, the SAM did force an adjustment of tactics needed to eventually defeat it in the air on on the ground. In that sense it did its job. The soviets had a saying that is quite true, quantity has a quality all its own.

Technology was advancing faster than we could keep up. Time were changing. I'm finding that period a lot more interesting the more I look into it. Maybe its just nostalgia as I was a kid in those days. But I think most people believe the 50's and early 60's to be a dull and quiet time in the countries history. Lets blame television for lulling us all into a stupor until the missile crisis snapped us awake.

A brief history of a Hobby Master diecast I picked up a few years back . I know this is kit builder scarilege but it fits the theme and project I was working at the time and it's actually pretty good. I now have a F-102 and a F106 kit picked up at flea markets and am trying to find NJ ANG decals to use. See gate Guardians post and a few pics above showing NJ ANG escorting Russian bombers. Also this thread has a bit of information on Barbara LAng the womans pic I posted in Girls and planes.

HA3109
1/72 scale
F-102A Delta Dagger
57th FIS, Keflavik, Iceland 1963

The early history of the 57th Fighter (Interceptor) Squadron,
the Black Knights of Keflavik with the Convair F-102A Delta Dagger.

The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger was an American interceptor aircraft that was built as part of the backbone of the United States Air Force's air defenses in the late 1950s. Entering service in 1956, its main purpose along with the Nike and Hercules systems was to intercept invading Soviet bomber fleets during the Cold War. Designed and manufactured by Convair, 1,000 F-102s were built at a cost of $1.2 million each.

A member of the Century Series, the F-102 was the first operational supersonic interceptor and delta-wing fighter of the USAF. It used an internal weapons bay to carry both guided missiles and rockets. As originally designed, it could not achieve Mach 1 supersonic flight until redesigned with area ruling. The F-102 replaced subsonic fighter types such as the Northrop F-89 Scorpion, and by the 1960s, it saw limited service in the Vietnam War in bomber escort and ground-attack roles. 13 were lost in Vietnam being used in questionable ground support missions. One was lost to a air to air missile fired by a NVA Mig. While another 3 were lost to VC sappers who managed to get onto Da Nang airbase and blow them up.

Being based out of Iceland this squadron saw more action than most in a very unforgiving climate. Its rather amazing none of them were lost. I thought the F-102 was pretty sharp when I saw it in the Hobby Master Showroom years back. But at the time I did not collect fast pointy things. It's impressive in its size and accuracy. This one is getting harder to find.

The F-102's official name, "Delta Dagger", was never used in common parlance, with the aircraft being universally known as the "Deuce." The TF-102 was known as the "Tub" because of its wider fuselage with side-by-side twin seating.
The F-102 had some interesting gestation issues and one might think by reading some descriptions of its subsequent modification that generated the F-106, it was a bad aircraft. Certainly the later versions of the F-102 were not.

he F-102As arrived in Iceland between August and October 1962. The strength was established at 12 single seat F-102As and two TF-102A (affectionately called TUBS) two seaters. To train F-102A pilots, the TF-102A trainer was developed, with 111 eventually manufactured. The aircraft was fitted with a side-by-side cockpit to facilitate ease of pilot training. This required a redesign of the cockpit and nose incorporating a set of vortex generators on the top of the cockpit to prevent flow separation under certain circumstances, and repositioning of the intake ducts. Despite the many changes, the aircraft was combat-capable, although this variant was predictably slower, reaching only subsonic speeds in level flight. ( This might be an interesting variant to make for HM but it looks like the mods will be too much) .

This strength was maintained until 1973 with most of the aircraft like the two seaters staying for the entire eleven years. Soon after the F-102As took over the alert duty the Russians started their long distance flights from Murmansk down into the North Atlantic. These sorties were of various types. Flights to Cuba, and then Africa; reconnaissance flights down along the east coast of Iceland and the up along the west coast between Iceland and Greenland and then flights where the aircraft went back along the same route they came. Almost all of these flights took the Russians into the Iceland's MADIZ (Military Air Defence Identification Zone). Of course all were unannounced and without any flight plans being filed with Air Traffic Control (ATC). The indication of approaching aircraft usually came from the Norwegian radar stations which practically look down on the Kola peninsula airfields. Until 1965, the USN had the Barrier Atlantic in operation with Lockheed WV-2 Super Constellation radar pickets. This meant that one aircraft was at all times supposed to be on station east of Iceland, and another to the west. The 1000th intercept was celebrated on September 15, 1972 when Major George Calkins and Captain Chuck Mordan intercepted a Bear in the MADIZ. To commemorate this and other events, F-102A 56-1378 was placed on a pedestal in front of the AFI offices on October 21, 1972. This aircraft had a cracked wing spar.

