US Navy and USMC Between The Wars in 1/100

[Don Boose]

Yes. When Loening was bought by Keystone, Leroy Grumman and others left to start their own company. Their first Navy contract was for floats with the Grumman-designed retractable landing gear.

Don

[gomidefilho]

Again nice work on OL-8!!! Is a fantastic collection!!!

[Vinalssergio155]

Great job on that pretty ugly thing, what a weirdo. Very well done!

[Brent]

Another great build, I like the look of this plane.

Brent

[Rata]

This is another Bruno- Nieuport 28C, another WWI design used by the USN for a few years.

Added my own mods- the hydroplane and flotation bags plus of course the little pilot bust, the latter I'm now putting into nearly all my open cockpit models.

Now over to my 'partner in crime' Don Boose for an interesting insight into the service of the full size.

Thanks for looking in.

[Don Boose]

This paper model by Garry Gillard is of Nieuport 28.C1, Bureau of Aeronautics Number (BuNo) A-5796, as it appeared when assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and deployed aboard the battleship U.S.S. Oklahoma (BB-37) in January 1920 as a “turret fighter.”

The Nieuport 28 was one of the main fighter aircraft used by the U.S. Army Air Service in World War I. Neither the Navy nor the Marine Corps used the aircraft during the war, but in 1919, the Navy acquired 12 Nieuport 28.C1s, ten Hanriot HD-2s, six Sopwith Camels, several S.E.5as, two Parnell Panthers, and 21 Sopwith 1½-Strutters from the Army, plus one additional 1½-Strutter shipped from the Sopwith factory. These aircraft were used primarily in feasibility tests of aircraft flying off battleships.

Three Hanriots were assigned to USS Texas (BB-35), which was equipped with a flying-off platform atop number 2 turret. These aircraft were assigned to the Fleet Air Detachment, Atlantic Fleet. See Gary’s model and my write up of the Hanriot HD-2s at http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/aviation/41534-us-navy-usmc-between-wars-1-100-a-21.html?highlight=Hanriot#post651204.

The experiment was successful enough that in 1920, flying-off platforms were installed atop Nos. 2 and 3 turrets of Arizona (BB-39), Idaho (BB-42), Mississippi (BB-41), Nevada (BB-36), Oklahoma, and Texas and Nieuport 28s and Sopwith 1½ Strutters were assigned to these ships. The Nieuports were used as protective fighters, while the Sopwiths were used for naval gunfire spotting. The aircraft were launched from the platforms, then after their missions either flew to land bases or landed on the water (they were fitted with hydrovanes and under-wing flotation bags), recovered by boat, and returned to the ships.

Of the Nieuports, BuNos A-5794 to 5799 and A-3801 to A-5803 were assigned to battleships for the feasibility study. BuNo A-5800, and possibly A-5804 and 5805, was assigned to Combat Squadron Three, Air Squadrons, Pacific Fleet, as interim equipment pending the arrival of Vought VE-7Fs. Combat Squadron Three was later re-designated VF-2 and went aboard USS Langley. I do not have any information as to whether the Nieuports flew with VF-2 or aboard the carrier, which was commissioned on 20 March 1922.

BuNo A-5796 served aboard USS Oklahoma from 2 January 1920 to 1 February 1920, when it was transferred to USS Nevada, where it served until sometime in 1921, when it was stricken. A Nieuport 28.C1 bearing BuNo A-5796 is on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation. It appears to be in the colors and markings of an aircraft of Combat Squadron Three in 1921.

By 1923, the advent of the aircraft carrier with fighters for fleet air defense and the development of effective catapults for launching observation floatplanes from battleships and cruisers made the launching ramps and the turret fighters unnecessary, and they all disappeared from the fleet.

