preznotes - IPMS-Seattle

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Seattle Chapter IPMS/USANovember 2004

PREZNOTES

In This Issue

Spring Show Categories 3Memorial Day Display 3IPMS Vancouver Show 4Zvezda MiG 1.44 5Aircraft Oddities 6DRAW Decals New Sheets 6Bagram Hobby Club 7USS Hornet 8Sinister Shadow 10Airfix Concorde 12John Biggins Books 14Pavla PR Spitfires 14Sky Captain 15Upcoming MOF Events 16

Another “airline” Preznotes, at 35,000' or33,000' depending on where the pilot hadto climb or descend to clear continuedturbulence. I’m on my way to Orlando for atrade show. I cashed in some mileage andam riding “up front” this time, plenty of legroom, wide seat, and real utensils, so thisprobably won’t be a “bitchy” column.That’s reserved for next month’s columnbecause on the flight home I’ll be in theback of the plane.

For my birthday a few months ago I got aDelta disc/belt sander. Last week, after amarathon garage cleaning, I was finallyable to set it up and use it. I’ve beenremoving excess plastic from a handful ofvacuform kits, taking down some substan-tial resin pour gates, and definitelycreating lots of useful parts that willeventually result in a few finished models.About a year ago I inherited a Unimat styledesk top lathe/milling machine. Unfortu-nately, the instructions are somewhatdifficult to understand, otherwise, I’d bewhipping out turned brass undercarriagesand other round, straight things! Considerthis an SOS to any machinist out there, Icould use some help here. Which leads tomy question of the day: Do you use anymajor power tools for modeling?

After another nonproductive summer theweather has finally gotten bad enough tolet me work at my bench without remorse,so maybe I’ll get to assemble some ofthese parts I’ve been working on out in thegarage. About the only thing I haveaccomplished this week is to spray someprimer on one of my ’49 Schneider racers. Iused the Tamiya rattle can primer. I amimpressed. What great stuff. Now I mayfinally be able to compete with my oldestson’s ability with rattle can paint!

In five weeks I was able to attend threemodel contests, McMinnville, GalaxyHobby (sci-fi), and Vancouver BC’s fallshow. All were excellent contests andalthough the number of models was downfrom past years (except Vancouver), the

quality of the models at each show wasexceptional.

For those of you working on space andscience-fiction subjects for our SpringShow, please note that there is a minorrealignment of the category. See the articleon page 3 in this issue.

For members of IPMS/USA there is a newprogram being instituted called theModelers Achievement Program which is“designed to motivate the membership andnewcomers to IPMS/USA to build bettermodels and participate in the Society”. Iwould like all national members to look thisinformation over on the IPMS/USAwebsite under Discussion Forums:Modelers Achievement Program. Please letme know what you think about this so wecan discuss it at the meeting.

Finally, I’d like to thank Keith and Norm forkeeping things running smoothly for thelast few meetings. Thanks guys, and Iwill...

...see you at the next meeting,

Terry

SEATTLE CHAPTER CONTACTS

President: Vice President: Treasurer: Editor:Terry Moore Keith Laird Norm Filer Robert Allen3612 - 201st Pl. S.W. 528 South 2nd Ave. 16510 N.E. 99th 12534 NE 128th Way #E3Lynnwood, WA 98036 Kent, WA 98032 Redmond, WA 98052 Kirkland, WA 98034Ph: 425-774-6343 Ph: 253-735-9060 Ph: 425-885-7213 Ph: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

IPMS Seattle Web Site (Webmasters, Jon Fincher & Tracy White): http://www.ipms-seattle.org

Public Disclaimers, Information, and Appeals for Help

This is the official publication of the Seattle Chapter, IPMS-USA. As such, it serves as the voice for our Chapter, and depends largelyupon the generous contributions of our members for articles, comments, club news, and anything else involving plastic scale modeling andassociated subjects. Our meetings are generally held on the second Saturday of each month, (see below for actual meeting dates), at the NorthBellevue Community/Senior Center, 4063-148th Ave NE, in Bellevue. See the back page for a map. Our meetings begin at 10:00 AM, exceptas noted, and usually last for two to three hours. Our meetings are very informal, and are open to any interested plastic modeler, regardless ofinterests. Modelers are encouraged to bring their models to the meetings. Subscriptions to the newsletter are included with the Chapter dues.Dues are $24 a year, and may be paid to Norm Filer, our Treasurer. (See address above). We also highly recommend our members join andsupport IPMS-USA, the national organization. See below for form. Any of the members listed above will gladly assist you with further informa-tion about the Chapter or Society.

The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual writers, and do not constitute the official position of theChapter or IPMS-USA. You are encouraged to submit any material for this newsletter to the editor. He will gladly work with you and see thatyour material is put into print and included in the newsletter, no matter your level of writing experience or computer expertise. The newsletter iscurrently being edited using a PC, and PageMaker 6.5. Any Word or WordPerfect document for the PC would be suitable for publication. Articlescan also be submitted via e-mail, to the editor’s address above. Deadline for submission of articles is generally twelve days prior to the nextmeeting - earlier would be appreciated! Please call me at 425-823-4658 if you have any questions.

If you use or reprint the material contained in the newsletter, we would appreciate attribution both to the author and the sourcedocument. Our newsletter is prepared with one thing in mind; this is information for our members, and all fellow modelers, and is prepared andprinted in the newsletter in order to expand the skills and knowledge of those fellow modelers.

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 2

Upcoming Meeting DatesThe IPMS Seattle 2004 meeting schedule is as follows. All meetings are from 10 AM to 1 PM, except as indicated. To avoidconflicts with other groups using our meeting facility, we must NOT be in the building before our scheduled start times, andMUST be finished and have the room restored to its proper layout by our scheduled finish time. We suggest that you keep thisinformation in a readily accessable place.

November 13 December 11


Revised Categories for 2005 IPMS Seattle Spring Show

by Stephen Tontoni

The head judges for the 2005 IPMS Seattle Spring show, Charlie Sorensen and StephenTontoni, had a productive discussion in which it was decided to make some adjustmentsto the 600 grouping. In 2004, the categories were:

SPACE FACT/SCI-FI-FANTASY: all scales601. Space Fact602. Sci-fi, Vehicles603. Sci-fi, Figures and Creatures (includes dinosaurs)BEST SPACE FACT/ SCI-FI/FANTASY AWARD

As of the 2005 IPMS Seattle Spring show, the 600 grouping is renamed and restructuredto read:

SPACE, EXPERIMENTAL, AND FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES: all scales601. Space Fact602. Aerospace Testbeds and Record-Breakers (excludes pure prototypes)603. Sci-fi, Vehicles604. Sci-fi, Figures and Creatures (excludes dinosaurs)BEST SPACE, EXPERIMENTAL, AND FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES AWARD

As well as adding a category 602 (experimentals), we have moved dinosaurs out of Sci-fietc. Starting in 2005, we have altered 800 group “OTHER CLASSES” to now include 804,Dinosaurs/Animals. Previously, 804 was Miscellaneous; that is renumbered category 805.

