US Navy and USMC Between The Wars in 1/100

[gomidefilho]

Awesome Garry very nice SBD...

[Rata]

Not long after MichaelS started work on his Der Kampfflieger Hanriot HD-1, I thought it would make for an interesting comparison to do the Scissors and Planes version of the same plane. Just as I was putting the last of the rigging on mine, I read with horror of the demise of his Hanriot. I was a bit hesitant to post mine after that but of course being the sort of 'jolly decent chap' MS is he gave it the thumbs up.

Another nice design by the B-man this one- he also has WWI versions available of this pretty, under appreciated little French fighter too. Bruno I 'stuck' new 'decals' on the wings mate- hope you don't mind!

Don Boose will be along shortly to give his usual detailed description of this particular Hanriot.

Hope you like.

[Don Boose]

Garry’s model is of U.S. Navy Hanriot HD-1 (Converted from HD-2 parts) Bureau of Aeronautics Number (BuNo) A-5620, one of ten U.S. Army surplus HD-2 floatplanes transferred to the Navy in 1919, converted to landplane configuration by the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia, and used as “turret fighters” (aircraft flown off of platforms built atop the No.2 turrets of battleships).

The Hanriot HD-1 was a French biplane fighter powered by a 110 horsepower (hp) Le Rhone rotary engine and used primarily by the Italian and Belgian air forces during World War I. The HD-2 was a floatplane fighter powered by a 130-hp Clerget rotary engine. In 1918, the U.S. Navy First Aeronautical Detachment based at Dunkirk flew HD-2s to escort U.S.-crewed Donnet-Denhau flying boats on reconnaissance missions along the French coast. After the war, the Naval Aircraft Factory acquired parts for ten HD-2 float fighters (BuNos A-5620-5629), which they assembled as turret fighters, with flotation bags under the wings, strengthened tail sections, hydrovanes, and two forward-firing .30-caliber machine guns. The hydrovane was a small airfoil mounted forward of the wheels and intended to keep the aircraft from flipping over on its back when ditching at sea. They were removable, and rarely show up in existing photographs. Although these aircraft were assembled from HD-2 parts, and had the 130-hp Clerget engine of the HD-2, they were sometimes referred to as HD-1s, HD-2s, or “HD-2 converts.”

During 1919, the Navy experimented with various ways of carrying aircraft aboard ships. At that time, the most widely-used system was to fly the airplane off a wooden platform assembled atop one of the turrets of a battleship or cruiser and then to recover the aircraft at a land base. On 9 March 1919, Lieutenant Commander E. O. McDonnell made the first flight off such a platform in a Sopwith Camel from USS Texas (BB-35). All of the eight battleships assigned to the Battle Fleet in the Pacific were equipped with flying-off platforms on the number 2 turrets. Known assignments of Hanriot HD-2 converts to battleships were A-5621, A-5625, and one other to USS Texas, A-5622 to USS Pennsylvania (BB-38), and A-5624 to USS Mississippi (BB-41). By 1920, the Hanriots had been replaced with Nieuport 28s.

The Navy Hanriots in 1919 were painted overall Naval Gray with the Bureau Numbers in white on the sides of the fuselage. Some aircraft had the name of the battleship they were assigned to instead of the BuNo in white on the fuselage side. In 1919 the Pacific Fleet Air Detachment was authorized to paint the top surface of its aircraft Yellow to improve visibility of aircraft that crashed at sea, but I have found no evidence that any of the Hanriot turret fighters had yellow wings. This was a transitional year in Navy markings. In February 1918, the red-centered white star on a blue disk national insignia was replaced with a red-blue-white roundel, with a red outer ring and a white center. On 11 August 1919, the Navy Department ordered the roundels to be replaced with the star insignia with the proviso that aircraft bearing roundels were not to have the insignia changed until the next routine repainting. Thus, the Hanriots retained the tricolor roundels through 1919 and into 1920, when stars were applied during routine maintenance, recovering, and repainting.

The aircraft that Garry modeled, A-5620, was assembled at the Naval Aircraft Factory in May 1919. It was initially finished in doped natural fabric with a dark gray or black forward fuselage, rather than in Naval Gray. It crashed on 16 May 1919 and was rebuilt with parts from A-5627, then shipped to San Diego on 19 September (probably repainted in Naval Gray with roundels inboard of the ailerons) and later assigned to USS Aroostook (CM-3), a mine layer converted to an aircraft tender and serving as Flagship, Air Detachment, Pacific Fleet (earlier that year, Aroostook had served as the support ship for the NC-4 trans-Atlantic flight). After a forced landing on 10 March 1920, A-5620 was sent to Naval Air Station North Island for repair, during which time the roundels were probably replaced with stars. On 12 August 1920, it was reported as worn out from use and was stricken from the Navy list on 18 October 1921.

