US Navy and USMC Between The Wars in 1/100

[Butelczynski]

Old girl with floaters,eh? I think I heard that somewhere

Nice model.I'm still envious of that bracing.You will make me keep trying with those pictures.

[Rata]

Originally Posted by 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

Thanks Mike. So busy replicating the hydroplane and flotation bags I missed that one!

[gomidefilho]

Another beautiful jewel!!!

[wireandpaper]

すごい, this a very nice read and very impressive modeling.
Thank you for sharing.

[Rata]

This is a wheeled version of the venerable Vought OS2U Kingfisher. Specifically an OS2U-1 serving with VO-1B aboard USS Pensylvania.

Don will be along shortly to fill us in on the type's service history.

Thanks for looking.

[Don Boose]

Garry’s model is Vought OS2U-1 Kingfisher Bureau of Aeronautics Number (BuNo) 1692 as it appeared in 1940 when assigned to Pacific Fleet Battle Force Observation Squadron 1 (VO-1B) Section Three and serving aboard USS Pennsylvania (BB-38). It is the aircraft of the commander of the three-aircraft Section.

In 1919 and 1920, the U.S. Navy had equipped many of its battleships with flying-off platforms atop the No. 2 and 3 turrets to accommodate fighter aircraft for air defense and observation aircraft to adjust the fall of shot of the battleships’ guns. By 1922, the air defense mission had been assigned to fighters flying from an aircraft carrier, and the turret-top flying-off platforms had been replaced with reliable catapults on battleships and cruisers. During the 1920s, the battleship and cruiser observation aircraft (Vought UO-1s and later O2Us and O3Us) were assigned to observation squadrons. In 1931, the Navy divided the roles of observation aircraft into naval gunfire spotting (battleship aircraft) and scouting for the fleet (cruiser aircraft, although these could also be used to adjust gunfire). In 1931, the cruiser squadrons were re-designated as scouting squadrons (VS), and in the fleet aviation reorganization 1937 (by which time the standard scouting and observation airplane was the Curtiss SOC), they were re-designated as “cruiser scouting” squadrons (VCS). The battleship units retained the VO designation.

That same year, the Navy began looking for its next generation of VOS (observation and scouting) aircraft. The requirement called for a floatplane that could easily be converted to a wheeled undercarriage and that would be small enough to operate from battleships without folding wings (battleships did not have hangars; the aircraft were stored aboard the catapults). In response to this requirement, Vought developed a single-float monoplane, the XOS2U-1, which first flew on 1 March 1938. The Navy ordered 54 OS2U-1s, now named the “Kingfisher”: one for testing, three for each of the Navy’s fifteen battleships, two for flag officers: one for the Commander-in-Chief U.S. Fleet and Pacific Fleet (CINCUS/CINPAC) and one for the Commander, Battle Force, Pacific Fleet (COMBATFOR), and six spares. SOCs with their folding wings continued to operate from most of the cruisers, which (except for the Omaha class) stored their aircraft in hangars. Most of these aircraft were flown out to the West Coast with wheeled undercarriages, then married up with their floats, which were delivered separately.

These first Kingfishers were all delivered in the pre-war high-visibility color scheme of overall Aluminum lacquer with Orange Yellow wing upper surfaces with the color wrapped under the wing leading edge. Each three-ship battleship division was assigned an observation squadron. These squadrons were identified by the tail colors. VO-1 of Battleship Division One (BatDiv 1: USS Arizona BB-39, Nevada BB-36, and Pennsylvania BB-38) had Insignia Red tails; VO-2 of BatDiv 2 (USS California BB-44, Oklahoma BB-37, and Tennessee BB-43) had White tails; VO-3 of BatDiv 3 (USS Idaho BB-42, Mississippi BB-41, and New Mexico BB-40) had True Blue tails; VO-4 of BatDiv 4 (USS Colorado BB-45, Maryland BB-46, and West Virginia BB-48) had Black tails; and VO-5 of BatDiv 5 (USS Arkansas BB-33, New York BB-34, and Texas BB-35) had Lemon Yellow tails.

Since each battleship carried three aircraft, the squadrons were organized into three-airplane sections. These were identified in the standard 1930s Navy scheme, formalized in Navy Specification 2b of 8 October 1940, Exterior Color, Insignia and Marking of Naval Aircraft. Section 1 (Aircraft 1, 2, and 3) had Insignia Red markings, White for Section 2 (Aircraft 4, 5, and 6), and True Blue for Section 3 (Aircraft 7, 8, and 9). Section leader aircraft had the entire front of the cowl and a fuselage stripe in the section color. Aircraft Number 2 had the top half of the cowl front in the section color, and Aircraft Number 3 had the bottom half of the cowl so painted. All the aircraft in the section had upper wing formation chevrons in the section color. In addition, the individual aircraft number was painted in Black on each of the top wings midway between the star insignia and the wing tip. The squadron insignia was painted on the fuselage between the pilot’s and the observer’s cockpit.

