More Colour Hawks of Little Norway

A while back, I posted some colour shots of the Curtiss Hawks in Little Norway. The other day I found a few more. These look like Interior Green or Light Olive Drab 35 to me... 

Modeler's Note: There have been 1/72 Wright Cyclone Hawks done by AML and MPM/Special Hobby/Azur, but these are early short run kits. The more recent AZ H75 kit is better, but far from definitive. Please, please, please Clear Prop, do a retractable gear H75 to follow on your beautiful 1/72 fixed gear H75s family.

(Photos courtesy of https://foto.digitalarkivet.no.)

Talk to me, Goose (about some History)

My cousin Emily Lindahl recently joined the Royal Canadian Air Force Public Affairs team and got the opportunity to do an article article on Captain Chris ‘LIME’ Swartz. LIME recently graduated from the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School better known as Top Gun. I'm not sure if he just the most recent Canadian grad or the first RCAF graduate, but Capt. Swartz went through the program flying the F/A-18E Super Hornet.  One of the photos used to illustrate the article is reproduced below (Photo courtesy the RCAF):

This photo is captioned as LIME flying off the USS Abraham Lincoln. It appears he got to fly the CO of VFA-143's aircraft. The first thing I noted was the refueling store under the fuselage, but really what drew my attention was the name "Barbara III" on the nose. I've not seen much nose art on USN aircraft so I was surprised how the CO got authority to put it on the plane.

Then the other shoe dropped...oh wow, isn't their a famous US Navy aircraft with that name? How could I miss that the nose art is a tribute to an Avenger flown by a rather famous USN pilot during the Second World War? Of course Barbara III was a Grumman TBF Avenger of VT-61 flown by then Lt. (JG) George H. W. Bush; later the 41st President of the U.S. It made me smile to see the USN remembering some of their history. (Photo courtesy of the US National Archives.)

I've got a Revell 1/48 Top Gun Super Hornet in stock, but maybe I need to get my hands on the Academy 1/72 Super to build this airplane both as a tribute to LIME and Bush's Avenger.

The Granger Taylor "Kittyhawk"

A neat news story about the Granger Taylor's "Kittyhawk." I use Kittyhawk in quotes as this was a kit bash of some P-40 parts, a Bolingbroke rear fuselage sections, a Harvard fan and rudder, and lots of scratch built items out of random metal. Granger rebuilt his P-40 and had it on display for a few years in Duncan, B.C. After Granger went off to space, it was sold to Bob Diemert of Carmen, Manitoba, and "restored" to flying condition with a Merlin engine in the markings of "Old Exterminator." It was registered in the US as N7205A and adopted the ID of RAF AK823/RCAF 1036. On the ferry flight to a new owner North Dakota on March 25, 1997, a landing gear leg collapsed and the aircraft was damaged. It is unclear what happened to the wings (I don't really believe the stories that any major parts from this Kittyhawk were used in the restoration of N4420K.), but the fuselage is now on display at the Dakota Territory Air Museum in Minot, North Dakota.

I'm not sure anyone knows for the sure which cockpit section Granger started with. (I understand that Mr. Taylor never tried to apply an ID to his project.) The adopted ID is suspect, because RCAF 1036 was ex-RAF AK815 and the RCAF never operated AK823. Some sources say the aircraft has some parts from RCAF 1044 which is also possible. The outer wings were from Kittyhawk AK803/RCAF 1034 now on display, and for sale, in Oregon.  (This aircraft had its wings hacked off and replaced with a set from another aircraft.)

Granger and Diemert are great characters and well worth reading about. (Heck, if their stories were in a movie I'm not sure you would believe them.) The CBC did a documentary on Granger called "Spaceman" and the National Film Board did a great documentary on Diemert called "The Defender." Both are on youtube and worth a watch.  Who says Canadians aren't unusual, eh?

Operation Leg

On August 9, 1941, RAF ace Wing Commander Douglas Bader's Spitfire Mk.Va serial number W3185 coded "D-B" was fatally wounded and Bader had no choice but to bail out.  The ace was able to escape from his Spitfire, but one of his prosthetic legs was left behind in the aircraft.  

