Camelflage, don’tcha know
Bit late in getting my second newsletter out the door, but here it is. For one thing, my fight with the local homeowners association has been wiping me out:
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Again it’s kinda long and I hope you find some of it interesting and useful!
Long At Last, Operation Eldorado Canyon (Libya Raid) Book is SHIPPING!
Major Jim “Rotro” Rotramel, USAF, Ret.’s, riveting and expansive account of the USAF & USN attack on Khadaffi’s infrastructure in April 1986 is finally SHIPPING. My preordered copy has been shipped and it’s already arrived.
I’ve read it, and this is the DEFINITIVE history of this attack, with both narrative and tech details galore. In fact, the US Air Force Museum** is going to add a KC-10 Extender tanker to their collection and somebody there had the bright idea they should get one of the Eldorado Canyon ships. Good idea!
Slight problem.
Nobody in the United States Air Force had any idea which tail numbers participated in the mission! Eventually somebody figured out Jim has written a book about it, so they called him and…LO AND BEHOLD, Jim has the tail numbers/BuNos of every single aircraft that participated. The AFM now plans to acquire the actual Extender that refueled the REMIT flight F-111 that dropped the bombs on Khadaffi’s quarters (That Vark is already in the AFM collection).
All this is thanks to Jim’s scholarship and doggedness.
ORDER NOW (NOT affiliate links) at:
www.casematepublishers.com/9781950394128/operation-eldorado-canyon
www.amazon.com/Operation-Eldorado-Canyon-Bombing-Libya/dp/1950394123
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/operation-eldorado-canyon-jim-rotramel/1142034136
** Regardless of its idiotic current politically-correct name, it will forever be the “Air Force Museum” to me!
Note: Jim has gotten feedback on the purported error in the title of his book and offers the following explanation:
“Why “Eldorado” Canyon and not “El Dorado” Canyon?
Some controversy has been generated as to why I titled my book Operation Eldorado Canyon rather than the grammatically correct (or at least more expected) Operation El Dorado Canyon. It was not a mistake. Modern U.S. military operations have two-word code names (e.g., Desert Storm, Provide Comfort, Unified Protector). The codename the Libya raid was initially planned under, Prairie Fire, was usurped by the Navy’s actions in March 1986. When the USAF planners were informed that their planning was to continue under the new code name El Dorado Canyon, confusion about the new name was immediate. So, why was a three-word name chosen?
First, where did the name come from? The F-111 representative at HQ USAFE Weapons and Tactics office at Ramstein AB, Germany had been a planner of the earliest Libyan contingency option. Probably while on leave as he was driving northeast of Sacramento, California, he passed a sign for either the town of El Dorado Hills, or perhaps more likely El Dorado Canyon, somewhat farther northeast. He fixated on that as an appropriate cover name for the mission and later laughed when he told the story because it was so contrary to how people believed mission names were selected.
The confusion as to the two vs. three-word code name persisted, even at the official level. After-action reports listed in the http://airforcehistoryindex.org/ database show seven reports using “El Dorado Canyon”, but 25 using “Eldorado Canyon”. So, the decision to use the two-word, grammatically incorrect term (more common), for my book was done not by mistake, but to conform with the two-word code name standard.”
As an aside, I should note there are at least three “Eldorado” Canyons (not “El Dorado”) in the United States: Colorado, Nevada, and Florida (how the hell does FLORIDA—highest point in the state 345 feet above sea level—have an Eldorado Canyon, let alone any other canyons???).
P-38H-5-LO “Thoughts of Midnite”
I hate it when I misplace things (advanced CRS, you betcha), as I did with fellow modeler Andy Garcia’s pics of his beautiful 1/48 model of P-38H-5-LO, 42-66825, “Thoughts of Midnite,” using my PYND48001 decal set. He sent me he pics years ago, and finally found them this weekend. I think you’ll enjoy seeing his work.
I have a few of this decal set still available. Note that I produced only the 1/48 version and have NOT (yet) produced 1/72 or 1/32 versions.
(1/48) PYND48001 Fork Tailed Beauties Part 1
Fork Tailed Beauties Part 1. A beautiful PYN-up Decals set with stunning near-photographic quality nose art. P-38H-5-LO, 42-66825, “Thoughts of Midnite,” White 120, Capt. Robert L. Herman, 431 FS/475 FG, New Guinea, 1943; P-38J-5-LO, 42-68004, “Moonlight Cock-Tail!,” H5*K, Clark R. “Doc” Livingston, 392 FS/367 FG, on the European Continent, late Summer, 1944.
