Gamera

Hello Striker and welcome!

Looking forward to either the F-105 or the FB-111.

Cliff

BTW guys: The A-20 is basically done. That is the friggin' spine cracked open on me again when installing the window behind the dorsal turret. That's it, I'm not fixing it again, far as I'm concerned stick a fork in the thing. Now though the friggin' top of the canopy has vanished - so I'm setting the model till it turns up. 

By way you could put some styrene patches over the inside seam to keep the halves together? Ahhh....with out ripping it in two.....

Gamera

Hello Striker and welcome!

Looking forward to either the F-105 or the FB-111.

Cliff

 

BTW guys: The A-20 is basically done. That is the friggin' spine cracked open on me again when installing the window behind the dorsal turret. That's it, I'm not fixing it again, far as I'm concerned stick a fork in the thing. Now though the friggin' top of the canopy has vanished - so I'm setting the model till it turns up. 

Cliff,

Man, that totally blows.  Sorry to hear that.  That has to be upsetting.  And the reviews I read about that kit talked about how well it went together.  So much for that.

Ken

Yeah Ken, keep us posted....

The Hasegawa 1/72 was my only kit for awhile back in the early 70's, it was the first modern tooled kit I had ever seen. Built it as an after school project, while we waited for the bus.....to take me home.....country road.....lol

My cousin in-law flew the Canadian NORAD version.

Hello Striker and welcome!

Looking forward to either the F-105 or the FB-111.

Cliff

BTW guys: The A-20 is basically done. That is the friggin' spine cracked open on me again when installing the window behind the dorsal turret. That's it, I'm not fixing it again, far as I'm concerned stick a fork in the thing. Now though the friggin' top of the canopy has vanished - so I'm setting the model till it turns up. 

Bockscar

Ken:

VERY COOL!

I wish I had that in 1/32!

Now that would be cool!  I still can't get over finding this picture.  It just blows me away!  The caption under the picture said it was from Kadena Okinawa 1960.  I recognized the tail right off from one of his patches which is the insignia of The Cotton Pickers.  I am on my laptop right now so when I get back on regular desktop I will up load a picture of the patch.  I am on cloud nine right now!

Ken

Ken:

VERY COOL!

I wish I had that in 1/32!

Striker8241

Hello, Everyone,

I would like to join the build and honor Berny's memory. I'll be away overseas for a few weeks on vacation but will try to log in when I can get internet access. I plan to build a 1/72 scale F-105 wild weasel if I can get my hands one. Otherwise, I'll resurect an FB -111 that I started many years ago. Looking forward to getting to know all of you and learning a lot from you, especially about spray painting which I've not got into yet.

Cheers,

Striker

The thing about this thread that Voodoo Ken started, is that it is all about remembering real people.

Berny was a guy that represented so much of the common values of so many that served and the society whom supported those values....

Not as common values these days, but many have them thank Gosh, and a good part of society still knows it is the most worthwhile pursuit.

Not pulling out a violin, but fact is they are the people and ideas I grew up with, same for the guys here.

F-105 Wild Weasel is a great start. I like it for nothingwlse, at the very least other than it put a lot of Russian radar and SAM operators into a very awkward place:

"All dressed up, no where to go!!!!"....lol...

My second favourite airplane.

Hey we would love the pics of your WIP if you have the time and inclination.

-Dom

Hi Everyone,

I can't believe it!  I just found a picture of a plane from one of my Dad's squadrons, "The Cotton Pickers".  I have looked before and it wasn't there the last time I looked so someone has uploaded it since then.  Here it is:

I have to do this aircraft.  No execuses!

Ken

I'm not sure if you guys know about this site, but I just found this awesome little website that has all kinds of info on just about every major combat aircraft ever made.  Here is the URL....

http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/index.asp

Check it out.

Rich

Yeh, the engine nacelles are unmistakable for the B57 series.  I have been trying to find a larger than 1/72 kit of the English Canberra for ages.  The only 1/48 ones I see are that expensive Airfix kit.  I have the Revell (sort of close to..) 1/82 scale one, but it's just way too small, and I am torn between selling it or giving it to my Daughter.  I remember the first time I saw a Canberra.  I was like 6 years old, and saw one in an old horror movie (The Crawling Eye).   I thought it was one of the coolest planes I had seen up until that time.  But my LHS didn't ever seem to have it.  I kind of liked the side by side seating in the older RAF versions a bit more than the inline system the Martin versions used.   I just think it made the plane look more like the bomber it was designed to be initially.

