[HASEGAWA 1/48] AU-1 Corsair 14F Dien Bien Phu 1954

[Antoine]

 

 

More than 10000 French soldiers survived the battle of Dien Bien Phu to become POW.

They had a 700 km trek to get to their prison camps near the border with China.
Around 3000 came back to France after the war.
More than 7000 died during captivity or just became MIA.

 

A few bits of History (with a big H!)

On 13 march 1954, general Giap launch an attack with his Viet Minh Divisions against the finest of the French Army, paras « Metro » and « Colo » (metropolitans and colonials), the Big Legion, armoured cavalry, sapper and colonials troops, gathered into what’s beginning to be an entrenched camp, completely surrounded by the ennemy, Dien Bien Phu. The camp was setup to act as a forward operating base, as there were signs of a buildup of Viet Minh forces in the region.

The provincial capital located in the depths of north-west Vietnam, approximately 300 km from Hanoi as the crow flies, the place is difficult to access and can only be supplied by the Air Force. The latter also provides support, in addition to around thirty 105 mm howitzer and as many 120 mm mortars with a handful of 155 mm guns, all distributed over the different fire bases which constitute the camp. There's also a squadron of Chaffee tanks.

 

 

But what about the French Navy ?

 

The carrier aviation regularly carries out campaigns in Indochina, with one of the aircraft carriers and an air group generally made up of a fighter flotilla on F6F-5 Hellcat and a dive bombing flotilla equipped with SB2C- 5 Helldiver. One of these campaigns has been underway since November 1953, with the aircraft carrier Arromanches (Ex-Colossus, Colossus class), with flotillas 11F (Hellcat) and 3F (Helldiver).

 

In March 1954 when Giap start the real battle, the group had already been in the breach for 4 months, between the missions on DBP and the diversions launched by the Viet Minh in several places in Tonkin. It is therefore far from being at the top of its capabilities, both the equipment and the human resources having suffered during this period of time. For example, the 11F only has half of its fleet left, i.e. 10 Hellcats out of the 20 taken (including 6 as spares), flown by two thirds of its pilots (It will ultimately have lost 5 Hellcats on DBP, more than a third of its normal allocation). Aéronavale is in a complicated situation, having to show itself capable of both taking its place in NATO and facing the Indochinese crisis. It decided at the beginning of April 1954 to send 14F to join the group, so as to allow 11F to slow down. 14F is the first flotilla to fly Corsair, F4U-7 model, ordered and produced exclusively for the French Aéronavale.

 

The aircraft possess the qualities of the AU-1, a real air to ground version of the Corsair, with the addition of hardpoints, cockpit and engine armor, but its PW 2800 engine , optimized for low altitude with a single-stage compressor, is replaced by… another version of the PW 2800, used on the F4U-4, better suited to medium altitude and therefore more consistent with a fighter intended for fleet defense among other missions. Problem, if the F4U-7 airframes are new, this is not the case for the engines, whose production has already stopped: Therefore, French Navy has acquired a second-hand batch which may not be in optimum conditions, making F4U-7 first years in Aéronavale quite difficult. Deploying them to SEA was out of question.

 

14F then take matters in its own hands, and from April 20, training flights resumed. Then, on April 23, it was established at Bach Mai (one of Hanoi's airfields) with 16 planes, when 3F was disengaged. It start to gain momentum by carrying out missions in areas of secondary importance, and finally, on April 30, she began operating on the Cuvette (Cuvette was the place definition, a sort of basin with an airstrip bordered by hills where firebases where established, each one with a battalion or two. Cuvette became sort of a nickname for DBP). But it is far too late, even though volunteers are still being parachuted every night, the fate of the battle has already been decided, and the survivors are only fighting for honor, theirs and that of their country, country which will soon have no other choice but to abandon them to their sad fate. On May 7, 1954, it appears that Corsair from the 14F were the last French aircraft to fly over Dien Bien Phu as the garrison surendered. 14F will continue the fight on various hot spots in Indochina, until the signing of the Geneva agreements on July 21, 1954. A few days later, it brings its AU-1s back to Tourane where they are embarked on the Arromanches, who will return them to the Americans, before sailing back to the France… and Algeria, but that’s another story.