B-17G My Gal Sal
Recently fellow modeler Daniel Sauter sent me pics of his beautiful 1/48 B-17G Our Gal Sal model that used my PYN-up Decals. He donated it to the son of the man who ferried this ship back to the US from England at the end of WW II—super cool! This is the kind of thing I really love: look how he modified my decal set to portray the ship in its final incarnation! (Hint: see the difference in the description below.)
I produced these markings in both 1/48 and 1/72 (but not 1/32) in my PYN-up Decals line. A few of each are still available.
(1/48) PYND48011 PYN-up Decals B-17 Fortress Chicks Part 3
PYN-up Decals B-17 Fortress Chicks Part 3. Two extremely famous and popular Forts grace this set. First is B-17F-25-DL, 42-3082, Double Trouble, Lt William Winnesheik, 333 BS/94 BG, Rougham, England, October 1943. This ship was assigned to the unit from 10 June 1943 to 4 October 1943, when it crash landed at Margate, England, after a combat mission to St. Dizier, France. She was salvaged after the crash and in spite of the amazing nose art never flew again.
The bomb group marking on the fin is very interesting! No color photos of this ship’s tail have been found, but there are several black & white photos available. The official 8th Air Force directive required the unit letter (in this case “A”) be painted in Insignia Blue on a white square, but it was DEFINITELY NOT blue on this plane. This is easily seen by comparing the tonal value of the “A” to the tonal value of the national insignia on the fuselage. I’ve seen at least one color photo that proves, amazingly, that in some cases a YELLOW letter was painted on the white square, which is ridiculous. However, this may have been the case for “Double Trouble,” or possibly it could have been a light gray letter-which is also ridiculous. Regardless of how nonsensical it is, there are many documented instances of light-colored letters that are clearly not Insignia Blue or Black on white geometric bases in more than one combat group. Dumbfounding!
The second ship is the exceptionally famous B-17G-30-BO “Our Gal Sal” from the 351 BS/100 BG, Thorpe Abbotts, England. Sal was queen of the “Bloody Hundredth” with her 135 combat missions giving her the distinction of being the longest serving plane in the unit. The name “Our Gal Sal” was inspired by the 1942 move of the same name starring Rita Hayworth. At the request of her first crew, captained by Robert J. Shoens, unit artist Frank Stevens painted the “Sal” artwork on standard aircraft canvas-the type used to cover movable control surfaces, and then glued it to the side of the nose. This created the strange “double halo” of olive green color around the artwork. It worked well, however, and the canvas did not blow off in the slipstream!
At the time shown here, her 60th mission (the scheme best documented in color and black & white photos), her paintwork was very beat up and her chin turret, originally Neutral Gray, had been replaced by a newer unit in natural metal. Although the 100th is reputed to have used “blue gray” unit codes on the fuselage, color photos absolutely confirm that “Sal” had light gray codes. At least one widely distributed source claims the mission markings began on one side of the plane and continued around to the other side, and the profile painting in that source-while pretty-shows a huge number of mission markings continuing all the way back along the fuselage almost to the tail.
The 100th BG historian confirmed for us this is completely bogus and the 100th’s practice was to mirror the mission markings on both sides of the nose. Sal was eventually scrapped at Kingman, Arizona. Interestingly, her bomb mission markings had been completely repainted very late or at the end of the war and in the boneyard she sported a long long line of white mission markings on a dark stripe background (these markings are not included here [although this is where Daniel modified my decal set]). We’re especially pleased that Mr Shoens and the 100th BG historian guided us on this project!
(1/72) PYND72009 Fortress Chicks Nr. 3
My 1/72 set is identical to the 1/48 version above, but in 1/72 scale. All notes above apply to this set as well.
Videos You Might Find Interesting
I noted in my last newsletter that I watch a bunch of short Youtube vids just before going to sleep, and some are relevant to the modeling world. I’ve got a wide range of interests so these span many subjects.
Nearly all the links below are for extremely short vids (30 – 90 seconds). Obviously they’re not the only ones available on each subject, nor are they necessarily the “best” on the subject.
Consider this completely random list as a “teaser” to spur additional research if the subjects interest you. I have many more links to share in future newsletters. A few of those below don’t have great image quality, but are included because of interesting content. Not surprisingly, a lot of truly crappy vids show up in my feed too, which I won’t bother to include.
