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RF-101C NMF Voodoos in Vietnam?


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I have the old 1/72 Hasegawa RF-101C and would like to place it

next to my early Vietnam F-100 in NMF. I believe the early voodoos

that were there were with the 67th TRW, 15th TRS originally from

Kadena? Does anyone know the markings they had early on when

then first went to Vietnam from 1961 to 1964? Thanks---John

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Hi John,

 

I think by the time the RF-101s got to Vietnam, they had been painted Aircraft Gray, with the large national insignia used on the NMF jets. I couldn't find any photos of NMF 101s in Vietnam, but that doesn't mean they didn't exist, of course. 

 

Cheers!

 

Ben

 

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I looked through the book "Voodoo Warriors" and found some Voodoos from the 15TRS in natural metal in the time frame of 1961 to 62.  It appears the natural metal finish didn't last long as the RF's were painted aircraft grey as Ben stated to battle corrosion. One photo dated 1962 shows a Voodoo in aircraft grey.

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Thanks Ben and efd, the only pic I found was the first 6 pilots to fly recon over Vietnam were

called Able Mables and were with the 45th TRS, the pic is from Wikipedia and the

6 pilots are in front of a NMF RF-101C, 56-079, with Mary Ann Burns nose art. They

were flying from Don Muang RTAFB in December of 1961. I believe they came from

Kadena.---John

JqDMOI6.jpg

Edited by john53
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I just did a little more reading, the RF-101Cs were modified in May 1962 to

Toy Tiger standards  and sent to Kadena for trials. Were these the gray ones?

It also mentions they may have been withdrawn during the Cuban missile

crisis, were the ones flying over Cuba in the fall of '62 gray?---John

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No I don't believe so.  The grey was used I believe fleet wide to battle corrosion much in the same way F-100s and 105s were painted aluminum to control corrosion.  A few Voodoos flew with experimental camo schemes prior to the SE Asia scheme, which was introduced around 1965,  becoming prevalent and were used in SE Asia. Did it state what the Toy Tiger standard was?

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efd I don't think the Cuban ones were gray either. The one picture I saw of a Cuban Crisis

one was NMF and it was mentioned one was black with red lettering. From what I gather the

gray ones were PACAF and needed the corrosion more so than others, not saying

that all didn't need it but those more so, from my understanding. I am still digging, there was

also a thread some time ago on HS about this.---John

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And the F-100s that went early to VN were painted aluminum, not unpainted natural metal. In fact, it is hard to find examples of F-100D in NM. Thunderbirds were NM, but most service birds were painted aluminum, aircraft gray, or camouflage.

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John, I looked right at that Able Mabel photo when I was looking for NMF RFs in Vietnam. I need new reading glasses!

 

Regarding RFs during the Cuban Missile Crisis, at least a few were still NMF: LINK

 

They started painting F-100s silver in the mid-1950s. Even the famous "Triple Zilch" that everyone builds in highly polished natural metal was painted silver.

 

Cheers!

 

Ben

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Thanks Ben. So all these years I have been looking at shiny silver painted

planes and not NMF? Bummer. Oh well live and learn. P. S. anyone know

which markings these shiny silver painted, PC, planes had?---John

Edited by john53
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If you want an early Pre-Tonkin Gulf RF-101C Voodoo, the Caracal sheet on the RF-101C has markings for both the 45TRS and 15th TRS that were used in the first few rotations for Able Mabel  at Don Muang, Thailand. The tail and nose markings were later toned down to just a PACAF badge on the tail.

Link to first 45th TRS Able Mabel TDY to Don Muang.

https://lghoelson.wordpress.com/2015/09/23/able-mable-reconnaissance-task-force/ 45th TRS from Misawa AB.

 

This thread from Britmodeler has some good info on early SEA Voodoos, but the photos are photobucketed.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/33240-rf-101c-voodoo/&

 

You can get the tail markings from Caracal Decals.

http://caracalmodels.com/cd72047.html

 

45TRS RF-101C 60084 has the polka dot tail and nose markings but has the Thai F-86D tiger added above the fuselage roundel (back side) as well as a dark (blue or red) main landing gear door with a white 84 on it. You can get the tiger from this decal sheet. It also has two blue stripes on the rear fuselage. 

http://www.printscale.org/product_414.html

Although the early PACAF voodoos appear to be painted in silver, the panel lines are very noticeable in some.

This 15th TRS voodoo seems to be in NM.

https://hiveminer.com/Tags/rf101c/Recent

 

Hasegawa added some tweeks when they went to the box with camo Kathy's clown markings in 1988. They added the RHAW bumps on the nose, tail but not the wing tips. They added 'v' shaped glass bit for the nose camera window as well as added the two large ventral camera windows behind the cockpit. You need to remove the RHAW pips and not add the 'v' shaped nose window part as it was a later mod.

 

Too bad the Valom kits are so expensive. 

 

Grant

Edited by gmat
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Yes, but that depicts an earlier version of 60084. Able Mable version would have two stripes, no name flash and 84 on the door. Also add the leaping tiger. 

 

L94bgSS.jpg

From T.Matsuzaki's book. I'll have to dig up this book to get the proper title. Hope he doesn't mind my posting this pic. 

 

8JjrFRh.jpg

Don't have a link to where I got this picture anymore. (x56-085 RF-101C-65-MC Georgia Peach III Ostrowski v Nankivil) 

Notice it has the tail hook mod but no nose camera window V mod.  Georgia Peach III on red? door.

The above photo was from The Fighter Writer: Ron Easly's Aviation Blog. I should have googled 60085 before I made this post. I apologize.

http://fighterwriter101.blogspot.jp/2014/06/

 

Grant

 

Edited by gmat
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