ISSUE #2

MIL I TAR Y A IRe R AFT

AIRCOMBATSPECiAl VOlUME'.1993

JI~.jl

l~IJBTI\iTINGi3~
SCARLET
LIGHT ING

CONTENTS
4

WARRIORS OF OPERATION PRAYING MANTIS

AI R CO M BAT SPECIAL

How the Da lla s Terrors stilled the Iranian Navy

By Tony Ho lmes

" M I LI TA RY A IRCRAFT
14 JUST ANOTHER MISSION
With a selection of particularly excel len t photograph s, we exa m ine
a group of Doug la s Havocs that took part in a North Africa
c ombat missio n on 14 February 1943
By John Swancara

26

A COWLING FOR HIS CANVAS

CAMOUFLAGE

& MARKINGS"

VOLU M E 1, 1993

The co mbat artwork of SSg t Don Alle n

By Tom Ivie

30

CORSAIRS OF THE FLYING EAGLES

VA-122 's LTV Corsair lis c hurne d ou t tho usan d s of c ombat-q ualifie d
A-7 aviators . We exam ine some of the unit's a ircraft
By Tony Holmes

38

SCARLET LIGHTNING!

USN/USMC CAMOUFLAGE AND

MARKINGS 1946-1962
In this Issue, we examine some of the more obscure ai rcraft flow n
by the Navy and Marines
By Mi chael O 'Leary

60

68

Edwi n Schne pf,' Publisher

Michael O'L eary / A.\ .w d /llt' Puhtisnor & Editor
Scan G ree nway I A s.w d a/(' Editor
Roy \-1. Brayhrook /7i.'Chllim l FAl i /or
De nis Ca lvert! Br itish & European Afilila n
AI-ialion Correspondent

The 5000th P38 produced at Loc khe ed 's Burbank facility during
World War Two wa s one of the most c olorfu l c ombat a irc raft ever
c reated

44

Editorial & Production Staff

Andrew Ga rcia / Art Director

Jo ve \l arl inel l Anil/O/l/ A rt D irector
Richard G raves I Graphics Director
Fred Ali res / Produ ction Coordinator
Susan Duprey I Circulation Af(/Il(l~er
Carol Van O r sdolr H I/ l il/ D I M(/II(/~(' r

Advertising Staff
Ruger Lowe I Advertising M w w Xcr
June Har ris l Ml't'r/ising Coordinator

Editorial & Advertising Offices

IN FOREIGN SERVICE
We present an intere sting selection of American -bu ilt mi litary
a ircraft serving with the air forces of other nation s during WWII

74 50 Deering Ave.

RED STARS IN REVERSE

Ca noga Park . CA 91304

Tel. (1m\) KK7-0 550 (7:JO-6:00 Mon-Thur s.)
Eo\X (KIK) RRJ -J Olq

We survey rema ining Soviet air power in Ge rmany

By Fred Willemsen

COVER: Lockheed 's 5000th Lightning. (lockheed )

INSIDE FRONT COVER: Excellent view 01 a Boeing -built A-20 C painted in Royal Air
Force marking s ore rea dy for delivery, (Boeing)

36
~

Air Comb at Special

AIR COMBAT SPEC IAL is published q ua rterly by

Cha lle nge Public at ion s, In c., 7950 Deering
Ave., Cano g a Park , CA 91304. Copyr ight c 1993
by Cha llenge Pub li c at io n s. Inc . All ri g hts
rese rved. Noth ing in w ho le o r in part may be
repr oduc ed wit houtlhe wr itte n permission 01the
pub lishe r, Publisher assumes no respons ibility for
u nsolic ited materi al. All photos. artwork and
man uscripts must be accom panied by stamp ed.
self-addressed retu rn envel ope, Prin ted in U,S.A

se vere r VA-Q4 jets wore kill markings as welt. the squadron uniformly
applying the m above the star and bar a ft o f the cockpit . O ne o f the
chosen few was " Shrike 400 ;' a ltho ug h the marking is not visib le in this
shot of the starboard sid e o f the ai rc raft. Sub tle var iations in the TPS
sha d e s can be seen forward o f the wings on this A7E, ind ic a ting
perhaps a partial repaint foll owing a period of rectifi cation WOrk bel ow

decks aboard the " Big E:' Squadron maintainsrs are only permitted to
tou ch -Up areas of the TPS folloWing the completion of anti-corrosion work
or mecha nical overh aul; com p lete repaintin g is not perm itted below
depot level

;4;. AIR COMBAT SPECIAL

HOW THE DALLAS TERRORS

STILLED THE IRANIAN NAVY DURING
OPERATION PRAYING MANTIS

BY TONY HOLMES
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TONY HOLMES

or over two decades a familiar sight

aboard the decks of the US Navy'scarrier force. the pugnacious Vought A-7

Cor..air II ha.. now disappeared from . .quadron service. replaced by the F/A-1 8 Hornet.
However. thanks 10 the exploit s of VA-46

" Cla nsmen" ami VA-T2 " Blue Hawk... dur-

ing Operation Desert Storm . the AT s final

operatio nal cruise proved that the "Dallas

When the carrier arrived ott the coast 01Son

Fra nc isc o in early Ju ly 19881he various e lements of CVW11 d ispersed to their home
nava l a ir stations. The two Corsa ir II squo ctons headed south to NASlemoore. the units
combi nin g to perfor m th e trad itional p o stc ru ise mass fly -by of the base before landin g. Photog ra phe d that so m e month, A7E
BuNo 158833 sits q uietly on the squadro n
romp pr ior to on e ng ine c he c k run being
perfor med by VA 22 mo.ntome rs. A FOD
g uard ha s been sec urely litted ov er the in toke. and canopy polish clouds the coc kp it transparency. Aside from th e d istinc tive
camouflage a nd ship ~m silhoue tte. this je t
also we ars a white Bottle " E" sym bol behind
the cockpit. This sig nifies that the squadro n
was the pr e mier West Coast light ottock un it
a t the tim e, VA 22 recei ving the 1987 award
from th e Com mand e r Naval Air Pacific fo r
sustaine d e xce llence in the o pera tiona l
and maintenance teres The sq uadro n has
o fte n adorned its jets with the Bottl e " E:' the
" Fig hting Redcoc ~s" winn ing the a ward for
three consecutive years between 1979 a nd
1981. This impressive record resulted in VA-22
earnin g the ulti m a te c tto ck sq ua d ron pr ize
in 19 81. the Rea r-Admi ral Cl a re nc e Wade
M c Cl usky Award
Even in the oor kest da ys o f TPS greys. VA94
still mana ged to subtly liven u p their Corsai r
lis with a d ay-g lo " Mi ghty Sh rike" strea~ i n g
a cross the vertical surfaces of their jets . This
cruise m ar ked a welcome return to a modic um of color fo r the squad ron . th e bird 01
prey having looked decid edly g re y lor
severa l years. VA94 mana g ed to ret ain
thos e d istinctive markings u ntil thei r re equip m en t with the Ho rnet in la te 1990 . To day. however. the only full color shrike to be
see n is the o ne sp ra yed o nto the p ilot' s
bon e do me. the tail m ar ~ln g ha v ing
reg re ssed bec k to gr ey
6

AlA COMBAT SPECIAL

I USS

ENTERPRISE

ter ror" still had plenty of life left .

To mark the end of a high ly successful
deployment . VA72 repainted thei r "CAG
bird" (BuNo 16(552 ) in an appropriate twotone sand and leather color scheme. the
finishing touch being added below the cockpit in the form of an airframe scoreboa rd
made up of 31 black camels - one for each
sortie flown! The upper wing surface s were

usedto proudly display " DESERTSlDRM "

land. These lightly armed but highly maneuverable vessels were quickly dealt with hy
a mixed force of VA-95 "Green Lizards" Intr uder s and VA-22 "Rcdcock s" Corsair Hs.
Two gunboats were sunk with Rockcyc
duster bomb units. and the remaining vcssel.. hastily run asho re by the ir crews.
The Saam dass frigates Sohund and
Sab lan had also entered the fray by th is
stage. the former being despa tched by a

veritabl e arsenal of weapon s unleashed by

the heavy and light strike units of CVWII.
Both A7 squadrons contributed to the vcsscls destruction. scoring direct hits with
their Mk . 82 5()(Hb and Mk.. 83 IOOO-lb iron
bomb... as well a.. Walleye guided weapo n...
The Sahand. meanwhile. had been hit by
a single GBU-IO2(xx)-lb laser-guided bomb
launched from an Intruder. and wav motionless in the \\..uer. A flight of A 7~ had already

titling as well.
This aircra ft was also equipped with its
own set of suitably resprayed extern al tanks
and wing pylons. Invited to many air shows
and base open houses upon the squad ron's
return to NAS Cecil Field . Florida. in late
March 1991. " Blue Hawk 400" docked up
the miles criss-crossi ng the East Coast prior to VA-72's decommission ing on 23 May
1991.
Although . without a doubt . the most fumous camouflaged Corsair II to wear a star
and bar. this part icu lar aircraft was by no
means the only A7E combat veteran to be
adorned in a spec ial celebratory one-off
scheme. A brief but bloody skirmish in the
Straits of Ho rmuz in April 1988 saw VA22
" Fighting Redcocks" and VA-94 " Mighty
Shrikes" pined against the Iranian Navy duro
ing Operation Praying Mantis. The result
was several enemy vessels sunk. a frigate
hadly holed and the "boss bird " of VA-22
repain ted in a distinctive. hut lillie publicized color scheme.

UNDER FIRE
Whe n the mi xed str ike pa ckages
launched from USS Enterprise (CV:'\'-65)
on the morning of 18 Ap ril 198 8. eleme nts
of the Seventh Fleet were go ing to war for
the first time since the Maygue: incident 13
years hefore. Ope rations conducted by Carrier Air Wing 11 durin g the war-at-sea were
in respon se to an incident that had taken
place four days ea rlier.
The Oliver Haz ard Perry-class frigate
USS Samuel B. Roberts (F FG-58) was on
patrol in international waters when it struck
an Iranian mine . Other device s were fou nd
in the Persian Gu lf. and the Seventh Fleet
was given authorization from the Whi te
House to carry out limited retaliatory strikes
against Iranian oil platform s identi fied as
suppo rting mine-laying operations. and a
pair of Saamda ss frigates notori ou s for
strafing superta nkers in the Gulf.
The .....a t-at-sea co mmenced with the
shelling of the Sasson and Siri-D platform s
by a numbe r of surface ships. before their
final demi se at the hands of Marine demo lition teams. Th is actio n qu ickly resulted in
a number of Iranian Boghammer-ciess gunboats putti ng to sea from Abbar Mussa Is.

The " boss-bi rd" g ets the SPit and cossn treatment pr ior to flying a routine frai ning sortie
Aside fro m wearing a trad itional " Fig hting Peoc ock ' in the appropriate c o lor o n the fin.
th is jet a lso ha d the commander's na me picked o ut in red, and a highly detailed soom.
cress frig ate silhouette in whi te. sprayed beneath the cockpit , As c an b e seen from this
close -up shot, the a irfra me ha d been stripped bock to bore metal prior to being re spro veo
Cd r. W.H, "Gr its" Roberson IIIto ok c oe rce or VA-22 in July 1987. and dur ing the 1988 We stPoe he d isting uishe d himself in the CVN 65 land ing com p e titio n by finishing in the a ir wing
" Top 11 :' He was a lso awarded an Enterprise Double C enturion patch at the end of the
c ruise
MI LITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOUFLAGE & MARKINGS

launched from the Enterprise and was inhound to finish off the vessel when Secre tary of Defense Frm k Carlucci rescinded the
war-at-sea dir ect ive. and the Corsair lis
were ordered to return to the carrier . The
frigate wa s eventually towed back to Bander
Abbas by three Iranian Navy tugs.
A total of XO fighter and 160 strike sorties were Flown by CVW11 duri ng the brief
war-at-sea period that was Operat ion Praying Mantis. this effort prompting the com manding officer of the Enterprise, Captain
Robert J "Rocky' Spanc. to desc ribe it as
"the largest American sea battle since Wtlrld
War Two:'

10

A IR CO MBAT SPECIAL

CORSAIR II
SQUADRON HISTORIES
VA-22 " FIGHTI NG REDCOCKS"
Fighting Rcdcocks'One of the stalwart
units within the Commander Light-Attack
Wing Pacific organizat ion. the " Fighting
Rcdcocks" have roosted at NAS Lemoore.
in the SanJoaquin Valley of California. since
the facility was opened for trade in 1961. A
sea..oncd Skyhawk unit with no less than
five bloody Vietnam tours to its credit b~
1970. VA-12 made the tra nsition from A--tF...
to A-7b in December of that year. following their final cruise aboard the USS B O il
Homme Richard (CVA-31).

After a brief work-up period with the jet.

the unit was assigned to CVW-15 (along with
vister -...quadron VA-9.J " Mighty Shrikes" )
and despatched to the war zone once again .
On station aboard USS Caml Sea (CYA-43J
from 12 November 197110 J7 July 1972, the
" Fighting Rcdcoc ks" were heavily involved
in Blu(' Tree, Freedom Train and Lineback a I operation.. throughout the cruise. Three
A-7:-. were 10... t du ring: this period : two to
SA~ 1 s and one to unknown causes. Unfortunately. only one pilot was recovered from
the downed airc raft . A fourth jet was lo... t
in a non-fatal accident dur ing routine
operations .