The squadron had a good safety record while flying the F-102. Three aircraft were lost in crashes, one in 1966, one in 1968 and one in 1973. One pilot (in 1968) escaped by ejecting . The squadron had 58 accident free months from 1968 to 1973.
The nearest alternate airfields for the F-102As were Lossiemouth and Leuchars in Scotland. The 57th often had to use these facilities and diverted to Scotland when bad weather at Keflavik was likely to make landings there unsafe. The 57th "Deuces" became a frequent sight on these bases.

On the same day the 1000th intercept occurred the squadron won to coveted Hughes Trophy for the first time. In 1973 the squadron replaced the F-102s with F-4Cs.

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 68 ft 4 in (20.83 m)
Wingspan: 38 ft 1 in (11.61 m)
Height: 21 ft 2 in (6.45 m)
Wing area: 661.5ft²/61.52m² (Original Wing) or 695 ft²/64.57m² (Conically-Cambered Wing) ()
Airfoil: NACA 0004-65 mod root and tip
Empty weight: 19,350 lb (8,777 kg)
Loaded weight: 24,500 lb (11,100 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 31,500 lb (14,300 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney J57-P-25 afterburning turbojet
Dry thrust: 11,700 lbf (52.0 kN)
Thrust with afterburner: 17,200 lbf (76.5 kN)
Internal fuel capacity: 1,085 U.S. gal (4,107 l)
External fuel capacity: 2 × 215 U.S. gal (815 l) drop tanks

Performance
Maximum speed: Mach 1.25 (825 mph, 1,304 km/h) at 40,000 ft (12,190 m)
Range: 1,350 mi (1,170 nmo, 2,175 km)
Service ceiling: 53,400 ft (16,300 m)
Rate of climb: 13,000 ft/min (66 m/s)
Wing loading: 35 lb/ft² (172 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.70

Armament
Rockets: 24 × 2.75 in (70 mm) FFAR (Folding Fin Aerial Rocket) unguided rockets in missile bay doors
Missiles:
6 × AIM-4 Falcon air-to-air missiles or
3 × AIM-4 Falcon
1 × AIM-26 Falcon with conventional or nuclear warhead

Avionics
MG-10 fire control system

That's what I call recruiting.

Actress Barbara Lang was a beautiful, brassy "B"-level blonde of the 50s.

Out of nowhere Lang woke up one day in late 1953 unable to move. Stricken by polio, her speech was affected and her legs and facial muscles paralyzed. Told that she might never walk again, she miraculously recovered after months and months of treatment.

After her recovery she pursued an acting career, and one of Barbara's earliest acting jobs was on a few episodes of "Death Valley Days" in 1955 and 1956 . She lost out on the co-starring role opposite Elvis Presley in Jailhouse Rock (1957). After being initially named by the studio for the part. She had TV guest roles playing sexy foils in both crime drama ("Maverick," "77 Sunset Strip") and comedy ("The Bob Cummings Show," "Car 54, Where Are You?") but things soon slowed down to a halt and with a career going into an abrupt tailspin, Barbara attempted suicide in 1959 with an overdose of sleeping pills. She recovered but her career did not. Little was heard from Barbara until her reported death from pneumonia at the relatively young age of 54 in Los Angeles.

​

 

[Kyushuj7w]

We normally think of the U2 as the CIA all black version, but the USAF flew them in various finishes and model configurations. It was a USAF U2 that was shot down over Cuba that we remember. That shoot down came close to starting the war and Major Rudolf Anderson is often cited as the only combat American casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis. As many of you have already read the run up to potential war led to the deaths of many SAC and support crews exhausted by round the clock stand by status as the world teetered on the brink.

Lets remember Major Anderson.

Rudolf Anderson, Jr. (September 15, 1927 – October 27, 1962), was a pilot and commissioned officer in the United States Air Force and the first recipient of the Air Force Cross, the U.S. Air Force's second-highest award for heroism. The only person killed by enemy fire during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Anderson died when his U-2 spy aircraft was shot down over Cuba. On the day of October 15, 1962, while flying a top secret mission code-named G3102V, Maj. Anderson became the second pilot to photograph the Soviet's highly secret SS-4 Medium Range Ballistic Missiles (MRBM) at San Cristobal.