Running time is expressed in HH:MM:SS (hours:minutes:seconds), so for example, 0:30 is a 30-second video.
Most of the WW II German stuff comes from propaganda films so the contents may not “exactly” match the claim in the title! Somebody has access to some really high quality originals.
Aircraft – Post-WW2
B-52 Stratofortress bombers based on Guam engaged in Arc Light bombing raids over Vietnam in 1970 (3:51)
Cameraman Accidentally Killed In Explosion on US Aircraft Carrier (1953) War Archives (0:21)
Flying the legendary Canberra Bomber (3:38)
MORE Aircraft Carrier Crash Lowlights (13:02)
Su-34 mass crash Russia has problems with smart bombs (2:27)
EVERYTHING we hear from either side about the war in Ukraine is propaganda, so while this one has GREAT images, watch with the sound off if the audio offends you.
Aircraft – WW2
6 Squadron RAF Hurricane 2d with S Gun (4:12)
B24 Liberator Bomber Shot Down In Carolines Raid In WWII (1945) War Archives (1:16)
You’ve seen this before, but this clip is longer and better quality than I’ve seen elsewhere.
Blohm & Voss BV 138 escorting a Black Sea convoy shoots down an attacking Soviet bomber in 1943 (1:14)
Culver TD2C-1 pilotless drone comes to grief during arrested landing trials in April 1945 (0:56)
Hate it when that happens!
F6F Hellcat – April 2, 1945 Plane Crash CVE-106 (0:51)
Fighter Pilot – RAF Recruitment Film (1940) (7:40)
Flying Fortress Crash Landing (1944) (3:01)
Well, a belly landing…
F/O John C Wilson describes being forced down in a Hawker Hurricane and captured on March 19th 1941 (9:36)
JG 54 Messerschmitt Bf 109 F takes out a Soviet LaGG-3 in the skies over Leningrad in early 1942 (0:58)
Luftwaffe Heinkel He 111 bombers fend off attacks by Soviet fighters during a raid in 1943 (1:34)
Luftwaffe Pilot Defected in Stolen Messerschmitt 109 (7:24)
Marines Arming F4U at Goleta, CA (12:03)
Not combat footage, but they did exactly the same thing in the combat theaters.
Mosquito FB Mk. XVIII demolishes a derelict BV 138 with its 57mm cannon in a 1945 demonstration (0:31)
Title claims “1945,” but the D-Day stripes date this from the summer of 1944.
Original color footage of a similarly colorful selection of WWII Finnish Air Force planes (0:47)
Poor quality, but how often do you get to see original color footage of Finnish aircraft?
Original color footage of early VF-17 Vought F4U-1 Corsairs in flight in 1943 (2:14)
RARE – WARTIME RAF COLOUR FOOTAGE (25:35)
Poor quality reproduction, so if you find a better copy let me know.
Reindeer chased off the runway so a Ju 87 Stuka can take off in Finland in the Summer of 1941 (0:30)
Even Santa Claus hated the National Socialists!
The Purest, Most Badass Carrier Aviation Movie Ever (27:52)
Armor – WW2
Abandoned Soviet KV-1 and KV-2 tanks disabled by German forces in 1941 deflagration (0:30)
Afrika Korps Kradschützen Fail (0:30)
Allied armor casualties in Tunisia in early 1943 (0:25)
Direct fire from USMC M3 Gun Motor Carriages during the Battle of Guam in July 1944 (0:55)
Evolution of The Churchill Tank – No Damn Good? (24:10)
Opinion piece, but some good footage.
Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind wirbelwinding flak flakvierling 20mm (0:30)
Snow & Steel – How Creighton Abrams Tanks Turned the Tide at Bastogne (14:50)
Soviet armored casualties during the Battle of Kursk in 1943 (0:59)
The surrender of German panzers to British and Norwegian troops in Norway, June 1945 (7:26)
Tiger Tanks in action on the Eastern Front in early 1944 including Barrel Cam footage (0:54)
Artillery
7.5cm leichtes Infanteriegeschütz in action in 1941 (0:30)
7.7cm Leichte Kraftwagengeschütze M1914 mobile anti-aircraft gun from WWI (0:30)
60cm Karl-Gerät siege mortar Ziu in action during the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944 (0:25)
…while the Communists waited for the Germans to destroy Polish patriots to make postwar takeover of Poland a walk in the park.
Krupp K5 280mm railway gun in action near Crimea in 1943 (Eisenbahngeschütz railgun) (0:30)
Pantherturm – Germanys Last Ditch Tank Bunkers (6:13)
Ideas for using those pesky extra tank turrets after you’ve finished building your armor models!