On 9 March 1973. the squadron headed

west again. but by this time the newly signed

Paris Peace Accord s had taken effect and
VA-22's operational so rties were re-,meted
to missions over Lao s and Cambodi a . 1':0
losses were recorded and the squadro n reLooking well -worn after six months a t sea.
BuNo 160726 served as the VA-22 " CAG
bird" during the westpoc. and also pcrncipaled in the Praying Mantis strike sorties The
CVW.11 CAG during the c ruise was Co p t
"Bullet" Bob Canepa. a seasoned c e rnpotcner who logged his 1200th trip during
the deployment, a t the helm of a VA-95
Intrude r

I'

2J ' r /'"'_&
~

'j

I
,

For some unexplained reason the ship fa ced aft on the CAG 's A-7, and was sp ray ed on
just a bove the nation al insignia . As c an be seen from this close-up. the silhouette is extremely deta iled - g ood enough for inc lusion in the Jo nes Afl the World's Fig hting Ships
hc ndoook perhaps! As isstandard prac tic e a mon g st frontnne units, the Bottle " E" has been
picked ou t with a d rop shadow background : the letter on BuNo 15B833lacks thisbecause
it has been sprayed on to the very dark green shade, which would render the drop shadow
virtually invisible

turned 10 Lemoore in Novembe r. Over the

next 17 year s the " Fighti ng Redcocks" per formed a series of WL'stPac c ru ises. participating in co untless exercises and air wing
...cork-ups at Fallon a nd E1 Cent ro. From
1982 the sq uadro n's at-sea home was USS
Enterprise (CVN65) . VA-22 bidding farewell to the " Big E" at the e nd of the ca mc r's final pre-re fit aro und-the-wor ld c ru ise
in March 1990.
T hat same yea r the unit also retired its
Corsai r li s to Davis-Monthan. thu s e ndi ng
a zu-ycar association with the pug nacious
Vought je t. The SLUF was replaced by the
F/A-ISC. this aircraft br inging with it a
change in designation to VFA-22 to better
reflect their increa...ed capability, Still assigned to CVW-II. the " Fighting Redcocks"
now ply their trade from the steel decks of

the Nimir:::-c1ass ca rrier USS Abraham l.incol" (CV~ -T2) .

VA-94 " MIGHTY SHRIKES"

Sister -squadron to the " Fighting Red cocks" since the 1969 combat c ruise aboa rd
USS Bon HommeRichard (eVA-31). VA-94
"Might y Shrikes" share much of the samc
history, Originally esta blis hed in Ma rch
1952 as a fighter squadro n equi pped with the
F9F Panther. VF-94 c hanged co mmu nities
in August 1958 when it received its first A4D
Skyhawk s.
Thc "Mighty Shrike s" were quickly immcrscd in the vietnam conflict. the squadron pa rticipating in fl aming Dart strikes
again st Viet Con g stron gholds during a
103-day spell on the line aboard USS Rimger
(C V-61) between August 1964 and April

MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOU FLAGE & MARKINGS

11

Canopy cl ea n and FOD c a ge removed. " Redcock 301" bakes in the July sun VA-22 has a history of applying specia l on e-off schemes
to their A 7s; two jets were re painted in a three-to ne w raparound scheme in early 1967. primarily for a forthcoming air wing oet to Fallon . The c o lors c hosen were dark green (a sim ilar sha d e to the color worn on this a ircraft). sand and leather a nd . unl ike the waterbased schemes tha t were applied to the F-1ds of fe llow CVW- 11 mem bers VH 1d and -213 for a fighter derby a t EI Centro. the po ints
used on the VA22 Jets we re permanent . However, by the time the squadron d epo rted Alameda w ith the Enferprise lor a northe rn Pac ific
cruise. both a ircraft ha d shed their "d e sert" c o lo rs a nd return ed to stcnccto tactical point sche me (TPS) g re ys
12

AIR COMBAT SPECIAL

1%5. A further t w,o combat cruises were undertaken by VA-94 .... ith [he A-4C in 1%5-66
(Enterprise) and in 1967 (Hancock). Tran...i...tion to the Echo model Skyhawk brought
with it a move to the En e.t-c!ass carrier USS
Bon Homme Richard (CVA-JI ). and a further three Tonkin Gulf deployment... bet.... een
1968 and 1970.
Paired with VA-22 lrom 19690n wards.
the unit traded up hi A-7E... in early 1971and
moved from CVW5 to CVW-15. Now tlying from the USS Coral St'a (CVA-43).
VA-9-l received a true baptism of fire with
the new Corsair II during a torrid war cruise
thai coincided with the Li nebacker J bombing offensive.
Aside from routine ...trike mi...... ion....
VA-9-l abo participated in the mining of
Haiphong Harbour. The "M ighty Shrikes"
utilized Mk. 52-2 devices so.....n at low level
to completely cui off the main North Vietnamese trading port. the ...quadrcn ...hatin g
this vital tasking with Intruder-equipped
VMA(AW )-22-l. Although from an ope rational point of view the crui...c wu.. highly
. . ucce......ful. the squadron paid a heavy price
in machinery. losing three jets to SAMs in
the "'pace of four weeks. plus a further aircraft during non-combat flying. Fortunate ly. no pilots were lost throughtout the 148
days...pent on the line. Another Tonkin Gulf
cruise occurred the following year. h UI few
combat sorties were flown and no A-7... lost.
In 1975. VA-94 found itself providing
helicopter escort support duri ng Operation
Frequent Wind (the evacuation of Saigon).
followed soon after by strike sorties against
targets in Cambod ia as a result of the scizurc of the US merchant ... hip 55 Ma y{/gll e:
by the Khymcr Rouge" CVW-15 and VA-9-l
performed one last \\ btP-.tt' with Coni! Sea
in 1977. follo w ing .... hid the ...quadron
moved its allegiance to USS Kitty Ha ll '/.;
((V-64). VA94 \ li N deploy ment \\ ith its
nc..... carrier was in 1979 w hen the ai r wing
...pent 63 days on station in the Arabian Sea
as a result of the Iranian hostage crisi.... Two
further WestP-.tt... were undertaken with the
ve......cl in 1980 and 1981.
In January 19S:~ . the squadron wa ... reassigned to CVW-II and the nccw ly refurbished
USS Enterprise (CVl\:65) . So began an
operational relation...hip that was to la...t until the vessel returned 10 the navy yard once
again for a further refit in 1990. A... with
VA-no the "Might)" Shrikes" replaced their
weary A-7Es with Lot XII F/A-18C Hornets.
freshly delivered from the McDonnell
Douglas plant at St Loui.... Re-designated
VFA-94. the squadron b still part of
( VW-II. hut now ... ai l ~ the world's o,"eans
aboard USS Ahm//lllll Lit/col" (CV 1': -72I.

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MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOU FL AGE & MA RKINGS

13

WITH A SELECTION OF PARTICULARLY

EXCELLENT PHOTOGRAPHS, WE EXAMINE
A GROUP OF DOUGLAS HAVOCS THAT TOOK
PART IN A NORTH AFRICA COMBAT
MISSION ON 14 FEBRUARY 1943

JUS., ANO.,HER
DATE LINE:
Somewhere ill North Africa. /4 February 1943.

BLITZKRIEG!
"Early yesterday morni ng. Germany's vaunted and {JOIn-,!,,1 Africa Korp s. under
the leadership ofField Mars/wi Rommel. opened a major ground offensive against Allied
Armin l'lu l of Sidi bou Zid with imp ressive results. Their forces. which consis t of tanks ,
and ill/amI')' heavily supported by artillery, and dive bombers. have attacked along the
entire Allied front. This has included
sporadic air strikes behind our lines
against ",,,nenms air bases, critical
supply dumps. troop C01l\'O)"5, and
staging areas.
"The 12,h Air Force. in conjunction
with the Royal Ai r Force. has ha ll
providing i,WClII l airborne support to
our ground troops by rapidly
attacking along and behind the enemy
fro m to disrupt the offellJ i~'('
and give our ground troops lime to
org(lIli:,.e and begin a
massive counter-offensi ve. . .

14

AlA COMBAT SPECIAL

BY JOHN SWANCARA

MISSION
One of the more interesting Havocs that took part on the 14
February 1943 mission, is this craft which returned to base with its
left engine feathered and made a belly-landing due to related
combat damage, As can be seen, the ground crews wear
helmets because of German air attacks which were taking place
during the day, The aircraft had rec eived a field camouflage
scheme of Sand splotches over its Olive Drab upper surfaces.
Under surfaces were Neutral Gray. Note how the "grim reaper"
nose insignia has been partially overpcinted.

MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOUFLAGE & MARKINGS

15

Ano ther v iew of the belly-landed Havoc, show ing how the hand-applied c amoufl a g e has obscured toe a ircraft's serial on the tail. The
Insig nia Blue a nd Insignia While cocc roes on the fuselage measured 40 inc hes in dia mete r (Technica l Ord e r 07-1 -1 issued o n 8 April 1941).

C lose-up view of the d ow ned ai rcra ft illustrates the c rud e nature of the Sand splotching, w hich may have been a wa le r-bas ed paint .

Sand was oiciaU\{ known as Desert Pink (Sha d e 261 and tt-e cc -co cuoce seem ed 10 be c c ouec to iodom OlfCfOH.
16

AIR COMBAT SPECIAL

Closeformation with

~a~S~;I!~~~~;~~~~~~~~~~~~~~::~::::::::;;:;;::;:~~~~---

mis~;on.

Buffalo Da ve

return s from the 141 February 1Q43

The name ho s been pointed with Insignia
Ye llow. while nine bomb missions and a star
ore po inted in Insignia White a bove the
86th's insig nia. whi c h was Insig nia While, insign ia Yellow a nd Block, ThisA 20B. 413001
is f in ished in a Royal Ai r Force-styl e
camoufla ge scheme with Dar k Earth a nd
Da rk Gree n upper surfaces. bu t th e lower
surfa c es appear to be finished in Neutral
G ra y ro ther tha n the RAFstand a rd Sky finish

The gr o und crews o f the 14 February mission

we re not havin g a particu la rly fu n day a s
Ge rman a ir ra ids hit the fiel d several limes
These troop s have crowded into a slil tre nc h

during o n attock, while the p hotographe r

lakes a chance 10 gel the ir portroit

'.

",

~.

.,

. '.

.-, .::,
'

hese typically terse military correspondent announcements - ami ofte n heavily

censored comments - never provided
a reader with any_feelings of involvement in
the massivebattles that continuously raged
over the North African desert at (his stage
of World War Two. Few people ever realized. or understood . the massof activity that
was required to prepare and provide this
"instant airborne support:'
In all probability. the -l7th Bombardment
Group Headquarters had received instructions from Joint Command requesting immediate sUPjXJn. The operations section
quickly reviewed the combat-ready status of
its squadrons and included the recently arrived86th Bomb Squadron. which was outfined with Douglas A-lOB Havocs stationed
at Youks-Ies Bains. Algeria.

..

BRIEF SQUADRON HISTORY

The 86th had been activated at McCord
MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOUFLAGE & MARKINGS

17

get its " feet wet: ' Th ings had a habit of escala ting when distractions, such as the major
Ge rman offensive. began .

SUPPORT ASSIGNMENT
The Squadron crews were as signe d the
task of attack ing a ny Germa n forces in the
Faid Pass sec tor of the massive and fl uid
front .
The Squadron . which had probably e ndured one of the German di ve-bombing attacks earlier in the day. quickly put the
ground crews to ....ork arming all operational
air craft with bombs. ammunitio n and fuel.
while the air crews got their assignments in
the usua l da rk . du sty and hot Squadron

Even d uring borue tne troop shave to e o t. G ro und and a ir cr e ws grab a b ite trorn thisvery
impro vise d field kitchen , Note the c a moufla g e neMing

Clos e- up of the insig nia on R,E, Horner's airc ra ft wh ich , 01 thi s tim e, hod com p lete d
e leven combat mi ssion s

Members 01the 86th Bombardment Squa dron to ke nrne for a group oortro.t offer the 14
Febr uary mission . Note the wide variety of uni form dress a nd va ried side arms

AAFB. Washingt on. on 15 Janua ry 19-11.

w here it began opera tions with Douglas B-18
Bolds. eventually tran sitioni ng to the new
A-20 sometime in early 19n .
The Squadron arriv ed at it-.new assignrncnt. Greensboro. North Ca rolina . in July
1942. where it was allocated anti-submarine
patrol duty along the east coast as part of its
traini ng. Th is arm ed combat trainin g continued until mid-Octo ber. when the un it
received o rders to " pack-up" for an ove rseas trip. Destination : l':0I1h Africa . Assignmen t: 47th BG.
18

AIR COMBA T SPECIAL

Arriving in Mediouna . French Morocco. in November 19-1-2 . on the heels of the

US Army invasion force s. the Squadron had
quickly moved 10 'rouks-les Bains in December. Arriving at what probably had been a
Germ an airfield . nothing could be taken for
granted.
Th e grou nd troo p' a nd Army eng ineers
had to ' pend considerable time di sarmi ng
booby traps a nd digging for land mine s.
Even with these minor distractio ns. the
Squadron had probably bee n pa rticipa ting
in small attach agains t Ge rman target s to

briefing tent. When the airc raft. with names

such as TIle Modesto Mauler. l udv l ean and
Buffalo Da ve, were finally read y, they look
off and attac ked German tanks and infantry
in their ass igned area. They also found a nd
attacked targets of opport unity. such as a
Ge rma n truck co nvoy ncar Maknassy. a nd
finished up with a quick raid on the rail road
yards at statio n Sened .
T he actua l deta ils a nd results oft he mission are unknown. although the Squadron
did receive a Distinguished Unit Citation on
22 February 1943. after moving to Cun robert . Alge ria. j ust days after this mid
occurred .
Air Force histori cal records provided the
co rrobo rative data . wh ile a seri es of nega lives discovered in the archives of the Museurn of Flying. loca ted in Santa Monica .
Cal ifornia . provided the inspirat ion 10
research thi s short articl e.
The photograph s were apparently taken
by a Doug las Aircraft techni cal rep resentslive assigned 10 a highly-cla ssified civilia n
aircraft overhaul depot know n as " Project
19: ' located in Northe rn Ethiop ia.
These accom panying pho tographs show
some of the aircra ft "nose art :' as well as
the names of seve ral pilots and c rew mem ber s to com plemen t other ac tio n sho ts tha t

Hcvocs head towar d the enemy on 14 Feb ruary 1943 . Note how the O live Drab stan ds out against the har sh desert san d

Maintain ing a respectable formation. the squadron he a d s in low aga inst enemy targets Nearest Havoc s ore fin ished in the standard
Olive Dra b (Sha d e 41) a nd Neutral Gray (Shad e 43) ,
MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAM OUflAGE & MARKINGS

19

As a trio of torrned-up C 47s rum b les overhead, the future of La dy Jean is discuss ed Apparently the victim o f bottle d a ma g e, the warrio r is being strip ped o f usea b le p arts The p la ne is finsihed in sta ndard Olive Dra b and Neutral Gray. Note the Insig nia Red p ro p e lle r
warning stripe on the fusel a ge,

Corryng the Royal Air Force serial Al497 under the horizontal tail, this Havoc shows e vid en ce o f considera b le repainting Portio ns o f
the RAF Dark Earth a nd Dark Green upper surfaces hove been covered over with Olive Dra b, b ut the und er surfaces appear to be RAF Sky.
20

AIR COMBAT SPECIAL

The difficult job of refuelling AL497 by hand with the benefit of a sma ll motor-driven pump is underway Insignia below the cockpit is
of a cat rid ing a rocket. The craft has 18 mission stars. Note the cheek gun modification and the lack of underwing bomb racks present
on some of the other Havocs.