German General Adolf Galland notified the RAF of Bader's missing right prosthetic leg and permission was granted to drop a care package to Bader.  "Operation Leg" was born with the RAF planning to drop a box by parachute on a Luftwaffe base at St. Omer.  As part of a bombing mission to Béthune, France, on August 19, 1941, 18 Squadron Blenheim R3843/WV-F flown by Flight Sergeant John Murray (Jack) Nickleson (R/69892) of Toronto, Canada, diverted to St Omar and dropped the box addressed to the now prisoner of war.  

Rumor has it that upon receipt of the leg, Bader immediately tried to escape.  (As with much of this story, it sounds like something one wouldn't believe if featured in a fictional war movie.)

Unfortunately, Jack Nickleson did not survive the year, being lost on September 20, 1941, when his Blenheim, again R3843, was shot down by anti-aircraft fire off the coast of Holland.  Sadly, all on board were lost.

(Photo courtesy of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Negative No. PL4542.)

Modeler's Note: The best way to build a Blenheim Mk. IV in 1/72 is the newish Airfix kit.  There is a much older Airfix kit from 1968 and one from MPM, but even though the new kit has a few issues, I'd go new Airfix every time.  And the nice thing is it appears R3843 does not have the blister windows fitted to many Blenheims, so you can build it out of the box.

When is a photo not what it appears?

On October 19, 1961, the first Boeing CIM-10B BOMARC B interceptor missile was delivered to the RCAF at RCAF Station North Bay, Ontario (operated as 446 "SAM" Squadron).  A little over a year later, on December 1, 1962, the second RCAF BOMARC site became operational at RCAF Station La Macaza, Quebec (operating as 447 "SAM" Squadron).  It is interesting to note that while the BOMARC was intended as a nuclear armed missile, it wasn't until August 16, 1963, that the USAF and the RCAF announced an agreement to equip Canadian BOMARCs with U.S. nuclear warheads.  (This agreement also allowed the Newfie Air Force (aka the USAF F-102 units based in Newfoundland) to store nukes on their bases at Goose Bay and Stephenville.)  The BOMARCs have always been controversial in Canadian aviation circles, both for the radioactive payload and what some see as their role in killing the Avro Arrow.  

However, this article isn't going to focus on that, but on a rather nice image of a RCAF BOMARC being launched. (Photo courtesy of the RCAF.)

Clearly, this is an RCAF BOMARC...see the RCAF, but that doesn't look like Canada does it?

There is much debate in the historical world if photographs are primary or secondary sources.  I fall on the side of primary, but my faith has been shaken over time by bad captions (clearly a secondary source), colourization, and photoshop.  But if one was to use this photo as an illustration of a RCAF BOMARC launch, they would be propagating a myth.  

No BOMARCs were launched in Canada, but each squadron was allowed to launch a BOMARC a year at Eglin Air Force Base.  (Either at Hurlbert Field or, later, Santa Rosa Island.)  Most photos show US BOMARCs being tested, but two were withdrawn from their RCAF units, sent to Florida, and "tested to destruction" (aka launched.)

So then is this Florida in the photo?  Well it looks more like Florida, than North Bay, but no.  The photo is playing a trick on us.  After the Canadians got out of the BOMARC business in the early 70s, they returned the missiles to the USAF.  So the photo is a US launch of a US BOMARC.  No Canadians involved.  This launch took place on November 17, 1980, at Vandenberg AFB.  It is the Navy launching a former RCAF BOMARC, obviously not repainted, as a target drones to test air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles off Point Mugu.

One more Vandenberg launch, this time in 1972.  (Photo courtesy of the USAF)

P.S.:  Why have I always listed the missile in question as the BOMARC and not Bomarc?  BOMARC is the correct term as the name of the missile was an amalgam of Boeing and Michigan Aeronautical Research Center.

P.P.S.:  Did you know the BOMARC was once designated the F-99?  In order to get their missiles the USAF had to fight it out with the US Army and tried to drum up the idea that their missiles were "unmanned interceptors."  Ok, I guess...whatever...

Modeler's Note: Belcher Bits has a nice resin BOMARC A, BOMARC B, and launcher, available separately.  The BOMARC B comes with RCAF decals.  The old box scale, but I think close to 1/48, Revell BOMARC was first issued in the late 1950s but was reissued a couple of years ago.  I bought one, as it is a kind of fun, if a product of its times, kit.  The reissue from 2016 comes with RCAF decals as well.

RCAF Earthquakers

The eagle eyed modeler may have noticed in the new Airfix B-25C/D Mitchell that the “Desert Warrior” markings option lists a crew member as Pilot Officer Anthony Arthur Martin (RCAF). Why is there a RCAF crew member in a USAAF Mitchell?