Since Pennsylvania was the flagship of the U.S. Fleet and the Pacific Fleet, an additional OS2U-1, BuNo 1691 of the CINCUS Flag Unit, was assigned to the ship as the Flag Aircraft of Admiral James O. Richardson, CINCUS/CINCPAC. It was painted with a Dark Blue fuselage, Aluminum wings and tail surfaces, Orange Yellow upper wing surfaces, and Aluminum floats when so equipped. “U.S. Fleet” was inscribed in Aluminum on the side of the fuselage and “U.S. Navy” was inscribed on the fuselage beneath the horizontal stabilizers.

Garry’s model is in the markings of the leader of Section 3 of Observation Squadron One, so the tail is in the VO-1 Insignia Red, and the cowling, fuselage stripe, and wing formation chevrons are True Blue. The fuselage code (1-O-7) identifies the aircraft as Number 7 of Observation Squadron 1.

These colorful paint schemes would soon disappear. Beginning in December 1940, aircraft assigned to the fleet were repainted in overall light gray. A Bureau of Aeronautics directive of 13 October 1941 called for all carrier and shipboard aircraft to be painted in the non-specular Blue Gray and Light Gray scheme. Soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the observation and scouting squadrons were disestablished, and the aircraft and crews of the battleship and cruiser float planes became part of the ships’ companies.

By 1942, most of the OS2U-1s had been replaced by later versions of the Kingfisher and BuNo1692 was transferred to the Mexican Air Force under the Lend-Lease program.


Images

Image 1: BuNo 1692 was photographed over Long Island Sound in August 1940. Source: Bell, page 1.

Image 2: A painting by Don Greer of BuNo 1692 in October 1940. The True Blue cowling and fuselage stripe are edged in White, and the ship’s name appears under the aircraft code on the fuselage. Source: Doll et al, page 65.

Image 3: The insignia of VO-1, an escutcheon with a red chevron in the squadron color, three red radio waves for communication in the upper left, a battleship main battery turret in black, and, beneath the escutcheon, the squadron motto, Vide et Dice (“See and Tell”), inscribed in white on a red scroll. Although not shown in this illustration, the abbreviation of the ship’s name (“PENN” for Pennsylvania) was inscribed in the center of the turret silhouette. It was intended that the black gun turret face forward, so that it would be facing left on the port side and right on the starboard side, but in some cases, including BuNo 1692, the entire emblem was flipped on the starboard side of the aircraft so that the gun faced forward and the radio waves were in the upper right of the escutcheon. Source: Bell, pages 28-29.

Image 4: Close up of the squadron insignia on BuNo 1692, showing the way it was reversed on the starboard side of the aircraft. Source: Bell, page 1.

Image 5: The fourth Pennsylvania aircraft, Vought OS2U-1 BuNo 1691, the Flag Aircraft of Admiral James O. Richardson, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Fleet and Pacific Fleet, assigned to the CINCUS Flag Unit and operating with VO-1. Source: Adcock page 9.

Sources:

Al Adcock, OS2U Kingfisher in Action, Aircraft No. 119, Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal, 1992.

Joe Baugher, US Navy and US Marine Corps BuNos Second Series (0001 to 5029) available at US Navy and US Marine Corps BuNos--Second Series (0001 to 5029)

Dana Bell, Aircraft Pictorial No. 3 - OS2U Kingfisher, Tucson, AZ: Classic Warships Publishing, 2010.

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), p. 35.

Thomas E. Doll and Berkley R. Jackson, Vought-Sikorsky OS2U Kingfisher, Aircraft Profile 251, Leatherhead, UK: Profile Publications, 1972.

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, pp. 283, 306.

---, Battleship and Cruiser Aircraft of the United States Navy 1910-1949, Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military/Aviation History, 1996.

National Naval Aviation Museum, OS2U Kingfisher, available at http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/attractions/aircraft-exhibits/item/?item=os2u_kingfisher

Pacific Aviation Museum,U.S. Scout/Observation Floatplanes in World War II, available at https://www.pacificaviationmuseum.org/pearl-harbor-blog/u-s-scoutobservation-floatplanes-in-world-war-ii/

U.S. Navy, Chief of Naval Operations, Naval Aeronautical Organization – Revised (No 3) -, Fiscal Year 1941, Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, 12 February 1941, available at https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/histories/naval-aviation/Naval%20Aeronautical%20Organization/pdfs/fy-1941.pdf

[gomidefilho]

Another fine yellow wings plane...

[Wyvern]

Breathtaking Kingfisher!

Wyvern

[papermate]

Don, phew, some write-up. Guess you spend more time in researching than building. I bet you find it more interesting, haha!

[Don Boose]

I have accumulated a substantial library on some aspects of aviation history (pre-1953 U.S., Japanese, and British Empire/Commonwealth aviation) and I like learning about these aircraft. My building skills aren't that great, so this is my contribution.

Don