Bombing up AL497 - a difficult and dangerous task a ll done by manpower. In December 1942, All ied Command ordered the Havocs
to have a two-inch Insignia Yellow surround painted on the cocardes but, due to the pressure of the war, only some aircraft had the
marking applied . This order was dropped in June 1943. Note the stylized "WO" in Insignia White on the rear fuselage
MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOUFLAGE & MARKINGS

21

Well-wo rn Modesto M a ule r receive s some "open a ir" maintena nce following the combat mission . This view illustra te s the und er wing
bomb ro ck s to adva ntage
Close-up of Modesto Mauler shows the
worn RAF Da rk Earth, Da rk Green
c a mo ufla g e, The open c a nop y shows
good details, such as the
lighten ing hole s a nd overall
Zinc C hroma te finish .
Grou nd c rew takes the
threat of Ge rma n a ir
o ttcc ks seriou sly a s
they are all wearing
hel mets.

22

AlA COMBAT SPECIAL

Evacuating the personnel wo unded d uring the 14February air o ttocks. Oli ve Dra b trucks (the closet wea rs the Medica l Corp s insig nia)
unload the wounded into C -47 4119469 in the bockcrounc

The duffel bogs of the wounded are seen in f ront of the C-47 p rior to loading Note how the interi or of the O live Drab and Neutral Gray
C-47 is sprayed overall line C hroma te.
MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOUFLAGE & MARKINGS

23

With the wounded in place. the C-47 hea d s

for a field hospital. Zinc Chromate interior
is e vid e nt a nd the variety of uniforms is
noteworthy.

a battle damage d A-20, as well as the gaunt

faces of several wounded crewmen being air
evacuated by the ever present and helpful
C-47, photograph icall y de monstrate the
ma ny feelings that each member went
through in the course of j ust one day.
Hopefully, this story and pictu res may
jog a few air and ground crew memories into
respo nding with actual detai ls. What did the
Squadron members call them selves with that
"Grinning Skull" insignia? Was the skull unauthor ized, or was it the 47th BG patch? Air
Force records indicate a totally different
"official" 86th Bombardment Squadron emble m wh ich was not approve d until March

1945.

include some ofthe aircrews prior to takeoff.

the ground crews loading the aircraft with
bombs , ammunition and fuel, then awaiting
the return of the straggler s. The mission formation passing over the stark flatness of the
Tunisia n landscape , as they head for their
respective targets, is particularly interesting.
The Gennan air attacks on the base were
normally repulsed by 40mm antiaircraft gun
24

AlA CO MBAT SPECIAL

crews, responding to protect the Squadron's

A-20s which were dispersed over the su rroundin g barren desert. The ground and air
crews' usual, and onl y protection, was the
proverbial two-man split trench . which often
becam e overloaded.
The d ation of the air crews and mechanics after anoth er full day at the "s alt mine; '
sur vivors inspecting a wheels-up landing of

T he Squadro n co ntinued on throughout

the war flying the A-20 on all of its missions.
wh ich ranged over the enti re Ital ian peninsula and included Corsica , Sicily and France.
At this location, it tra nsitioncd into the A-26
(late r the B-26) on, or abo ut, April 1945.
The Squad ron co ntinued with post-war
activities at Seymo ur John son , No rth Carolina , where it flew the B-26 until it entered
the jet age. T he unit became one of the first
to be outfitted with the Nort h Ame rican
B-45. Its last known operat ions were in June
1962, at Sculthorpc, England , where the unit
flew the Douglas B-66.

A
COWLING
FOR BIS
CANVAS
THE COMBATARTWORK OF
S/SGT. DON ALLEN
BY TOM IVIE
PHOWGRAPHY COURTESY LEOSCHMIDT

ithout a doubt , one of the things

that make the Warbirds of Worl d

War Two so fascina ting foraviation

history buffs is the artwork thai so many of

them ca rried. Th ese pa intin gs covered a

1942 until the e nd of the war and duri ng that

lim e he decorated over 60 aircra ft. His art work graced the planes fl own by very famous pilots and tho se who did not become
as well -known and, in the opin ion of ma ny,

multitude of subjects and varied in quality

from very poor to exceptional wo rks of art.
The truly good ones were done by men who
not only had talent as painters. but vivid imagi nations as well ! The remarkable thi ng
abo ut these GI arti sts was that they were
" pan- time" arti sts. All of them had a fulltime duty to perform a nd had 10 do their
painting when time allowed . There were

manyof these artists serving throughout the

8th Air Force. but the 3341h Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Group. could claim one of
the very bes t as its own. Th e "old mas ter"

of the 334th FS was S/Sgt Don Allen whose

regular duty was that of a crew chief hut, because of his talent as an art ist, he was kepi
extremely busy in his part -time job. Don
served with the sq uadro n from December

SlSgt Don Allen poses with the second Miss

Do llas - QP oK, sin 42-7876
26

AIR COMBAT SPECIAL

his work was a n importa nt facto r in main taining high morale in the squadro n.
Ac tually D en's " pa rt-time" job in the Air
Force was not a new ly acqu ired hobby. His
interest in drawing began at an ear ly age. He
recalled that " I've alwaysdone a lot of drawing. even before kinderg arte n. All through
schoo l l drew in book margi ns. many time s
in class when 1 should have been concentrating on the day's subjec t:' As a high school
stude nt he took all the a rt co urses offe red at
Shaker Heights High School and designed
and helped bu ild sets for the schoo l's stage
produ ct ions. After graduat ing fro m high
sc hoo l in 1937. Don e nr olled at the
Cleveland School of Art a nd com ple ted a
comp rehensive four-year course in art, with
a major in illustration . He won a scholar ship and was to return for a fifth year of
study. howeve r, he didn 't get 10 use it beca use in February 1942 Don received his
"g reetings fro m Uncle Sam :'
Don's introduction 10 Ihe Anny began at

Don Allen adding the finishing touc he s to Ralph Hofer's P-47 Missouri Kid/Show Me.

Fort Hayes in Columbu s, Ohio. At Ft. Hayes

he was given Arm y placement tes ts and the
results were a bit perplex.ing to the young artist. Even though he had never do ne any
mechan ical work in his life, the Army in its
infinite wisdom , determi ned that Don
should become an aviation mec hanic! Aftcr leaving the induction center, Pvt. Allen
reported to Sheppard Field , Texas, for basic trai ning and aircraft mec hanics school .
From there he was rus hed to Seattle,
Washington , to attend specialized train ing
on B-17s. After completing this school in

Novembe r 1942, Don headed for the East

Coast to await shipment 10 Europe. With all
this preparation for serving B-17s under his
belt , Don and his group were loaded on the
Queen Elizabeth for a five-day voyage to England , and an eventual assignment to afighter gro up.
Once Don arrived at Dcbdcn in December 1942, he began retraining. He reca lled
it asfollows: " I was assigned to the 334th
Fighter Squadron at Dcbdcn where all of us
neophytes were tutored in our jobs by helpful Englis h counter parts. We learned the

ropes on Spitfires which were dec ked out

in newly painted Amc rican stars. A few
mo nths later the English gro und crews
departed and we began receiv ing our first

P-4N'
It was shortly aftcr the arrival of the massive P-47 Thunderbolts at Debdcn that Don
began his ca reer as a " nose -art spec ialist:'
His first painting was done for Lt. Aubrey
Stanhope, and it was done in the very early
days of the 4th FG's Thunderbolt era. When
the P-47s began to arrive at Debden inJ anuary 1943, the 334th FS was pulled off oper-

Lt, Archie C hatterley's P47C coded QP 'G

serial nu mber 41-6358, Don pointed this
scene ofa p rospector rid ing a bear tow ar d
Chatterley's home to wn of San Diego.

Co pt , w.T. O'Re g an chose this em blem o f a

pink el ep ha nt shooting bullets th rough its
trun k, The p la ne is a P-47C sIn 41-6392,
cod ed QP'X

Miss Plainfield was piloted by Lt. Steve

Piscnos. ThisP-47D. sIn 42-7945. was coded
QP "D, Ptsonos. a G reek immig rant. c all ed
Plainf ield, New Je rse y, his ho me, He b ecame a n Am e rican citize n whil e serving
with the 4th FG in October '42, While with the
334th FS Pisanos d owned ten enemy p lanes.

28

AIR COMBAT SPEC IA L

ations and was delegated as the training

squadron for the Group. Dur ing this train ing period Don served as crew chief (as a
privatcl) for Lt. Steve Pissanos (334th FS)
and LI. Aubrey Stanhope (335 .h FS) who
shared a P-47. When the training period ended in late February 190 the P- H. serial
number 41-6233, wa s assigned to LI. Stanhope and at that time he and Don decid ed
on the artwo rk fo r this bi rd . The pa inting
which was di splayed on the left side of the
cowling was a stalking black panther against
a light-colored circular background . Above

the panther's head and shoulders was a tleurde-lis. The idea for the painti ng was a combined effort of the two men. Don stated : "As
1 recall. it "~JS his choice to have a black panther and I added the flour-de-lis to reflect LI.
Stanhope's French backg round : ' LI. Stanhope was the son of an Ameri can father and
French mother. He was bo rn in France and
lived there as an Amer ican citizen until 1940.
As things worked ou t. Stanhope's P-47
qu ickly became a flying advertisement for
Den's work and reques ts for artwork from
other pilots began pouring in. Don described

in general how he went about producing the

nose art. "Most of the pilots had a basic idea
of what they wanted - unclad girls, cartoon
characters. o r animals - and a name to go
with it in most cases. I would make a sma ll
sketch. usually in black pencil but occasionally in co lor. On ce the sketch was approved
I'd scale it up directly on the plane. ?aint was
a prob lem. I preferred regular enamel but
sometimes when a certain color wasn't available. I'd usc lacq uer which was horrend ou s
to brus h on . Somewhere along the way I es,Continued on p,lge 541

Lt. Robert Pnsers Q ua c k P.HC sin 416187

coded QP 'l

Captai n Wo lte r Hollander's P4 7C a nd the

Hawaii an warrior symbolizes Holland er's
home town . Ho no lulu. Hawaii- The pl ane
was c oded Q P' B. sJn 416538. Posing with
Welakahoo is Corporal Roy Ma yorg a
Here we see Lt. Priset's Quack redecorated
a s Uncle Den . The pl ane's c ode wa s a lso
ch an g ed to Q p. Eand the pilot was now Lt.
Herbert Brcnchtierd

This is on e o f the fe w non334th FS b ird s

d ecora ted b y Don Allen . This p la ne was
flo wn by Ken d all Carlson of the 336th FS
P47 sJn 4165 75 coded VF E,

MILITARY AIRCRAFT CA MOUF LAGE & MARKINGS

29

VA-122 's LTV CORSAIR 115 CHURNED OUT

TH OUSANDS OF COMBAT-QUALIFIED A-7
AVIATORS, WE EXAMINE SOME OF THE
UNIT'S AIRCRAFT
BY TONY HOLMES
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TONY HOLMES

rons were split betwe e n the Co mma nder

VA-I22 then commenced the transitionary

training of the first frontline Corsair II unit
on the West Coast (VA-147 "Argonauts").
Over the ensuing two decades, both units
were responsible for the training of over
10,000 Corsair II pilots between them, the
high standard of excellence achieved by the
light strike community with the jet being
directly auributable to the syllabus taught at
the readiness squadrons. Initially equipped
with just the single-seat version of the Corsair II, the squadron's training tasks were
cased somewhat from January 1977 onwards
as the first TA-7Cs arrived at Cecil Field and
Lemoore.

