Mitchel Field New York

[tread head]

Hello everyone,

Normally I build tanks and armored vehicles, but would like to try some planes for a change. I want to build air craft that were stationed at Mitchel Field on Long Island in New York during the 1930's and earlier. I know P-26's were stationed there but I can not find any info on colors and markings. Yellow Wing Decals do not have any Mitchel field marking sets. What other type of plans were there and what kit and marking options are available? Thank you for any help.

[Starfighter Decals]

AFAIK P-26s were not stationed at Mitchell Field in the 30's unless it was a hack. 1st PG was at Selfridge (MI) (94th, 27th, & 17PS), 20PG was at Barksdale (LA) (55th, 77th and 79th PS) and the 17PG was at March (CA) (34, 95, & 73rd PS). Later some P-26s were in Hawaii (19PG), Panama, and Philipines(17PS) as newer aircraft came into service. I have decals for a P-82 stationed at Mitchell, but that's post war. I think Mitchell was a Bomber base in the 30s, so B-10s or A-8,12 or 17s might be a more logical choice for being based there.

[dmk0210]

Some of the units assigned there are listed in this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchel_Field

Notice that it is Mitchel Field, not Mitchell Field. The base on Long Island, NY was named Mitchel Field in honor of former New York City Mayor John Purroy Mitchel who was killed while training for the Air Service in Louisiana.

Mitchell Field in Milwaukee was named after General Billy Mitchell.

Edited May 6, 2012 by dmk0210

[tread head]

Thank you both for your help.

I have been purchasing photos of Mitchel Field on E-bay. ( I used to live close to there, that is why I am so interested in the old base) The first photo I have shows a flight of P-26's doing a low pass over the runway by the hangers. Reading the caption again that came with I just realized no where does it say that the P-26's were actually stationed there. In fact it does not even say where they came from, only that they were there to defend the base from a practice bombing raid from bombers stationed in N.H.

[Grey Ghost 531]

I just got back from NorEastCon (great show, by the way) and visited the "Cradle of Aviation" museum while I was there. That museum is located at what used to be Mitchel Field. I bought a CD at the museum shop that is labeled as having over 1000 pictures of aviation history from Long Island, I haven't looked at it yet but I will with your question in mine. Stay tuned.

[Grey Ghost 531]

I looked in the disc, not much on Mitchel Field but there were photos of:

a Curtiss B-2

A-8 Shrike

B-25

P-82

P-40

B-10

JN1

and an F-102 that might have been visting for an airshow.