Paul O'R

Sad news indeed! I wish Fair Winds and a Following Sea for his family! Paul O'Reilly

Have fun today, Steve!!

The struts are called "jury struts". They would normally be removed by the ground crew before the pilot showed up for his walk-around. They travelled with the aircraft to cover the eventuality of the aircraft landing at an airfield/ ship other than its own. Paul O'Reilly

This is Vimy Flight being loaded onto a C-17 for transport to France. In addition to our 4 Nieuports there are 2 Sopwith Pups with the wings removed as well as 1 SE5A also with wings removed. The only thing we had to remove from the Nieuports was the rudder. That way we could put them in sideways and still permit a person to walk past the aircraft without bumping into anything! The aircraft are now in France being re-assembled and being flown to Lens from which they will support the Vimy commemoration on 9 April.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Every parent's worse nightmare is losing a child, especially one so young and innocent! My heart goes out to you and your wife. Paul

Guys, The tops of the main rotor blades were not the same shade of gray as used on the fuselage. The tops were a light gray with a yellow blade tip. The bottom was a dark gray-black to reduce glare, again with a yellow blade tip. The tail rotor was a different matte. They were either all black with a red & white tip (white sandwiched between two red) or all white with a red & white tip. Because the blades were balanced as sets you rarely ever had a mixture of black and white blades, although I know of two occasions where this did happen (in 16 years & 4000 hours of flyi

Dan, I flew Sea Kings for a number of years in the Canadian Forces. We called the tie-downs you describe "blade boots". The boots were made of canvas with a metal stiffener at the base. They were attached to the landing gear tie-down rings with nylon rope (sometimes the rope was gray and sometimes yellow). The boots were light gray. Paul

Folks, I'm looking for the proper yellow on the subject bomb for the spring - summer period of 1917 for the RFC. Info on those used in the RNAS would be helpful, too. Paul O'Reilly

DonSS3, That,s the plan if I can't get a replacement part. With all the fiddly bits already attached to the model I'm trying to reduce the likelihood of further damage due to handling. Paul

Guys, I've been asked to repair a 1/48 scale Special Hobby Barracuda for the CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum in Esquimalt, BC, Canada. It seems one of the maintenance crew took it upon himself to move a carrier deck display by himself and the aircraft fell off. I volunteered my services and I've pretty much repaired the model but I'm missing the starboard outer wheel well cover. The kit was SH48069. The box art was of a Barracuda sitting on a British flight deck. I don't have the instruction sheet. I did find a blurry image of it on-line and I believe the part number is either A18 or

All, my daughter, a language arts teacher says both are correct. Paul

Thanks for the information. The log book I've reviewed refers to a N0. 2 Squadron of No. 111 OTU but I can't find any definitive squadron codes for that unit. The chap with whom I conversed said he was unaware that 111 OTU had 2 squadrons implying that Oakes field had all the Mitchells and that they were seemingly organised as a single unit. He did show me an artist's rendition of a Mitchell in white with the code LV on the nose in black characters. However, as it is artwork I'm reluctant to use that as an historical reference. On with the search! Thanks for your answer. Paul

Folks, I'm planning on building a model of an RAF Mitchell II bomber assigned to No. 111 OTU based at Oakes Field in Nassau during WW II. It is for a neighbour whose father flew in one as a gunner, apparently working up to move onto B-24s. However, the war ended just as he got his wings on the Mitchell II and was demobilised. I've recently contacted a veteran who flew Liberators at Windsor Field, also in the Nassau area, and that the Mitchells were painted in overall white just like the Liberators were. He also mentioned the aircraft had no identifying codes on the sides other than the serial

Thank you, Flyingfortress. That site had a couple of good topics, two sisters-in-law! What I really need is a "John" and a "Kaleb" or some derivative of them. I'll keep checking the decal sheet manufacturers to see if I can find something appropriate. It's tedious and time consuming but I'm not in a rush. I was hoping there was some sort data-base of nicknames to make my task easier. Thanks to you two more of my items were checked off my list. What a great resource this is. Paul