 

 

The subject :

 

The Corsair featured is the AU-1 BuNo 129343, a photo of which is present in an ECPAD booklet. The plane is seen on the ground at Bach Maï, probably shortly after being taken into account by the 14F. It only wears its BuNo visible under the tail, only the fuselage roundel with the « fish hook » (anchor), without any badge or flotilla identifier. The rudder flag appears to be half painted, with a red (?) stripe present. The external stores configuration is shown in the photo of another Corsair in the unit. The aircraft was returned to the USA at the end of the campaign... then delivered again to France in 1957, as part of the purchase of around sixty machines this time, intended to compensate for the attrition of F4U-7, and certainly to stock up on spare parts.

 

The model:

 

Refer to the text on my model of the CANA F4U-5, the model being almost identical In summary, very nice model, easy to assemble, I built both F4U-5 and AU-1 in parallel in one weekend. What changes are the engine cowls (no more air intake for the AU-1), the 1/2 fuselages, very slightly modified to accommodate the new exhausts, but Hasegawa forgot to also modify the base support of the latter, and they are therefore impossible to put in place in their current state), the wing pylons, and some antennas that the brand has forgotten. On the other hand, I stupidly got stuck on painting at one point (Canopy, landing cross... and bombs!), and put everything aside, but I wanted to finish by May 7, and the resumption was catastrophic! Breakage, errors, burrs, etc... everything has happened, and more than once, it came close to a test flight across the workshop. Well, you'll understand that it's not my best model build so far....

 

Extras and doc:

 

My confidence in the Hasegawa decals being quite relative, and the decorations of the box not offering an AU-1 from the first batch for Dien Bien Phu, I set out in search of a decal sheet dealing with machines from this period, and I found at my usual dealer the reference 48-013 at Modelart which offers this AU-1, as well as several Dash 7s from all eras. Absolutely no problems using this sheet, but at the same time I must point out that I only used two roundels, two BuNos, two anchors, with two side numbers. The red stripe on the rudder is painted, and there are no stencils, which can be obtained from Hasegawa. Concerning the doc, classic with In Action and Walkaround from Squadron, a few books from ARDHAN for context, and a small collection of photos published by ECPAD which devotes a chapter to the Corsair with beautiful photos which inspired me.

 

And the pictures:

 

    

     
  
    
   
    

Edited May 18 by Antoine

[Tailspin Turtle]

With respect to the Corsairs, my stepfather was assigned to be the assistant public works officer at NAS Sangley Point, located on a peninsula in Manila Bay on Luzon of the Philippine Islands (also see https://thanlont.blogspot.com/2013/07/halcyon-days-v.html). When we arrived in mid 1955, there were about 20 to 30 French Corsairs parked on the big transient ramp at the southwest end of the air station that supposedly had been ferried out of Indochina when the war ended in mid 1954. At some point less than a year later, my understanding is that a French carrier arrived to pick them up (when necessary, aircraft were transferred to and from a carrier anchored in Manila Bay by barge). However, I could be wrong about the facts (flight ferried to the Philippines by the French Navy, removed by a French carrier) other than the temporary storage of the Corsairs at Sangley.

 

Also note that the AU-1s operated by the French Navy in Indochina were 25 former USMC airplanes, transferred directly from one or more units in Korea without benefit of overhaul. For more detail on the differences between the AU-1 (originally designated F4U-6) and the F4U-7, see https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-last-propeller-pulled-corsairs-f4u.html

 

Additions and corrections appreciated...

[Antoine]

4 hours ago, Tailspin Turtle said:

Also note that the AU-1s operated by the French Navy in Indochina were 25 former USMC airplanes, transferred directly from one or more units in Korea without benefit of overhaul. For more detail on the differences between the AU-1 (originally designated F4U-6) and the F4U-7, see https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-last-propeller-pulled-corsairs-f4u.html

 

Additions and corrections appreciated...

