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Hi to all and welcome to the WWII Carrier War GB. I will outline the basic rules for the GB. If there are any questions based on rules or inclusion, please use this thread to post them. Thanks and happy building!

- This GB is open to any and all who wish to join.

- This GB will run from April 1, 2009 through September 30, 2009. All models must be completed by midnight going into October 1, 2009, local time to the building, to be counted as part of the GB eligible for a raffle prize.

- Your build must be less than 50% completed when you start the GB. This rule is gentleman's honor. The purpose of the rule is to encourage the group atmosphere of the group build.

- If there are raffle prize donations, a random drawing of all individuals who completed at least one plane for this GB will be conducted to award the various prizes that were donated.

- The subject of your build must be a plane that either took off from or landed on an aircraft carrier some time during WWII. Pre and post war planes do not count, and planes that took off or landed on other ships besides carriers do not count. There is no requirement that the plane be a combat plane or that it saw combat, though many of the subjects will. Prototypes are eligible if they did carrier landing or takeoff trials during WWII as well. If there are any questions on eligibility, please ask the mods.

- Any kit may be used, any scale, any aftermarket, any scratch building including entirely scratch built, is ok.

- To promote the group atmosphere of the GB, please post in the following manner - 1. post your planned build in the Planned Builds thread. 2. Start a thread for your build. From time to time as you build, post progress reports, photos, ideas, questions etc. 3. When your build is completed, post your finished pics in the same thread, no new thread is needed. 4. One of the mods will copy your finished pics to the Gallery thread. If we have not copied your pics after about a week, send us a PM so we can do it.

I think that covers the basics. If there is anything else, post here to get an answer. Thanks again and have a fun GB

Edited by jrallman
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Are you allowed to do 1/700 scale aircraft, on a diorama base featuring a full carrier? :monkeydance:

Yes. Other models besides planes are ok as long as they are in a diorama with a plane that fits the criteria

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  • 1 month later...

I'd like to join the GB but don't know for sure if this plane fits the bill.

A friend wants me to build him a Corsair. Specifically Boyington's #86/Lulubelle (or Lucybelle). The Academy 1/48 even comes with the markings.

I have to assume that the plane took off and landed at least once from a carrier to get to Vella Lavella for the famous photos, but I wanted to get your guy's opinion.

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I think it would depend on how the Corsairs were ferried out, whether they were on carriers or if they were boxed up and shipped on cargo ships. Anyone have insight on that?

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I think it would depend on how the Corsairs were ferried out, whether they were on carriers or if they were boxed up and shipped on cargo ships. Anyone have insight on that?

Here's an email exchange with Eric Bergerund, author of Fire in the Sky:

>Aloha Professor Bergerud,

>

>I enjoyed your book "Fire in the Sky" and thought that you might be

>able to answer a question that I had about the delivery of materiel in

>the South Pacific during WWII.

>

>Specifically, how were the fighter planes for the VMF fighter groups

>(especially in the July-December 1943 timeframe) actually delivered?

>Boxed and delivered via freighters? Were they flown in? If flown in,

>were these planes ever carrier based or did they island hop to reach

>their destination? Since they were destined to be land based was it

>even possible for them to operate from carriers?

>

>Thanks for your time,

Good question: not sure I can answer. A flight from the US to Hawaii stretched the range of a B-17 or B-25 and was out of the question for a fighter. By the period you're mentioning, CVE's were coming into the theater and they might well have been used as ferries. New carriers were also arriving and they might well have taken on their flight groups on either coast. (Essex and Princeton Class.) But I'd guess fighters were given standard combat shipment on fast liberty ships the way they were delivered to the UK. Fast transports sailed at about 16 knots, so you could quite a way in few days. Planes flying out of the Solomons were flown in from New Caledonia, usually Noumea a hop well within "flight radius."

If you get better data, let me know.

Best

Eric Bergerud

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In Action on the F4U briefly tells the tale of VMF-422, which lost 22 of 23 Corsairs in bad weather after launching from USS Kalinin Bay en route to Funafuti. I don't know about VMF-214 but in this case, it happened.

Ken

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From the information I have been able to gather, it looks like the Black Sheep island hopped from one base to the next as they advanced across the Pacific. It wasn't until late '44 into '45 that they were carrier based, but this would have been after Boyington had been shot down and captured. Looks like, absent evidence to the contrary, that his plane would not qualify for this GB.

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