Maj. Anderson flew several missions after the 15th of October missions that uncovers the Soviet threat. Then on October 27, 1962 Rudy Anderson, Jr. had volunteered to be on stand by in case he was needed. He was later sent to cover Banes, Cuba where the Soviets had an MRBM site under construction. Mission 3127, Anderson's sixth foray over Cuba as part of "Operation Brass Knob," would be his most dangerous yet, with Soviet SA-2 surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) now operational and war seemingly imminent. Shortly after Anderson entered Cuban air space, his unarmed, high-altitude U-2 spy plane appeared as a blip on Soviet radar. As the Soviet military tracked the intruding aircraft, their concern mounted that the pilot was photographing secret locations of tactical nuclear weapons positioned near America's Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

At least one U.S. RB-47 spy plane was in the air, circling Cuba, at the time Anderson flew over the island. A declassified history of 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing reports that pilots picked up several "Big Cigar" or "Fruit Set" fire control radars on the morning of October 27. Activation of the "Fruit Set" radar meant that the Soviets were actively attempting to shoot down a hostile plane. The RB-47 reported interception of the radar signals to Washington but had no means of alerting Anderson of the imminent danger of a shootdown. The interception of the radar signals was promptly reported to Defense secretary Robert McNamara who informed President Kennedy about the activation of a "Fruit Cake" radar. (He meant "Fruit Set.")

"Our guest has been up there for over an hour," Lieutenant General Stepan Grechko told a deputy. "I think we should give the order to shoot it down, as it is discovering our positions in depth." With the commanding general, the only man authorized to order a surface-to-air missile launch, nowhere to be found, Grechko gave the order himself: "Destroy Target Number 33."

Two surface-to-air missiles rocketed into the sky near the eastern port city of Banes. One exploded near the U-2. Shrapnel pierced the cockpit along with Anderson's pressurized flight suit and helmet, likely killing him instantly. The U-2 plunged 72,000 feet to the tropical island below. Target number 33 was destroyed.

Wreckage from the Anderson plane landed in the village of Veguitas, near Banes. Anderson's body was discovered in the cockpit of the plane, as reported by a CIA informer. On October 28, the commander of the Soviet Air Defense unit, Colonel Georgi Voronkov, personally congratulated his men on the shootdown of the U-2. The Soviet soldiers are dressed in civilian clothes as part of the camouflage effort. (Voronkov is on the left; Danilevich is in center in the black shirt; the commander of the Banes SAM site, Major Ivan Gerchenov, is on the right, with a pistol in his belt.)

Within hours, word of the shootdown reached the White House Cabinet Room, which all day long had crackled with tension amid news that the Soviet nuclear missile sites were nearly operational and that another U-2 plane had accidentally flown over the Soviet Union, sending Soviet MiG fighters scrambling in pursuit. Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze said, "They've fired the first shot," and President John F. Kennedy remarked, "We are now in an entirely new ball game." Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy would later write in "Thirteen Days," his memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis, "There was the feeling that the noose was tightening on all of us, on Americans, on mankind, and that the bridges to escape were crumbling."

Military leaders overwhelmingly urged Kennedy to launch airstrikes against Cuba's air defenses the following morning. The president, however, correctly suspected that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had not authorized the downings of unarmed reconnaissance planes, and he didn't want to abandon diplomacy just yet.

For Kennedy and Khrushchev, Anderson's death crystallized their realization that the crisis was rapidly spiraling out of their control. "It was at that very moment—not before or after—that father felt the situation was slipping out of his control," Khrushchev's son Sergei would later write. Kennedy worried that retaliatory airstrikes would inevitably result in all-out war. "It isn't the first step that concerns me, but both sides escalating to the fourth or fifth step and we don't go to the sixth because there is no one around to do so," he told his advisers.That day was to become known as "Black Saturday." When Kennedy learned that the 35-year-old Anderson had a wife and two sons, 5 and 3 years old, it struck home. "He had a boy about the same age as John," he told his advisers. "Your husband's mission was of the greatest importance, but I know how deeply you must feel his loss," Kennedy wrote in a letter to Anderson's widow Frances Jane Corbett, two months pregnant with a baby girl. She later moved to Pearson, Georgia after his death. Anderson posthumously became the first-ever recipient of the Air Force Cross, the service's highest designation short of the Medal of Honor.

The kit. A Hawk from 1962. Kit number 209. If you can read the box note how they describe the U2 and the plastic is a color and texture that only a few of us may still remember. Minimal flash. 2 pilots, 1 seated one standing. Not a great deal of parts but after a bit of dry fitting a few issues to work through. This kit is getting a bit difficult to locate as even the newer Testors is hard to find. All the aircraft parts are there, though some were in baggies. This kit supposedly came with a base that is missing. I wanted an earlier version to go with the cold war build and one U2 in particular. I found a great story to share with you while doing some research.