Light Attack Wing Pacific base at NAS

Lemoore, in California, and the Com-

THE "TWOSAIR"

Cleran of five conflicts and countless

operational cruises, Vought's rugged
A-7 Corsair II has now all bUI disappeared from US Navy squadron listings.
A handful remain in service with various test

flight s on both co asts, and the odd EA-7L

can still be found earning its keep with the

electronic warfare training unit VAQ-34
"Flashbacks"at NAS Lemoore. Fifteen years
ago things were very different.
In 1977 the light strike community was
bulging at the seams with Corsair lIs. No
less than 30 frontline and five reserve units
were equipped with A-7s. The fleet squad-

mander Light Attack Wing Atlan tic fac ility

at NAS Cecil Field, in Florida. Each community had its own fleet readiness squadron
to provide the frontline units with a steady
stream of qualified A~7 pilots VA-174 " Hellrazors" on the East Coast and VA- I22 in the
west.
As is traditionally the case with the US
Navy, both the readiness squadrons were the
first units to receive Corsair lis fresh from
the Dallas production line. VA-174 welcomed its first A-7A on 13 October 1966, and
graduated its first squadron (VA-86 "Sidewinders") the follow ing June. At Lemoore,
A-7As began to trickle in in November 1966,
and follow ing an acceleratedwork-up phase,
30

AIR CO MBAT SPECIAL

The "twin tub" Corsair II was built by

Vought in response to feedback gleaned
from both VA-122 and ~1 74 concerning the
initial phase of the A-7 training syllabus. Endowed with a high landing approach speed
and modest engine thrust parameters, the
Corsair II provided a two-handed challenge
for novice naval aviators fresh from various
VT schools in Texas and Florida. Both
squadrons placed a heavy emphasis on
ground and simulator training for pupils earlyon in the course, before unleashing them
on the tlightline. However, even with this intensive ground schooling, the pilot's first
flight in a Corsair 11 had to be performed
solo; a real case of "sink or swim" for a

whole generation of light strike pilots.

Initially, Vought proposed a tandem-scat
version of their A-7E, designated the YA-7H.
Three feet longer and 500 pounds heavier.
the prototype first look 10 the skies on 29
August 1972. After two months of test flying, BuNo 156801 (this jet wasoriginally the
first Allison TF41-engined A-7E built) was
sent 10 VA-I22 for evaluation. As a result of
the favorable report given by the " Flying Ea-

17

NJ/

"

.I

Auxiliary power unit and air starter cart umbilicals removed. "Flying Eagle 212" idl es o n
the warm lemoore ro mp in July 1988. Onc e the sailor has removed the starboard chock
and safely positioned himself away from the gaping intake. the plene captain will g ive
the pilot the signal for brakes off and d irect h im o ul o nto the taxiway. Although each of
the Ste ncel seals hcs a pr ominent c anopy b reaker fitted . VA-122's e ngineering deportment has crso taken the extra precaution of installing a mi niaturized detonation c o rd above
the fro nt COCkp it.
Talons a t the ready. a fe rocio us bo ld eagle adorned a ll of VA-i22's Corsair lis. O ne gets
the feeling that the fa mo us Harley- Davidson " wing ed beast" was the inspira tion behind
the sq uad ro n's motif. At the bose of the rudder is the distin ct ive drag chute housing. a
modification peculiar to the TA7C.
MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOUF LAGE & MARKINGS

31

======\~===========

l.\i

- --

/~

Brakes off cncr throttle slightly opened , the TA 7C ro lls past the oth e r squ a d ron jet s down to the ta xiway wh ich connects VA-122'sfligh tline with Lemoo re's runwa ys. During the hot summer months, th e a ircr a ft's built-in a irc ond itioner strug gled to cope wi th the a mbie nt
temperature s rea ched on a dai ly basis in the San Joa quin Vall ey, so cr ews ten d ed to taxi out to the runway threshold w ith the huge
one-piec e c a no py c racked o pen. Thisjet was orig inall y issued to VA-174"Hetlrczors" in 1978. but was sent to VA-122 following re-eng ining

Ep ito mi zing the second -hand look th at the TPSgr eys g ive naval aircraft. TA7C BuNo 156744 is readied for a practice bombing sortie
out on th e ram p. The deta iled stencils on the nose of this aircraft a re virtually invisible. the grey Federal Standard (FS) 36375 shade having been du lled throug h e ve ryday scuffing by motntciners. and spo t re sp ra ys following rectification work. The blue and white mar k
below the w inds c ree n is a ll tha t re mains of a 75th Anniversary Naval Aviation decal affixed to the je t 18 months befo re
32

AIR COM BAT SPECIAL

From this a ng le the clstinctlve ga p ing en gine inta ke a nd 'button nosed' rodome {which covers the Texas Instruments ANfAPR126{Vj
forward loo king radar tra n sm itterlre c e iver j are accentuated. The small e xcr esc e nc es on the lip o f the inta ke ar e p assive radar wa rning
antenn ae; similar d evi c esare situated at the top of the fin, VA-122 had no less than el eve n d ua l-sea t Corsair lis on its books in July 1988,
these aircra ft b ein g used primarily at Lemoore ra ther than on wea p o ns oets to El Centro

Hi

looking some wha t smarter tha n BuNo 156744, this TA-7C (BuNo 156 786) was conve rted to two-seat configu ration fou r months p rior to
itssquadron ma te on 19 Januar y 1977, making it the 35th ai rfra me converted; BuNo 1567 4A was rec e ived by Vought on 5 April 1977,
and occupi ed the 37th spot on the tc o nconon sequence. The jet is primed and ready for its c re w, the seat a nd intake c o ve rs having
been removed an d stored , the c anopy c leaned, the re tra cta bl e la d der a nd boarding steps lowe red a nd o pened a nd the power c a rt
co nnected. Beneath the windscreen is a 75th Anniversary decal, whi ch appears to have been ra ther awkwa rd ly situated as the instructor's name has been stencilled a cr oss the top of it.
MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOUF LAGE & MARKINGS 35

glcs" Vought made a formal proposal for

production orders. In its typically frugal
way, the Navy decided to convert surplus
Bravo- and Charlie-model aircraft to twoscat configuration , rather than purchase
brand new airframes. A total of 24 A-7B s
and 36 A-7Cs were duly returned to Dallas
and modified.
The conversion saw a lo-inch spacer fitted aft of the cockpit to allow for the second
scat to be added, plus a further stretch of 18
inches behind the wing to maintain lateral
stability. A drag chute fairing was installed
above the tailpipe, a modification unique to
the TA-7C (as the " new" jet was designated
for operational usc). All eight weapo ns stations were retained, as was the singleseater's navigation and ordnance delivery
systems. No reduction in internal fuel capacity was experienced either.
The first reworked jet (ex-A-7B BuNo
154477) was flown on 17 December 1976,
and deliveries commenced to the Navy the
following January; the final example (ex
A-7C BuNo 156791) was modifiedbeginning
20 June 1978. Orig inally powered by the
decidedly asthmatic Pratt & Whitney TF30
turbofan engine, as installed in the production 8 and Ccmodels when first built, the
TA-7C s finally received TF41s in an upgrading program initiated by the Navy in 1985.
A total of 49 aircrati were modified, Vought
also taking the opportunity to install new
Stencel ejection scats, and engine monitoring system and automatic maneuvering
naps.
4

36

AIR CO MBAT SPECIAL

THE END IS NIGH

On 18 February 1981 , a new shape appeared in the pattern over Lemoore that signalled the beginning of the end for the Corsair II in Navy service. A factory fresh
F/A-18 Hornet wearing the "NJ" training
wing codes on its twin fins and " VFA-125"
titling on its fuselage , landed and taxied past
the rows of A-7Es until finally stopping outside an empty hangar with the words
" Rough Raiders" painted across its front.
The first Hornet had arrived at its new
" nest" As the decade progressed, more and
more F/A-I8s were allocated to COM-

NAVAIRPAC, and a steady stream of A-7s

headed east to Arizona for storage at DavisMonthan. The same routine was simultaneously taking place on the East Coast.
By 1988, the Corsair II community was
only one-third of its former size, and the
Navy decided that a single readiness squadron could satisfy the dwindling demand for
replacement pilots. Accordingly, VA-174
graduated its last class in March of that year
and disestablished on 30 June . At Lemoore.
VA-I22 pressed on with its training syllabus.
providing pilots for six AirPac and four
AirLant units, as well as a handful of test
center and electronic warfare squadrons. As
the remaining fleet units either transitioned
to F/A-18s or were disestablished, the size
of the classes passing through VA-I22
shrunk. Finally, in February 1991, the "Flying Eagles" graduated their last Corsair II
class. The honor of being the fin al A-7
replacement pilot to pass a VA-I22 course

went to Lt(jg) Jeff "Griz" Adams, who completed his night carrier qualifications (CQs)
on the type aboard USS Abraham Lincoln
(CVN-72) at 2322 hours. on 24 Februar y
1991.

Having operated the A-7 Corsair II seven

months short of 25 years, and earnt itself a
place in naval aviation record books as a
result, VA-I22 performed its last one-way
sorties to Arizona in late March. With all of
its jets gone, the " Flying Eagles" bowedout
on 15 April 1991. Today, although both the
A-7 and VA-I22 have disappeared from the
US Navy's order of baitle. their legacy lives
on in the form of5<XX)~p lu s pilots that passed
through the Lemoore Corsair College on
their way to tod ay's light attac k squadrons.

VA-122: A BRIEF HISTORY

Although inextricably linked with the
Corsair II due to its longevity of service with
the type, VA-I22's orig ins stem from an
earlier generation stalwartof the light attack
community, the A-I Skyraidcr. As with virtually all Navy squadrons. the past history
of the "F lying Eagles" is littered with unit
redesignations.
and
Initially established as VC
equipped with the extremely rare AD-IQ
electronic countermeasures version of the
Skyraide r, the squadron was commissioned
into US Navy ranks on 25 May 1950 at NAS
San Diego. Tasked with providing ECM
coverage for West Coast carrier wings,
VC-35 usually assigneda detachment of four
Skyraidcrs to each vessel. A mixed force of
435

/2

....:::iiil
..:>

NJ
v

~
-

..

While the stud ent a nd instructor a djust the ir seat harnesses and beg in the p re-ig nitio n c hecks. sailors from VA-122 prepare to fire up
the ai rcraft's TF41 1urbofon eng ine The cockpit d isp lays o re oneco, funct io n ing thanks to on e xtern al powe r carl p ark ed a lo ngside
the jet. Belie v e it or not. this a ircraft is actually pointed in two shades o f gr e y a s per CNO d irective s. The b ulk of Ihe fuselage should
be sprayed in FS 363 20 (the darke r o f the greysl), wh ile the belly, win gs . tail pl one a nd mrc-tuselcq e region should be in FS 36375the some sha d e 05 the nononot insignia a nd warning stencils. This aircraft, however, oooscrs 10 wear 0 rather b lo tchy sha d e of FS

36320 overall. a star a nd bar, warning stenci ls a nd BuNo in FS 363 75. a nd " NAVY" and "VA-122" tit ling in FS 3523 7. This third TPS shade
was introduced to a lle viate the p rob lem o f idenllfying w ho se ou crott was who se ' The rnooex is in regulation b lock , a sis the un it bad ge
and "N)" to il cooe. both the latter items should, in fact, be a p p lied in FS 35237 , as per the stand ing o rd ers of the time Mounted on
the Multip le Ejector Rack below the win g are three M k. 76 25lb blue bom bs. which are desig ned to simul ate the ballistics o f a Mk
82 Snc keve 500 -lb retarded weapon.

AD-lOs. -2Qs and -3Qs were flo wn by the

squadron. and due to its bro ad operational
brief VC-35 was appreciably larger than
most other Skyraider units. AD -4NL wintcrizcd Night Attack aircraft were also issued to the squadro n. along with standard
AD-4Ns. T hese aircra ft were heavily used
ill night heckler raids over Nort h Korea
throughout the three-year co nflict. VC 35

despatching no less than 21J ets to a variety

of carriers.
Following the cessat ion of hostilities.
YC-35 return ed to a more peaceful routine
of Pacific cruises with various air wings. In
1954 . the battle proven AD-4 Skyraid crs
were repla ced at VC-35 by the side-by-side
seated AD -5N s. Two years later. on I July
1956. the unit was redesignated YA(AW) 35.
and assigned the add itiona l role of train ing
fleet replacement pilots and aircrewman for
the Skyraider commu nity on the West Coast.
T he des ignation VA122 finally appea red on
30 June 1959 when the unit was placed under the control of Read iness Attack Carrier
Air Wing 12.
Having: relinquished ib night attack ta..king. the squad ron was now free to co ncentrate o n the training of AD-I personnel. A
move to Moffet Field in July 1961 was fol lowed 18 mo nths later by yet ano ther shift
In July 1988 thing s looked uni form ly d ull o n
the VA-1 22 flightline, al l 24 of the squa d ron's
A-7Es being po inted in regula tion Tactical
Point Scheme (TPS) g reys. a so rd e red b y the
Chief of Nav al Opera tion s(CNO), The lightness o f the sche me varied d e p e nd ing on
how long a g o the a irframe hod been
repa inted a t the Na va l Air Re wor k Facil ity
(NARF). Hea di ng up the line. " Flying Eag le
236" has its starboard ra dio a nd electron ic s equipment bay d oor hing ed open. re o
vealing various brock boxes wi thin the a ircr otrs fusela g e The fla t bl ock surface o n
the rig ht-ha nd side of the boy isthe a irc raft's
starboard built-in a vio nic s test panel; a similar device c an be fo und within the port
com portment.

to the newly commissioned :"o: AS Lemoore

in Fe br uary 1963. T he unit was heavily
tasked with crev..- tra ining as the co nflict in
Vietnam esc alated. and by the time the
"S pad School" sign and large propeller were
removed from Hangar 4 in ear ly 1967. over
500 Skyraidcr pilots had graduated from
VA-I22 .