As well as altering the 600 group and adding a category in the 800 group, we have madea title change within the Diorama category. Category 704, which was entitled Space Fact/Sci-Fi/Fantasy, is now entitled Space Fact/Future Technologies/Fantasy (includingdinosaurs).

For future reference, keep in mind that any category that is well-populated can be splitinto subcategories at the discretion of the team leaders and head judges. If any group ofmodelers would like to have more recognition and more sub-divisions within their areasof expertise, all they have to do is build and bring more of those models. When the samecategories are split several years running, we can then opt to make them their ownpermanent categories. So bring the models!

Feel free to post this notice to any modeling message board.

Skyway Model Shop Sales

Skyway Model Shop 10th Anniversary Sale: November 26, 27, and 28 (the weekend afterThanksgiving). At least 20% off everything in the store. Half-price specials just forearlybirds!

Skyway Model Shop Christmas Sale And Party: December 11 (Sale & Party) & 12 (Sale &Leftovers). At least 20% off everything in the store and 50% off on selected items. OnSaturday refreshments will be served from 5pm until 8pm.

Skyway Model Shop, 12615 Renton Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98178. (206) [email protected]

Memorial Day 2005 Display

by Brad Bytnar, Forest LawnFuneral Home and Cemetery

We are putting on our annual militaryexhibit and display over the Memorial Dayweekend of 2005, May 28-30. The displayis located at Forest Lawn Funeral Homeand Cemetery in West Seattle. Our displayis mainly military memorabilia from the CivilWar through modern day. We havecollectors from all over Washington statedisplay their items and vehicles. Wehowever would like to expand the displayto include a plethora of model militaryvehicles of all sorts (ships, vehicles,airplanes, etc). We will be having prizes forthe best looking model etc. We would haveall models in either glass cases or behind aroped off area. At this event, we have hadin the past years upwards of 2,000 peoplecome through to see and take photos ofthe exhibit and vehicles, and speak to withthe collectors and owners.

On Memorial Day, we will be having amilitary guest speaker and flag honorguard for our 77th Annual Memorial DayService. This is a community event whichincludes Cub and Boy Scouts placing flagsand crosses on the graves of all veteransin the cemetery. We would like to extendan invitation to IPMS members to comeand partake in the Memorial Day Weekendevents in 2005. This is a fun weekend andwe all hope that IPMS could even make itbetter. We look forward to talking with youand making your group a welcomedaddition to our events. If you would likemore information, please call me at (206)932-0050.


2004 IPMS Vancouver FallShow, or “Wright Rights a

Wrong”

by Andrew Birkbeck

I traveled up to Vancouver, BC on Satur-day, October 9 for the annual IPMSVancouver Fall Show with fellow chaptermember Jay Mullins. Sadly, prior to theshow I discovered that I was at theopposite end of the modeling spectrumfrom our esteemed President for Life, whoclaims to have managed nearly a dozencompleted models for 2004. While I hadstarted about a dozen models since lastyear’s Fall Show, I hadn’t actually finishedany! Jay however made up for my delin-quency by bring along a dozen models toenter, so from a “car load” standpoint, wedidn’t do too badly.

The weather on show day was suitablymiserable, with plenty of rain, very heavyat times. The rain lasted all day, on bothsides of the US/Canada border. However,lots of modeling talk made for a pleasanttrip, and the border crossing into Canadatook less than five minutes.

The show was held at the Bonsor Commu-nity Centre in Burnaby, next to theMetrotown Mall, where it has been for thepast five or so years. Jay and I arrivedexactly at 9 am, having departed Seattle at6:30 am, so you can see it was indeed asmooth and quick trip up. Taking ourmoney at the door was the lovely PattyHolmes, wife of modeling genius WayneHolmes. Entry was a very reasonableCan$5 for Jay with all his models, and $2for those like me who couldn’t get any-thing ready in time.

Once Jay entered his models, we headedoff to the vendor room. If I could make onestrong recommendation for those showorganizers who like to stuff a large numberof vendors into relatively small,unventilated rooms: invest in some ofthose plug-in “air fresheners” fromJohnson and Johnson. As with the formerIPMS Seattle show venue of The Armory,

the vendor room at Burnaby soon filledwith the lovely aroma of “Au de Modeler”.Pepe Le Peu would have been right athome. But I digress.

To this author, the prices being asked bythe vendors this year were at the high endof the scale, considering that for the mostpart the models, books, and decals for salewere all “last year’s second hand goods”. Isaw only one vendor offering “new items”,all the rest were selling second, and insome cases, third hand goods. As aconsequence of the high prices, and the“nothing much new” situation, neither Jaynor I spent a single cent with the vendors.And at the end of the day, a very largepercentage of those second hand goodswent right back into the storage boxes thevendors had brought with them thatmorning. Sales did not seem brisk at all.

As for the model contest, there were 632walk-in visitors, up nicely from last year’s500. Sadly, only 125 of these visitorsbrought contest models, although they didvery well by bringing 460 entries. Generallyspeaking it was a well balanced field, witha good showing in most categories.Overall I felt the armor modelers showedthe highest overall caliber of entries, withfewer “duds” and far more “very good” to“excellent” entries. Jay felt likewise.

In the aircraft categories, there were somesurprising results. There were “only” 12single engined prop aircraft models in the1/48th scale category, vs. 13 in the 1/72ndscale category. For the past many years

1/48th has vastly outnumbered 1/72ndentries in aircraft. This year there were 17twin engined 1/72nd prop entries, again,vastly outnumbering the 1/48th category.Also surprising were the Civil aircraftentries, which totaled a respectable 19entries in all scales. The surprising thingwas that for the first time in my memorycertainly, there wasn’t a single jet airlinerentry. At even the smallest shows I haveattended in the Pacific Northwest, there areusually at least three or four such models.Not a one in Vancouver, go figure.