If you purchase an older version of this or any kit be sure to wash the parts and then dry out. I have heard of people doing this but I never had before. Even after all these years there was a bit of residue I supposed from the mold release process that caused
me some trouble with the spray paint. I have not used masking tape very often. However on this kit due to the paint and natural metal finishes on USAF versions I gave it a try. It seems to leave a slight residue that is hard to remove. Perhaps I should let the paint cure longer then try to remove it. As you can see this will be a pretty good size aircraft. This will be a USAF version based out of Florida during the crisis. I need to find period USAF stars and bars as the decals in this kit are for a NASA aircraft.

U2 Reconnaissance Aircraft
The Lockheed U-2 is a single-engine single-seat long-range high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft produced by the US-American manufacturer Lockheed Corporation, operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the US Air Force, the Republic of China (Taiwan) Air Force and the NASA. The number of variants exceeded 45 and the airframes were constantly undergoing modifications.
Crew 1
Propulsion 1 Turbojet Engine
Engine Model Pratt & Whitney J75-P-13
Engine Power 66,7 kN 14995 lbf
Speed 850 km/h 459 kts 528 mph
Service Ceiling 27.432 m 90.000 ft
Range 10.060 km 5.432 NM 6.251 mi.
Empty Weight 5.900 kg 13.007 lbs
max. Takeoff Weight 10.225 kg 22.542 lbs
Wing Span 24,38 m 80,0 ft
Wing Area 52,5 m² 565 ft²
Length 15,24 m 50,0 ft
Height 4,57 m 15,0 ft

First Flight 01.08.1955
Production Status out of production
Total Production >80

Variants U-2A, WU-2A, U-2C, U-2CT, U-2D, U-2E, U-2F, U-2G, U-2H, U-2R (TR-1A), U-2S, U-2ST, ER-2

Those of you following this thread know I have added scenes from the past that are familiar to many of the, to use the new office work code word ( experienced / seasoned forum members). I will continue to do this.

1962 was an interesting year. Some of us have more memories of this time than others but when you look at the history it was certainly not boring. Lots of creativity and uncertainty . Military recruiting sure had winning tactics in that era. Can you imagine going to the marine air corp recruiter today and seeing those two? Social changes, Silent Spring about pollution, we were just beginning to hear Martin Luther Kings name, atomic toys still popular, something called the Beatles, some wild concept cars, technology taking leaps, the design and plans for the French Concord announced, Kennedy sends the 1600 advisors into Vietnam, the first true full orbit of the earth for America, Marlyn Monroe commits suicide, Nixon runs for California Gov's office and wins, people walking by antiaircraft missiles on our beaches. But more importantly, Monogram was selling a 18 plane kit for petes sake. That's a lot of pop and beer bottles at 3 cents each, pulled out of the ditches back home to fund that one.

My personal favorite as I remember drinking this. 7UP and Milk!!!!!!! Yes indeed get mom to get us hooked on soda early. In Kentucky the young grade school field trips were to the ZOO? the Museum? Churchill Downs? Hell no. We went to the Louisville Slugger bat factory and the Brown & Williams tobacco factory where to today's PC police horror, and my kids laughter, we were given multiple packs of candy cigarettes and cigars that we all "smoked " on the bus ride home.
​

Attached the wings the horizontal stabilizers, a side air scoop, painted a few parts. The decals are very old and the cockpit instrument panel was difficult to get off the paper backing. I found some U2 specific air force decals but they are a bit pricey.

I was attaching the air intakes and doing a few touch ups while considering not attaching the landing gear and doing a flying model, when I realized it really does not have a closed landing and tail gear option. Also learned with this plastic its brittle and glue does not adhere well over spray paint. The wings came free when stress was put on them. I sanded the joins down to bare plastic, scuffed it up a bit and added a bit more glue .

I re-shot the black on the already painted surface for a touch up and it started to krinkel. Same paint , same can, but it surprised and annoyed the hell out of me. I had to strip that section down then wash it and then re-shoot it. Will join the fuselage halves tomorrow. The two painted wing tips are a small clue as to the U2 story I have for you later. On the real aircraft they were made of titanium with the purpose of performing like a skid runner to ride the ground and not to damage the wings when the U2 came in to land on its tricycle gear. The pogo gear in photos of stationary U2's were only used in taxi movements and for takeoff They dropped away when the plane lifted off. In the background is the IL-28 beagle I'm also working on for the thread. The Russians were giving these to the Cubans as well. Captain Eddie those clamps have come in handy.

