F4U-7 BuNo. 133710

[Wurger]

Yep.. the enlarged shot shows the prop dome with remnants of the white.

And you are right that the wing numbers are of bigger size than those on the fuselage. But the size ...humm ... I'll try to check that in old articles published long time ago. I haven't seen the info in the new references.

 

[Wurger]

Geo, I have found these two shots of the 12.F.2 kite crashed and it isn't the 133710.
The no. was 133836. It reveals the enlarged shot.

 

[rochie]

Thanks for the link Karl. Do you know what carrier the aircraft in the bottom photo was on. It just dawned on me that 133710 might not have had the squadron number on the side but just may have only have had the last three digits of the serial number as shown in the photos Wojtek posted above. Seen many aircraft like that, just need to find out if it was a certain squadron or time period

Geo, the carrier was the La Fayette, also found the sqn badges but can't post them for some reason ?
Pm me your email and I will try sending them that way

 

[rochie]

Found this as well, look at the left hand corsair it has a light coloured prop hub dome so your bird could be number 12, I believe there are traces of the number on the tip of the tail in some of the pics of 710 posted ?

 

[rochie]

Got the badges posted, if 710 is your bird then it was from the 12 F and had the duck badge.

That is if that is 710 though ?

 

[Wurger]

Found this as well, look at the left hand corsair it has a light coloured prop hub dome so your bird could be number 12, I believe there are traces of the number on the tip of the tail in some of the pics of 710 posted ?

View attachment 364683

The 12.F.1 was Bu.No.133652 and the 12.F.12 was the Bu.No.133684, according to info I found.

 

[rochie]

The 12.F.1 was Bu.No.133652 and the 12.F.12 was the Bu.No.133684, according to info I found.

Shame but I suppose the evidence was a little thin and I had my fingers crossed

 

[fubar57]

All righty. I've sourced two sets of white numbers, one contains numbers from 4" to 36" and the other from 3" to 24". This should give me enough for the fuselage and wing sizes.

​

If anyone know of a different brand of 45° numbers it would be appreciated as I've heard Techmod can be a bit sketchy at times

 

[Wurger]

I haven't found the digit size for the kite so far. But it shouldn't b difficult to find out. Here is a profile of a plane marked with 414 number. It seems that the size is correct for the 710 as well. Just print it at scale and measure the numer on the fuselage. The dimensions of the wing number can be getting too. It is enough to meausre the "height" of the number when printed at scale and then estimate its "width" looking at the image of the 710 and measure it on the model wing at the same area.

The pic source: the net...

 

[fubar57]

Just received an email (email sent Wojtek) from the French naval air force web site I mentioned previously 2fantastic photos and timeline of 710. One shows the aircraft as above aboard the Arromanches in 1963 with 14F but the other show her aboard either the La Fayette or Bois Belleau in 1957 wearing 15F•1 of Flottila 15F. I just sent another email asking permission to use the photos, something I should have done in the beginning. Anyway 15F•1 it is, the Hobbyboss kit comes with 15F decals

 

[Wurger]

Great infor here Geo. Thank you.

 

[Wurger]

BTW.. no wonder we couldn't find any info because there was another kite of the 15 Flottila wearing the marking. It was Bu.No.133729 according to the shot unless tha number was worked out incorrectly.

 

[Crimea_River]

Excellent digging guys!

 

[rochie]

Great stuff Geo

 

[Airframes]

Good work all round.

 

[fubar57]

BTW.. no wonder we couldn't find any info because there was another kite of the 15 Flottila wearing the marking. It was Bu.No.133729 according to the shot unless tha number was worked out incorrectly.

View attachment 365101

When Cory and I started looking for info, we found out many aircraft didn't stay with squadrons for very long which made this project frustrating. Included with the photos I received is a time line of the aircraft in French service which I will post in the GB thread. "710" served with 15F three times and 14F twice

 

[Wurger]

At least we have the info and these nice shots finally .Which one are you going to model, the 710 or the 15F.I ?

 

[fubar57]

As much as I would love to try and beat the crap out of "710"s paint job, Cory did say he wanted to do one with squadron markings. With the beat up one I would have to buy 2 different decal sheets for numbers but the Hobbyboss kit comes with Flottila 15 markings - 15F•17 I believe and it's just a matter of losing the 7 and cutting down the 1. I may have to get small white numbers for the serial numbers but I may be able to cobble something together from the kit decals or spares. The kit should be here by the time I get home Tuesday so I can get going on it.

 

[Crimea_River]

A bit confusing what you might need Geo so if you summarize, I'll take a look through my binder of spare decals.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Not buying the white prop center. Isn't it more likely that we are seeing dark paint chipped off to natural metal instead of the last vestiges of white? Just sayin.