 

 

Hi TT, and thanks for those details.

 

I've just re-read my text and it appears that I've lost a few bits here and there, which make some parts quite tricky to understand.

I'll try to correct it tomorrow.

Also, do not pay too much attention to the modell, as it was a quick last minute build, that I wanted finished for 7th may.

 

It's been a  last minute agrement between USA and France, and obviously, there was no time to overhaul  the AU-1.

Most French accounts do not make any comments about overhaul or no overhaul, they just say that all aircraft were not cleared to fly when 14F took them in charge on 18th april 1954 (Delivered by sea at Tourane - Da Nang - by USS Saipan).

 

On 20th april, the first Corsair are ready to fly, and a few are even operationnal. By 23rd april, the flottilla is back at Bach Mai (Hanoi) with its full complement of 16 AU-1 (The others most probably being kept in reserve).

Edited May 19 by Antoine

[Antoine]

4 hours ago, Tailspin Turtle said:

 However, I could be wrong about the facts (flight ferried to the Philippines by the French Navy, removed by a French carrier) other than the temporary storage of the Corsairs at Sangley.

 

From my own (French) sources, it seems that the Corsair were returned in two batch, both by sea:

- First one on French Navy aircraft carrier Arromanches (Ex-Brit from Colossus class), sailing from Saigon with 14 AU-1 on 21rd August 1954 and arriving at Manille (?) on the 28th.

- Second one on Bois Belleau (Ex-CVL-24 USS Belleau Wood from Independence Class) for five aircraft delivered in december 1954

[Tailspin Turtle]

26 minutes ago, Antoine said:

 

From my own (French) sources, it seems that the Corsair were returned in two batch, both by sea:

- First one on French Navy aircraft carrier Arromanches (Ex-Brit from Colossus class), sailing from Saigon with 14 AU-1 on 21rd August 1954 and arriving at Manille (?) on the 28th.

- Second one on Bois Belleau (Ex-CVL-24 USS Belleau Wood from Independence Class) for five aircraft delivered in December 1954

Thanks very much for that information- I'm all but certain therefore that the first batch was delivered to NAS Sangley by barge after being lifted off Arromanches while it was anchored in Manila Bay. It seems likely that the second batch was too but it is also possible that they went on to France. The next question is where the first (and possibly second) batch went after being parked at Sangley. Unless the carrier was needed elsewhere and therefore not returning to France in the near future, my guess is that they were being returned to U.S. custody and prospective disposal. Note that USMC squadrons got AUs instead of Douglas ADs because the US Navy had first priority for AD production in the early 1950s (and Vought needed work?). If you have some BuNos for airplanes in either or both of the shipments I may be able to track down where they went after Sangley (the Marines continued to use a few AUs through the late 1950s, including some in the gray/white scheme: see https://thanlont.blogspot.com/2009/03/f4u-corsair.html ).

[Antoine]

Both shipments went to the Philippines, but I'm not familiar with Manilla's surroundings, and neither are the author of my sources, that's why I put a question mark after the city's name. They wrote Manilla, but it could have been Subic Bay or anywhere else in the Philippines, I believe.

 

Arromanches went back to France after the delivery, and so is Bois Belleau. SItuation was beginning to get really difficult in Algeria (my country was at war somewhere for most of the last century).

 

But yes, those Corsair, or most of them, went back to France later, as about 60 AU-1 were delivered from the USA in 1957 and 58, I believe as attrition replacement for Dash 7, and source of spares & spare parts. 

But yet, two flottillas were 100% equiped with AU-1, 12F from 1958 to 1963, and 17F from 58 to 62.

Other units even had both type in service at the same time.

[Antoine]

Just forgot to tell that my subject, BuNo 129343, was among those sent back to Aéronavale later (Check Joe Baugher's web page).

 

A friend of mine found this picture showing the first delivery in Tourane.

 

 

 

Edited May 20 by Antoine

[AD-4N]

Superb weathering.  You got that red dirt perfect.