The Air Force began using chase cars early on in the U-2 program, all the way back to the days of the project's 1950s Groom Lake (a.k.a. Area 51) testing. The first examples were reportedly Ford station wagons, typically showroom models with the biggest V-8 available. Chevrolet El Camino's followed. By all accounts, the El Caminos with a 396 and the truck bed to pick up the pogos were capable and long-lived. Some jokers would tell people their jobs were to pace the U2 and install the pogo gear while it was moving before they could land.

The process is pretty simple: The Air Force now buys fast Detroit muscle and puts a highly trained pilot in the driver's seat. Those pilots then act as ground-based wing men for the U-2s in the air, talking them through runway operations. Because of the high-lift wings, pilots didn't so much land the plane as fly it really close to the ground (usually about two feet), stall it, and then fall out of the sky. Bringing a U-2 to earth required wrestling yourself from the sky, not slipping out gracefully Between ten and 30 people are needed to launch a U-2, and almost as many are required to land it.
Your main job as the mobile... is to let the guy know how high he is off the ground," says Major Shane Johnson, deputy operations commander for the 99th ERS. "The U-2 is a pretty fragile aircraft, and if you land hard, you can break it. At first it's a little unnerving because you're not used to going that fast and because you're not used to chasing an airplane down a runway. You kind of have to get used to it. But after awhile you do, and it's just another day at work."

Take-offs are the easy part. During landings the drivers not only need speed, but the skill to slot in directly behind a fast moving jet without getting in the way. "You don't want to hit the airplane and you don't want to flip the car," the major says. "As you make those fast run-ins you have to get your aim point. It's kind of like doing a rejoin in formation. You just come zooming in from behind and follow along about 60 feet from the aircraft. So bottom line,,,,

Slow down, fly down to the deck at around 140 mph

Have chase cars drive on runway, hauling ass behind you and offering radio advice
Land plane in polite, controlled crash
Don't screw up.

http://s769.photobucket.com/user/KYUSHUJ7W/media/uspartd_zps49c89ba9.jpg.html

As I said the plastic in these old kits is very brittle. The tail wheel broke into 3 pieces when I removed it from the sprue so I tried to glue it back together. It's just too fiddly so gluing it on the post in the 3 pieces and will sand it down. This 1962 kit is spartan to say the least .... Cockpit detail you ask? ...........Well no floor pan, bulk heads, or side items in the cockpit what so ever, just the flat instrument panel with the seat mounted on pins in the fuselage sides. I suppose they figured back in those days before aftermarket items and greater demands by modelers, everything was closed up and you really can't see anything anyway. I may fake a bulkhead as I did with the H-16 build. No engine, this means the its just wide open in the back, no false exhaust plug in the rear... You can see straight up to the front nose. I'll have to do something there. What I have not yet figured out or maybe I will leave this as is. A real example of a 1962 kit with no frills.

I played with making my own pickle barrel used in the MIDAS/ LOWCARD/Smokey Joe missile tracking programs as there are no aftermarket conversion parts I could locate in 1.48 scale.

The pickle barrel is close but still needs work to make it look better and then I will try to lash up that fin object and fake some windows. I tried some masking vs brush work.... it takes more time but it comes off cleaner. This D model was not available in 1/48 and I could not find an after market conversion. This type does exist in 1/72. Trying to do this was getting too big for my britches and my skills at this stage. That hole in the fuselage will need to be filled as it was the mount for the stand that did not come with the model. Maybe I can rig a metal post in my display cabinet to come out from the side wall and mount the U2 in a flying position using that mounting opening.

I splurged for the decals ($20 with shipping ) & they took 3 weeks to get here. The wife was watching me search the internet for decals and after telling her these were tough to find and might be as much as the kit, she said go ahead, your enjoying your self. I do love this woman.

I've spent a lot of time futzing with the pickle barrel and the vane ... Though I can get close and can simulate the windows I think it will still look too crude, at least to me. Rather than have it look not really right, I will table this scratch effort and consider this a build of its era, as it was meant to be, a very simple kit. As I was doing some research I came across a story that I promised earlier to share.
​

 

[Kyushuj7w]

CECE BIBBY and Ye Olde Lemon
Ok So who is this lady and her link to the U2? I ran across her story by accident and the link to the U2 and Space program ( we flew our capsules) was interesting so I figured , share it.

Cece was raised in a Masonic home for children, after graduating from high school she entered the Navy and left the service as an Ensign. Bibby enrolled in art school while working as an operator for a local telephone company. The job brought her, by chance, in contact with Dr. Theodore von Karman, one of the founders of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, Cece would often track down people at Cape Canaveral for him and he was grateful for here extra efforts, but it was a want ad in a newspaper that led her to Cape Canaveral.