Images:

1. Nieuport 28.C1 BuNo A-5796 being hoisted aboard USS Oklahoma (BB-37) on 10 January 1920 while the ship was at anchor in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Source: Naval History and Heritage Command via NavSource, available at http://navsource.org/archives/01/037/013720a.jpg

2. Nieuport 28.C1 BuNo A-5796 aboard USS Oklahoma (BB-37). U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, available at N.28.C1 BuNoA5796_Oklahoma Caption: “View of number 3 turret, with a Nieuport 28 airplane (Bu. no. A-5796) on the flying-off platform, at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, circa 1921. Note: Range 'clock' on 'cage' mast.”

3. A Nieuport 28.C1 launching from a U.S. battleship, either Arizona (BB-39) or Pennsylvania (BB-38) in 1921. Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, available at https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-43000/NH-43926.html

4. A Nieuport 28.C1 launching from USS Arizona (BB-39) in 1920. Source: NavSource, available at http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/39a.htm

5. View of the hydrovane and flotation bags of a Nieuport 28.C1. Source: Axis & Allies Paintworks Forum, available at http://axis-and-allies-paintworks.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?4859.110

6. Nieuport 28.C1 with BuNo A-5796 on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum. The aircraft appears to be in markings carried by an aircraft assigned to Pacific Fleet Combat Squadron Three. Source: Jet Photos via Garry Gillard.

7. Nieuport 28.C1 BuNo 5800, Fuselage Number 21, of Pacific Fleet Combat Squadron Three, which was issued Nieuport 28s pending the arrival of Vought VE-7Fs. Later, the unit was re-designated Fighting Squadron Two (VF-2) and served aboard the newly commissioned aircraft carrier Langley (CV-1). Source: Larkins, U.S. Navy Aircraft 1921-1941, page 18.

Sources:

Joe Baugher, US Navy and US Marine Corps BuNos First Series (A51 to A6001), available at http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/firstseries1.html

Peter M. Bowers, Profile No. 79, The Nieuport N.28C-1, Leatherhead, UK: Profile Publications, 1966.

Thomas E. Doll, Berkley R. Jackson, and William A. Riley, Navy Air Colors: United States Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Camouflage and Markings, Vol. 1 1911-1945, Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal, 1983.

John M. Elliott, The Official Monogram US Navy & Marine Corps Aircraft Color Guide, Vol. 1, 1911-1939, Boylston, MA: Monogram Aviation Publications, 1987.

John Guttman, Windsock Datafile 36, Nieuport 28, Berkhamstead, UK: Albatros Productions, 1992, pp. 10, 20.

E.R. Johnson, United States Naval Aviation 1919-1941: Aircraft, Airships and Ships Between the Wars, Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2011.

William T. Larkins, U.S. Navy Aircraft 1921-1941, Concord, CA: Aviation History Publications, 1961.

---, Battleship & Cruiser Aircraft of the United States. 1910-1949, Atglen PA: Schiffer Military/Aviation History, 1996, pp. 12, 23.

Nieuport 28, National Naval Aviation Museum, available at https://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/aircraft/nieuport-28/

Sandy Russell, and the staff of Naval Aviation News, Naval Aviation 1911-1986, A Pictorial Study, Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1986, available at https://www.history.navy.mil/research/publications/publications-by-subject/naval-aviation-1911-1986.html

Strike Fighter Squadron 2, History, VF-2, Carrier Aviation’s First Squadron, available at: https://www.vfa2.navy.mil/vf2.htm

Gordon Swanborough and Peter M Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1968.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, USS Oklahoma, BB-37, available at https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-43000/NH-43922.html

[Wyvern]

Beaut of a Nieuport 28!

Wyvern

[Vinalssergio155]

Garry looks great, very nice model.

[Rata]

Thanks Wyvern and Sergio.

[Burning Beard]

It is a nice repaint and model, however the roundel is not correct (one of by bugagoos). The red dot in the middle fits it the pentagram formed by the center of the star, it does not touch the points. It is a very common error because it is just not intuitive. You can see what I mean on first picture Don posted.

Mike