Now nicknamed the "Cor sair Co llege :'

the squadron had barely checked its own instructor..out on the new Vought jet when the
first frontline unit ar rived for transition onto
the aircraft . No leS';, than twelve fl eet squadrons passed thro ugh VA-I22 's transitional
..yllabu ... the " Flying Eagles" ..pccializing
in the tnaining of replacement A-7E crews
from mid-1969 onwards: A-. B and C-model
squadron requirements were handled by
VA-1 25 " Rough Raider":' the Air ?'a c A-~
read iness unit thai replaced its Skyhawks
with Co rsair li s in earl y 1969.
Renamed the " Flying Eagle.... in 1971.
VA-I22 maintained a steady trai ning syllabus that saw fleet-ready A-7 cre ws graduating from Hangar 4 after six to eig ht mon ths
of solid tuition. Perm anent weapo ns train ing dets were estab lished in the late 1970s.
which allowed stude nts to spend up to two
weds at a time ba..ed away from Lemoor e
at ~AF EI Cen tro. Ca lifo rnia. practic ing
strike delivery techniqu es. The last of these
deployments wa .. made in February 1991.
follo....-ing which VA-I22 fe rried its A-7s
d irectly from Lemoore and EI Centro to
Davis-Monthan for storage.

MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOUflAGE & MARKINGS

37

Lo ckheed test pilot Milo Burcham exec utes a perfect b reak away from the camera aircraft over a very (1944) barren
San Fernando valley', This uno e rwm q view error-a szes many details includi ng the three identification lights buill into
the rear portion of 'he fu selage pod , the tw e ro ck s for underwing tanks o r b o mbs and the horizo ntal stabilizer mass
ba la nce lockheed P38J20l0 USAAF srn 44 -:l 32Q6 was finished in ove ra ll Insignia Red (0 clo se examination of
ori ginal photogra p hs seems to indica te tno t perhaps c b it of inte nsifier wa s added to the po int to make the color
more vivi d b ut this may be a oefusron since so few cnrcro tt were painted overall Insignia Red a nd the use o f tha t
much pa int ma y couse the effect). YIPPEE was a p p lied in Insignia Wh ite w ith a Black border a nd the nome rea lly
stcoo out in the ai r as the aircraft roo red ov e r Los An g e les on p ublic ity lIights lor the military and loc kheed

SCARLET
L GRTNING!

THE 500Gth P-38 PRODUCED AT LOCKHEED'S

BURBANK FACILITY DURING WORLD WAR TWO WAS ONE OF
THE MOST COLORFUL COMBAT AIRCRAFT EVER CREATED
c:
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY LOCKHEED

38

AIR COMBAT SPEC IAL

Milo Burcham wi th P-38 number 5000 - the a ircra ft was comp lete ly stock a nd fully ar med , the only differenc e being the dist inctive
poi nt scheme Boeinq a nd Consolid ated featured d istinc tive markings on the SOOOth B-17 and B-2d and these a irc raft will be the subjec t of a tuture Issue. YIPPEE even d ispensed with anti-gl are panels and the o nly othe r mor kingsca rrie d beside the no me were the stan dard notional insignia in Insig nia Blue and White in four tcccnora and the serial in Blo ck on the ve rtical to ils Burc ham was one of the
first test pile's to enc o unter the p uzzling effects of compressibilit y when he d ove a P-38 fro m dO,OOO ft Burc ham Joined Lock he ed in 193 7
10 ferry badly neeoed Hudsons to the Roya l Air Force and two years later was sent to toc eneecrs Live rpool cnvrsron to be In Char ge
of flight testing Burcham become the c h ie f test p ilo t for Lockheed in early 1944 In October 1Q44, he was killed o tter los ing on e ng ine
0:1 takeoff in a P-38 from Burbank Burcham tried to steer the a ircraft cwov fro m a popula ted a re a a nd was killed afte r c rashing into

o voco nttot

Burcham In "sta nd a rd" c ivilian test pilot g arb of the day, complete w ith tweed sport c oot a nd tie The c a nopy ra ilings of YIPPEE were
polished na tura l metal wh ile toe landing gear legs were painted Eng ine Grey The YIPPEE no me on the nose d iffered tra m the und e r
wing name In tnot 'h e Block was separated from the White eve bo nd of Insig nia Red . Note thct even the standard USAAFIc e nnticc fto n
block or. the left sid e of the fuselage cockp it area was eliminated YIPPEE was used for patriotic a nd war bond tours but we d o not
know the aircra ft's final fa te and wouio appreciate hearing from readers who may have knowledge

MILITARy AIRCRAFT CAM OUFLAGE & MARKINGS

43

44

AIR COMBAT SPECIAL

IN THIS ISSUE, WE
EXAMINE SOME OF THE
MORE OBSCURE AIRCRAFT
FLOWN BY THE NAVY AND
MARINES DURING THE
TRANSITION FROM PROPS
TO JETS
BY MICHAEL O'LEARY
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE MICHAEL O'LEARY COLLECTION
Tied oown on what appears to be a precariou s perc h. 0 North
America n AH Sava ge. BuNo 124176. is seen on the number two
eiev c tor at hangar d eck level aboard the USS Yorktov.rn (evA-10).
First ordered on 24 June .1946. the la rg e Sava g e was the Navy's
first nuc lea r strike o ircr a trAfter flying three prototypes. the Navy
ord ered 55 AJ-t pr od uct ion aircraft a nd deliveries started in Septembe r 1949. The AH was powered by two Pratt & WhitnerR-2800-44W ra dialsof 2400 hp eoch while on Allison J33A-1Q turbojet wa smoun ted 4nthe recr fuselage and pr ovided on
e xtra 4600 Ibs of ttlr ust. T~IS porttcutor a ircraft is poInted
in overall GlOSSY Sea Blue wi th trim in'White.
'nlateSt is
the no me Ichi Bon on u-enose, sinc e Navy a irCl'Ottof this
rm period ecreiv c a~no m es Of personal mark ings.

- _..

MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOUFLAGE & MARKINGS

45

-.

"

..,.
~

___ -,

~-~~,
Trackersbecome a stcpfe o f the Naval Air Reserve, and S2F-1 BuNo 133232 is seen in the markings of Glenview NAS. The Trac ker isfinished
in Ught Gull Gra y upper surfaces and Glossy White on the lower surfaces The rear fuselage band, signifying Reserve assignment. is
painted in Inte rna tio nal O ra ng e

Gleaming in polished natura l alum inum ttnsisb. the first Lockheed XR60-1 Co nstitutio n runs up its fou r Pratt & Whitney R-4360-22W en gines of 3500 hp each prior toto king off from Burbank . Only two Const itut ions were bui lt {BuNos 85163,85164) and the type was originally instigated by Pan American Airways. The double-deck fuselage seated 168 and although production was not taken up, the two orrcraft served faithfully with VR-44 unt il 1955, when they were withdrawn from service and sold surplus.
Fini shed in Light Gu ll G ra y a nd Glossy White, the Do ug las A4B Skvnowk is at interest since it c a rries dual Na vy and Marine markings ..
- used when Reserve units were consolidated and pi lots from both services flew the same p lanes
46

AIR CO MBAT SPECIAL

2687==
. NAVY

MARl

-,

- ....
"

...........

From their first introduction into service, the USNavy was extremely interested in heli c opters sinc e the rotary-wi ng a ircraft c ould p ro vide
a number of useful functions aboard aircra ft corners - including the vita l se a rch- a nd- re scu e mi ssio n . The Bell Model 47 wcs one 01
the most suc c e ssful of the early helicopters a nd a wi de variety of military and civil var iants was c o nstruc te d. The a ircraft in the photo
is UH-13P BuNo 142367 and was photog ra phe d soon otter the 1962 designation c ha ng e from HUl -1. The four -seat helo was first delivered
10the Navy in 1955 and was used by VU-2 for gene ra l uti lity wo rk. Twenty-e ight airc raft we re p urchased a nd two of thes e wer e tote r
transfer red to the Coa st Guard whi le two ot hers were modi fie d with turbine e ngine s, This partic ular example, equipped with tlocts. wa s
assigned to HU-1 and is linishe d in overall Glossy Se a Blue with Insig nia Whit e Tri m and a touch of DaGlo around the to il ro to r.

Boeing PB 1W BuNo 7723 7 was assigned to VW-2 when photographed on 10 March 1952, a t NAS Roosev elt Roads in Pue rto Ric o. This
a ircraft has had the power turrets deleted (the ring fo r the top tu rret is clecrtv visibte l a nd is pointed in ov e rall GlossySea Blue with lnstqrue Wh ite trim . The PB1Ws gave excellent service unt il being reproceo b y the loc kheed WV-2.
M ILITARY AIRCRA FT CAMOU FLAGE & MARK ING S 49

..... ......

-"

Grumman FQF6D Cougar BuNo 127271 is seen at NAS China Lake where it was being used in drone work . An extension of the earlier
straight-wing Panther fig hter, the Cougar featured a swept-wing and numerous other updates. The first variant of the Cougar was the
6 and Grumman produced 646 examples. the prototype of which flew on 20 September 1951. The F9F-6Dwas a drone director variant
of the aircraft with all combat equipment removed and drone guidance instruments installed. Thisparticular e xample is painted overall Insignia Red with touches of International Orange DaGlo on the tail and wings. Trim was in Insignia White. The aerials for the drone
equipment can be seen in front of and behind the canopy,

Certainly one 01 the most useful workhorses ever flown by the Navy, the Grumman Tracker enjoyed a long and usefu l life With the co .
vent of submarines with increasing combat capabilities. the Navy instigated a program to obtain an effective antisubmarine aircraft
and Grumman came up with the G-89 , which later became the S2F Tracker. Powered by two Wright R1820-82W engines of 1525 hp
each, the stubby S2F first Ilew on 4 December 1Q52 . The first procucnon S2H flew on 7 July 1953. and Grumman went on to build 755
examples of the var iant. BuNo 133174was finished in overal l Glossy Sea Blue and the large searchlight under the right wing is apparent
while the retractable radome can be seen under the fuselage. immediately behind the main landing gear
50

A lA CO MBAT SPECIAL

TheBoeing Flying Fortress, a lthough best known in Army Air Force service, was also used by the Navy and fu lfilled the requirement for
an importa nt missio n. After the en d of the war. surplus Forts we re transferred to the Navy a nd gi ven the des ignation PB-1. The p lanes
weremodified with the addition of APS-20 search ra d ar a nd a la rge scanner being mounted in the belly of the circrcrt. The Navy received
31 of these PB1Wsand BuNo 77232 is seen in the p hotograp h . The circrott is in natural metal finish w ith very few markings. It isinteresting
to note that all turrets have been retained b ut weapons a re carried only in the side hatches and tai l gun position In the background
ore vast numbers of oncc rt. including Curtiss Seonc wks a nd G rumm an Aven gers, in storage

Firstordered by the Na vy on 30 June 1943. the lockheed PV-2 Ha rpoon was a n im proved version of the earlier P\I1 Ve ntura . lockheed
went on to build 500 P\I-2s a nd the type was wid ely used in the Pac ific during the lost year of World War Two Atter the war. ma ny Harpoons were tra nsfe rred to Reserve units w hile others were used as hocks or for test work . Eleven Reserve wings o pera ted the-type postwa r a nd this ra ther d rab example is seen near the end of the type's life . The three .5O-ca liber nose g uns mounted in a tray und er the
rodorn e are cl early visible. The pl ane is finished in overa ll Glossy Sea Blue w hich has c o rnoreteiv lost its luster - usua lly turn ing to a
purpttsh-blue when this happened .
MILI TARY AIRCRAFT CA MOUFLAGE & MA RKINGS

51

Beautiful stock formation of Lockheed P3V1 Onons(P-3 in 1962) from VP-8 show that PSN pil ots d o know hO'N to fly formation . A modific ation of the commercial Electra turboprop airliner. the P-3 has been one of the most successful patrol a irc ra ft bui lt. When pn otographed o n 11 Augu st 1962. these aircraft we re finished in a c om b inatio n of Insignia White and GlossySea Blue. Note that a ll a irc raft have the ir outboard engines feathered . (USN/O 'Dell)
52

AIR CO MBA T SPECIAL

MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOUFLAGE & MARKINGS

53

COWLING FOR HIS CANVAS

(Continued from page 29)

tablished eight pounds sterling (about $35)

as the price for a paint jo b on a plane things were cheap in that era. A few times

I gO I a bottle of whiskey as payment bUI

since I wasn't much of a drinker I'd usually
pass it along 10 a buddy.
" In addition to the nose an I also painted leather patches for the pilots' jackets.
These patches were decorated with the 4th
Fighter Group's Fighting Eagle emblem and
I got abo ut three pounds for them. Also. I
look on the job of doing big cartoon subjects
on newsprint paper for the occasional Red

Cross dances. Where I found the time to do

all this and still crew an airplane I don't
know. but somehow it gut done. I was
offered the job of official squadron painter
but that mean! doi ng all of the code letters
and nose and tail bands on the new kites. I
said no thanks, I prefer to stay on the night
line:'
The flight line was where Don did stay
and when the 33..tth Fighter Squadron went
operational with P-..t7 Thunderbolts he became crew chief for Vic France. The team
of Allen and France lasted for about one year

and ended with Captain France's death on

18 April 1944. During that time Don created the painting which he regards as one of
his two favorites. That painting was Captain
France's Miss Dalla s emblem which would
adorn three separate planes. The first of
them was a P-47C and it turned out 10 be a
short-lived bird. The newly painted emblem
'was scarcely dry when the plane was lost
with another pilot at the controls. The second Miss Dallas , a P-47D, wasa much luckier plane. Captain France used this plane
right up to the time the squadro n converted

texas. This P47D. sin 42 -798 0. c ode d QP' H

was flown by a nother native son o f Texas. Lt.
Gerald M o ntgomery, Posing with the plane
is Leo Schm idt .