What I like most about the Vancouvershow is the “different” models that showup, compared to most of the US shows Iattend. While there are the usual Shermanand Tiger tanks, P-47s and Spitfires, thereare also many “different” models, such asthe following from this year: BristolBombay, Northrop Gamma, Lockheed Vega,Avro Vulcan, Fairey Firefly, etc. Not tomention a scratchbuilt Reid and SigristSnargasher. Oh, and non-American carmodel subjects, such as Porsche 911srather than yet more Ford Mustangs.

A large number of IPMS Seattle membersmade it up to the Vancouver show thisyear, although not as many as in previousyears, no doubt due to our Chaptermeeting falling on the same day as theshow. Of those who did make it up, familiarnames appeared among the 2004 TrophyWinners. George Stray won Best Allied/NATO Armour with his 203mm Soviethowitzer in 1/35th scale. President for LifeTerry Moore won the Best TV/Movie

photo by James Tainton


Monster award with his black and whiterendition of The Thing. Tim Bradley wonBest Civilian Aircraft with his novel Beech18, while Craig M. Rosner, PhD won thedaily double with his USS Hickox winningBest Naval Vessel and Best Diorama. Welldone to all these winners, and also tothose like my traveling companion JayMullins who won various First, Second,Third, and Highly Commended ribbons.

And finally to the subject of my ratherstrange article title, “Wright Rights aWrong”. On the day of the show, the Bestin Show award went to a sailing ship modeltitled Le Coureur. While a very nice model,at the time it was announced, I found itrather strange that this ship model hadwon Best in Show, but hadn’t figured asBest Naval Vessel. So in researching thisarticle, your intrepid reporter e-mailedWarwick Wright, the Contest Chairperson,regarding this apparent anomaly. Perhaps,I reasoned, “Best Naval” referred only tomilitary naval vessels? That could explainCraig Rosner’s USS Hickox winning BestNaval yet another (non-military?) sailingship being Best in Show?

Alas, it was even less complicated thanthis. What happened was this: the judgingpanel assembled to vote on “Best inShow” went around the judges, asking forthe names of the winners of the majorcategories: Best Naval, Best Aircraft, BestArmor etc. Unfortunately due to a papershuffle error, the Best of Show judges werehanded the name Le Coureur rather thanUSS Hickox for Best Naval. Of the modelssubmitted, Le Coureur was voted Best inShow. However, since USS Hickox wasactually the Best Naval winner, it shouldhave won Best in Show. Once I pointedout this anomaly, to his credit WarwickWright talked to those involved, and a“new” Best in Show was announced: CraigM. Rosner PhD’s USS Hickox. If suchjudging snafus can happen at such highlyorganized events as the Olympic Games,why not at local model shows! However,the wrong was righted by Wright, and thisbeing a hobby and not brain surgery,hopefully everyone can laugh this one offin the spirit of, well, whatever.

Zvezda 1/72nd ScaleMiG 1.44

by Bill Osborn

Have you noticed a trend in my subjectmatter as to the type of models that I’vebeen bringing to the meetings lately? I washoping that somebody would come outwith a kit of this big MiG. I was just a littleconcerned when I heard it was going to beZvezda, as I am also doing a Su-39 fromtheir line. The –39 is not a bad kit, but itdoes leave a bit to be desired (but that’sanother article).

The MiG is a whole ‘nother story. This kitmatches the best kits for fit, molding, anddetails. The instruction sheets(five) are of the exploded-viewtype, and very clear as to whereparts fit. They are, of course,multilingual and just a little careneeds to be used to locate theinfo you are looking for. So farthe part fit is very good. Theonly need for filler so far is onthe upper lip of the air intake,and a few sink marks, but not allthat much is needed. The modelcan be built with the gear downor up as the kit comes with alarge clear two-part stand. When was thelast time you saw one of those in a kit?The canopy can be posed either closed oropen, as you get two nice struts to hold itup.

The build is easy as most everything canbe made in sub-assemblies. The nose takesthe cockpit tub, intake, and canards. Theaft body gets everything else. There is achoice of two exhaust nozzles, open orclosed. The nozzles also are poseable, asthe MiG has thrust-vectoring exhaust.There are support tabs on the gear doors(what a good idea) that need to beremoved if you build the model in theflying condition. Panel lines are fine andthere are not a whole lot of them (anothergood idea). There are almost no noticeablemold lines on this kit. See what happenswhen somebody checks the drawings!

The only error I’ve found is the colorscheme. The plans say to paint the uppersurface Intermediate Blue with Light GhostGray lowers. This is wrong twice; Interme-diate Blue is way too dark, and the bluegoes on the lower surface. You do get thechoice of two markings. I don’t think morethan one aircraft was built, so they musthave added some new markings andchanged the number. My references showthe aircraft with a very badly over-sprayedpaint job. The electric panels were allshown with over-spray on all panels. I’veseen Russian aircraft up close and whilethe workmanship wasn’t all that great, thepaint jobs were not that bad. Anyway, I’mgoing to clean mine up. Even with refer-ences I don’t think a bad paint job on thereal thing would look good on a model.

I took the model to Vancouver, B. C. fortheir contest, and without a lot of colorand markings it didn’t make a showing.Several people wanted to know the heck itwas. Maybe it was worth it after all. I thinkI did err with the top color. It came outdarker than the color pictures I have. Don’talways trust the instructions when itcomes to paint!


Aircraft Oddities

by Hal Marshman Sr.

As you get deeper and deeper into thehobby, and researching what you’rebuilding, various small things come toyour attention. Modifying your models toreflect these odds-and-ends mark yourprogress towards becoming the modeleryou want to be. Few of us are satisfiedwith our current standing, always lookingto improve our end products. The oldmodeler’s workhorse, the Bf 109, is onesuch subject, with more little itemsbecoming known all the time. Some of theitems are well known, but not incorporatedinto the more popular kits. Check out whatfollows, and see if you were aware of them.

The Hasegawa kit of the 109K-4 features apitot tube that points somewhat down-ward. Do not correct this, it’s authentic,and also applies to the G-10 and some G-14s. Pays to check photos on these.

The drop tank on 109F/G/K variants areoff-center to the left. The Hasegawa guideholes are correct, so do not modify them.

By now, many folks know that the fuselagetop and bottom seams show on the realaircraft, and should not be filled andsmoothed over. Unfortunately manycontest judges are not 109 aficionados,and not being aware of this fact, will dockyou as having not filled your seams.Actually, on the real bird, these are reallyan overlap, and are just so slightly offcenter, but not enough to be evident in a1/48th scale model.

The underwing radiator intakes, and thenose oil cooler intake, on the Hasegawakits need improvement, with a verticalbrace or stiffener being needed in thecenter of the opening. A really nicemodification is to depict the exit flap on theoil cooler in the open position. A nice smalltouch, pretty much akin to depicting thetailwheel in a turned position. In otherwords, a little bit that adds immensely to acandid view of the airplane.