Rich

Son Of Medicine Man

 

Sparrowhyperion:

 

Is that a B57 in the background?

 

 

Son Of Medicine Man:

Okay, here is one my Dad took a picture of getting ready to take off from Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam, circa September 1964:

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

Hi Rich,

Actually you are close.  That is an RB-57E, one of the two "Patricia Lynn" project aircraft!

Ken

Sparrowhyperion

Is that a B57 in the background?

 

Son Of Medicine Man:

Okay, here is one my Dad took a picture of getting ready to take off from Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam, circa September 1964:

 

Ken

 

Hi Rich,

Actually you are close.  That is an RB-57E, one of the two "Patricia Lynn" project aircraft!

Ken

Striker8241

Hello, Everyone,

I would like to join the build and honor Berny's memory. I'll be away overseas for a few weeks on vacation but will try to log in when I can get internet access. I plan to build a 1/72 scale F-105 wild weasel if I can get my hands one. Otherwise, I'll resurect an FB -111 that I started many years ago. Looking forward to getting to know all of you and learning a lot from you, especially about spray painting which I've not got into yet.

Cheers,

Striker

Welcome aboard Striker!  I have already been telling everyone to be expecting you and they have all been very happy to hear about you joining us.  I will wait until you decide which one you will be building then I will update page 1.  Again, welcome aboard!

Ken

Hello, Everyone,

I would like to join the build and honor Berny's memory. I'll be away overseas for a few weeks on vacation but will try to log in when I can get internet access. I plan to build a 1/72 scale F-105 wild weasel if I can get my hands one. Otherwise, I'll resurect an FB -111 that I started many years ago. Looking forward to getting to know all of you and learning a lot from you, especially about spray painting which I've not got into yet.

Cheers,

Striker

Yeh, the cold war birds were unique.  Back when the Government could afford a decent size amount of them.  Now a few billion into ONE plane...  I think now, if the cold war were still on, or if Russia ever went bad again and attacked.  Even if it  didn't go nuclear, we would be in trouble if they got back to their old wartime production by some miracle.  Yeh we have the F22 and F35, as well as all of the older types.  But by sheer weight of numbers....  You get the idea.

The Cold War birds were functional and for the most part affordable.  Not to mention that most of them were just cool...

Rich

Bockscar

Oh yeah?

F-100, shot down or injested birds. Oh, a bomber. Destroyed some SAM's, not enough though...next

F-101, an excuse to keep aluminum flying, recon? For Chuck Norris? made great bird shelters...suckered Canada into buying them......next

F-102, so bad, they redesigned it, not even a bomber....next

F-103, fake Regulus, what F-103?....next

F-104, hemmmorroid relief, widow maker, runway flamethrower, destroyer of governments. Kelly still has a red face....and ugly.......lol....mighta' made a good toothpick......

F-105, never dropped nukes, over half the run shot down, oh, a bomber.....dang....shot down a russian by accident, right?....next

F-106, never did nothin', not even a bomber......uhhhh....musta dun sumpin?....next

F-107, what F-107????....next

LOL........what a waste of time, titanium, and aluminum...

Oh yeah, the flying sewer plate, F-4....lol....now there's an airplane!....er...bus.....

 

How ugly is that? At least Crusader shot commies into the smokin' hole they deserved....lol...

Crusader told the Pres the commies were getting close to vaporizing NY, I hope you love NY,,,,,lol,,,,,,,,

So tell me, why do I have a valid reason to love all that early, slow, dysfunctional junk???????....lol.....

What speed, what function?

Well,truth is, all that dysfunctional aluminum, it kept our a**** safe. And yes, they were indeed fast. But the only reason they made them Rich, wasn't to thwart the proto commies, or waste tax-payor's dollars, no Sir.

It was so i could collect the styrene versions....lol.....

Truth is, IMHO, that was the most exceptional series of aircraft that ever flew. I love 'em.

I dunno, I have a soft spot for the Cold War craft, and the Cold War spirit.

I rant, because commies are cool up here....lol......

 

 

 

Is that a B57 in the background?

