US Navy and USMC Between The Wars in 1/100

[Ekuth]

Love, love, love biplanes. Great work!

[Vinalssergio155]

Great job, nice bird!

[Rata]

Thanks for the comments people.

I've also got Bruno's F3F in the pipeline for this thread, but me thinks a monoplane is in order for the next subject.

[cafe]

Great build !

[Rata]

This is the Scissors & Planes Vought SB2U-1. My own additions are landing gear, wing root fairings, some additional markings and obviously the crew figures. This is actually the second one I built, the first had some glaring mistakes that I somehow missed and that Don didn't! But I'm glad in the end I redid it as this one is much better in other ways. Hope you like her.

Garry G.

[Don Boose]

Garry’s model is of Vought SB2U-1 Scout Bomber, BuNo 0739, 3-B-13, of U.S. Navy Bombing Squadron 3 (VB-3) as it appeared between January 1938 and July 1939 when it served aboard USS Saratoga (CV-3) and was flown by Aviation Cadet (AVCAD) Roy Jensen.

Chance Vought Aircraft began building shipboard aircraft for the Navy in 1919. In 1934, the Navy issued a specification for a new carrier scout bomber to replace the Vought SBU and the Berliner-Joyce OJ. Vought responded with Model V-156, a two-seat monoplane designed by a team led by Rex Beisel. The Navy ordered the Vought aircraft on 11 October 1934 as the XSB2U-1 in preference to Brewster’s competing design, the XSBA-1. On 7 February 1935, the Navy requested that Vought also design a biplane, the XSB3U-1, in case the monoplane failed. The XSB2U-1 first flew in January 1936 and was clearly superior to the biplane alternative. Although the prototype XSB2U-1 crashed on 20 August 1936, the Navy ordered 54 production SB2U-1s.

The SB2U-1, which Vought called the “Helldiver,” its traditional name for the Navy scout and bombing aircraft the company produced, had a tubular-metal frame with the after fuselage and flying surfaces covered with fabric. It was powered by a 750-825 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-1535-96 twin-row 14-cylinder radial Twin Wasp Junior engine; carried a 500 or 1,000 pound bomb under the fuselage and one smaller bomb under each wing; and was armed with one fixed, forward-firing .30-caliber machine gun mounted in the starboard wing (which could be replaced with a .50-caliber gun) and one flexible .30-caliber machine gun in the rear cockpit. In order to slow the aircraft during steep dives, Vought installed a ”braking propeller” with a hydraulically actuated pitch-changing mechanism that the pilot could set to zero pitch in a dive. At the time of its entry into service, the SB2U-1 was the first Navy monoplane equipped with a retractable landing gear and folding wings. On 27 January 1938, the Navy ordered 58 SB2U-2s, which were externally identical to the SB2U-1s, having only minor internal equipment changes.

Bombing Squadron 3 began to take delivery of SB2U-1s to replace its Curtiss BFC-2s on 20 December 1937, and the changeover was complete by January 1938. During test flights, AVCAD John J. Lynch discovered that the “braking propeller” increased, rather than retarded, diving speed, making the aircraft hard to control. During one practice dive over Naval Air Station (NAS) Miramar, the left side panel of the fuselage of Lynch’s aircraft blew off due to the high speed. Thereafter, the squadron used a glide-bombing technique, rather than dive bombing, until the following summer when they found that they could decrease the dive speed by lowering the landing gear.

Garry’s model of BuNo 0739 is in the standard Navy color scheme of the time: all metal surfaces were painted in light Aircraft Gray enamel, the fabric surfaces were painted with Aluminum enamel, and the upper wing surfaces were painted with Orange-Yellow enamel. The white tail surfaces identified it as part of Saratoga Air Group 2. The Top Hat emblem of VB-3 appeared on the fuselage under the gunner/radio operator’s position. The aircraft code on the fuselage, 3-B-13 identified it as the 13th aircraft (lead aircraft of Section 5) of VB-3. The color of the 5th Section was Willow Green, and as the lead aircraft of the section, BuNo 0739 had a solid green cowling and green fuselage stripe. It also had green formation chevrons on the upper surfaces of the wings, as did the other two aircraft of the section. The second aircraft in the section (7-F-14) had the top half of the cowling painted green, the third aircraft (7-F-15) had the bottom half of the cowling painted green. Only section leads had fuselage stripes in the section color. Two oblique black stripes were painted on the port side of the vertical stabilizer to assist the landing signal officer in determining the correct angle of attack as he guided the incoming aircraft aboard the carrier.

In January 1939, the Top Hatters were transferred to USS Ranger (CV-4) and the squadron was renumbered as VB-4, retaining their “Top Hat” squadron emblem, although the tail surfaces were repainted in Ranger’s Willow Green. In July 1939, Ranger’s previous bombing squadron, VB-4, with its “diving black panther” emblem and equipped with SB2U-2s, was transferred to Saratoga, re-designated VB-3, and had its aircraft tail surfaces re-painted Saratoga White. By 1940, SB2U-1s and SB2U-2s were flying with VB-2 (USS Lexington, CV-2); VB-3 (Saratoga); VS-41 (VB-4 having been so re-designated) and VS-42 (Ranger); and VS-71 and VS-72 (USS Wasp, CV-7). BuNo 0739 was still in service with VS-41 aboard Ranger.