In 1942, after Churchill and FDR’s Second Washington Conference, the 12th Bomb Group was transferred from the U.S. to North Africa and attached to the newly formed 9th Air Force. The 12th BG was tasked with assisting the British Eighth Army in their battle with Rommel's Afrika Korps. As the unit was inexperienced, it was decided to transfer 23 RCAF wireless air gunners to the unit to assist learning British radio procedures and to prevent friendly fire incidents. The Canadians served at two bases - Devesior in the 81st and 82nd Bombardment Squadron and at Ismalia with the 83rd and 434th B.S. Four of the RCAF WAGs were killed during their year with the 12th BG, and two, Alan James Mackie and Anthony Arthur Martin were awarded the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross. F/O Anthony Arthur Martin, from Squamish, British Columbia, was also awarded the American Air Medal and Six Oak Leaf Clusters for his ops with the Earthquakers.

It is assumed that when “Desert Warrior” returned to the United States for a bond tour, that F/O Martin was selected to join the tour due to him being the highest awarded RCAF WAG in the group.

RCAF B-29 Detachment

With the recent announcement of a visit by the Commemorative Air Force’s airworthy Boeing B-29 Superfortress "FiFi" to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in August, it is a good time to remember that the RCAF actually had a "B-29 Detachment" post war. In 1947, the RCAF's B-29 Detachment was created to assist with a joint USAF/USN/RCAF project to study low frequency LORAN (long range navigation) in the arctic.  In cooperation with the 4149th Base Unit, USAF, from Middletown, PA, Canadian and American personal flew over 100 B-29 missions over the north, some lasting almost 17 hours.  Three B-29s were assigned to the unit, which was headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, including B-29Bs s/n 44-84035 (coded BF-035) and a/n 44-84021. In 1948, the Detachment was renamed the RCAF LF LORAN Flight, but the work continued.  On December 29, 1948, B-29 s/n 44-84021 crashed at Fairbanks, Alaska, during a flight for the program.

Modeler's Note:  There are only two options for a B-29 in 1/72; the ancient Airfix kit and the more recent, but still elderly, Academy kit.  It will make a rather large model, so this might be one of those times that considering 1/144 scale is a good idea.  If that is the case, search for the Fujimi kit.

Colour Hawks of Little Norway

For a short time in early 1941, the hottest aircraft in Canada were the Curtiss Hawk H-75A-8s flying out of Little Norway.  Little Norway was the sobriquet for the Norwegian Air Training Establishment, and the Hawks were operated as advanced trainers from Island Airport in Toronto.  (One can only imagine the difficulty moving from a Fairchild Cornell to the much more complex and powerful Hawk.)   One of the long standing debates among modelers is the exterior colour of the aircraft. The following colour photo has been published in a few places over the years, so it was assumed that the aircraft were an pastel green, similar to Testors FS 34227.  This seemed to reinforce the statements of Little Norway personally that the colour was colloquially referred to as apple green.

Here is another photo taken in the same sequence and already the colour has shifted.

I hope these beautiful photos assist modelers in making their own decisions. It sure looks like a variant of U.S. interior green to me. (Testors FS 34151 is a close match to my eye.)  Note in the photo below that the exterior colour and the interior colour around the engine are similar, with the exterior colour just being more matte. An aviation research colleague believes the explanation is quite simple: "...the boss of the Curtiss paint shop did not have the grasp of the Norwegian language that he claimed to have. As a result, he got the painting instructions bass-ackward and used exterior paint for the interior and vice versa resulting in a norse of a truly different colour."  I'm still trying to figure out if he is pulling my leg or not… However, some modelers are of the opinion that the colour is just Curtiss’s version of Olive Drab or possibly Light Olive Drab 35.

Modeler's Note: While there have been quite a few kits of the Twin Wasp powered P-36 from the likes of Revell, Heller and Monogram, the Wright Cyclone Hawks have not faired as well in 1/72. AML did a short run kit of the type which has a reputation as a difficult build. There is also a family of Hawks from MPM/Special Hobby/Azur, but I have not seen one in person.  AZ has just issued a series of Twin Wasp Hawks, so it is hoped they will work their way to the Hawk 75A-8 in the near future.

(Photos courtesy of the Armed Forces Museum of Norway.)