The 280mm Atomic Cannon – Nuclear Artillery Test (1:05)
Funny-Cool
NEW DOMINO RECORD – Most INSANE Spiral Ever (32,000 Dominoes) (5:33)
As I say, I respect TALENT in whatever form it takes!
Shooting down a silo (2:15)
Just about the most “American” thing you’ll see today…
Models
These are both ship models and I’m not into ships myself–but I have massive respect for demonstrated talent, and these are two of the most amazing examples of our craft I’ve ever seen. Even if you’re not into ships, at least take a quick look at these two vids:
Making Japanese Surrender on the USS Missouri Diorama (1:14:55)
Making Yorktown aircraft carrier – Battle of Midway (33:54)
QI
I find these subjects Quite Interesting, but they don’t easily fit in any of the other categories:
B-17 Bomber Paint Vs No Paint, Unexpected Results (7:28)
David Niven Explains How He Got An Iron Cross in WWII – The Dick Cavett Show (5:55)
Görings Hero Nephew – Mercenary in Ethiopia, Finland & Biafra (8:15)
Bet you never heard of this guy. In this case the acorn fell VERY far from the tree!
How Common was Friendly Fire Among Bombers in WWII (9:13)
MEDAL OF HONOR Hero Helicopter Pilot at LZ X-Ray – Bruce Crandall (CLIP) (36:52)
True story of the hero Greg Kinnear played in the film “We Were Soldiers”
Official Trailer for THE SHAMROCK SPITFIRE (2024). (2:00)
TBM Avenger Marine Carrier Dilbert Dunker Training (4:56)
So what do you do with a scrap TBF fuselage??
The Brodie System (0:41)
Otherwise known as are you sure there are “no old, bold aviators…”
The Ultimate Guide to Raiders of the Lost Arks Iconic Aircraft (13:25)
Unexpected results of dropping 375,000 gallons of Napalm on German fortifications (11:03)
I’ve read the original report on this effort. Waste of time, but spectacular visuals!
“We Were Soldiers” Company Commander on Being Surrounded – The Battle of Ia Drang (33:06)
Ships
German battleship Schleswig-Holstein firing at point blank range during the Battle of Westerplatte (1:14)
HMS Jervis Bay taking fire from heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer while escorting Convoy HX 84 (2:15)
U-Boat trainee crewmen instructed on submarine buoyancy with the use of a transparent model (1:19)
Real models at war.
US Liberty Ship sunk by 10.5cm gunfire from a Kriegsmarine Type IX U-Boat (0:45)
Let me know if this is too many vid links to put in a newsletter. I’m trying to provide for a range of modelers’ interests, so the list gets kinda long.
And finally, a plug for my TIDAL WAVE/Ploesti “Correcting The Record” Presentation On The Youtube Commemorative Confederate Air Force Warbird Tube Channel:
This is for those who want to know what really happened on 1 Aug 43, as opposed to the slick and mostly incorrect YT vids that essentially just retell the story from the famous 1962 book Ploesti-The Great Air-Ground Battle of 1 August 1943. Note that book is extremely good, but the authors did not have access to crucial evidence to much of what really happened on that date, nor to the actual results of the attack. None of the YT vids rise to the competence of the book, although several are very slickly produced.
I tell the true story of this attack on the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, in words and pictures that illustrate what really happened on that famous attack: background, preparation, execution, and aftermath. Obviously every detail cannot be covered in about an hour, but this “bird’s eye view” presentation give you a much clearer and more accurate understanding of the mission.
In the short time available on a podcast I was able to hit only the top-of-the-tops of the waves on this complicated subject, but hope it’s an understandable and engaging story.
The links are:
Youtube: https://youtu.be/KYYFLijFmIQ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CommemorativeAF*
* I’m not on FB, so you’ll have to scroll through their posts to find my presentation (sorry about that!).
Feedback so far has been glowing, but I’m not perfect and definitely solicit your feedback and critical analyses to my email at support@Low-Level-Ploesti.org. Please note this is NOT my upcoming (eventually) documentary on the TIDAL WAVE operation, but rather a short story I put together at the CAF’s request.
Speaking of kinda long, it’s time to pack this in. Dave out.
Good luck and good modeling,
* For non-Americans: We call the product “toilet paper,” abbreviated “T.P.” Therefore teepee = T.P. It’s funnier without this explanation…