US Navy and USMC Between The Wars in 1/100

[Vinalssergio155]

For me the interior of a cockpit depends on the skill and level of detail that each one wants to achieve, regardless of the scale of the model. I have seen works by Ronan, Ray, Pablo, which look spectacular. Also the type of plane influences , a biplane is not the same as a jet. On the other hand I would never do the interior, too much to assemble a 1/100, so that complicate me more.

[Rata]

Thanks for the comments folks. Regards the cockpits, it's just my little quirk (laziness?). I'm the same with cowled radial engines; if the design has a choice of 'detailed' or 'simplified' I'll go with simplified every time. Builders like MichaelS usually goes in the opposite direction and takes the time to do full detail and does really well with it.
Horses for courses.....

[CMDRTED]

great work rata. I am in the middle when it comes to detail. if you can see it and the mood is right it gets modeled. if you can't see the fuel dump switch on the extreme left of the cockpit light it usually does not get modeled. also depends on how lazy I get, too.

[Rata]

Thanks Commander. That's the crux of the whole thing. If I was a bigger scale guy each model would be by obligation 'full house'. In 1/100 the standing rule is: if I have to put my 'old man glasses' on to see any detail then it gets left off!

Long live (if you can see it) 1/100!!!

[gomidefilho]

F-11C is a true piece of art!!!

[Rata]

Heya Péricles! Thanks mate.

[Rata]

Finally (in spite of a thousand distractions) finished this one. The ThaiPaperwork Curtiss SOC-3 Seagull. Goes together like a dream and is a real credit to Nobi's design skills. Hope you like her.

[Don Boose]

Garry’s model is of U.S. Navy Curtiss SOC-3 Seagull Bureau of Aeronautics Number (BuNo) 1134, aircraft number 9-CS-9, piloted by Lieutenant (jg) Marion J. Reed, as it appeared in 1940, when the aircraft was assigned to Cruiser Scouting Squadron 9 (VCS-9).

VCS-9 provided aircraft to the cruisers of Cruiser Division Nine (CruDiv 9), U.S. Pacific Fleet Battle Force. CruDiv 9 consisted of the light cruisers USS Honolulu (CL-48 – the Flagship), Boise (CL-47), Helena (CL-50), Phoenix (CL-46), and St. Louis (CL-49). BuNo 1134 was assigned to USS Phoenix.

The Curtiss SOC was designed in response to a requirement from the Navy for a replacement for the Vought O2U and O3U and Berliner-Joyce OJ-2 observation floatplanes, which were carried aboard battleships and used primarily to adjust gunfire. In June 1933, Curtiss offered its Model 71, the XO3C-1, an open-cockpit two-place floatplane with a retractable wheeled undercarriage. Although the Navy was moving to all-metal monoplanes, the XO3C-1 was of traditional construction, with a fabric-covered steel-tube fuselage and aluminum wing structure. Modern elements included leading edge slots and trailing edge flaps to improve slow-speed performance. On the production version, the cockpits were enclosed and the amphibious undercarriage replaced by interchangeable floats and wheels.

By the time the aircraft entered service in 1935, the Navy was deploying floatplanes aboard cruisers with the mission of scouting ahead of the fleet to locate enemy fleet units. The new aircraft would be used primarily in the scouting role, with the additional capability of gunfire observation, so the designation was changed from XO3C-1 to XSOC-1 (Scout-Observation, Curtiss-built).

The SOC-3, which entered service in 1938, was externally indistinguishable from the SOC-1, the production version of the XO3C-1/XSOC-1, and the subsequent, slightly modified, SOC-2. It was powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1340-22 nine-cylinder Wasp radial engine, was armed with one fixed forward-firing 0.30-inch (7.62 mm) Browning M2 AN machine gun and one flexible .30-inch Browning M2 AN on a ring mount fired by the observer. Underwing racks could carry two 250-pound bombs or 350-pound depth charges. Curtiss built 83 SOC-3s, and 44 were built by the Naval Aircraft Factory as SON-1s. In 1941, the Navy began applying names to its aircraft, and the SOCs and SONs were named “Seagull.” Although the Seagull was outdated by the time the United States entered the war, its proposed replacement, the Curtiss SO3C-1 Seamew, turned out to be unsatisfactory, so the SOCs and SONs continued in service in the cruiser scouting role until replaced by the Curtiss SC-1 in 1945, while the battleship observation mission was picked up by Vought OS2U Kingfishers.

The Phoenix air detachment in April 1939 consisted of four SON-1s. Sometime thereafter, the SON-1s were replaced with SOC-3s, including BuNo 1134. Phoenix carried SOC-3s until they were replaced by OS2U-3s between April and December 1944.

BuNo 1134 was aboard Phoenix during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and during the ship’s subsequent operations, which consisted of convoy escort duty between Hawai’i and the U.S. West Coast and patrolling in Australian waters and the Indian Ocean. Phoenix was operating in Hawai’ian waters in June 1942 when BuNo 1134 was lost at sea.

Garry’s model depicts 1134 in the 1940 markings for cruiser scouts. The green tail stripes identify aircraft of Cruiser Scouting Squadron Nine (VCS-9). The Brooklyn class light cruisers of Cruiser Division Nine each carried one four-plane section of the squadron. The blue cowling, fuselage band, and wing chevrons identify BuNo 1134 as an aircraft of the third four-plane section of VCS-9 (aircraft numbers 9, 10, 11, and 12). The fuselage band and solid blue cowling identify it as the section leader’s aircraft. Aircraft number 10 would have had the upper section of the cowl painted blue; aircraft 11, the lower half of the cowl; and aircraft 12 would have had a blue vertical strip on the cowl. Only the aircraft of the leader of each section carried a fuselage band.

