PatGilmore

Hi Pat I have a experience with Starlifter. In 1989, I was manning a dropzone at night. The black coloured Starlifter nearly dropped ............ right on my head. Maybe something idea for a diorama.... regards Håvard Faller Hello, Håvard! You have to watch out for things falling out of black objects in the sky when you work dropzones! I was never airdrop qualified in the C-141, but I understand your dilemma. I flew all over the world during the 20 years I flew the Starlifter, but never made it to Norway. I flew into Denmark a number of times for NATO excercises, carrying troops and supplies, but never into Norway. My brother was a fire watcher in the mountains of Idaho during the summer when he was in college and he would often climb down from his tower to sleep on the ground in a sleeping bag when the nights were clear and warm. One morning he was dreaming of an airplane, sound and all, when he realized he was actually hearing a real airplane. He opened his eyes just in time to see a bundle dropping toward him in a parachute, and he rolled out of the way just in time. It was the weekly air supply drop to his fire watch tower and he was almost killed by the dropped bundle! I'm sure you understand what he experienced. Take care, Pat Gilmore

Kjetil Åkra wrote: Regarding Fraser-Harris' Skua used on the Königbergs raid I do not know of any serial for it, although his later Skua marked "A8G" (probably only the G visible on the tailfin) was L2918. I've made preliminary profile of his Königsberg-Skua with this serial as I believe it would have looked at the time. Note that only the "H" was likely to be seen on the tail fin. Regarding camouflage this would have had the white and black lower wings as you noted, although the left wing would have been black and the right would have been white. Hello, Kjetil: I was basing my research on the information I found in John Dell's painting of No. 803 Squadron FAA Skuas peeling off to dive bomb the Königsberg (refer to: http://freespace.virgin.net/john.dell/AArt3.html#skuas), which show the tail codes 8L and 8B on the two nearest Skuas, which other research has confirmed as being the tail codes used during the time of the Königsberg raid in April 1940. The single letter identification did not appear on the tail until May/June 1940, from what I understand. Also, the underside colour is depicted as a light sea gray in John Dell's painting, not the greenish Sky that your painting shows. Sky apparently did not appear on FAA aircraft until late 1940. You are correct, though, in saying the underside of the LEFT wing was black and the right wing was white. I had them turned around. John Dell mentions in the caption under this painting: "The first wave of Blackburn Skuas flip over to attack the German cruiser KÖnigsberg at Bergen harbour, 10th April 1940. A lot of research went into this picture, and I have received help from experts in Norway, the USA and the UK to get it as accurate as possible." Anyway, I thank you for your information. I shall certainly use it when I build my Skua model! Regards, Pat Gilmore

Hello, Kjetil: Sorry it has taken so long for me to reply. As I wrote to Øystein, I've been very busy since August and hardly ever get to spend time playing on the computer anymore. I am VERY interested in building the Skua flown by Lt. Fraser Fraser-Harris of No. 803 Squadron FAA on the Königsberg Raid. From the research I've done it would seem that the aircraft had a black right wing and white left wing on the undersides with Sea Grey under the rest of the aircraft and up the sides of the fuselage. The tail code would have read "8H". Is this correct? I also intend to fit the A/C with a 500 lb. bomb, since this was the first time a major warship was sunk by bombing in time of war. Was this an armour piercing bomb? The painting of the attack on the Königsberg on the Skua web site is what I'm basing my model scheme upon. Do you have any further information. Do you know what the serial number was for "8H"? The Special Hobby kit has no decals for this scheme, and from what I have determined the descriptions of the three colour schemes in the instructions do not match the schemes themselves: >The first scheme (L2963) would actually be for the Scharnhörst Raid in July 1940, and it may have been the "L-2988?" aircraft that was flown by Lt. W.P. Lucy, code "8F", on the Königsberg Raid. Would this be correct? >The second is merely the aircraft on display at the FAA Museum in Yeovilton (in early pre-Königsberg Raid codes). >The third scheme is the one flown by "Kik" Filmer when he was hit by gunfire from an He111 over Andalsnes in the Romsdalsfjord on 26 Apr 1940 and ditched in the nearby harbour at Alesund. As I said, none of the scheme descriptions in the instructions match the actual schemes available in the kit, as far as I can tell. I intend to buy your book and am anxious to see your drawings! Of course, I'll have to buy it before I start the kit, but the way I'm going lately, it will be a few more months before I can get started building again. I would also like to build the MPM Fairey Fulmar in a Norwegian campaign scheme, but pictures of those are far and few between? Do you have any information on FAA Fulmars in Norway? Thank you for your offer to provide information on the Skua! I will certainly welcome any information you can give me. Regards, Pat Gilmore Bountiful, Utah USA Just fixed your quotes, Arild

Thank you to all my new Norwegian IPMS friends! I am finally able to sit down and get onto your forum. The IPMS/USA Nationals in Anaheim, California were not one of the better national conventions I have attended. No organization and very little security, but I did do a lot of damage in the Vendors Area. I bought WAY too many new model aircraft kits (Eduard/Special Hobby/MPM were there in force!) and I even bought the new 1/350 Tamiya IJN I-400 submarine with Seiran aircraft. It is almost complete. I'm building it for a local contest here in Utah, USA in two weeks. I usually build 1/48 WWII aircraft, but this subject was just too interesting to pass up! As Øystein has said, I am a retired USAF pilot (I flew C-141 Starlifters between 1971 and 1991) and am also a retired Delta Airlines captain (retired on the Boeing 767). All during my 35 year flying career I built model airplanes to help me recover from jet lag after returning from my world-wide travels. I have over 400 built model airplanes in my display cases, and over 1,000 more in my collection to build! My visit to Anaheim two weeks ago didn't help to reduce my growing unbuilt kit collection at all! I am past president and current vice president of IPMS/Salt Lake City, and also am affiliated with the Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill AFB here in Utah. I have done many model projects for both the Hill museum (USAF) and the Fort Douglas Military Museum (US Army) in Salt Lake City. In fact, I have built models of both musuems for these museums, the Hill model in 1/144th scale and the Ft. Douglas model in 1/87th scale! I built all the buildings, grounds, and aircraft/armor for each of these projects (100+ aircraft and 4 buildings for the Hill project, and 12 tanks and two buildings for the Ft. Douglas project). Now that I'm done with these, I can concentrate on my own model building. I recently purchased the new Special Hobby Blackburn Skua and intend to build it as one of the aircraft that sunk the German cruiser Königsberg in Bergen Harbour on 10 April 1940. I have been corresponding with Øystein about this aircraft, and the Fairy Fulmar, a lot recently. It was he who urged me to join this forum, so here I am! I have built ONE Norwegian aircraft from WWII...the Gloster Gladiator "421". I built the model over 30 years ago using the 1/48 Life-Like kit, and it isn't one of my better models, but it still looks pretty good if I do say so myself! Although I do not speak or write Norge, I do have a very close Norwegian friend here in Utah. He is the former Norwegian Consul to the State of Utah, Leif Andersen, who was also on the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics Committee in 2002. It was he who helped organize the Cross Country Ski venue, and he hosted the Norwegian team while they were here. He also invited my wife and me to the Norwegian team parties and arranged tickets to many events for us, and we got to sit with all the hard partying Norwegians at these events! I have an empty can of Aass Dark beer sitting on my desk to remind me of those party days in 2002. Please feel free to contact me any time! Pat Gilmore Bountiful, Utah