1/32 Tamiya F4U-1D!

[bigern007]

The Corsair is definitely one of my favourites,have many builtand in the stash

 

But why all of the fuss over just another one I find very puzzling.

 

Just wonderin'.         Cheers Ernie. 

[Kagemusha]

Personally I've found the information revealed by the decal sheet extremely interesting; I didn't know CAP were carried out in WWII, or that Corsairs flew with P-38-type drop tanks, which just goes to show the level of research involved, and the actual subjects are very attractive also, it's aviation history and modelling all rolled into one, hard not to be engaged.

[JeepsGunsTanks]

They ended up pulling Helldiver Squadrons and putting Corsairs on instead for the Fleet Carriers like the Essex. They were doing this in response to the Kamikaze threat starting late in 44.  This is how Marine squadrons ended up flying off Fleet Carriers. VMF-221 was on the Bunker Hill and VMF-214 was on the Franklin. This was in part because the Navy was short of fighter pilots, and or fighter pilots who were corsair Ready. 

 

Getting Marines flying off Carriers was a bigger deal than one might think, now, and pre WWII all Marine pilots were Naval Aviators and were carrier qualified in many cases, now Marine squadrons are a common sight in our Carrier Air Wings. But at the beginning of the war, no one though the Marines were going to be flying from Ships, so Marine Naval Aviators skipped the Carrier landing portion of the training. They had started getting Marines carrier qualified because the Corps was pushing to have its own squadrons flying close support from Escort Carriers since they were unhappy with the quality of Navy and Air Force CAS. It was a lucky stroke this program was in place when the Navy needed more fighter pilots who could land on ships.

 

The US Navy actually had a very advanced setup for air defenses, that included fighters from all the Carriers flying CAP missions in specific sectors over the fleet all day long. They were very good at using Destroyer pickets, and Radar to vector fighters on large groups of Japanese planes. The Japanese figured out it was much easier to get Aircraft in smaller groups or in singles to defeat the CAP defense system, and enough got through to do some real damage to the fleet.  One interesting tactic was to join up with returning US planes... 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2018 by JeepsGunsTanks

[Patrick HMD]

18 hours ago, JeepsGunsTanks said:

They ended up pulling Helldiver Squadrons and putting Corsairs on instead for the Fleet Carriers like the Essex. They were doing this in response to the Kamikaze threat starting late in 44.  This is how Marine squadrons ended up flying of Fleet Carriers. VMF-221 was on the Bunker Hill and VMF-214 was on the Franklin. This was in part because the Navy was short of fighter pilots, and or fighter pilots who were corsair Ready. 

 

Getting Marines flying off Carriers was a bigger deal than one might think, now, and pre WWII all Marine pilots were Naval Aviators and were carrier qualified in many cases, now Marine squadrons are a common sight in our Carrier Air Wings. But at the beginning of the war, no one though the Marines were going to be flying from Ships, so Marine Naval Aviators skipped the Carrier landing portion of the training. They had started getting Marines carrier qualified because the Corps was pushing to have its own squadrons flying close support from Escort Carriers since they were unhappy with the quality of Navy and Air Force CAS. It was a lucky stroke this program was in place when the Navy needed more fighter pilots who could land on ships.

 

The US Navy actually had a very advanced setup for air defenses, that included fighters from all the Carriers flying CAP missions in specific sectors over the fleet all day long. They were very good at using Destroyer pickets, and Radar to vector fighters on large groups of Japanese planes. The Japanese figured out it was much easier to get Aircraft in smaller groups or in singles to defeat the CAP defense system, and enough got through to do some real damage to the fleet.  One interesting tactic was to join up with returning US planes... 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for those pics.  (right click)  I'm noticing the seams on those tanks.  They are all horizontal except for one which is vertical.  Probably a different batch.  Those pictures I'm sure were taken with a large format camera.  So clear and well defined.  No white water behind that carrier.  Looks like she's turning hard to port getting into the wind for launch.

[JeepsGunsTanks]

24 minutes ago, Jennings Heilig said:

However, by 1944 most Marine Corps pilots were *not* routinely carrier qualified, since the Marines had no shipboard squadrons.  I guess they figured it would be a waste of resources.  Hence, when it was decided to send the Marines back to sea, it took at lot of training to bring them up to speed.  Lots of that took place *just* before they shipped out of the west coast on their way to the combat zone.  CVG-4’s pilots (the first Marines to go to sea with the F4U) sometimes only had 12 actual carrier landings in the Corsair before they joined combat in early January 45.

 

 

Oh yeah, I was trying to make that clear heh. There was a crash program to get them qualified, that often had them getting the landings in on Carriers doing final work up on the west coast.   There was also not universal acceptance by the Carrier Air Wings, many CAGs thought the Marines were going to hold them back and be a disaster, but for the most part, they did ok. 

 

Few more pics. 

 

 

 

[nmayhew]

Are instructions online yet?

[alaninaustria]

Wow, those are some really interesting period photos - thanks for sharing!

Cheers

Alan

[Kagemusha]

Hope you have a great many satisfied customers, and an enjoyable trip.

[Guest]

Ordered.

[LSP_K2]

Instructions now downloaded. Thanks a bunch,

[DeanKB]

Absolutely superb instructions.

[LSP_K2]

10 minutes ago, DeanKB said:

Absolutely superb instructions.

 

Yep, very nice indeed.

[ade rowlands]

Order placed. Instructions downloaded. 

[John1]

I'll be ordering shortly, just looking for confirmation that this sheet includes the large white airwing  ID markings for the USS Essex based Corsairs.   If so, I'm in.  I think I'm sold on the "bonus" markings provided for Corsair 161 of VBF-83 on the Essex.  Love the mismatched ammo covers and the roughly sprayed nose.  Also Fundekals nicely provides a reference for these markings, link is here:

 

 https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/news-footage/mr_00085009

 

Note the heavy weathering on these aircraft.  A nice break from overall glossy blue.   Looks like a decent amount of green primer showing!  Rare to see late war Navy aircraft looking that beat up.

 

2nd choice is the awesome "Killer's Hash Wagon".  

 

 

 

 

[Bill Cross]

Awesome research. I'm doing three carrier-based Corsairs and just need to figure out which ship and which VMF.