Old Red Ass wa s Lt. Robert Boock 's P,H e.

Posing wi th the pla ne o re Lt. Booc k (left) and
Cpl. Lorry Hendel (right) . The plene wasc oded QP Y. Seria l n um ber un known .

The pilot o f th is P-51Bis unknown . Howe ver

evi d e nc e sug g ests it ma y have been Lt.
Mark Ko lte r's pla ne He was a ssig ned P-51B
sin 43- 7178. and in this photo a partia l seria l of 43 -717 is visible. QP '?

Don featured a young la dy in the ar two rk

o f Bre wste r Morgans Lifliput. This P-47D. sin
4 28644, coded Q P' U was lo st on 21 M ay
1943 with Morgan at the controls

54

AlA COMBAT SPECIAL

to P-51 Mustangs and scored three of his victories in it. The third and last Miss Dallas
was a P-5IB Mustang which France new
from approximately late February 1944 until he died at its co ntro ls on l!:l April.
By De n's count he decorated a total of
22 P-47s with art work and lettered names
on a few mor e. When the Mu stangs arr ived
in late February 1944 he had to start all over.
The Mustang pilot s kep t him almo st as busy
and, before the war ende d , Don ca lculates
that he painted a rtwor k on at lea st 17 a nd
names on anothe r 14 . Most of these Thun-

der bolt s and Mu stan gs are shown in the

photos acco mpanying thi s article.
Den's total of pa intings may have been
a bit higher ifhe hadn 't lost a little time dur ing late Jun e a nd e arly Jul y 1944 while undertak ing an unu sual miss ion for a fighte r
c rew chief.
Th e occ as ion was the 8th Air Force's
first " shuttle mission " to Russia, a nd this
histori c mission provided abo ut 60 of the 4th
FG's ground crew personnel the oppo rtunity
to see firsthand what the ir pilots encountered
on eac h trip to Germ any. For Don though,

the stor y had an unu sual twi st and here is

his acco unt of it. " 21 Jun e, after D-Day,
found me and some 60 other ground person nel flying as waist gunn e rs on the B ~1 7s o ur
pilots we re escorting , Eac h of us was assigned to a different B-17 for the trip to the
Russian Ukraine via Lwow, Poland , where
we bombed an oil refiner y. My B-1 7, even
with ext ra bomb bay tank s, didn't have
enough fuel to ma ke o ur Ukrainian destina tion and our pilot was fo rced to make a n
eme rge ncy landin g in a wheat field ncar
Piryatin . After landing, a radio- dispatched

Another of Don Allen'swell-known p a intings

is The Deacon , This P-47Dwas flown b v Ccpt.
Howard " Deacon" Hively, The c od e was
QP' J. "Preaching" in front of the pl ane isLarry Hend e l

P-47 serial num b er 416410 was flown by Ca p ta in William Smith. The name Little Butch was
c ar ried under the left windscreen and on fhe cow ling Don added the d ia p e r-c lad youn g
la d y rid ing an ig nited rocket. The p la ne's c ode was QP 'Y.

M ILITARY A IRCRA FT CAMOUF LAGE & MAR KINGS

55

Studebak er ambulance too k the ten of us

(none injured) to the airfield at Piryatin
where the -lth FG had landed . The excitement continued that night when we were
awakened by -somm antiaircraft batter ies firing at German night raiders that managed
to drop anti-personnel bomb ....
"The next day our pilot was able to fly
our 8 -17out of the wheat field after it had
been lightened by stripping the guns and
other equipme nt ou t of it. and land it at our
base. It was the only bomber on a field
ringed with P-5Is, Russian P-39s and Yaks:'

After five days at Piryatin the 4t h FG pilots took off and headed toward Italy on the
next leg of the "s huttle" All of the ground
crew personnel then boarded their B-1 7s and
took the Air Transport Command route back
to England - all, that is. except Don Allen.
The official squadro n history related the story this way. "The lone exception to this was
Don Allen, who, through a misunde rstanding. went on to Italy with his 8 -17, and then
back 10 England with it. being the only one
of the boys to make the entire ..huttle. The
rest of them took the trip very easy and dur-

ing their stops in such place s as Teheran .

Cairo. Tripoli. Algiers and Casablanca. took
the opportunity of indulging in the good
American custom of souvenir collecting:'
Again Don picks up the story, "After our
Mustangs left Russia, the other 60 or so
ground personnel flew back to Engla nd by
way of Teheran by Air Transport . Don AlIen did it the hard way ~ After the pilot of the
8 -17 which bro ught me to Russia made it
perfectly clea r that he considered me p"rr
of his cre w, I agai n found myself airborne
as a wai st gunne r. En route to Italy we en-

Thisphoto providesa g ood view of Lt. Ralp h

Hofe r's m ark ing son his P-51BQP"l. The crtwork is basic a lly the sa me a s what was on
his P-47 b ut this time he na med the plane
for his hom e town of Sa lem, Missouri, instead
of the sta te
Jerr y wa s pi loted b y Lt. Thom as Fraser. The
plane was d owned on 6 June 1944 a nd Lt
Fra se r became a POw. Codes we re QP'G
and the serial number was 43-24825

Zoomin Zombie , a P-51Dwas p iloted by Lt.

William Dvorak . The plane wa scoded QP' I.
AJl lettering was b la ck . Both Zs and the dot
of the eye were b ord ered in red .

56

AIR CO MBAT SPECIAL

The Count was flown by Lt. Ral ph Buc ha n-

a n. This P51D wa s coded QPW. sIn

44- 72155. Don c a n't rec a ll th e signific ance
of this painting . Possibl y it reflecte d the boredom that followed the e nd ing of hostilities
while the p ilot was waiting to be rotat e d
home.

countered flak over Yugoslavia but. fortunately, the plane was not hit. After landing at Foggia I ran into some334th pilots and

needless to say they were dumbfounded to

sec me there. My first questionto them was,
'Where wereyou when I needed you?' While
in Italy we were scheduled for one bombing mission but it was aborted and I didn't
mind that at all. Finally. afterten day, in Italy the bomber group headed back to England
and bombed a marshalling yard in Bealer,
France, along the way. OUf plane was in the
lead squadron, which missed the aiming
point, so we went around and did it again.
With two chances to aim at us, the German
gunners found the mark and our plane took
a couple of flak hits. However, no serious
damage was done and we headed on to England. Eventually we crossed the Channel

This P-51D was a ssigned to Lt. Robert Dickmeyer. Do n believe s that this pa inting was
based on a p hoto. QP D. sIn 44 -1 39 56 .

SPECIAL
COLLECTOR'S
GUIDE1

The past few years have seen an amazing proliferation

in the field of aviation art. Aviation art is now a
legitimate and very collectible genre of art. There
are many fine artists and galleries around the world
that specialize in nothing but aviation art.

Now, for the first time, Challenge Publications has printed the complete collector's guide to the world 's
great aviation artists, galleries, and distributors

Packed with color, Aviation Art discusses the increasing value of prints and paintings that feature
aviation. If you are interested in aviation art, then this publication is a must!

rS;;C;;L ;;;I;;N;- CHALLENGE PUBLlCATtONS, tNC.

7950 Deeri ng Ave.

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MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOU FLAGE & MA RKINGS

57

and soon afte r that we were safely on the

ground . Believe it or not , I ended th is journ ~y by tak ing a train back to Saffro n Walden and Dcbdcn. still lugging a barracks hag
and a full mechanic's case of tools tha t
travelled the e ntire route with me! In
retro spect , I was cra zy not to have dropped
these tool s some where alon g the way :'
After "c omp leting his tour of duty in
bombe rs" Don returned to his old jo b on the
JJ4th Fighter Squ adron flight line. During
the rema inder of the war he served as crew
c hief for two pilot s. The first was Lt. Clarence Boretsky who was with the squadron

until March 1945. Borctsky's plan e was a

P-51D which WdS named Meg. Don lette red
the name on th is plane but no artwork was
added . When Lt. Bor ctsky departed in
Ma rch 1945, LL Mar vin Arthur repla ced
him as the pilot of QP *B. After Lt. Arthur
too k over the plane he asked Don to c ha nge
the name to DOl')' La a nd at the same time
its code was changed to QP*u.
As things turned out , LL Arthur only
flew Da vy Lee fur a short period of time before receiving a new P-5ID. The new
Mustang was c hristened Blondir for LL Arthur 's wife and along with the name Don ad-

Iron Ass was flown by Lt. Colonel Jack Oberhansly. The plane was coded Qp . X, sIn
44-11661 .
P-51D Red Dog XII was f lown by Louis "Red
Dog" Nonev du ring the spring of 1945. The
code was QP 'O, sin 44-73108 .

ded . strictly from his own imagination , a

pai nting of a young lady clad in black satin.
He regards this artwork as one of his best
and places it right up the re with Miss Dallas as his favorite.
Ea rlier in the art icle it was mentioned
that Den's artwork was a factor in maintain ing high mo rale and esprit ell' corps within
the squadron, and the fact that he chose as
his favorites the ones that decorated his ships
illustrates that point. He went on to say "a nd
beca use they were my ships I'm sure that I
gave them a little extra effort " Chances a re
if you asked the crews of all the other planes

Crew Ch ief/Artist Don A llen (Standing on

wing) chats with Captain Victor France. Miss
Dallas spo rts eight victory markings which
reflect France'S four aerial victories and four
strafing victor ies. Hisfinal official score was
4-113 ai r and 4-1/3 ground . The plane was
coded QP 'K and its serial number was

43 6832

MV Achin' Back Qp '? pilot unknown . Don

states the name of the plane re p rese nted
a common complaint about the long
6-7-hour fighter sweeps across Europe.

Turnip Termite was assigned to Lt Donald

Malmsten. and later reassigned to Lt. Fronk
Speer The emblem. according to Don and
Fra nk Speer come from an AI Copp characte r, code QPM. sin 43-6957,

P-51D 4472863 coded QP ' K. Pilot unknown .

Don states that he lettered the nome on this
bird. bu t the girl is apparently a glued-on
cu tou t.

58

A IR COMBAT SPECIAL

Thisunusual emblem was displayed on the

P-51B flown by Major Winslow "Mike" Sobanski. The plane was coded Qp . F, Major
Sobanski was killed on D-Day while flying
"Deacon" Hively's P-51B

.'_

..~

In this pa inting Do n c a p ture s Captain France's second victory. The battle took place 29
Ja nua ry 1944 over Ho sselt . Belg ium , (The Air Force Museum)

thai ca rr ied De n's wor k they wo uld say their

art was the best an d would have many rca sons 10 substantiate their argum ent.

When asked why he felt that his artwork

was so po pula r amon g the pilots Don an swered, " T he paintings are ind ividu ali ty 10
a plane. After all , there were thou sands of
each type distinguished only by serial numhers and co de leiters. In ma ny cases the

painting had a special meaning to the pilot

and it served 10 keep his spirits up - after
all. they were in a might y rough b usiness:'

Accord ing to Don , g irls were by far the

favo rite subject for the pa intings " p rima rily beca use there were n't very many near the
area w here they worked and certainly none
that would match the idealism draw n into the
Pett y and Var ga gi rls:'
Even though girls wer e promin ent in the
paintings, the pilot's home a lso became an
important theme, This seems to he especial ly tr ue in the a rtwork see n on the early
P-47s. So me exam ples o f thi s theme would
be Vic France's Miss Da llas , Duane Bee -

son's Boise Bee, Arc hie C hatterly's Calijornia or Bust or Ralph " Kidd" Hofer 's Missouri Kid/Show-Mi'.
Ot her pa intings were base d o n cartoon
characters o r in some cases they we re base d
o n the pilot's nickname . But regardless of
the them e of the pai nting, they all served an
important p urpose and for that reason Don
Allen has ea rne d his place in the history of
the 33 4th Fight er Squadron histo ry.
Don retu rned to the United States in Septem be r 1945 and began searching for a co mpany that co uld use his tale nt, and w ith in 30
days found a job. Th ings wor ked ou t very
well in the job and 42 years later he is still

with them - as president and co-owner!

T his story can not be clo sed ou t, though.
without acknowledgi ng the sk ill a nd forethought orone ofDon's squ adron mates. He
is Leo Schmidt w ho served as an ar mo re r
in the 3341h FS and too k the time to pre se rve
vi rtua lly all of Don's artwork on film . Now,
because of Leo's hobby, we can al l enjoy
look ing at this part of histo ry.
The author wou ld like to tha nk the fol lowing ind ivid uals and organizatio ns fo r
thei r hel p w ith this arti cle: Don Allen . Leo
Sc hmidt, Th e Air Force Muse um . P.L.
Lackey. William N. Ness. Ga rry L. Fry and

J. Griffin Murphey III.

NEW COLLECTOR'S EDITION

THE HEROIC STORIES OF AMERICAN AIRMEN INACTION OURING THE DEADLY 7 DECEMBER 1941,
JAPANESE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR.

THIS 50th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION CONTAINS STORIES OF AMERICAN PILOTS IN COMBAT
DURING THE EARLY DARK DAYS OF AMERICA'S ENTRY INTO
THE SECOND WORLD WAR . FROM PEARL HARBOR TO THE
BATTLE OF MIDWAY - IT'S ALL HERE IN DRAMATIC,
VIVID DETAIL WITH RARE ACTION PHOTOS!

