US Navy and USMC Between The Wars in 1/100

[wireandpaper]

Still, may be not as accomplished as Rata (which is a master modeler) but I have seen your Trotskiyes and others.
This is a hobby!
We also value so much your scholarly additions to the forum!!!

ps Nice build Rata!

[Vinalssergio155]

Great yellow wings! Excellent work.

[Rata]

Thanks folks for your usual kind words and encouragement.

While I'm always enthusiastic about this part of aviation history, it's Don's insightful and fascinating write ups that keep that enthusiasm almost rabid! Never say never and all that, but at this point I'm happy to keep this thread going forever. Now that I can repaint, the subjects to build seem almost endless.

[Vinalssergio155]

All the reason Garry, between your constructions and the invaluable information that Don provides makes this thread very interesting. Making your own repaints opens up infinite possibilities for you, and you do it wonderfully.

[tigertony100]

Rata : Would You be gently to make another Marines apparatus? Nice build and regards, Tony,

[Rata]

Originally Posted by tigertony100

Rata : Would You be gently to make another Marines apparatus? Nice build and regards, Tony,

Sure. I've got some planned (eg: F4B-4 and F3F) for sometime in the near future.

[Rata]

This is a Grumman F3F-2. Another Scissors and Planes model with some mods to the canopy and repainted as suggested by Don in the markings of a machine operated by US Navy Fighting Squadron Six (VF-6) off USS Enterprise.

As this is a repaint, it will be submitted to Ecards to be available if anyone wants to build it.

And now to Don for an insight into the full size.

[Don Boose]

Garry’s model is Grumman F3F-2 Bureau of Aeronautics Number (BuNo) 0998 as it appeared in 1939 when assigned to the Fifth Section of Navy Fighting Squadron Six (VF-6) aboard USS Enterprise (CV-6).

The F3F was a progressive development of the Grumman FF-1 (see Garry’s model of an FF-1 at http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/639860-post122.html) and was an improved version of the stubby F2F-1 (see Garry’s model of an F2F at http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/672529-post355.html). The last Navy biplane fighter, the F3F looked, in the words of aviation historian Richard Dann, “like a stretched F2F-1” [Dann, p. 29]. The fuselage was 21 inches (0.53m) longer to improve directional stability, and the wingspan at 32 feet (9.75m) was 3.5 feet (1.07m) wider than that of the F2F-1. The F3F-1 had the same closely-cowled 14-cylinder 650 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-1535-72 air-cooled radial engine and two-bladed propeller as the F2F-1, but the F3F-2 (Garry’s model) had a three-bladed propeller driven by a considerably more powerful 865-horsepower Wright R-1820-G5 Cyclone two-speed supercharged air-cooled radial engine that changed the shape of the nose of the aircraft. The F3F-2 maintained the maneuverability of its predecessors but was faster (255 miles per hour) and with the supercharger had a greater service ceiling of 30,200 feet (9,205m).

The first of 81 production F3F-2s was delivered to the fleet beginning on 29 November 1937. The first units to receive the new aircraft were VF-6 and Marine Fighting Squadron 2 (VMF-2) at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) San Diego; in both cases replacing Boeing F4B-4s. In early 1938, VMF-1 at MCAS Quantico was also issued F3F-2s. VF-5 aboard USS Yorktown (CV-5) was equipped with later, but only slightly different, F3F-3s but was also issued four F3F-2s. In 1940, VF-5 and VMF-1 turned in their F3F-2s for Grumman F4F-3s. VF-6 traded its F3F-2s for F4F-3As in April 1941, and in October 1941, VMF-2, the last naval aviation fighter squadron to fly biplanes, replaced its F3F-2s with F4F-3s.

BuNo 0998 was assigned to VF-6 on 10 February 1938. In October 1940, the aircraft was transferred to Marine Fighting Squadron 2 (VMF-2) at San Diego, but by June 1940, it was back with VF-6, with which it flew until April 1941, when VF-6 re-equipped with F4F-3s. BuNo 0998 continued to fly as a training aircraft at Naval Air Station (NAS) Miami, Florida, and NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, until 30 December 1942, when it was assigned to the Naval Reserve Air Base at Norman, Oklahoma. It was stricken on 23 May 1943.

Garry’s model of BuNo 0998 is in the standard pre-war overall light gray with the top of the upper wing in Orange-Yellow. The tail surfaces are in the True Blue that identified the Enterprise air group. The Willow Green cowl, fuselage stripe, and upper wing formation chevrons identify it as the lead aircraft (Number 13) of Section 5. The other two aircraft of the section had no fuselage stripe. Aircraft 14 had the top half of the cowl painted Willow Green, while Aircraft Number 15 had the lower half of the cowl so painted. The fuselage code (6-F-13) identifies the aircraft as Number 13 of Fighting Squadron 6. The VF-6 comet insignia is painted on the fuselage under the cockpit canopy, as is a Navy “E” with a small “M” for excellence in machine gunnery. Just above the Bureau of Aeronautics Number on the vertical stabilizer is a white silhouette of a turtle, indicating the aircraft is a “shellback,” having flown across the equator.

Images

Image 1: Grumman F3F-2 BuNo 0998 6-F-13 on departing NRAB Oakland in 1939. The VF-6 Shooting Star emblem, the BuNo, the aircraft designation, and the shellback turtle on the vertical stabilizer can all be seen clearly. Source: William T. Larkins photograph via Wikipedia. Available at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...797161114).jpg

Image 2: Peter Freeman painting of Grumman F3F-2 BuNo 0998, 6-F-13. Source: Freeman, page 43.

Image 3: Grumman F3F-2s aboard USS Enterprise in 1938. Source: National Museum of Naval Aviation via Dann, page 36.

Image 4: The shellback turtle signifying that Grumman F3F-2 BuNo 0998 flew across the Equator. This is an enlargement of Image 1.

Image 5 and 6: Robert Winston wrote a wonderful reminiscence of flying for the Navy in the late 1930s: Dive Bomber: Learning to Fly the Navy's Fighting Planes, New York: Holiday House, 1939. He was with VF-6 on Enterprise in 1936, when the squadron transitioned to Grumman F3F-2s as shown on the cover and frontispiece of the book.

Sources:

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)

Richard S. Dann, Grumman Biplane Fighters in Action, Aircraft Number 160, Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal, 1996.

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.

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

---, The Official Monogram US Navy & Marine Corps Aircraft Color Guide, Vol. 2, 1940-1949, Boylston, MA: Monogram Aviation Publications, 1989.

René J. Francillon, Grumman Aircraft Since 1929, Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1988.

Peter Freeman, Wings of the Fleet: US Navy & Marine Corps Aviation 1919-1941, On Target Special, Ardington, Oxfordshire, UK: The Aviation Workshop Publications Ltd., 2010.

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.

Mitch Mayborn, Grumman Guidebook, American Aircraft Series Book 4, Dallas, TX: Flying Enterprise Publications, 1976.

J.V. Mizrahi, “Grumman FF-1, SF-1, F2F,” Carrier Fighters Volume 1, Northridge, CA: Sentry Books, 1969, pp. 43-48.

Richard Thruelson, The Grumman Story, New York: Praeger, 1976.

[Texman]

Tidy little build my friend!

[gomidefilho]

As always amazing repaint/build and research! Thank's Garry and Don!