After December 1940, 1134 and the other aircraft of VCS-9 were repainted, initially in overall light non-specular Neutrality Gray, and then, after October 1941, with non-specular Blue-Gray upper surfaces and Light Gray under surfaces. Between January and June 1942, the aircraft had red and white horizontal stripes painted on the rudder. This was the color scheme that 1134 would have been carrying when it was lost at sea.

Photographic evidence indicates that many battleship and cruiser scout aircraft retained their squadron and individual aircraft markings (9-CS-9) on their fuselages, in white during the Neutrality Gray period and in black afterward. There is no evidence to indicate the exact markings that 1134 carried when it was lost.

You can view motion pictures of SOCs being launched stored aboard ship, and recovered during World War II at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZA9Vxmdz1M (“Curtiss SOC-3 catapulted from the USS Honolulu (CL-48) underway at a sea”) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpkApCC3vlM (“Curtiss SOC Seagull aircraft lands on surface of water in the South West Pacific”).

Images:

1. Curtiss SOC-3 BuNo 1134 (9-CS-9) ashore with wheeled landing gear installed. The photo was taken in late 1940. Note the Navy E for machine gunnery efficiency with one hash mark (second award). Garry’s model depicts 1134 prior to the award. Source: Larkins, U.S. Navy Aircraft 1921-1941, p. 280..

2. Curtiss SOC-3s of VCS-9 Section 3 displaying the markings for four-plane cruiser air sections. The lead aircraft is BuNo 1134 (9-CS-9) with willow green squadron tail stripes and a blue fuselage band, cowling, and top wing chevron. The other aircraft have the blue wing chevron, no fuselage band, and the cowlings painted to designate position in the section: second aircraft, top half of the cowling; third aircraft, bottom half; fourth aircraft, blue center stripe.

3. Curtiss SOC-3s and one SON-1 (9-CS-2, BuNo 1176) of VCS-9 Section 1 (red cowlings, wing chevrons, and leader fuselage band with twin willow green tail stripes), assigned to Phoenix’s sister ship, USS Honolulu (CL-48, Flagship of Cruiser Division Nine). This image shows the aircraft with floats mounted for shipboard duty. Source: Larkins, Battleship and Cruiser Aircraft, p. 206.

4. USS Phoenix (CL-46) at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack on 7 December 1941. BuNo 1134 was aboard at that time. Caption: “USS Phoenix (CL-46) steams down the channel off Ford Island's Battleship Row, past the sunken and burning USS West Virginia (BB-48), at left, and USS Arizona (BB-39), at right, 7 December 1941. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.” Available at https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/wars-and-events/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor-raid/raid-aftermath/NH-50766.html

5. Painting by Don Greer of Curtiss SOC-3 7-CS-10 of VCS-7 between January and June of 1942. BuNo 1134 was probably in similar markings when it served aboard USS Phoenix between January and June of 1942 and when it was lost at sea in June. Source: Doll et al, p. 72.

6. The prototype of the SOC: Curtiss XO3C-1(later redesignated as XSOC-1), BuNo9413, with open cockpits and a retractable amphibious landing gear. The production SOC had enclosed cockpits and interchangeable float and wheeled undercarriage.

Sources:

Al Adcock, U.S. Navy Floatplanes of World War II in Action, Aircraft Number 203, Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, 2006, pp. 7-20.

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

Peter M. Bowers, Curtiss Aircraft 1907-1947, Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1979, pp. 339-345.

David Brazleton, “The Curtiss SOC `Seagull’,” Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society, Vol. 3, 1958, pp. 167-171, 193, available at http//www.aahs-online.org/journals/files/33167.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.

John M. Elliott, The Official Monogram US Navy & Marine Corps Aircraft Color Guide, Vol. 1, 1911-1939, Boylston, MA: Monogram Aviation Publications, 1987, pp. 67, 120, 123.

Steve Ginter, Curtiss SOC Seagull, Naval Fighters Number Eighty Nine, Simi Valley, CA: Ginter Books, 2011.

Roy A. Grossnick, United States Naval Aviation, 1910-1995, Washington, DC: Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center, 1997, available at: https://archive.org/details/UnitedStatesNavalAviation1910-1995

E.R. Johnson, United States Naval Aviation 1919-1941: Aircraft, Airships and Ships Between the Wars, Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2011, pp. 81-83.

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

---, The Curtiss SOC Seagull, Profile Publication 194, Leatherhead, Surrey, UK: Profile Publications, 1967.

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

Gordon Swanborough and Peter M Bowers, “Curtiss SOC Seagull,” United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1968, pp. 138-140.

United States Navy History and Heritage Command, “Phoenix III (CL-46),” 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/p/phoenix-iii.html

Ralph Wilhelm, Flying the Curtis SOC-1 "Seagull" Scout Seaplane, available at https://www.pacificwar.org.au/Midway/RalphWilhelm/SeagullIndex.html

[Rata]

Thank you VERY much Don for this comprehensive write up. Just looking at your photo of the XO3C-1 , the open cockpits you mention, but note the upper wing has no dihedral but I assume had the foldable wings of the production series.

[MichaelS]

Most excellent work young fella. This was one of the earliest Nobi's I did.