Moving to Florida to work as a draftsman at RCA's missile division at Patrick Air Force Base, Bibby soon transferred to the company's publications department, "where we did all kinds of artwork," including engineers' ideas of space, she said. That led to Bibby being hired by Chrysler Aerospace in 1959, where she was brought on as a contract artist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration — NASA. Her workspace was located just across the street from the astronaut office. The United States' first two manned spacecraft flew with their names — Freedom 7 and Liberty Bell 7 — stenciled with spray paint on their side. John Glenn wanted a more personal touch. "John said that when the boss uttered the words 'stencil and spray paint' it really got his dander up," My boss came back from the astronaut office with a very red face and threw my design on the drawing board. [He said] that 'Colonel Glenn' wanted the person who made the design to paint it on the capsule. I could tell he wasn't a happy camper."

Bibby later learned from Glenn and other astronauts who had been there that day, what had transpired between the astronaut and her boss. The conversation as described went something like this:

Glenn: I want the person who designed this to paint it on by hand.
Boss: Well, that's a woman.
Glenn: So?
Boss: She'd have to go out to the launch pad and up to the top of gantry.
Glenn: Is she handicapped in some way?
Boss: Well, she's a woman.
Glenn: Is she afraid of heights?
Boss: I don't know... but she's a woman.
Glenn: Why don't you find out from her whether she has some objection to going up to the top of the gantry.
Boss: Well, you know, I could have a stencil cut and have one of the guys spray paint it on the capsule.
Glenn: I don't want a stencil and a can of spray paint. I want the artist to hand paint this design for me. Go ask her about it.

Despite Glenn's insistence, Bibby was not well-received in the white room.

"When I got up to the top of gantry I encountered the Pad Leader, who informed me that women weren't allowed up there. I was told to leave immediately," Bibby recalled. "I told him he'd have to take it up with John Glenn and I went ahead and did my job."

After the Glen artwork Cece was asked to do other capsules. Gordo made the comment to me, 'Well, you are not what we expected.' I asked what had they expected and Gordo said, 'You don't giggle when we talk to you.'" Bibby's ability to exceed the astronauts' expectations had previously caught Carpenter's attention, though he did not know it was her at the time. "I was out putting the top up on my car because it was going to rain. Right about that same time a U.S. Air Force car with Scott Carpenter in the passenger seat [drove by]. He did a double take because he saw me putting the top on the car," tells Bibby. "I was wearing a patchwork skirt with red patent leather belt and matching shoes. A few weeks later, when I went over to meet John that day, I had on the same outfit and Scott had remembered me. Scott told them that I was the owner of the AC ACE."

Cece lived in the same neighborhood as many of the astronauts as they were all military and the area was still pretty much limited to military and base civilian workers, with a growing NASA contingent of families in small neighborhoods along the cape. At the time, Bibby was a rarity, she was a 30 year old, single, independent woman who owned and could repair her own sports car. She had an AC ACE. The car was a British made racing machine that Shelby would later use as a model for his famous Shelby Cobra series of race cars. It was bright red with white racing strips. She must have cut quite a figure in her day.

Astronauts' artist
Ultimately, Bibby went on to paint three of the six Mercury spacecraft that flew, but her logos weren't the only artwork she created for the astronauts. Practical jokers, the other astronauts took full advantage of Bibby's talents to pull a "gotcha" on Glenn. Virgil "Gus" Grissom, who flew just before Glenn on Liberty Bell 7, challenged Bibby to paint naked ladies on Friendship 7 to shake up the "straight arrow" astronaut. Not willing to put her job in jeopardy, Bibby rejected the idea of painting pinup nose art but devised a plan to insert a drawing of a naked lady in the capsule's periscope such that the offending art could be removed before the launch countdown commenced.

The Photo with Cece, Shirra, Cooper and Carpenter.

"I painted a naked lady with the caption that said, 'It's just you and me against the world, John Baby,'" Bibby said. Glenn discovered the art before his scheduled launch for the day was scrubbed. Rumors spread that the astronaut was upset by the prank but Glenn set the record straight, telling Bibby that he got a "big kick" out of the drawing. The launch director wanted to get her fired. but Glenn and Grissom put a stop to it. Today everyone would be forced to watch sexual harassment films and have their careers permanently damaged.

Bibby followed up with another painting. "Just before John's next launch date, I did another lady for his periscope view. She was not what he expected. She was a rather frumpy old lady in a house dress. She had a mop in one hand and bucket in the other. The bucket had "Friendship" on it in the same script as his insignia on the capsule." This time, the drawing's caption read, "You were expecting maybe someone else, John Baby?'"