Now, just so you won’t think I’m too solida Bf 109 nut, here’s a good old USAAFitem. In the late Jeffrey L. Ethell’s book, P-40 Warhawk in WWII Color, there’s a niceoverhead shot on page 36 of a -N bird atAdak, Alaska in 1943. This interesting shotreveals something that is absent on mostthree-views of this airplane, and alsoabsent on both the Mauve and AMTversions of the -N. There is a frame atcenter top of both the fixed rear canopy,and the sliding portion, running fore andaft. In addition, the pic also showsportions of four other Warhawks, beinganother -N, and three -E types. In theviews where the rear of the prop is visible,there are no yellow tips displayed,meaning that they were applied to the frontonly. I don’t know if this was a Curtissthing, or an operational refinement, butthere it is.

So my friends, there you go. Just a fewlittle goodies to chew on, and perhapsadapt into your builds. Anytime youdisplay kits with such modifications, bevery certain to make mention of them onyour entry form. Yeah, I know that somejudges don’t read them, but many of us do,and at least your rear end is covered.

DRAW Decal - GrummanF6F-3 Hellcat, “Little

Nugget”; Boeing 737-500Smart Wings - All Scales

by Chris Banyai-Riepl

Here are two new colorful and excitingdecal sheets from the ALPS master, DRAWDecal.

First is a very unusual Hellcat. In 1970Alaska Airlines CEO Charles Willis, Jr.owned an F6F-3. Not wanting to have aPlain Jane airplane, he decided to paint theHellcat in the company colors of his fleet.Drawn by IPMS Seattle member TimBradley from info provided by IPMS

Seattle President Terry Moore, this sheet isanother in the “Golden Nugget” series heis working on. If you’re a Hellcat junkie,this is one decal sheet you’ll have to have.

Second is a Boeing 737 from the newairline, Smart Wings, from the CzechRepublic. This airplane is a -500 model,meaning that it’s a shorter 737-300. For the1/200 scale crowd, Hasegawa has a 737-500kit. For those who are into bigger kits, it’s asimple matter to chop down the Minicraft737-300 fuselage, or wait for the upcomingDaco kit, which I hear is due out any timenow.

These two decal sheets get my “TwoThumbs Up” on all counts, especially theHellcat. Talk about an eye-catcher!Many thanks to DRAW Decals for thereview sample sheets.

[Thanks once again to Chris andwww.internetmodeler.com for permissionto use his articles - ED]


The Bagram Hobby Club:Honorary IPMS/USA

Chapter

by Sgt. Dave Roof

IPMS/USA Member and HyperScaleRegular Sgt. Dave Roof is serving with theUS Marines in Afghanistan, and he hasstarted a Model Club “In Country”. Davereports on the progress of the club:

Our club is now up to 50 members and weare growing. Unfortunately, due toconflicting work schedules, not everyonecan make it each week. We had 29 peopleshow this week, of which a few left beforewe took the photo.

The tall gentleman centermast in the backof the group in the picture above is Mr.Chuck Younglove, the head of MWR. Hehas been instrumental in getting us thebuilding where we currently meet and herecently was able to acquire a separatebuilding for us to use. This new buildingwill be set up with individual work sta-tions, five airbrush stations, and will beopen seven nights a week and manned bymyself and a couple of other volunteersduring the evening hours.

To date, we have receivedapproximately 275 modelsand have given out over150 of them! We havealso received dozens oftools, paints, magazines,and books that themembers can check out aweek at a time.

We have confirmeddonations from Minicraft,MRC/Academy, Revell-Monogram, CobraCompany, and SquadronMail Order. Some of thesewere organized through IPMS-USA 1stVice President John Noack, and the rest ofthe IPMS-USA gang. The Las Vegas IPMSchapter went above and beyond the call

with a hugemonetarydonation in theway of providingus with a creditat Squadron!Squadron’sdonation was anamount equal tothe LV chapter’sand will providethe BHCmembers with anopportunity topurchase thosesupplies, kits,etc., they want

that don’t get donated.

This venture has been ahuge success and theword is rapidly spreadingthroughout the base. Weare even getting requestsfrom some of theForward Operating Basesand from individuals inKabul! However, I mustsay again that none ofthis would have been

possible without the unselfish andgenerous donations of everyone backhome.

From all of us in the Bagram HobbyClub...Thank You!

Semper Fidelis,

Dave RoofSSGT USMC

Contact Info:

Roof, David LHMLA-773Hobby ClubAPO AE [email protected]


The U.S.S. Hornet, CV-12

by Paul A. Ludwig

Trumpeter makes a very nice kit of anEssex class aircraft carrier, of which therewere fourteen, and the U.S.S. Hornet of theEssex class is available for viewing inAlameda, California. The Hornet isperhaps the most famous of that class andmay be the most successful warshipanywhere, anytime. On 24 July 1969 it wasthe recovery ship for the Apollo 11astronauts and President Richard Nixonwelcomed the Apollo crew aboard theHornet to a worldwide television audience.Four months later the Apollo 12 crew waspicked up by the Hornet’s men. In WorldWar Two its gunners and pilots shot down1,410 enemy aircraft. The CV-12 wascommissioned on 29 November 1943 andwas decommissioned on 26 June 1970. It isnow a floating museum and registered as anational and state historic landmark.

There were eight ships named Hornet andthe first dates back to 1775. The seventhHornet - CV-8 - was the launch platform forLt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle’s Tokyo raiderswhose B-25s left the Hornet’s deck on 18

April 1942. CV-8 was sunk six months afterthat raid. The Navy wanted, needed, andgot another Hornet.

My Squadron, VA-145, and I flew from theHornet CV-12 for six or seven months in1957 and a very few of us held a reunion atAlameda last month to be near the Hornet.Our numbers are dwindling and six formerpilots and the former Air IntelligenceOfficer and three wives attended thereunion. Two men declined to attend andanother had a previous commitment. Allthe others are gone. When one of theformer pilots living not far from Alamedaasked us if we wanted to meet and see ourship once more after 47 years, I was veryeager to agree to meet. I wanted to see theship - especially my old bunk room, whichwas surrounded by steel and noise andfilled with 27 junior officers. It is still calledthe 0101 Junior Officers’ Bunk Room butthe steel plate above the door (hatch) saysonly “0101.” Above the room itself are theforward catapults and ahead of the room

are the anchor chains storage, and beyondthat is the enclosed, all-weather bow. Talkabout constant noise when we were at sea!