I've built models for friends and relatives that have a name similar to the aircraft being built. For example, I built a "Jill" for my sister-in-law Jill and a "George" for my brother George. Now I have grand children and I thought I'd build aircraft with nicknames inspired by the names of my grand kids. Is there a data-base somewhere that lists the names of historic aircraft and their assigned nick-name, ie. Memphis Belle, Scat, Enola Gay etc? I'm hoping to not leave out any of the grand kids and maybe a nephew or two! Paul

Eli, The SH2-F I flew with HSL 33 (Seasnake 15 Bureau # 149761) had earlier received heavy damage during a combat SAR op during the Vietnam war. I don't know the details but I believe the aircraft was the "A" version (one engine, triple rotor) then. I flew it in 1979-80 while on a Westpac deployment aboard USS Stein. You could still see some of the battle damage repair from that event in 1979! Paul O'Reilly

Folks, The CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum has posted the 1841 Squadron Diary on their web site at http://www.navalandmilitarymuseum.org/resource_pages/heroes/gray.html Note this is the diary and not the Squadron log. It covers the period from the squadron's formation in 1942 until Oct 1944. The remaining period to July 1944 is yet to be posted. Once you get to the museum's web site go to the Local Heroes tab and find Lt Hampton Gray. The diary is in that file. It is an interesting read and depicts life aboard ship in that period. Paul O'Reilly

Mark, Patrick Martin's book "Royal Canadian Navy - Aircraft Finish and Markings 1944-1968" mentions on pg 163 that one (1) Mk I W5856 flown by the RAF and RCAF in Gibraltar was shipped to No 1 NAGS in Yarmouth, NS for service there. That airframe eventually ended up with the Royal Navy Historical flight. Apparently this was the only Mk I according to this book. His book does mention all the MAC assigned Swordfish aircraft that may have been landed in Canada from time to time and there were 19 of those. A good reference book if you're interested in that level of detail. Paul O'Reilly

Andre; I haven't been able to find one anywhere. Do you know of a site where I can get one? Paul

Thanks for the information, but I need a Mitchell II. I do have the AMT and Frog kits of the B-25C but they look a bit rough to me. I thought I'd try the Italeri kit if I could find one. It would seem I'm out of luck so I'll start work on one of those older ones. Paul

I need the subject kit to convert to a British Mitchell II for a friend whose father flew in them during WW II. Reply to navalaviator2 At shaw.ca I will need estimated shipping cost to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Paul O'Reilly

Folks; I'm building a 1/48 Special Hobby Skua. I have the MDC weapons set but there is no info as to the colour of the bombs for the raid on the Scharnhorst in June of 1940. As an additional question - did the aircraft of No. 803 Sqn have the spinner covers painted in a different colour than the fuselage? A photo of the aircraft on the deck of Ark Royal prior to the strike show 4 aircraft with a dark coloured spinner and the rest were a light colour, presumably underside gray. Thanks, Paul O'Reilly

Folks, I'm planning to build a model of the aircraft my neighbour's father flew at the end of WW II. I'm hoping for a 1/72 scale model but I need the squadron codes for his unit, Number 2 Squadron of 111 Operational Training Unit. I've found a decal set for a 1/48 scale aircraft from No. 1 Squadron (CO) but I've found nothing for No. 2 Squadron. Does any one have the reference to indicate the code? The unit was based in Nassau in the Bahamas. Paul O'Reilly

Jonathan; Only one airframe would hold the serial KG658. So it could be 115. A number of airframes within a squadron had the number 115 but no two at the same time. As an aircraft was written off its replacement would be assigned its squadron code (115 in this case) but the serial number would never be used again. Hammy Gray probably flew an aircraft 115 whilst in 1841 squadron. Whether he flew KD658 is another matter, but he could have. Paul

Jonathan;