Have had this one requested and sitting for a long time and it always looked like a blue blob, so it collected dust. Tried it again and it looks less like a blue blob.
This night fighter squad was split between the Enterprise and Intrepid, the crew on the Intrepid had no success and went ashore when it was torpedoed at Truk in February 1944.The Enterprise detachment collected 5 kills between Lt(jg) Robert J. Holden (3) and Lt.Cdr. Richard E. Harmer (2). The last 4 were all twin engine bombers on the nights of June 27 and 28 1944. Some of the best work was finding crews returning to the ship and guiding them back at night. They also flew day light defense of the fleet and search and rescue. Harmer and Holden were the primary night pilots while the rest flew the day light operations.
This aircraft was #10, it was crashed by Holden when a burned out position light gave the LSO the wrong impression of where the plane actually was. Short version was "When Bob received the “Cut” Signal, Bob was too far to starboard, and in the “dip for the deck”, struck the island superstructure, flipping the plane upside down. Bob escaped with only minor scratches, but “Number 10” was deep-sixed."
The paint scheme was very different, it originally came in the Tri-Color scheme with the only markings being the US insignias and the number 10 on the landing gear doors. The intermediate blue only on the fuselage was over painted with either a black or dark sea blue, my guess is DSB. The ruder and under side of the wings were left in the tricolor scheme. Also the top panel of the cowling was shut to prevent oil collecting on the windscreen and wasn't painted. As if night landing on a carrier at night wasn't hard enough these weren't refitted with the upgraded landing gear which reduced the bounce that plagued Corsairs early on. They also had the long tail gear land based units were equipped with. The squadron logo/sticker was removed from all aircraft aboard the Enterprise.
VF(N)-101 2 by
whitemanLS1, on Flickr
VF(N)-101 3 by
whitemanLS1, on Flickr
VF(N)-101 by
whitemanLS1, on Flickr