Sleeping in the 0101 was like living inside adrum and any object that hit the metal cagewe were in caused a noise that reverber-ated like a drum’s noise would. The all-weather bow was a few yards ahead of oursleeping quarters and one night the carrierran into a bad storm, crested a wave, sunkinto the trough and pounded nose-firstinto the next wave. The noise was like abomb going off. I woke up in a cold sweatthinking we had been hit. The wave sentgreen water over the flight deck and whitewater into the crow’s nest. The nextmorning we saw bent metal that previouslyhad been exposed I-beams. There wassome night flying on good nights and thecatapults shot aircraft over our heads witha common noise we came to ignore. Life inthe 0101 was a memorable experience. Onanother night, some merry pranksterscarried an unattached tailhook down ourpassageway, through our hatch and stoodit on end before closing the door andrunning away. The sound of that tailhookhitting the steel deck was like anotherbomb going off. It wasn’t all work and noplay on the ship.

I knew last month that the flight deck andhangar deck were too common to retain apersonal touch in my memory - comparedto 0101 - but I wanted to see the flight andhangar decks which once were so alivewith activity. I had made some memorabletakeoffs and landings on that deck. Thememorable ones are the ones I hesitate totalk about. There weren’t many of those. Ialso wanted to see the Ready Room andthe Officers’ Ward Room. The former pilotwho organized the reunion asked if wewanted to hold a reunion and he received athumbs up from everyone who wanted tosee the Hornet again and I made plans tomeet my squadron mates on time lastmonth.

Alameda is a small island a few hundredyards across the water south of Oaklandand today, Alameda is a family-orientedsmall city. Until the Navy divested itself ofthe Naval Air Station and the Naval Base,Alameda must have been a true Navytown. Today the city of Alameda is a rather


beautiful, tree-lined, quiet bedroomcommunity but the northwest end of theisland is a ghost town. Alameda NAS andBase are huge areas filled with hugehangars and buildings separated by a gridof very wide thoroughfares down whichaircraft once taxied. Anyone who has livedon a military base remembers the thrivingactivity and purposeful air about the place,but Alameda NAS today is a windsweptnothing, being prepped for urban renewaland for commercial and leisure expanses. Itis sad to see no cars or people or aircraftcome and go. Sad too, that so muchconstruction is unused. Taxpayers putAlameda NAS on the map and when itmattered, Alameda was a top-notch baseserving the Navy and America throughseveral wars.

The old J.O. bunk room was our tourguide’s first stop and it overwhelmed me toarrive so suddenly at the place I wantedmost to visit. Our docent led us from thehangar deck through a doorway (hatch)down a hallway (passageway) and into theroom (space). There I was, face to facewith the cramped area that meant so muchto me so long ago. Our squadron’s fourjunior officers had the two double-bunks

just inside the hatch to the left and eventhough the Navy had made many up-grades to the Hornet since 1957, it had notchanged 0101. How I vaulted myself up tothe top bunk every night for six monthswas now a mystery because I trip over ourdog at home. The mattress in my bunk wasapproximately a foot and a half beneathsteel I-beams and cables. Four of usshared a closet and each of us had adrawer. These days I collect stuff as I walkthrough a store. Back then, less was more.

The Ready Room was where the squadronbusiness of flying Skyraiders took placebut it also was where we hung out whennot eating, flying, sleeping or sight-seeing.In those days there were small lockers forwhich we had our own locks and in it weput money and our .38 pistols (used forattracting attention at night if we weredown in the water). Perish the thought.The hatch to our Ready Room was twosteps from a stairway (ladder) leading tothe escalator leading to the flight deck andwe went from briefing to aircraft in one ortwo minutes. When a Ready Room is inuse, it is filled with pilots and officersmaking the room appear to be larger than itis because of the passion involved inbeing a military person amid other military

persons, and last week, the room appeareddisappointingly small. It was dead quiet inthere. Some of the old leather-covered,reclining chairs were the same as years agoand the former teletype monitor had beenreplaced by a TV monitor. The DutyOfficer’s desk and phone was where it hadalways been, at the front right-hand cornerof the room. I got into trouble there oneday. I was the Duty Officer for VA-145 anda launch was in progress when the AirBoss - an officer chosen for his sharpvoice and command of attention - phonedme and demanded to know why a four-plane launch had only three. I volunteeredto fly instantly, forgetting to delegateauthority to someone to be Duty Officer. Iflew the mission but when I returned to theReady Room the Skipper cornered me andasked why I had vacated my duty station.Vacating a duty station is near to goingAbsent Without Leave. I told the truth andthe Skipper did not even slap my wrist, asthey say. He was very generous and didnot confine me to quarters, or worse.

The Officers’ Ward Room where we hadour meals was so totally changed that I didnot recognize anything about it. All the

Continued on page 13


Hurricane Bookshelf:Sinister Shadow, Down

Deep

by Scott Kruize

Halloween reminds me of the hobgoblinsand daemons, ghosts, ghouls, andmonsters that the child me had daydreamsand even nightmares about. Their sinistershapes have no power over me now, butone shape still does…

Interest in the particular aircraft describedby this series doesn’t preclude my studyof other historical events. I’m aware ofsubmarine warfare, for example, and canprove it by quoting from the June newslet-ter:

“Hurricanes were also [in battles] whereone doesn’t normally think of fighterplanes at all. Like the Battle of the Atlantic:besides …attack[ing] French seaportfacilities and Luftwaffe airfields, Hurri-canes also guarded Iceland, blasted offfrom hastily-converted merchant ships inconvoys at sea to confront the Focke-Wulf‘Condor’ menace, and served as pawns-and-payment to bribe Portugal into lettingthe Allies operate bases in the Azores…”

The major danger was from submarines. Ican’t imagine how Allied sailors everescaped having its stark and sinister shapehaunt their waking thoughts and disturbtheir precious sleep for the entire durationof the war, or even afterwards…

That shape holds a morbid fascination forus all. We stared at the Revell model BobLaBouy brought to a recent meeting,admiring yet dreading it, and remindingourselves that it was only a trifling 1/72ndof the size of the real thing. Imagine theeffect, then, of unexpectedly comingacross this same sinister shape, threehundred and ten dark feet down in ourown home waters.

The book is entitled Shadow Divers andwas written by Robert Kurson about adiscovery that took place in 1991. Thebook was published just this year. My wifeSandra heard about it on National PublicRadio and brought it home from the libraryfor me.