Cece and the U2

As I said the cockpit is spartan and I still need to do a few touch ups on the canopy that my masking did not take care of. Added the winglets , but try as I might I just could not get the lettering on them. My smallest brush is pretty old so I will get a new one and I even tried with a needle but it just looked too sloppy. However spray paint is better than brush work on a canopy of this size. Will order the decals tomorrow. They cost more than the kit but by the time I try to get some 1960 period stars and bars and some other items it would cost just as much.

Cece's talents were not limited to NASA. There was an U.S. Air Force unit of Lockheed U-2's based at Patrick Air Force Base in the early 1960's during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Cece even dated one of the pilots of the squadron at the time. Her boyfriend of the time flew spy photographic missions over Cuba. Upon his return from a mission, he would fly low over Cece's home to let her know that he was home safe after a long night mission over enemy territory. The U-2 jet engine had a very distinctive howling noise that would let Cece know that her boyfriend was returning safe and sound. There was a small problem in that the engine noise generated by the U-2 woke other people up including Alan Shepard. Cdr. Shepard complained to the squadron commander about the noise. The colonel, who knew about the homeward bound signal, advised Alan that this was a national security issue and that there was nothing he could do about it. Cece always enjoyed that little "Gotcha" over Alan and he never knew the real story about the early morning fly overs.

The story behind the photograph below is that the particular U-2 plane shown in the picture was a mechanical disaster. Evidently, the plane had a nasty habit of having a midair malfunction during flights over Cuba. The pilots hated the plane and nicknamed it, "The Olde Lemon." They got Cece to paint lemons with the nickname on the plane. Every time the plane had a malfunction, it would be shipped back to the Lockheed plant for repair. Lockheed would repair the aircraft and return it, but each time they repaired it they would paint over Cece's artwork. The squadron would call Cece and back she would come to repaint the logo back on the plane. Lockheed must have hated that artwork. There must be someone still around who remembers seeing it come back into the shop with those lemons. I wonder what the discussion was. It would raise a political stink today.

The article linked to the pic of of Cece and the wingtip said no one knew what happened to that plane. The pic of Cece by the wing was not enough to see a serial number. Research led me to believe it was 66721. The second cockpit ( a real cockpit with no flight controls vs a instrument bay) was a unique modification and only 2 such aircraft, both A models, were ever modified in such a way. Only 6721 was listed as ever being seconded to Patrick. Based out of California it's original history includes the Miracle of Cortez

www.hmhfp.info/SG_09E.html - see the link . I believe this crash landing and subsequent rebuild is a reason it was always trouble . The frame had to be stressed and even with all the rebuilds, if you have ever owned a previously wrecked car you always detect something its never quite right again.

Toward the end of the Apollo era, Bibby married a naval officer. Once she left Florida, she traveled the world with her husband, including stops in Singapore, Brazil, Norway and the Caribbean. In recent years though, Bibby was reunited with several of the Mercury astronauts and fans of her spacecraft artwork through autograph shows that were organized around the country. She also recreated her original three spacecraft logos for a commissioned series of painting and prints. Cece passed away in 2012 at the age of 84.

While my build is not the U2-D that was originally inspired by Cece's story, perhaps some day, when I gain the skills to convert it to the one she painted, I will do it. For now the little lemons will be my reminder of Cece & some extraordinary people.

This U2 did soldier on for years in the MIDAS, LowCard /Smokey Joe program, a weather research ship, a NASA test plane, and other jobs before being retired in 1980 to display at March AFB as the last existing U2-D. It is now on display after being restored at the Skunkworks facility at the Blackbird Air park. But it is a distinctive variant and I only recently found the pic of the plane rolled out with Cece's art work in evidence.

