Grumman Wildcat

[R Leonard]

Originally Posted by fsbofk

R Leonard - that VF-11 panel looks familiar. I saw one on display in Arlington HobbyCrafters back in the 60s - was that yours?

How odd, I worked at AHC when I was in high school, so that would have been around 1968 and 1969, but I don’t remember ever taking one in there for display. Maybe to show it off at some point, but not for display, at least not as I remember. Of course I’ve slept since then, probably fried a few brain cells, too, so maybe it was in there briefly, I honestly don’t remember. Can’t ask Dick or Doris about it, last I heard they were no longer available, and Jeff didn’t work there when I did. He moved the operation somewhere out in Fairfax (?) when that whole area got leveled. Don't know whatever happened to Perry. Is Jeff still in business?

Rich

[Pilot]

Thank you all for your comments. Wildcat is by my personal opinion very important plane of the US Navy and Marines in the WW2. It's fought from first to the last day of the war and feature all official camouflage pattern's- starting from golden yellow wings up to the last Sea Blue overall.

@ Leonard- no need apolgize for anything. Idea of forum is to display own work, idea and info. All of your statement I found very useful and I must say that my art work on Wildcat before this thread and after this thread is not same.

Yes- wheel cover is Blue Grey. This mean that that I will delete last two made color profiles and make new one. Now final I hope

But before this I will have to print this topic as well I have again found very interesting info in your post. One more question- you said that your father take above presented panel from jungle pile. Is that was some dump or depot for the canibalizing of part for maintenance. Maybe the location could be interesting for Air archeologist

[fsbofk]

Rich - those would be the years when I saw it; perhaps it was when you brought it in to show someone - I remember being duly impressed to see a part from a wartime F4F! I was in high school then also, and used to drop by the shop every other week or so. I didn't know the owners, but I heard that Dick died some time ago. Their son (Jeff?) first moved the shop to Seven Corners, but now it's on Broad Street in the middle of old Falls Church. Whenever I drive by the location in Ballston, it's hard to picture the shop there. Did your dad attend the Midway 50th Anniversary Reunion in Crystal City in '92? I had the pleasure of meeting a lot of the veterans then, as well as authors, including Walter Lord and John Lundstrom. A photo of your dad is in "The First Team," so I was curious if he attended.

[Pilot]

Have you ever met Marion E. Carl? He was very interesting, he flew Buffalo and later became on of top ace on Wildcat. Ace became during the Battle of Midway. He had a long career, flying in Vietnam mission on jets and helicopters. Retired in 1973 as a General.

[kurlannaiskos]

these were scanned from the Camouflage Colour Chart for US Navy
#US-2-1 by T-Stoff Research Ltd.
what do you think ?
is it any help ?

[Pilot]

@kurlannaiskos- now you really hit me. This colors, specialy underside Grey look tottally different then I have know before. Now I really don't know what to do about the correct colors. Any idea?

[Franek Grabowski]

Originally Posted by kurlannaiskos

these were scanned from the Camouflage Colour Chart for US Navy
#US-2-1 by T-Stoff Research Ltd.
what do you think ?
is it any help ?

It is of little help as some mean of standard chip is required for calibration. It could be eg. standard Pantone chip. This is necessary, as otherwise it will look different on every monitor.

[R Leonard]

Been somewhat out of touch for a couple of days . . .

fsbofk -

I never really understood where the name “Ballston” came from . . . always thought it was just some developer’s affectation. I left town the day after graduation (June 1970) and, with the exception of summer visits with friends during college, never went back. I did call one of those friends regarding the panel and he informed me that I am a dolt, that the panel was briefly in the store as a background to an old Monogram F4F done up in VF-11 livery . . . a model I now vaguely recall.

I don’t think my father went to the 1992 Crystal City Midway fest, he did not go to may of those things. As far as I know he only went to symposia at NMNA in Pensacola a couple of times and the Nimitz museum at least once. The last one in which he participated was in Pensacola in 1998.


Pilot –

Marion E. Carl was an old family friend. His murder was a true tragedy. I bumped in to him a couple of times in the late 1960s and early 70’s. Long before I came on the scene, during a postwar tour at Patuxent NAS, Marion & Edna Carl had the apartment above my parents in the MOQs.


kurlannaiskos -

Jeez, I hope it is my monitor, because your blue grey has way, way too much grey and the light grey looks like, ummm, light brown.


Rich

[Pilot]

Sorry for my absence for some time. Well this became interesting topic and in the meantime I have arrange to publish some of my material in the article. Photo of the Wildcat plate from the first page of this topic is very interesting and I would be grateful if I can get somehow a large resolution sample and permission for publication.