The adventure began when a veryexperienced sailor by the name of BillNagle caught a hint from a fisherman thatthere might be a wreck off the New Jerseycoast that was quite unknown. He had astrange feeling about it and took a dozenvery experienced divers out to the site.

Much to their surprise, they came across aGerman U-boat, savagely torn apart fromsome cataclysm that left the entire conningtower lying next to one side of the hull,with the whole crew still aboard. There wasno record whatever of any U-boat wreck inthis vicinity, not even in the most tentativeor incomplete wartime report. Theychristened the wreck the “U-Who” andstarted combing it for clues to its identity.Some U-boats, it was known, had simplysailed away on missions and neverreturned.

Three hundred and ten feet down is at thevery limit of depth that even the mostskillful scuba divers dare reach. The almostendless list of dangers to even dive thatdeep, much less penetrate the shatteredhull of a wrecked ship, are explained inexcruciating detail in this book. “U-Who”ultimately claims additional victims foritself…

Other divers - those that survived - dropaway from the hunt, one by one, but two,Richie Kohler and John Chatterton, staywith it. At odds at first because of theirdifferent diving styles, over time theybecame united in their devotion to this oddform of un-dead history, and their respectfor the sailors who died on board thesubmarine. They start with the wreck,expand their search to naval archives inGermany and Washington, D.C., and staywith the mystery until they finally solve it.They force themselves over the assump-tion we all tend to make, that “History” isknown, fixed, and documented. Poringthrough old, inconclusive naval signalsand sketchy combat reports, they realizethat many files were “closed” withoutsufficient evidence. They read private

Bill Nagle’s boat, the Seeker, first used to find the mystery U-boat


journals, meet frail veterans who still haveuntold war stories, and finally track downthe descendants of the doomed crew.

They saw the project from beginning toend - such as it is - even reaching tentativeunderstanding of how this particularwarship met its end. Overall, the book is ahistory, a mystery, a biography - and anadventure. And a grisly-fascinating,detailed look at that stark and sinistershape that still, after over half a century,has a hold over us.

Determined diver/detectives Chatterton and Kohler

Crew of the finally-identified "U-Who"


Airfix 1/72nd ScaleConcorde


The Concorde, which crosses the Atlanticat 1,350 mph, first flew in 1969. Since then,the Concorde has traveled around theworld, but its most common circuit was thetrans-Atlantic voyage. Flying at almost60,000 feet, the Concorde avoided turbu-lence as it crossed the Atlantic in a mere3.5 hours, less than half the time regularjetliners took. Airfare for these tripsaveraged around $9,000.

While the Concorde enjoyed an excellentsafety record, on July 25, 2000, an AirFrance Concorde crashed, killing all onboard. While the cause was not associatedwith any fault of the aircraft, by 2004 all ofthe Concordes in both British Airways andAir France fleets were retired, with allsurviving examples finding their way intomuseums.

The small photo above does not really putinto perspective just how big the box forthis kit is. At 865mm (a little over 34 inches)in length, this is a large model that requiresa large box for its 90 pieces. On thepositive side, though, while the finishedmodel is long, it has a narrow wingspan, soit should not pose too much of a problemin the display case. To make things eveneasier, Airfix has designed the kit for threepossible display options: on its gear, on astand, or hanging from thread.

On general overview, this is as complete akit as you could possibly get. The plasticparts are molded in white, silver, and black

plastic, and feature recessed panel linesthroughout. The tires are done in vinyl, aninteresting option. Included with theplastic comes a set of paints, somebrushes, glue, and a tube of Clearfix forfilling in the cabin windows. All this for thelow price of around $35 makes this oneheck of a bargain, but this does not meancorners were cut. In fact, the detailing isquite good, and the decal sheet is simplyamazing. More on that later...

The instructions start the assembly withthe engine pods. These are a complicatedaffair, much like the real thing, with intakeramps, engine faces, and exhaust nozzlescomplete with clamshell reversers all fittinginto a two-piece pod. All this fun, and youget to do it twice! The finished enginepods will look quite accurate, though, anddo a good job of presenting the power ofthose Olympus engines.

Moving to the fuselage, the next big stepis the cockpit. This is provided as a one-piece floor, with separate instrumentconsoles for the center station betweenthe pilot and copilot as well as theengineer’s side station. A separateinstrument panel is provided, and decalsare included for all of the instruments.Three seats and two control yokes finishoff the interior, and it will be interesting tosee just how much of this is visible oncethe nose is together.

Speaking of the nose, the front section ofthis kit is designed to droop down, just likethe real thing. To do this, the folks at Airfixhave engineered a complex arrangement ofarms that all need to be aligned right inorder for everything to work. The instruc-tions are clear, though, and there doesn’tappear to be any potential areas forhangup if you should choose to go thisroute. For the modeler who prefers to haveeverything fixed in place, skipping thesesteps will greatly reduce your build time.

The fuselage is split into ten pieces: twomain cabin halves, two tail halves, twocockpit halves, and two nose halves, witha separate nose cone and tail cone. Luckily

all of these are keyed in one way oranother, which should eliminate anyalignment issues. The cockpit windows,both the fixed portion and the moveablestreamlined portion, are clear and shouldshow off all that detail. The cabin windowsare hollow, and those are filled with thetube of Clearfix. These windows are prettysmall, though, so it might be better to justfill those in and use black or dark graywindow decals.

Moving on to the landing gear, the tall,spindly struts are nicely done in this kitand nicely capture the look of the realthing. For added strength, the main gearstruts have a center post that is sand-wiched between the two plastic pieces,which should ensure that the model willremain on its gear in the long run. Thenose strut is sufficiently beefy in construc-tion to hold up well, and all the extraneousactuators and such are included. Alsopresent is the tailwheel strut.

The last big assembly point for this kit isthe wings. This has a one-piece lowersection that incorporates part of thefuselage, with right and left upper winghalves. The main gear bay is separate andfits into the one-piece lower wing. Thetailwheel also has a separate bay provided,while the nose gear bay is molded in place.The elevons are separate pieces, as are theactuator fairings, so the more ambitiousout there could reposition these easily.The remaining details include blade aerialsand antennae, the fuselage strakes (whichseem too high on first glance), and theusual wheel doors and such. Tack on theengine pods, and your Concorde is readyfor paint.

Painting this model will be very easy.Basically, paint it white. The engines willget some metal treatment, but for the mostpart, once the base coat of white isapplied, the rest of the finish work is donewith decals. The decal sheet in this kit istruly amazing, as it fits the bottom of thebox in width. For those of you who want todo an Air France Concorde, you will wantto pick up the Heller release of this kit, as


the Airfix kit comes with nothing butBritish Airways markings. You get all theliveries worn by British AirwaysConcordes, from their entry in service in1976 to their retirement in 2004. The firstoption, dating from 1976-1984, has theclassic red tail tip, with a straight cheatlinethrough the windows. The second option,1985-1997, replaces the red tail tip withblue, and modifies the cheatline tosomewhat take on the Speedbird design.