56-6721 converted to 66- 6721
1956 – One of 29 U-2As built in Oildale, California
1957 – Assigned to the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Laughlin Air Force Base, Del Rio, Texas
1959 – Damaged during "Miracle at Cortez", when Taiwanese pilot Maj. Mike Hua managed a dead stick landing at Cortez, Colorado, after his engine flamed out at 70,000 ft
1958 – Repaired and modified to a model D, with a second seat and a sensor suite that included a complicated mirror system (MIDAS array) in the fuselage cavity between cockpits, to measure infrared emissions from aircraft and missiles. The rear seat had only a few basic instruments and no flight controls.
1960 – Transferred to the Air Research and Development Center (ARDC) at Edwards AFB, where it became part of a four-aircraft fleet, consisting of:
– U-2D #56-6721/Article 388
– U-2A #56-6701/Article 368
– U-2A #56-6722/Article 389
– U-2D #56-6954/Article 394
1960/1961 – Frequently flown at Patrick AFB to monitor rocket launches from Cape Canaveral
1960/1961 – Visited Hickam AFB to track Discovery/Corona reconnaissance satellite packages after re-entry
1961 – Used IR sensor to monitor X-15 launch
1966 – Became the only remaining U-2D model after the other U-2D # 56-6954 was sent to Van Nuys and converted to a single-seat U-2C model with a J75 engine
1968 – Upgraded with new instrumentation to assist in development of a space-borne missile warning system
1970's – Served as a chase plane for COMPASS COPE unmanned aerial vehicles
1978 – Retired and transferred to March AFB museum
1996 – Transferred to AFFTC museum at EAFB and positioned at the Lockheed gate at Plant 42
2001 – Restored and moved to the Blackbird Airpark on 12 November

A lot of pilots were killed flying the U2 The Taiwan ROC pilots lost more than 1/2 their numbers to crashes and shoot downs. The Chinese in fact had already shot down a ROC U2 prior to the Cuba incident with a Soviet Sa-2. This build has inspired me to go looking for a book on the U2 and SR-71 missions.

I came home to find a package. Cindy said I think your stickers are here.

MY DEAR WOMAN ...Stickers are for little girls to decorate their doll houses with unicorns and hearts .

Men work with decals.

She continues to refer to them as stickers but as she is not protesting the cost I will accept her outrageous faux pas.

For the first time I sprang for decals not provided with the kit. But the U2 I'm building is a 1962 kit and the decals for a NASA ship are very old. (See the cold war thread)

Draw Decals Digital Silk process. 1/48 U2's kits are not that common and the decals are not readily available on EBAY. These came today so I have to say the service was great. Ordered on Monday and here they are. Decals $15 Came priority shipping $5. I did not choose the shipping method but it had a tracking number, came in a zip lock baggie with a card board insert in the shipping pouch that protected it when the USPS service folded the pack. Interesting and informative informational inserts and instructions are included.

But here is something our purists will appreciate. Its not a big issue for me and I'm not sure if you can read this but it does show the stabilizer in pic 2 with 66721 and no "Edwards Arrow" It actually says 66721 (in the text in pic 2) did not have this Arrow. But in fact my research on the old lemon shows this to not be the case based on the pic I later found below. References for these decals are Schiffer Publishing and two other authorities. However there are other pics of 66721 with no Arrow but with circles on the stabilizer. I guess at any point in time all these are correct.

The one thing that is a bit of a small disappointment is the 66722 is overlayed on the Arrow while the 66721 is a stand alone. So I can have the arrow with the wrong number or the number without the arrow. I'll trim out the number 2 and replace it. Since I could not find a 1/48 conversion to a true D ( anyone know of one?) this closes out my build effort.

I will wait for the weekend and finish the build with these decals. They are beauties. Anyone use this type before? The instructions are pretty clear but I have never see instructions on decal application this long.

Sunday morning and it high winds and extreme cold. Been out giving a bit of bread to the geese that came up in this bitter wind and cold to the back door. The would run about 20 steps, hunker down then run 20 more hunker down then take the last run for our back porch. You have to give them credit for the effort.

The decals are very good, but you have to cut each out individually and trim very closely. The long white lines for the wings gave me a bit of trouble as you might expect as they are log and spindly. I put them on one wing but I decided to remove them as I had not trimmed closely and evenly enough, causing some "clear" lines to show up. I decided to cut down the Arrow 2 and make it a 1 after all. I liked the decals, I would buy from this company again.

Here she is . My version of Ye Olde Lemon. She survives still when many of her peers did not. I will keep the option to convert fully to the D model open, but for now my latest addition to the cold war thread and collection just barely fits in the cabinet. These photos are with the air brakes closed

I thought the best way to deal with the US Air Force decal overlap was to put them on with the doors unglued and just laying in place. Then with a very sharp exacto blade cut the edges and then re glue to doors in the open position when I'm ready to hang her in the cabinet. I'll remove the pogo wheels then.

​

 

[Gnomey]

Good work!

 

[Crimea_River]

My gosh, I'll need to schedule some time to read this novel!

If you are trying to enter the GB, please read this first for all the info you'll need: Modellers Wanted! Group Build Invitation. The Zombie build ends on Sept 4 so your entries would need to be done by then.

Die cast models won't be allowed as judging is based on build/paint/decal skills.