Images:

1. A-5620 as initially assembled at the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia and painted in clear-doped fabric with a dark gray or black forward fuselage and the Bureau Number in black on the fuselage. Alegi, p. 27.

2. A-5621 in standard overall Naval Gray with white Bureau Number on the fuselage sits atop the Number 2 turret flying off platform aboard USS Texas, BB35, 1919. Matt, p. 19. A cropped version of this image is at the USS Texas web site, available at Battleship Texas BB35 history 1919 to 1924

3. A-5624 taking off from the wood platform on USS Mississippi in San Francisco Bay, sometime in 1919. Source: Larkins, Battleship & Cruiser Aircraft, p. 21.

4. A-5625, probably at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, California, in 1919. Johnson, p. 301.

5. A-5625 when assigned to USS Texas, BB35. NavSource, available at http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/013547n.jpg.Apparently, the aircraft assigned to battleships at some time had the Bureau Numbers on the fuselage painted over with the name of the ship as shown here (note in Image 2, A-5621 has the white BuNo on the fuselage). This image and an image of A-5624 with “U.S.S. MISS.” painted on the fuselage side in lieu of the BuNo both appear in Larkins, page 90. This is the aircraft that was the basis of MichaelS’s model that made the unfortunate water landing: Hanriot HD-1 from der Kampfflieger

6. Unidentified U.S. Navy post-war HD-1 (converted HD-2) showing the hydrovane attached. Available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanriot_HD.1#/media/File:Hanriot_HD-1_1919.jpg

Sources:

Gregory Alegi, Windsock Datafile No. 092 - Hanriot HD.1 / HD.2, Berkhamsted: Albatros Productions Limited, 2002.

“U.S.S. Aroostook II, ID No. 1256, 1917-1943,” Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Washington, DC: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, available at https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/aroostook-steamer-ii.html

Battleship Texas BB35 Web Site, “WEST COAST - 19 July 1919 to 16 January 1924,” available at http://battleshiptexas.info/html/History/1919-07to1924.html

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

J.M. Bruce, The Hanriot HD 1 (Aircraft Profile No. 109), Leatherhead, UK: Profile Publications, 1966.

Joe C. Cline, “First Naval Aviation Unit in France,” in Adrian O. Van Wyen, Naval Aviation in World War I, Washington, DC: Chief of Naval Operations, 1969, p. 15, available at https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/histories/naval-aviation/naval-aviation-in-world-war-i/pdfs/ww1-02.pdf

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.

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, p. 31.

E.R. Johnson, United States Naval Aviation 1919-1941: Aircraft, Airships and Ships Between the Wars, Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2011, pp. 300-301.

Paul R. Matt and Bruce Robertson, United States Navy and Marine Corps Fighters 1918-1962, Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1962, reprint of the Harleyford edition of 1962, pp. 19, 154.

David Méchin and Albin Denis, Le centre d’aviation maritime de Dunkerque PC de Boulogne – Calais – Ostende (The Naval Aviation Base at Dunkirk, Headquarters for Boulogne, Calais, and Ostend), available athttp://albindenis.free.fr/Site_escadrille/CAM_Dunkerque.htm

National Naval Aviation Museum, “Hanriot HD.1,” available athttp://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/attractions/aircraft-exhibits/item/?item=hanriot_hd-1

NavSource online, “Battleship Photo Archive: HD-1 and HD-2,” available at http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/57k3.htm

Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, Letter to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 25 May 1918, Subject: AVIATION – Weekly report of activities, available at https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/publications/documentary-histories/wwi/may-1918/vice-admiral-william-62.html

Wings of Glory Aerodrome, “1/144 Hanriot HD.2,” available at https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/showthread.php?8084-1-144-Hanriot-HD-2

[Rata]

Thanks again Don for another superb write up.

Next model will be a 1/100 build of Roman's 1/48 Curtiss F11C-2. Actually started work on it and was happy with progress until I realised: yep, put the forward fuselage section on backwards. And no, I don't how I did it either.

[MichaelS]

Fantastic work there Mr. Down Under. Also great contribution from DB.

Note: Even though these are US Navy birds I recommend strongly to keep them away from water!

[Rata]

Thanks MS.

I think the Hanriots were in US Navy service before flotation bags?

[Don Boose]

As part of the conversion of the HD-2 at the Naval Aircraft Factory, flotation bags were installed. Looks like they malfunctioned on Michael's aircraft (and the hydrovane wasn't installed).

[Rata]

Hmmm. Interesting Don. And to think MS blamed the Flight Attendant for the crash. I'm starting to think he needs to front a Board Of Enquiry.

[Vinalssergio155]

Splendid work. Very well done, Garry.

[PacificWind]

Nice work, Garry. One day you should take a picture with all your planes from this thread. I'd love to see this USN & USMC collection in one photo.: