PTO Build Choices

[Catch22]

I know it's probably a but early, but what are you guys thinking of building for the PTO build?

Personally, I'm doing the Trumpeter 1/32 F4U Corsair, probably backdating it to a -1 birdcage. Hopefully I'm allowed to do this one as I've already built the cockpit.

Also, the Eduard 1/48 Hellcat. I was originally going to do it in USS Bunker Hill colours, but I'm thinking now of doing another FAA one.

 

[BombTaxi]

I'm currently sitting on a Seafire L.III (Airfix 1/48), dont know whether to save it or build it now and get something Japanese for the GB. Decisions, decisions...

 

[109ROAMING]

Revell Zero
Hasegawa RNZAF Corsair
unknown brand RAAF P-40

All 1/72

Yet to decide on schemes

 

[Lucky13]

These are the birds that I'll build in the PTO GB:

Stanley W. Vejtasa's SBD-3 "White 5"

.....and this one, observe the aircraft number! 8)

A Grumman F4F-4 "Wildcat" fighter (Bureau # 5244) takes off from USS Yorktown (CV-5)
on combat air patrol, during the morning of 4 June 1942.
This plane is Number 13 of Fighting Squadron Three (VF-3), flown by the squadron
Executive Officer, Lieutenant (Junior Grade) William N. Leonard.
Photographed by Photographer Second Class William G. Roy, from the ship's forecastle.

...and hopefully, if time permit....Robert M. Hanson's F4U-1A or.....might break one of my four PBY-5's and 5A's the Catalina, am a bit torn between Hanson and Lieutenant Commander Flip Anderson, he got two destroyer escorts at Zamboanga during the night between 5th/6th September '44, flying a Black Cat.

Lieutenant Commander Flip Anderson

Unfortunately I don't have a clue what number he flew that night, all I know is that he flew with VP-33.
"Anderson, a very capable Officer of Swedish descent, was a tenacious warrior who achieved considerable success not only by the number of ships which he personally sank, but as an effective leader when the big push was on..."Flip" was the Commanding Officer of VP-33 when they started their record breaking tour 1 September '44, operating from the tender Orcha off Middleburg Island.

There you go chaps, the SBD and the Wildcat are "booked", I'm more like between a rock and a hard place with the other two....

All 1/48!

 

[A4K]

My options (yet to decide which): (All 1:72)

Italeri (ex MPM) Lockheed Hudson III - RNZAF
Academy P-40N Warhawk - RNZAF
Airfix Short Sunderland GR.III transporter conv. - RNZAF
Italeri Douglas C-47 - RNZAF
Revell/Airfix Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIB - RNZAF
Fujimi Supermarine Spitfire FR XIVe - SEAC
Hasegawa/Italeri Goodyear FG-1D Corsair conv. - RNZAF
Fujimi/Heller/Airfix/Falcon Supermarine Seafire XV conv. - NZ inst, ex FAA

+ ICM Supermarine Spitfire MK.VIIIc - RAAF (1:48 )

 

[Heinz]

Not entirely sure no doubt it will include some RAAF and RNZAF stuff.

 

[Lucky13]

Would it be possible to in some way add ribbons for each completed GB? Like the one below, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, but as I said a ribbon instead, of course I suspect that they look different for the commonwealth, right? Opinions?
Just though that it could be fun, if it's too much hassle just ignore this post...

 

[A4K]

Did someone say something..? ( )

How do you mean Jan, as a logo, or a ribbon for the winner of each category?

 

[Wayne Little]

Something Japanese, most likely....

 

[Wildcat]

Do Australian based a/c count? If so I'll be doing a 1:48 RAAF Spitfire Vc.

 

[Lucky13]

Did someone say something..? ( )

How do you mean Jan, as a logo, or a ribbon for the winner of each category?

No, not like a "winner" thingy far from it, more like that you've taken part in a specific GB and finished before the deadline, that's it....

 

[A4K]

That probably counts me out then!

 

[Airframes]

Not really sure yet what to do. Probably be a Corsair of some kind, or maybe a Hellcat.

 

[Lucky13]

The more that I look at my Catalina's, the more I want to build one...! The question is though, how do paint an all black machine to look good and convincing in 1/48 and in any other scale for that matter....?

My arms were almost too short to take the pics!

 

[rochie]

possibly a corsair and an A6m zeke (zero), did the FAA use corsairs in the PTO before VJ day ?

 

[Lucky13]

From Wiki....
Beginning in 1943, the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) also received Corsairs and flew them successfully from Royal Navy carriers in combat with the British Pacific Fleet and in Norway. These were clipped-wing Corsairs, the wingtips shortened eight inches (20 cm) to clear the lower overhead height of RN carriers. FAA also developed a curving landing approach to overcome the F4U's deficiencies.

...and,

Royal Navy

In the early days of the war, Royal Navy fighter requirements had been based on cumbersome two-seat designs, such as the Blackburn Skua (and its turreted derivative the Blackburn Roc) as well as the Fairey Fulmar, on the assumption they would only be fighting long range bombers or flying boats. The Royal Navy hurriedly adopted higher performance aircraft such as the Hawker Sea-Hurricane and the less robust Supermarine Seafire but neither of these aircraft had sufficient range to operate at a distance from a carrier task force. The Corsair was welcomed as a much more robust and versatile alternative.

In Royal Navy service, because of the limited hanger deck height in several classes of British carrier, many Corsairs had their outer wings "clipped" by 8 inches to clear the deckhead. The change in span brought about the added benefit of improving the sink rate, reducing the F4U's propensity of "floating" in the final stages of landing. Despite the clipped wings and the shorter decks of British carriers, Royal Navy aviators found landing accidents less of a problem than they had been to U.S. Navy aviators due to the curved approach used. British units solved the landing visibility problem by approaching the carrier in a medium left-hand turn, which allowed the pilot to keep the carrier's deck in view over the dip in the port wing, allowing safe carrier operations.

The Royal Navy developed a number of modifications to the Corsair that made carrier landings more practical. Among these are the Malcolm Hood, raising the pilot's seat 7 inches and wiring "shut the cowl flaps across the top of the engine compartment, diverting the oil and hydraulic fluid around the sides of the fuselage".

The Royal Navy received 95 Corsair Mk Is and 510 Mk IIs, these being equivalent to the F4U-1 and -1A. Brewster-built aircraft were known as Mk IIIs (equivalent to F3A-1D), and Goodyear-built aircraft were known as Mk IVs (equivalent to FG-1D). The Mk IIs and Mk IVs were the only versions to be used in combat. The Royal Navy cleared the F4U for carrier operations well before the U.S. Navy and showed that the Corsair Mk II could be operated with reasonable success even from escort carriers. It was not without problems, one being excessive wear of the arrester wires due to the weight of the Corsair and the understandable tendency of the pilots to stay well above the stalling speed. A total of 2,012 Corsairs were supplied to the United Kingdom.

Fleet Air Arm units were created and equipped in the United States, at Quonset Point or Brunswick and then shipped to war theaters aboard escort carriers. The first FAA Corsair unit was No. 1830, created on the first of June 1943, and soon operating from HMS Illustrious. At the end of the war, 18 FAA squadrons were operating the Corsair. British Corsairs served both in Europe and in the Pacific. The first, and also most important, European operations were the series of attacks (Operation Tungsten) in April, July and August 1944 on the German battleship Tirpitz, for which Corsairs from HMS Victorious and HMS Formidable provided fighter cover. It appears the Corsairs did not encounter aerial opposition on these raids.

At least one Corsair was captured by the Germans, this was Corsair JT404 from No. 1841 squadron (HMS Formidable). Wing Leader Lt. Cdr. RS Baker-Falkner made an emergency landing on July 18, 1944] in a field at Sorvag, near Bodø, Norway. The Corsair was captured intact, although it is not known if it was taken to Germany.

In the Pacific, FAA Corsairs began to operate with the British Pacific Fleet in April 1944, participating in an attack on Sabang, and later, on January 24 and January 30, 1945 (code-named Meridian One and Meridian Two respectively) attacked the oil refineries at Palembang. In July and August 1945, Corsair squadrons Nos. 1834, 1836, 1841 and 1842 took part in a series of strikes on the Japanese mainland, near Tokyo. These squadrons operated from the carriers HMS Victorious and Formidable.

On August 9, 1945, days before the end of the war, FAA Corsairs from Formidable were attacking Shiogama harbor on the northeast coast of Japan. Royal Canadian Navy pilot, Lieutenant Robert Hampton Gray, of 1841 Squadron was hit by flak but pressed home his attack on a Japanese destroyer, sinking it with a 450 kilogram (1,000 pound) bomb but crashing into the sea. He was posthumously awarded Canada's last Victoria Cross, becoming the second fighter pilot of the war to earn a Victory Cross as well as the final Canadian casualty of World War II.

FAA Corsairs originally fought in a camouflage scheme with a Dark Slate Grey/Extra Dark Sea Grey disruptive pattern on top and Sky undersides, but were later painted overall dark blue. Those operating in the Pacific theater acquired a specialized British insignia — a modified blue-white roundel with white "bars" to make it look more like a U.S. than a Japanese Hinomaru insignia to prevent friendly-fire incidents.

In all, out of eighteen carrier-based squadrons eight saw combat, flying intensive ground attack/interdiction operations and claiming 47.5 aircraft shot down.

 

[Catch22]

Nice Lucky, beat me to it.

 

[Lucky13]

Here's one for you Cory...did any FAA Corsair pilots become an Ace in that aircraft?

 

[rochie]

thank you Jan, the computer at work limits the websites i can see, this site squeeks through the net though fortunatly !!!!

 

[Catch22]

Here's one for you Cory...did any FAA Corsair pilots become an Ace in that aircraft?

I don't know names for Brits, but I know there was Sheppard from Canada.