Son Of Medicine Man

Okay, here is one my Dad took a picture of getting ready to take off from Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam, circa September 1964:

 

Ken

Voodoos are cool.  I have a half completed one here.  I really should complete it.  I work on it a little at a time.  The F101s are a set of birds that you don't hear much about, but they were really great birds.

Rich

Son Of Medicine Man

Voodoos!!!  I just love the look of Voodoos.  Okay, it is rather obvious from my avatar.  The RF-101C is my favorite version.  I am uploading photos to Photobucket right now.  As soon as it finishes, I will show you some that my Dad took.

Ken

The only thing that keeps me sane is the knowledge that I was adopted, and have absolutely no genetic relation to my Dad.  I have no idea who my real dad was, just some very basic info on him.  My adopted dad was stationed in Japan during the Korean war.  He was only a PFC, and got himself a general discharge when he refused to shoot an escaping North Korean prisoner.  The only reason he could hold a job was because he became a mail handler at the USPS South Boston postal Sorting Facility in Boston and it's almost impossible to get fired from the Post Office.  He was  a jerk most of the time.  I don't even like thinking about him...

Sometimes it's better not to know some things...

Rich

Bockscar

Ken, Mikey;

You'll never get it all guys, and be thankful, as I know you are, for what you got.

Outa hi-school my dad got a job calibrating pipeline and storage tank gauges for BP's oilfields in Trinidad. By 1943, he wanted to go to England and serve, but he had already been working in the oilfields a few years, and the Brits, they said no, keep the oil flowing, we are not going to waste time finding someone to replace you. Good thing for me. My first job in a big company, he got me, I calibrated meters for the Gas Association. Wonder why.....

Some of the stuff he told me, I only wish he was embellishing. These guys went through some very rough times, nothing I have yet seen. Upside...my dad never saw or understood unemployment.

Mikey, Ken's right......take it all in, record it if you have to.....it will all be over sooner than you want........

All the best man.....and peace to your dad. Enjoy his company while you can.

Yeah, my late uncle served in the US Navy during the Second World War, was always interested but he never talked about it and I never knew any tackful way to bring it up

Ken, Mikey;

You'll never get it all guys, and be thankful, as I know you are, for what you got.

Outa hi-school my dad got a job calibrating pipeline and storage tank gauges for BP's oilfields in Trinidad. By 1943, he wanted to go to England and serve, but he had already been working in the oilfields a few years, and the Brits, they said no, keep the oil flowing, we are not going to waste time finding someone to replace you. Good thing for me. My first job in a big company, he got me, I calibrated meters for the Gas Association. Wonder why.....

Some of the stuff he told me, I only wish he was embellishing. These guys went through some very rough times, nothing I have yet seen. Upside...my dad never saw or understood unemployment.

Mikey, Ken's right......take it all in, record it if you have to.....it will all be over sooner than you want........

All the best man.....and peace to your dad. Enjoy his company while you can.

Scorpiomikey

I will. But his stories seem to jump alot. He tends to embellish alot, which makes it hard to distinguish between dads memories and his fantasies. 

I thought that my Dad was embellishing some of his stories until I got a hold of his service files from the Air Force.  Now I know better.  But you know more about your situation and family than anyone else here.  This is getting really personal, so I don't want to get any further into it on an open forum.

Ken

I will. But his stories seem to jump alot. He tends to embellish alot, which makes it hard to distinguish between dads memories and his fantasies. 

Oh yeah?

F-100, shot down or injested birds. Oh, a bomber. Destroyed some SAM's, not enough though...next

F-101, an excuse to keep aluminum flying, recon? For Chuck Norris? made great bird shelters...suckered Canada into buying them......next

F-102, so bad, they redesigned it, not even a bomber....next

F-103, fake Regulus, what F-103?....next

F-104, hemmmorroid relief, widow maker, runway flamethrower, destroyer of governments. Kelly still has a red face....and ugly.......lol....mighta' made a good toothpick......

F-105, never dropped nukes, over half the run shot down, oh, a bomber.....dang....shot down a russian by accident, right?....next

F-106, never did nothin', not even a bomber......uhhhh....musta dun sumpin?....next

F-107, what F-107????....next

LOL........what a waste of time, titanium, and aluminum...

Oh yeah, the flying sewer plate, F-4....lol....now there's an airplane!....er...bus.....