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MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOU FLAGE & MARKINGS 59

........

WE PRESENT AN INTERESTING SELECTION OF AMERICAN-BUILT

MILITARY AIRCRAFT SERVING WITH THE AIR FORCES OF
OTHER NATIONS DURING WORLD WAR TWO
60

AIR COMBAT SPECIAL

-,

....

Beautifully detailed view of C urtiss P40N/Kittyhawk Mk . IV FX594 "somewhere in England" following shipping from the United States .
Finished in Dar k G ree n and Dark Sea G rey upper surfaces, the lower surfaces were painted Medium Sea Grey, The aircraft's spin nner
and rear fuselage bond were finis hed in Sky, The aircraft, at this point. was apparently undergoing evaluation and had not been assig ned squadron c od es.The Royal Air Force used many different vortonts ot the tried-and-true P-40 and the type saw pa rtic ular success
with the RAF in the desert and in the CBI
MILITARY AIRCRA FT CAMOUF LAGE & MA RKINGS

61

The a ir forces of Australia a nd New Zealand ma de very effec tive use of the P-40 d uring VNJII. A Kittyha wk Mk IV is seen ready fo r a ction
a t a forwar d a ir strip, c om p lete with a tropica l background o f palm trees. NZ3220 is finished in o n ove ra ll loca lly p roduced Dark Green
while the under surfaces a ppear to be USAAFNe utra l G rey. Typ ica l of a irc raft o perating w ith the RNZAF in the Pac ific . the vert ic a l toil
a nd spi nner have been finished in White to facilitate identification . The notional in sig nia has been very crud ely applied . a nd a lso a
White bar with a Light Blue roun der b ord ered in Yellow The concentric c ircles are White a nd Ligh t Blue The name Gl oria Lyons on the
cowling is Yellow trimmed in Bla ck Bomb missio ns under the coc kpi t a re Yellow wh ile th e 2-1/2 victory marks o ve r Japanese air craft
are d one in White and Red. The ba nd s im med ia te ly forward and behind the canop y are o ff-w hite tape tha t was used to seal g aps
to p revent harsh weather fro m entering the radio a nd instrume nta tion loca tions

One that d idot get away. I rus compl etely un id entifi ed Cu rtiss P40E Kinyha wk was d estined fo r the Roya l Air Force b ut was retained
by the USAAF. Howev er, the aircra ft ha d a lready been c a moufla g ed at the fa c to ry in the stand ar d RAF day fig hte r sc he me 0 1 Dark
Earth and Dark Green up per surfaces wi th Sky under surfaces. The p ropeller spinner has a lso been finished in the sta ndard Sky b ut
the rear Sky fuselage band was never applied or was c ote tuuv overpctntec . USArmy was added to th e und er surfa ce 0 1 the wing in
Insig nia Blue w hite the notiona l insignia was applied in the stand ard lour p ositions in Insig nia Blue. White. and Red

62

AIR CO MBAT SPECI AL

[===============

Some name. but different planes? Both Curtiss P-40Nscarry the nameSnofu in identical style but there ore many differences in the markings
The lop photograph shows a flight of three P-40Ns of The Netherlands' No. 120 Squadron operating over the East Indies immediately
otterthe end 01the Second World War. A strong Indonesian nationalist movement hod been established and there were violent clashes between the Dutch and the Indonesians. The Dutch shifted several squadrons to the area and there was soon a strong force of worhcwks.
Mustangs. Mitchells. cctonros and Dakotas. A failure to reach a political setttementted tooirstrikes against Indonesian forces but poltt icol pressure from the UN and USA forced The Netherlands to transfer sovereignly to the United States of Indonesia on 21 December
1949, Most of the circrort were returned to The Netherlands and this was surely the P-40's lost combat role The fop photograph shows
three very well -worn P40Ns that all exhibit some form of overpainting over what appears to be standard USAAF Olive Drab and Neutral
Grey camouflage. The Red. White and Blue notional insignia are very crudely applied while equally crude individual Yellow codes
arepointed on the vertical tail . Each a ircraft spinn e r is pointed differently, The bottom photo shows a beat-up Snafu with very crude
national insignia bordered in White, A White block on the forward fuselage contains the serial J 349 in Block, A White serial C3 349
appears on fhe vertical fin while the remains of a large numeral 9 also appears on fhe vertical in White, Eight bomb missions in White
hovebeen added by the nome. Also. the aircraft in the top photo have their lead ing and frailing edges sprayed with Medium Green
dapple while the aircraft on the bottom appears to be in a dark Olive Drab that has been resprayed several times

MILI TARY AIRCRAFT CAMOUFlAGE & MARKINGS

63

IN REVERSE
WE SURVEY REMAINING SOVIET AIR
POWER IN GERMANY AND EXAMINE THE
PLANS FORTHEIRWITHDRAWAL

he political changes in Eastern Europe have augured the demise of the Soviet force",
there . Neither Roma nia nor Bulgar ia has been ho..t to Soviet troops for some
time. but the other Warsaw ?..H.:I co untries - Czechoslovak ia. Hungar y.
Poland. and the former Genn an Democratic Republic - accommodated
thousands of troops. ranks. and aircra ft. Alban ia was a Warsaw Pact membe r
until 1960. when it turned to China for its military and eco nomic assistance.
thus leaving the P"a ct.
The Soviet withdrav..al started in Hungary and Czechoslovakia . The last
Soviet soldier had left these countries by I July 1991. The front-line air units
bused in Poland left the country this summer. leaving only a transport base in
operation.
Late in 1990. the Soviet armed forces in Germany also started to withdraw.
The Western Group, as the Soviet military in Germany is known, at that time
comprised no fewer than 380,000 officers and men. To withdraw such a huge
number of people takes time. hence the Germa n deadline for all Soviet military
personnel to leave the country extends to the end of 1994 .
In fact. the number of 380,000 persons is optimistic: dependents arc not ineluded. Just imagine what it takes to build the equivalent of three medium-sized
towns to house all these people and provide enough work to employ them.

OPTIONS
On 12 March 1955, the then lawful government of the German Democratic
Republic signed a treaty with the Soviet Union entitling the latter to
base troops on East German soil. The treaty also gave the
Soviets complete autonomy to operate on the ground
and in the air. No less than eleven percent of the
land surface of the country. which I,I,"3S about the size (If
Virginia. was given over to the Soviet military. After unification of the two Germanys and
the thaw of the Cold War. the Soviet military presence has hardly had a purpose. From
the Soviet point of view, there were two options: To stay put or to make some money out
of withdrawing. The Germans also had two options: Throwing them out or paying them
to leave. Not surprisingly. the latter was chosen. As a result. the present German generation has 10 foot the bill. Some bill!
To dose down 160 barracks, 40 training grounds for armor. 30 air bases as well as
a dozen other airfields. to send back half a million people (troops plus dependents), 8000
armored vehicles. 9400 other vehicles. 730 aircraft. and 850 helicopters, the Soviets have
presented a bill amounting to DM 12.lXX> million (USD 8<XX> million).
And that is excluding the construction of new housing in the Soviet Union. training
for civilian jobs. and transport. Th is amounts to another DM 7200 million (USD 4800

BY FRED WILLEMSEN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRED WILLEMSEN
68

AIR COMBAT SPECIAL

-. . .

'"

,. r

The flight lin e at Ribni tz-Dam g o rten

~
."

NV",'::::

- -- - "'~ -

MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOUFLAGE & MARKINGS

69

"'"

4-

MiG-29 Fulcrum-A is towed from the flight line. Tothe rear. a Fufcrum-C c an be d istinguished : A hump-b acked version of the MiG -29.
The hump contains mission equipment , The Pufcrum -C has no sep arate Russian d esignatio n.

An Mi6T Hook-A trans port helicopter, Several special communica tions versions or e orso in service, d esignated Hook -B and -C.

million). It is expected that additional cost ,

such as cleaning up the environment and

clearing surplus ammunition (estimated at
2.5 milli on ton s!) ",'ill doubl e th is amo unt.
Also, (he air for ce has sta rted to withdraw. Although the first four a ir bas es were
q uickly closed , it appea red tha i the airc ra ft

based there had nor left for the fonner Soviet

Union, but we re di stribu ted amon g othe r
70

AIR COMBAT SPECIAL

unit s of the 16th Ai r Force. In othe r cases ,

some units red eployed to other bases in the
for mer Ge rman Democr atic Republi c.

FEWER AIRCRAFT
Stil l. a withdrawal is tak ing place. Th e
MiG -23MLD a nd the M iG-25 have disappeared from German skies a nd by mid
the numb er of ex-Soviet aircr aft had been
41992

more tha n hal ved . Mo st a ircra ft were withdrawn to Russia, oth ers were re-assigned to
the navy and one reg imen t has gone to
Be lorussia .
Th e Soviet a ir force in the ex-Ge rman
Democratic Repu blic is part of the Fron tmuya Avuusiya (Frontal Aviation). Th e FA
is divide d into 15 mil itary theat er s of operation s (le atr Voennykh Deistvii, abb reviat-

MiG-27M Flogger-J2based a t Pechlm-Lo rz. It has a Ga rda badge on the intake, AUregiments that saw actual combat du ring the Great
Patriotic War (what we call the Second World War) are Garda reg ime nts.

,.

Su-24MR recon na issa nce air craft based at WellOw, Note the separately hinged canopies.

ed asTVD). The 16thAir Force formed part

ofthe Western TVD, headquartered in Legnica. Poland. that also comprised the Soviet
forces in Czec hoslovakia, Poland . the Ballie states, Beloru ssia, and Carpathia. The
Western TYD used to be the most powerful
amongall other TYDs. and had the highest
aircraft and helicopter density.
The situation in former East German y

may serve as an example as to how the Soviets

deployed their forces. About 30 to 50 miles
behind the old Iron Curtain. there were six
bases with attack. assault. and support helicopters (Parchim , Stendal . Mahlwinkc1 .
Cochstcdt. Weimar-Noh ra, Hassleben , and
Mersebu rg). Thi s reporter once witnessed
at Mah lwinkc1 how within four minutes no
fewer than 38 Hinds took off from the forests

and form ed a wolfpa ck. An impressi ve

sight! No wonder Western tank commanders
were a bit apprehensiveabout the great number of arme d helicopters in the East.
The second line of defense straddled an
imagi nary line some 80 to 100 miles into
East Germ any. It was formed by the inter ceptor units: MiG-29s at Ribnitz-Damgarten,
Wittstock , Zerbst, Falkenberg. Mersebu rg,

MILITARY AIRCRAFT CA MOUFLAGE & MARKING S 71

-.
,

Mi-8S staff tra nsp o rt. Only two helicop te rs o f this mo del ore in use in Ge rma ny

MiG-23UM ta xis off the runwa y a t Pec httn-Lorz. Re chl in used to be the Nazis' te st a irfie ld d u ring the Sec ond Wor ld War.

Kothen. and Altenburg. and MiG-23MLOs

at Jutc rbog-Altcslager. Finow. which also
houses MiG-29s. is too far cast to form part
of th is seco nd line of defen se. Th is un it
housed M iG-25PD long-ran ge inte rceptors

to counter the SR-71s that were based in England . In 1989, the Foxbat s we re rep laced
with facto ry-fresh MiG29s. All bases tha t
hou se M iG -29 s not o nly ha ve some
MiG-29UB two-seater s. but a lso two to
72

AIR COMBAT SPECIAL

th ree M iG-23UM s on strength.

In the third line. we find the attack and

support ai rcraft : Su-l7 s at Ncuruppin and
Gro ss-Dolln . Su-25s at Dcmmin-Tlltow and
at Brand is. MiG -27M s at Rcch lin-Lar z,
Brand -Bnesen . Finstcrwalde , and Grosscn hain . a nd Su-24 s at Welzow. Also, BrandBriesen a nd Gro ssenhai n used to hou se
Su-24s. repo rtedly Fcnccr-Cs and -Ds. They
were replaced by the less potent M iG-27M

relat ive ly recentl y.

The forward base of Allsrcdt also housed
Su-l7s. T hesc air cra ft. however, we re only
concerned with ECM a nd ELi NT. They
repla ced Yak -28 Brewer airc raft that were
base d there - and at Wern euchen - unt il
October 1989.
Reconna issance is still provid ed by the
Su-17units and by the Su-24MRs from WellOW. A regiment flying M iG-25 rcccc air -

All MiG 2QUnits have a sma ller num ber of MiG-23UM two-seaters on stren g th This exam p le belongs to the regiment That was . until April
1m, based at Altenburg

Sperenberg also hosts this An 26 C urlA in VIP colors

na n was return ed to Russia mid -199 2.