The final option, 1998-2003, eliminates thecheatline altogether and has a wavy UnionJack segment on the tail and a stylizedSpeedbird ribbon on the forward fuselage.Unfortunately this is the only fault of thedecal sheet, as this scheme has a veryprominent shaded format to these designelements, and the decal is presented insolid color. The rest of the sheet isamazing, though, with complete registra-tions for all the BA Concordes and acomplete set of stenciling that will haveyou decaling for days. The end result,though, will be an excellent model of theConcorde.

This is an outstanding new release fromAirfix, and I hope that it marks the begin-ning of a spate of new releases from thiscompany. The historical significance,coupled with the impressive size, will makethis a popular kit for all modelers.

My sincerest thanks to Hannant’s forgetting this review copy to me in time forthis issue. I have always been impressedwith their service, but this was a trulyoutstanding performance on their part.

tables and chairs were gone and the floorand walls were a different color. It was justanother room. Our Air Group 14 had fourfull squadrons, a helo detachment, an AD-5W detachment, a jet photo-recon outfit,and two huge AJ Savage heavy bomberson board.

Today, the Hornet is an underfundedhistoric landmark. The week prior to ourreunion, Hollywood wrapped up finalfilming of XXX-2 starring Vin Diesel, andon the Wednesday I arrived - two days

prior to our going aboard - I saw Holly-wood crews pick up fake army tanks andother assorted things used in the movie,such as the shell of a helicopter that wasblown up for a scene. All the movieequipment was put on trucks and sent toLos Angeles. Filming caused vehicles tochew up parts of the hangar and flightdecks and Hollywood is paying forrestoration. Most of the original aircraftcarrier is there for modelers to take note of,yet the arresting gear is gone and part ofthe flight deck is torn up. To draw greaterinterest, the carrier usually has a veryclean F8U, an S2F, a stripped FJ-2, a goodhelo, a ruined F9F-5 and some other badlydeteriorated aircraft, but there is an F-14that looks new and a TBM that once was aforest fire water bomber which is in goodshape. There is ample free parking and thecharge to go aboard is $14 for the averageadult. Areas may be rented for specialoccasions and there is a gift shop and ahot food sales area. There is a “YouthLive-Aboard Program” that brings kids tosleep in the bunk I once used. For anymodeler who finds himself or herself nearAlameda during the making of a kit of anEssex class carrier, this is the place to go.

USS Hornet from page 9


Book Review/Recommendation - John

Biggins Books: TheEmperor’s Colored Coat,

Sailor of Austria, The Two-Headed Eagle

by Stephen Tontoni

When I read The Two-Headed Eagle, Ididn’t realize it was the third book in atrilogy written in the early 1990s by JohnBiggins. Biggins did extensive research onWWI and the Austro-Hungarian Empire inorder to write these historical novels. Theyrecount the exploits of Ottokar Prohaska, aCzech-born Austrian naval officer(Linenschiffsleutnant) just prior to andduring WWI. All of these books arewritten in the voice of Prohaska, as anelderly man retired in Wales and recount-ing his fantastic history.

In The Emperor’s Colored Coat, Prohaskais in the navy at the very beginning of thewar. As the Austrian Navy was all butbottled up during WWI, Prohaska re-quested to be trained as a pilot. After someamount of resistance from his commander,he was sent to become a pilot, but due toan injury, he was assigned to the worstriver gunboat in the navy. This set him offon a series of wild adventures after asexual encounter with a Polish countess.These adventures ranged from the militaryto the romantic and the totally sensational.Always woven into the fabric of the storyis a thread of factual history, making thiseven more of a fun romp.

In Sailor of Austria, Prohaska is now asubmarine commander operating off thecoast of Italy. Prohaska and his submarineface incredible challenges not only in theinfant submarine technology of the time,but also in the myriad of languages whichall officers of the Austro-Hungarian empirewere required to speak in order to com-mand their men. The tense politicalsituation between Germany and theAustro-Hungarian Empire during WWI is

also highlighted. In fact, due to faultyinformation, Prohaska’s submarine wasaccused of sinking a German submarineand Prohaska was seconded to the Austro-Hungarian Fliegerkorps to get him out ofthe way.

That formed the basis of The Two-HeadedEagle. According to the dogma of theFliegerkorps at that time, officers wouldcommand aircraft, but rankers were theactual pilots. This situation caused sometrouble when the pilot and the commanderof the aircraft spoke different languages.The Two-Headed Eagle is easily the bestof the three books; it’s full of technicaldetails that historians and flyers wouldenjoy reading and the characters havemany comedic moments.

These books are available throughAmazon, but they aren’t cheap; evenpaperbacks are in the $20 range. There’sgood news though; they’re all easilyavailable at the local library. If you arelooking for some inspiration for yourmodeling or maybe a break from it, checkout these books; they’re great fun.

Pavla 1/72nd Scale PhotoReconnaissance Spitfires:PR Mk. IA, PR Mk. IV,

PR Mk. VII


With the great number of Spitfire kits outthere, it is surprising that there are stillmarks that have not been produced. Such

is the case of the photo reconnaissanceSpitfires, which often have some ratherdistinctive camouflages. This conversionset by Pavla answers that call, with thenecessary pieces to build any one of threeearly PR Spitfire variants. The set includestwo wheels, two seats, a fuel tank, areplacement deeper chin piece, an Aboukirfilter, a camera blister, and two externaltanks. Also provided in this set are twovacuformed canopies.

To finish this set off, there is a small decalsheet with three aircraft options. The firstis the Spitfire PR. Mk.IA that flew the firstreconnaissance mission over the Germanfortification at Aachen on December 18,1939. This plane is described as beingpainted in overall “camotint green,” a colorwhich I am not familiar with. As formarkings, this plane has only fuselage andupper wing roundels, in addition to theserial number N3071.

Second on the decal sheet is a PR Mk.VII(Type G) Spitfire of 140(AC) Squadron inSeptember and October 1941. This plane,coded ZW-C, is finished in the typical DarkGreen/Dark Earth camouflage, withstandard roundels in the usual six loca-tions. The final option is a PR. Mk.IV(Type D) Spitfire of 74 OTU out of PetalTiqva, Palestine. This plane is described asbeing overall dark blue (perhaps PRUBlue?) and is marked with a white X. Theroundels on this plane are a medium blueand red, while the serial number is in amedium blue.

