Slartibartfast

This I'd like to see!

The Glacier Girl restoration site has a couple. They used to have a nice selection of photos showing various stages of the restoration but the place has been streamlined lately. Look through the Gazette, it usually had all the good photo links. Wow, Google let us down on this one. You'll have to locate some P-38 books, like maybe either volume of Detail and Scale or Squadron's In Action.

It seems that any jet using plexiglass for the canopy is heat limited to about Mach 2.5 or so. I've read that at least one Phantom pilot thought his machine was Mach 3 capable. Don't know about aviators and their Crusaders.

Does the Squadron/Falcon canopy allow one to make -1A? I really like the tri-color scheme and it seems that overall specular blue was the order of the day when the -1D was introduced. Different canopy, no rocket launcer stubs and, voilà , an F4U-1A.

This thread is useless without pictures!

Large Scale Models has a tweak list identifying most, if not all, the problems with the kit. And that list is long... Watch out for those golf-ball sized rivets. You'll lose skin if you're not careful. Until Academy or Trumpeter ships one, you are stuck with it.

My HL didn't have much of a selection. That said, I picked upa Hobbycraft 1:32 Corsair (I guess I can now kick around the Revell version and laugh at it), Revell P-47D Bubbletop 1:32 (come on, Trumpeter!), Hasegawa Fw-190A-8 1:32, Lindberg PT-109 1:32 (damn, them boats are BIG), Aerospatiale HH-65 1:48 and, for something completely different, a Monogram Chapparal 2D Daytona Coupe 1:25. No new Superhornets, no more Academy Bugs (not that I need a third kit), no big Vipers, no Trumpeter or Tamiya ships. I sure want a CVN-65 to display with my Polar Lights Refit Enterprise. They did have a sm

Looks like white is the way to go.

Have you looked at the 357th Fighter Group web site?

Here is a simple tool you forgot to use: Fire up your browser. Go to Google.com Search for "spitfire mk VIII" Select "images" link above the search text box. Voilà , your dark earth and green spitfire from the Cavanaugh Flight Museum..

They both spin in the same direction. 633 Squadron used solid-nosed FBs.

Um, the Seafire (equivalent to LF Mk V) did engage Zeros twice and ended up 19 kills to 6 (IIRC) losses. Granted, this was late in the war when the average Japanese pilot was probably rather lacking in training. The Corsair got on carriers by dint of the FAA learning how to land the thing (in a continuous turn). US Navy wouldn't take the time since they thought Hellcat could get them through as a fighter. And yes, the pilot is the primary arbiter of who lands in a controlled manner after a dogfight.

Collin, the guy's name is Albin and he's from Houston.

The T-46 was written about in last month's Wings/Airpower (I forget which one but it was the June issue). The last design out of Fairchild/Hiller/Republic.

If they were readily available, you could probably cobble together something that resembles a P-82 from the Classic Airframes P-51H...if they were readily available. I think I got Squadron's last one at their Open House 2 years ago.

Collin, do/did you hang with the Orion guys at Whidbey? I know a right-seat guy who might still be there.

Let me finish watching 633 Squadron and I'll get back to you.

Thanks, Harv

Old is new again.

Thanks, gents. Is this information written down somewhere? There are other details I'd like to investigate (e.g. what constitutes and airwing) and I suspect they would be delineated in the same reference as the air wing information.

As I was reading my Vigilante book, I noticed that tail codes changed between cruises. Okay, I can see that if the planes embarked on a different carrier each cruise. What was surprising is that codes could change between cruises on the same ship and same squadron! What's up with that? So, where can I go to get the lowdown on this and other USN minutae?

Lothar, the book has quite a few drawings that look to have been taken from the aircraft manuals. I haven't spent much time looking for details, just been reading the text.

I just bought the Ginter book and there is no mention of flight characteristics, just dry technical data and lots of photos and drawings. So, was she a wallowing whale or an agile mongoose? Intended role wouldn't require fighter-like moves but you never know with anything designed after the mid-fifties...

D'oh! The tail emblem didn't register.

I think you're going to get more participation and REALLY good answers if you ask in the Trek forum on Starship Modeler.