Notabl y ahSL'nl arc Wild We ~l'il'1 aircraft:
ThL')' used to he tar to the cast in Poland in
the form or .\1iG-25 foxbat -Fs at the air base
nf (hIJ.
Sca ttered around the co untry a re quit e
a few attac k and a.....ault hel ico pte r un its.
together with suppo rt and ma inte nance
units. Or..m icnb urg houses abo ut :!O gia nt
.\ti -6 Hook helicopter.. in add ition to a

plethora of smaller cho ppe r... Th e ~ l i -6 s

lake part in many e\l'K ises and arc often not
found on base .
The aggres -, ivc nature ofthe o ld \\'arsa\\
Pact co uld be judged hy the nature of the excrciscs du ring: wh ich aircraft were deployed
in a wes twa rd d irect ion . A ircr a ft from
Poland and the SmiL'1 Unio n stre ngt hened
the cas t PI' the Ge rma n Democ rat ic Rep ub-

lic. One ..uch exercise

\\~l "

conducted a..

recently ~l' April 1940. which include d

deploym ent of .\1iG - ~ 5 s from Wcmcuchcn
to Haina . Su -27 Flanke rs from Poland fortificd defen ses at Bran d -Hric ..e n.
In effect. the entire lhth A ir f orce wa..
rolled forward by ..omc hundred.. of mi les
in these exe rc ise... Acco rding hI US military
intelligence. the re were enough ai r ba ..cs to
houw a.. manv a .. :!5hO aircraft 100 nau tical
miles from the old In 1Il Curtain . and another

MILITARY AIRCAAF T CAMOUFLAGE

MARKIN GS

75

Front view of on Su-24MRb a sed otwetzow. Note

the camero p ort unde r th e left intake

_seeeere

.,

(St e lllo )

05

.,

' 6

.,

0'
. 10

'"
L8J

0"

."

0"

."

'"

."

"

as

ta

."." ".

."

0"

ae

_ 14

0 20

0 19

. 25

POLAN D

."

0"

ar

0 21

."
200

sa

ac

at

."
."

' 42

."
CZECHOSLOVAKIA

76

AIR COMBAT SPECIAL

1630 aircraft could be accommodated the

next 100 nautical miles.
The air base that will probably be the last
to close must be Sperenberg. This is the air
transport huh of the ex-German Democratic Republic. II houses the transport aircraft
of the 16th Air Force. These are genuine
transport aircraft such as the An-1 2 or
An-26. butalso their ECM and ELINT variants. The (1 -20 Coot-A and 11-22 Cont-B
ELiNT-airc raft that arc assigned to the
Western TVD were regular visitors. as arc

Tupolev Tu-154s in Aeroflot colors bristling

with antennae. This base also holds the fame
of being the place from which ex-East German Communist Party ChiefErich Honecker was spirited away to the Soviet Union.
The 16th Air Force is rapidly being reduced to zero. However. it is still a sizeable
force. even through morale isI(M'. "The number
of sorties flownhas decreased as theGennan
Ale nowadays demands filing of mission
plans. Also. the dwindling numberof aircraft
must play a part in the decrease of flights.

The flying cultureis much different from

that in the West. An air base is only operational during two or three daysa week. and
even then during a limited number of hours.
Anexception to this rule isSpercnbcrg which
is open five (not seven) days a week.

DAY-TO-DAY OPERATIONS
Anoperational dayon a Russian air base
is as follows. At some time during the day.
most of the aircraft that arc on the flying
roster are towed to the flight line. The Rus-

BASES 16th SOVIET AIR FORCE

MiG-29 Fulcrum-A. B, and -C. MiG-23UM

N(JIES
closed
aka Falkenberg
closed
helicopter training ground
helicopter training ground
deserted

MG-27M . M,G-23UM"
Su-25125UB. l39C. MiB. Mi-24D and W
Mi-B Hip-J and -K

cosec

MAP NO.

NAME

EQUIPMENT

35

Alistedl

SU17. MI6. 8. 24

32

Alt- lonnevvitz
Altenburg
AJtengraboYi
Benkendort

43
19

12
8
23
:II

26
2
3
1I
39
32
11
30
9
1

38
41
44

24
24
21

29
28
17
36
6
34
33
10

8011<
Branc-Bnesen
Brandis
Cochstedt
Damgarten
Demmin-TfJtow
Dresden-Hellerau
Falkenberg
Finf]N
Finsterwalde
Gross-DOlin
Gross Mohrdorf

Srossenhain
Haina
Hassleben
Juterbog-Alteslager
Jutemcq 2
KleinKaris
Kothen

tuoau

13
4

Mahlwinkel
MelSeburg
Mirow
Mackau
Mortltz
Neuruppin
Dranienburg
Parchim

2
18
6

Putznitz
Aangsdorf
Rethlin-larz

5
2
16
40
22

RellOW

31

Spremberq
Stendal
WeimarNohra
Welzrm

15
42
31
14

25
20

5u-25125lJB, L39C

Dessau

Rlbnitz-Damgarten

sctont ausercen m
Schlotheim
Sperenberg

'Nemeuchen
Winstack
ZeroS!
Zossen-WUnsdorf

cosed

closed
aka Ribnitz
Tue-lhu
reserve fiekl

Mi6. MI-8. MI24

MiG-29 Fulcrum-A. -B. and -G. MiG-23UM
Ml6-29 Fulcrum-B and -C. MiG23UM
MiG-27M. MiG-23UM
Su-17 Fitter-E and -K

Moo-Wed-Fri aka AnlOnnewitz

Moo-Wed
Tue--Thu
Tue--Thu aka Templin
FOl. closed
MiG-27M . MiG-23UM
Tue-Thu
FOl. closed
Mi-2 , 6, 8MT, 24
closed
MiG-23Ml D, MiG-23UM
closed
reserve field
deserted
MiG-29 Fucrurn-B and -C
closed
deserted
Mi-6, Mi-B, Mi24DIP/RChIW
MonWedFri
MiG-29 Fulcrum-A. B. and -C. MiG-23UM (Garda) Mi-B. Mi-24 closed
see RethlinUrz
FOl. closed
FOL. cJosed
Mf--6. MI-B. Mf--24W. Su-17 Finer-E and-K
closed
Mi-o. Mi-B, Mi-24W
every ~ekClay
every ~kClay
Mi-B. Mf--2401RCh/lJIIN
aka Ribnitz-Damgarten
maintenance unit
Mi-8S and STB
MiG-27M , MiG-23UB (Garda)
Mon-Wed-Fri
Tue-Thu aka MilTh\'
Mi-BMT. Mi-24W
helicopter training ground
MIG-29 Fulcrum-A. -B. and -C. MiG-23UM
Mon-Wed-Fri aka Plitznitz
FOl. closed
FOl, closed
An-12 Cub-B and 0. An-24V126 Tu134A-3. Mi-6, MiBSlPPfT MonWed-Fri
Mi-24RCh
Tue-Thu aka Welzow
every weekday
Mi-B. Mi-24D/RChNJ
Mi-6, Mi-ST. Mi-24W
closed
Mon-Wed-Fri aka Spremberq
Su-24MP and MR MiG-25R FoxbatB and -0
MiG-25RU
Foxbats and Su-24MP withdrawn
MiG-25R Foxbat-B and -D. MiG-25RU, Mi-2. Mi-6. MJ-BMT
Foxaats withdrawn
Tue-Thu
MiG29 Fulcrum-A, B, and C MiG-23UM
MiG-29 FulcrumA. -B. and -C MiG-23UM
ccseo
HO landing ground

Notes'
1. Some bases have a hack in the form of an An2 Colt
2. Thed mentioned after thebases are the d3'f-j on which the base is roost likely to be operational.
3 FOl '" forward operating location.
4 aka = also knaMl as
MILITARY AIRCRAFT CAMOU FLAGE & MARKINGS 77

Medium trons port is pr ovid ed by the Sperenberg- based reg ime nt , This An-26 is seen landing a t its home base

sians hardly ever operate from harde ned aircraft shelters. which is every-day practice in

the west of Europe .

Flight line operat ions have the ad vantage
that many "blackmc n" (airc ra ft mecha nics)
arc always at hand to prepare an air cra ft for
its next flight. It also enhances team spirit.
Aircraft tum -aro und times arc ve ry rapid.
fl ying is intense With as few as maybe 20
aircra ft. up 10 20 sorties per hour arc made.
Ho ur a fter hour . . .

It is true thai missions take little lime and

arc often quite local . An eve ryday sortie will
not lake mo re than 20 to 30 mi nutes. Eve n
the long-range ai rc raft like the Su-24 make
sort ies of no mor e than 30 minute s.
Pilots appear to stick to rigiJ tlying
pattern s. When the MiG-27s from Bra ndBricsc n used to take off. they almost immedia tely returned to base at medium alt itud e using thei r ADF. Then they llew to the
range ncar Baruth in Zossc n. which is a dis-

tance of about 25 miles. It is hardl y su rprising that they were back on the runway with in half a n hour.
Local pattern s als o appear to he ve ry
popular amo ng Soviet he lico pter pilots. The
wolfp ack format ion referred to above had
returned to base within 20 minute s!
In 1994. a c hapter in mili tary aviation in
Europe will come to a close . Aviation e nthu sia sts will be loath to sec the Russian s
gone . but the loca l population will nol l

Ea rly model 01o n Mi24D HindD running up a t Bro ndis . This model has no dust filte rs The Mil OKB logo is on the nose
78

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D ALLIED LANDING CRAFT IN WWll1200 pgs 350 pi~
$1895
D THE BATTLE TO SAVE TH E CRUISER HOU STON tMiller 320 pgs
$24.95
L: SOVIET WARSHIPS: 1960 TO PRESENT/Jordan 160 pix
S2195
r: HUNTERKILLER: ESCORT CVEs IN ATLANTI CIl V'Blood
$24.95
r- U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIERStFriedman 488 pgs plus piX
549.95
o U.S. OESTROYERs/Friedman 544 pgs 260 piX
54995
$2995
n U.S. NAVAL WEAPON S/Friedman 256 pgs 300 pix
Fl THE FLEET THE GODS FORGOT/Winslow ssiauc Fleet 327 pgs
523.95
r- BATTLESHIP $AILOR/Mason 272 pgs 1940s
$2395
r- U.S. COAST GUARD CUTTERS &- CRAFT WWII/Schema 384 pgs 53995
r ANATOMY OF THE CARRIER " INTREPID"/Roberts 128 pgs $32,95
L AIR RAID: PEARL HARBOR/Stillwell 220 pgs 107 pix
524.95
L THE U-BOAT/Rossler holution 01 464 pgs/pi x
$52.95
L HISTORY OF IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY 194H5IDull
529.95
L US DESTROYER OPERATIONS IN WWlilRoscoe 581 pgs
53995
L US SUBMARINE OPERATION IN WWII/Roscoe 577 pgs classic 53950
[ SHIPS &- AIRCRAFT OF U.S. FLEET Fahey 4 vis in one PB
52395
c: SHIPS &- AIR CRAFT OF US FLEET Fahey 195058 &. 65 eos
523,95
L FLEET SUBMARINE IN US NAVY/Alden 280 pgs 404 pix
$3995
C BATTLESHIP BISMARCK/Rechberg 290 pgs
524.95
r FLEET SALVAGE AT PEARL HARBOR/377 pgs
52995
r MERCHANT SAILING SHIPS/1815-1850iMacGregor 192 pgs
52395
SEAMANSHIP IN THE AGE OF $All/Harland 320 pgs
54395
[ DESTROYER: GERMAN ODs IN WWII/Whilley 320 pgs
524.95
L THE GHOST THAT DIED AT SUNDRA STRAI T/Winslow 280 pgs $2495
L U.S. CRUISERS DESIGN HISTORY/Friedman 480 pgslpix
$52.95
JUNKS AND SAMPANSOF THE YAN GTZElWorcesfer 900pix 626pgs$6795
- SUBMARINES OF WWIl: ALL NATIONS Baqnasco 256 pgs
526.95
r. WARSHIPSOF THE IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVYiHansgeorg 220pgs $3395
r- U.S. BATTLESHIPS WWlIlDulin 292 pgsipix
546.95
c AIRCRAFT CARRIERS OF THE WORLD tsu-aecresneau 288 pgs $34,95
c AMERICAN BATTLESHIPS 16861923/Reilly Schema 260 pgs 536,95
r CONWAY 'S All THE WORLD'S BATTLESHIPS1906PresenV190 pgs$43,95
L ENGIN E ROOM SEA STORIESiTillman 110 pgs Collector's item
$19.95
L SUBCHASERIStafford 320 pgs WWII exploits of SC s
$19.95
U BROWN WATER. BLACK BEREn tCutler 320 pgs &. piXVietnam River War $2495
TH E 211 GUN BLANDFORD/Goodwm 120pgs 300 dwgs 24 pix
53295

BOOKS FOR MODELERS

L AN CIENT &- MEDIEVAL SHIPS/Mansir 64 pgs color
L HOW TO BUlLO SHIP MODELS/Mansir 64 pgslill
HOW TOBUILD MODEL DIORAMAS/Paine 104 pgs color

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S. CARWIN & SONS LTD.

--,

Specia list Hon k.w llen ; O( R eference Titles 81/1('(' 1965

P .O . BOX 2145 , \VIKNETKA , CA 91306

Please enter my immediate order for the following books:

Enclosed is: 0 Check

Card No
Signature
Ship to : Name

C MO

Md~

City

$12.95
$9.95
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0 MasterCardlVlSA
EXP.DATE
Phone No

_
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ZiP

Piease send tne 10110wing books shippednrepad l os Angeles Cou nty reSidents please addB 1/4% sales lax. all otherCalifornia
residents add 7114% sales l ax with order. Foreign orders please add $300 additional poslage per book
NOTE - If TOTAL PU RCHASE PRICE EXCEEDS $75.00 (not includingstaletax or adl1lt iMal postage) YOU MAY OEDUCT 10%

fROM THE COV ER PRICE OF EACH BOOK ORDERED

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L __ CALL TOLL-FREE 1-800-562-9182 _ _ --.J

VIDEO SUPER- ALE!

5 FOR $79.95 PLUS YOUR FREE BONUS SELECTION!
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VIDEO

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p.o. Box 2145
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VIDEOS ARE VHS FORMAT.
My single selection for $19.95 is 11

Enclosed is my check

IIf JlI "" _ TME 1lAt. CATS I"

ACTIOfI StnoncI WWII saoa or Mrl
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