I had completed the F4U-1a Corsair in VMF-214 (Blacksheep Squadron) colours from their 2 tours in 1943.
I had also competed an F4U-4 Corsair from VMF-214 Blacksheep tour on USS Franklin in March 1945.
Tragically, the 70th anniversary of the attack on USS Franklin is coming up on March 19. Over 700 dead and many more wounded. Not widely known, after the Blacksheep finished their tour in the Solomon's, they trained for about a year to be a Marine carrier squardon to help stem the kamikaze tide. They flew their first 12 sorties on March 18th, losing one pilot as PoW, strangely enough in the camp camp as Pappy Boyington. On March 19, they launched 12 more sorties just before their ship was attacked. They had to land on other carriers upon completion of their mission. Imagine, 24 hours in combat, that's all they got for a year of training, along with over 30 dead - pilots and ground crew.
So upon reading Bruce Gambles book "The Black Sheep: The Definitive Account of Marine Fighting Squadron 214 in World War II" , and learning of the first VMF-214 tour in the Solomon's when they were called the Swashbucklers, I decided to model an F4F-4 Wildcat to finish the collection.
Here it is ready for primer and paint, with its later cousins.
No comments:
Post a Comment