This is a very simple conversion that willadd some interesting Spitfires to yourcollection. There is not much in the way ofcutting required here, so this would be anexcellent first conversion for a modelerwanting to branch out into new territory.My thanks to Pavla for the review sample.


Movie Review: Sky Captainand the World of Tomorrow

by Scott Kruize

I want a P-40 just like the P-40 that SkyCaptain flies! Not like your feeble P-40!

Sky Captain is a mercenary with a fatcontract to defend New York City againstall enemies: foreign or domestic, live ormechanical. He can afford the very best!

Whereas your P-40 is a replica of one ofthose stripped-down bargain-basementArmy Air Corps P-40s, or BritishKittyhawks, for which stingy governmentbureaucrats weren’t willing to give Curtissmore than a measly hundred-grand per. Nowonder they’re such ‘piles’!

That’s why your pathetic P-40 isn’tmaneuverable enough to zip down thestreets of Manhattan, changing fromstreets to avenues with right-angle turns.Your P-40 isn’t powerful enough tovertically climb up the faces of theskyscrapers and back down the other side.Your P-40 doesn’t have armor-cuttingmachine guns which can vaporize big steelbeams in your way. Your P-40 isn’t

stressed for water entry at 500mph, nor forcruising at 1,600 feet down in the sea withits patented auxiliary deployable X-powered underwater propulsion nacelles.Your P-40 couldn’t fly to Nepal, even if ithad big ugly awkward drop tanks, and itcertainly can’t climb high enough to landon the aerial aircraft carriers that mark how“Britannia Rules The Clouds!”

Worst of all, your P-40 doesn’t even have aback seat, much less Gwyneth Paltrowriding in it!

If you still have a secret stash of old comicbooks (nowadays they’re called “graphicnovels”); if you fondly remember the oldSaturday matinee movie serials; if you’renot overly skeptical about Webleyrevolvers and Argus cameras from the1930s co-existing with atomic robots,pilotless ornithopter strike bombers, andinterplanetary rocket ships; as long asyour villains are badassed, and yourheroes and heroines can swash theirbuckles against insuperable odds - thenyou need to see Sky Captain and theWorld of Tomorrow. You don’t even needto be a computer techie-nerd to appreciatethe exotic scenery. (The movie’s handful ofactors delivered their lines before a ‘blue-screen’; there were no sound stages, no

sets, no ‘miniatures’, no locationphotography...it’s all Computer GraphicImagery!)

Better go soon, though. ‘Box Office Mojo’shows each weekend’s ‘take’ worthroughly half the prior weekend’s...thismovie will soon be gone from theaters. Ofcourse it’ll be out on DVD later, but it’scool to see New York and the HindenburgIII, and the giant robots, and the bad guys’city-sized munitions-storage cave, and theice bridge to Shangri-La, and the monster-guarded underwater fortress, and the‘space ark’ on the big screen, knowingthere’s really nothing there!

Except, of course, for Sky Captain’s P-40that I’m going to get. They couldn’t havefaked that!

[Normally, there’s a vague pre-1965 or socut-off date for someone to be named aGolden Age Star of IPMS. But since Imade a previous exception for JenniferConnelly in The Rocketeer, I guess I couldmake another exception for GwynethPaltrow, as both movies are inspired by1930s-style comic books and movies. SoI’ll go ahead and anoint GwynethPaltrow as Golden Age Star of IPMS #27.– ED]


Meeting Reminder November 1310 AM - 1 PM

North Bellevue Community/Senior Center4063-148th Ave NE, Bellevue

Directions: From Seattle or from I-405, take 520 East tothe 148th Ave NE exit. Take the 148th Ave North exit(the second of the two 148th Ave. exits) and continuenorth on 148th until you reach the Senior Center. TheSenior Center will be on your left. The Center itself isnot easily visible from the road, but there is a signpostin the median.

Upcoming Aviation Events at the Museum of Flight

Thursday, November 11, at 2 p.m. commemorate Veterans Day with an official ceremony at the Museum. The University ofWashington’s Air Force ROTC Detachment 910 color guard will present the colors. Honored guests will include Medal of Honorrecipients Maj. Gen. Patrick H. Brady, USA (Ret.), Capt. Richard M. McCool, Jr., USN (Ret.), and Col. James E. Swett, USMC (Ret.). OnVeterans Day, Nov. 11, U.S. veterans and current military personnel will receive free Museum admission.

Thursday, November 11, at 3:30 p.m., join us for the Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty Book Signing.Acclaimed photographer Nick Del Calzo, along with author Peter Collier, produced the book Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyondthe Call of Duty (Artisan, 2003). It captures in Del Calzo’s evocative black-and-white images and Collier’s moving prose the stories of117 recipients of America’s highest military decoration for acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty, the Medal of Honor. OnThursday, Del Calzo will be joined by three of these recipients: Maj. Gen. Patrick H. Brady, USA (Ret.), a medevac pilot in Vietnam; andWorld War II recipients Capt. Richard M. McCool, Jr., USN (Ret.) who saved his ship during a kamikaze attack and Col. James E. Swett,USMC (Ret.), who in a single action of 15 minutes, shot down seven Japanese dive bombers.

Saturday, November 13 at 9 a.m. in the Personal Courage Wing Quonset Hut meet Don Hillman, World War II American Fighter Ace.Flying P-47s with the 365th Fighter Group, Hillman entered combat in November of 1943 flying escort missions out of Gosfield, England.After downing his fifth enemy aircraft on October 7, 1944 near Cologne, Germany his engine caught fire and he was forced to bail outand was captured by German troops. He survived the winter in an east Germany and was transferred to a prison camp near Munich. Heescaped from that camp, but was captured 10 days later and taken to another camp. His cunning and quick thinking ultimately led to hisescape once again and this time to the American front lines.

Saturday, November 13, at 2 p.m., is the Medal of Honor Multimedia Presentation and Book Signing. Del Calzo will be reunited with Col.Swett and former Army Sgt. John D. Hawk, USA, a German tank destroyer. Hawk and Swett will reflect on how receiving the Medal ofHonor has shaped their lives since their wartime service, as well as on the debt we all owe to all veterans. Del Calzo will share stories ofhis encounters with Medal of Honor recipients while shooting photographs for his book Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyondthe Call of Duty. Following the program, there will be a brief question and answer session, and the speakers will sign copies of the bookMedal of Honor.

preznotes - IPMS-Seattle

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