In February 1939, France had purchased 40 V-156-Fs, which were similar to the SB2U-2 with French guns and other equipment. With the fall of France in the summer of 1940, a follow-on order for 50 V-156-Fs was transferred to Great Britain, where they served in a training role as the V-156-B1 Chesapeake. The British aircraft were similar to the SB2U-3, which had entered service with the Marines at the end of 1940. It had a more powerful engine, increased fuel capacity plus provision for long-range external tanks, increased armor protection, and up to four forward-firing .50 caliber machine guns and one flexible .50-caliber. On 1 October 1941, the Navy gave the name “Vindicator” to the SB2U type.

By the time of Pearl Harbor, all the Navy bombing squadrons had replaced their SB2Us with Douglas SBD Dauntlesses, but the Navy scouting squadrons (VS-41 Tophatters, VS-42, VS-71, and VS-72) and two Marine dive bombing squadrons, VMSB-131 and VMSB-231 were still equipped with various versions of the SB2U. SB2U-3 Vindicators of Marine Scout-Bombing Squadron 241 (formerly VMSB-231) fought in the Battle of Midway. During that battle, on 5 June 1942, six SB2U-3s led by Marine Captain Richard E. Fleming attacked Japanese heavy cruisers Mikuma and Mogami. Fleming dived to within 500 feet of Mogami, crashing into the ship just as he released his bomb, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.

In September, the SB2U-1s and 2s of VS-41, including BuNo 0739, were replaced with SBD-3s. By 5 October 1943 all the SB2Us had been stricken for salvage or for non-flying training duties. BuNo 0739 was stricken on 31 March 1943, when it was assigned to the Naval Aviation Operational Training Center at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida.

Images

Image 1 – Vought SB2U-1s of Section Five, VB-3, photographed over the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California on 28 June 1938 by aerial photographer Rudy Arnold. The aircraft Garry modeled, BuNo 0739 (3-B-13), was flown on that day by Naval Aviation Cadet (AVCAD) Roy Jensen; 0740 (3-B-14) was flown by AVCAD F.P. Kerr; and 0741 (3-B-15) was flown by AVCAD John J. Lynch. Lynch was the pilot who discovered that the SB2U-1 could not dive without overstressing the aircraft. Kerr was killed later that summer when his SB2U-1 snapped rolled and crashed during a landing at NAS North Island, California. Image source: Bell, p. 9.

Image 2 – The same three aircraft as seen from the port side, showing the diagonal stripes on the port surface of the vertical stabilizer that aided the landing signal officer in establishing the correct descent attitude. Image source: Elliott, Vol. 1, p. 149

Image 3 – Painting by Peter Freeman of SB2U-1, BuNo 0379, as it appeared in 1938. Image source: Freeman, p. 70.

Image 4 – Upper wing markings of 3-B-13. Image source: Freeman, p. 70.

Image 5 – The Vought XSB3U-1 biplane, BuNo 9834, ordered by the Navy as a back up in case the monoplane scout bomber concept failed. Image source: Larkin p. 196.

Image 6 – The Vought SB2U-3 floatplane BuNo 0779. An SB2U-1 reconfigured to use either floats of the standard wheeled undercarriage and used as the test bed for the SB2U-3 issued to the Marine Corps. Image source: Bell p. 21.

Sources:

Joe Baugher, “US Navy and US Marine Corps BuNos Second Series (0001 to 5029), available at http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/secondseries1.html

Dana Bell, Aircraft Pictorial 2, SB2U Vindicator, Tucson, AZ: Classic Warship Publishing, 2009

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.

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.

Thomas F. Gates, Fighter Squadron 14 Tophatters - Aircraft Specials series, Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1993.

Steve Ginter and Joe Weathers, Jr., Vought SB2U Vindicator, Simi Valley, CA: Steve Ginter Publications, 2018.

William Green and Gordon Swanborough, “The Annals of Sugar Baker Two Uncle,” Air Enthusiast, Vol. 8, pp. 1-8, 74-79.

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.

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

Joseph H. Weathers, “Sugar Baker Two Uncle: Initial and Final Disposition,” Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society, Spring 1969, pp. 21-25.

[Butelczynski]

Excellent model.I'm reminded again of the movie "Dive Bomber" where those planes along with others are stars all on their own.Fantastic shots of them and all in color.Good film.

[Don Boose]

Thanks, Karol. I agree. The trailer for the film can be seen here (it starts with an excellent view of an SB2U): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_jOkvJERlk

The film was made, in part, aboard USS Enterprise (CV-6), but they repainted some of the SB2Us with the Top Hat squadron emblem for the film.

Here is a still from the scene when the air group launches. Image source: Hush-Kit: The Alternative Aviation Magazine, October 26, 2017, available at https://hushkit.net/page/4/?s=battle

Don

[southwestforests]

Adding the crew guys finishes it quite nicely.

[Wyvern]

Are the crew from a template, or is each one custom?

Wyvern