How ugly is that? At least Crusader shot commies into the smokin' hole they deserved....lol...

Crusader told the Pres the commies were getting close to vaporizing NY, I hope you love NY,,,,,lol,,,,,,,,

So tell me, why do I have a valid reason to love all that early, slow, dysfunctional junk???????....lol.....

What speed, what function?

Well,truth is, all that dysfunctional aluminum, it kept our a**** safe. And yes, they were indeed fast. But the only reason they made them Rich, wasn't to thwart the proto commies, or waste tax-payor's dollars, no Sir.

It was so i could collect the styrene versions....lol.....

Truth is, IMHO, that was the most exceptional series of aircraft that ever flew. I love 'em.

I dunno, I have a soft spot for the Cold War craft, and the Cold War spirit.

I rant, because commies are cool up here....lol......

Scorpiomikey

My dad was a basic grease monkey. Although he worked on a hell of a lot of RNZAF birdies. He never got past corporal i think. Something like that anyway. Certain politics prevented him being promoted any further. Left after 20+ years of service.

Aircraft he worked on included.

DC-3/C-47

Harvard (Texan)

Vampire.

Strikemaster.

Skyhawk

C-130

P3K

etc etc etc lol.

Pretty much everything that served with the RNZAF between 1966 and 1986 (not sure exactly when he got out)

Please don't take this the wrong way but get to know the details of your Dad's life while you can.  I thought I had the time to do that but my Dad was taken from me before I was ready.  Now I have to try and find out much on my own and only have fragments of stories that he told me.  Oh how I wish I could have just a few hours of time to spend asking questions of my Dad now, but alas, it is too late.  There is no way I will ever find out all of the answers to questions that I have.

Ken

My dad was a basic grease monkey. Although he worked on a hell of a lot of RNZAF birdies. He never got past corporal i think. Something like that anyway. Certain politics prevented him being promoted any further. Left after 20+ years of service.

Aircraft he worked on included.

DC-3/C-47

Harvard (Texan)

Vampire.

Strikemaster.

Skyhawk

C-130

P3K

etc etc etc lol.

Pretty much everything that served with the RNZAF between 1966 and 1986 (not sure exactly when he got out)

Scorpiomikey

Ive always preferred the T-bird.

SoMM, Was your old man a grease monkey too?

That avatar I use was his patch. He was a Crew Chief on the RF-101C.  Actually, he was the Crew Chief on the T-33, then he was a crew chief on the base commander's F-105D on Kadena Okinawa before he was transferred to the RF-101C.  After we left Okinawa he was a Crew Chief on the F-101B at Suffolk Air Force Base New York.  Then he went to school to become a Flight Engineer on the C-141A.  He was in that position for quite a while, making it all the way to becoming one of the top instructors for Flight Engineers on the C-141A.  Then he went back to school to become a Flight Engineer on the C-5A Galaxy.

Ken

Ive always preferred the T-bird.

SoMM, Was your old man a grease monkey too?

Okay, here is one my Dad took a picture of getting ready to take off from Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam, circa September 1964:

Ken

Voodoos!!!  I just love the look of Voodoos.  Okay, it is rather obvious from my avatar.  The RF-101C is my favorite version.  I am uploading photos to Photobucket right now.  As soon as it finishes, I will show you some that my Dad took.

Ken

No offense intended Dom.  But a lot of those early birds proved that looks didn't equate to speed or function. lol

Sparrowhyperion

Yeh, the Crusader was another ugly cousin. lol  Why did it seem that back then, most of the Navy stuff was butt ugly.  Things didn't really improve looks wise until the F14.  Although the Panther was nice as was the Fury which was just a Naval F86 anyways.

 

 

Son Of Medicine Man:

 

Okay, if we are on a subject of ugly aircraft, I think some people have already heard me say this but I think the LTV A-7 Corsair II ranks right up there close to the top.  Don't get me wrong, this plane was a work horse during the Vietnam War and did a fine job.  But to look at it, like the saying goes, "only a mother could love"!

Ken

 

 

I beg you, the privledge to differ on the ugly scale, Crusader was also AB FAB:

The only thing ugly about that is that the Bear got so close to sovereign U.S. soil.

I like this one:

and this one:

No problems with her either. Must I remind you gents:

With enough lipstick, even a turd can fly!