Warhawk where mean't to be scrapped, but where saved for this projects (there are one in the kind)
And since I can only post 3 images per day, i'm gonna post one Comrade Harp story (but with two models and story!):
A Prime Minister's Hellcat+Keith Miller's Cassowa
www.whatifmodellers.com/index.…
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www.whatifmodellers.com/index.…
Left to Right:
Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat
454, 805 Squadron, HMAS Melbourne
mid-June, 1945, off Labuan, Northern Borneo
pilot: Lieutenant John Gorton
After the British transferred the aging HMS Furious to Australia in 1940, the ship underwent a prolonged period of repair and refit, the work being much delayed due to labour shortages and its low priority. In lmid-1943, Furious emerged from the Williamstown Naval Dockyard as HMAS Melbourne and, after sea trial in home waters, deployed to the USA for training. Here the ship was mated with its American-trained air group, but again there was a prolonged period of training and upgrades before Melbourne and its F6F-3 Hellcats of 805 Sqdn and SBD-5 Dauntless of 808 Sqdn were fully qualified for combat.
From mid-1944, Melbourne and its air group participated in operations against the Japanese in support of Australian and Allied troops throughout the South West Pacific, including campaigns throughout New Guinea, Morotai and the Oboe invasions of North Borneo and Java.
In June 1945, 805 Sqdn F6F-5 numbered 454 was the usual mount of Lieutenant John Gorton, a former RAAF Spitfire pilot who was transferred to the RAN in late 1943. Photographs reveal that the aircraft featured locally designed and fabricated extended exhausts, intended to act as flame dampers. Although an otherwise standard F6F without radar, Gorton and his plane were part of a flight specialising in nocturnal combat. Initially formed to serve as night interceptors operating under ship radar control, the flight gained its battle honours in the night close air support role as Japanese troops increasingly took to night attack. Note that the rocket launcher stubs have been removed, this having occurred during the flight's early tenure in the interceptor role; for CAS, RAN regulations at the time forbid the use of unguided rockets as unreliable and (from experience in New Guinea) prone to causing friendly casualties. 260lb or 500lb bombs (as carried here) were, however, deemed suitable for CAS.
Gorton was active in this plane throughout June, 1945, in support of Australian troops engaged against the Japanese on Labuan and other sites around Brunei Bay. He continued to serve with the RAN until the end of the war and flew in Oboe 2 against targets at Balikpapan and Oboe 4, the 1946 Allied invasion of Java. This was to be his and HMAS Melbourne's (nee Furious') last campaign, the ship being retired in late 1946 and replaced by a new Melbourne (nee HMS Majestic).
In late 1946, Gorton was discharged from the RAN and in 1949 was elected as a Liberal Party Senator. In 1968, he became Australia's first and still only Prime Minister with a seat in the Senate; however, he soon took a seat in the lower house. In 1971, after a caucus challenge against him left a tied voted, he resigned, declaring "Well, that is not a vote of confidence, so the party will have to elect a new leader."
In 1973, Gorton successfully moved a motion in Parliament calling for the decriminalisation of homosexual acts between consenting adults in Australia and retired from politics in 1975. He died in 2002.
Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless Cassowary
19, 808 Squadron, HMAS Melbourne
September, 1945,
pilot: Lieutenant Keith Miller
Test cricket all-rounder, Aussie rules play for St. Kilda, larrikin with disciplinary problems leading to insubordination and WW2 naval aviator, Keith Miller would prove to be a thorny rival to Don Bradman in the post-war Australian XI. After joining the Royal Australian Navy in 1941, Miller was sent to England where he played cricket for the RAN's team whilst training with the Fleet Air Arm. During 1942-43, he flew Swordfish and Albacores from carriers on missions over the North Atlantic. In 1944 he sent to train on the Dauntless in the USA and entered combat with 808 Sqdn in mid-1945, flying from the decks of HMAS Melbourne (ex HMS Furious).
In September 1945, Melbourne's air group engaged in an wide-ranging series of patrols and attacks against Japanese maritime and land targets throughout the occupied Netherlands East Indies. Miller undertook many combat missions during this period in this plane, hitting targets in and around Borneo, Sulawesi, Java and Sumatra.
By then, most of the SBD-5s on board were of the Australian converted Cassowary type. Given no official Douglas or US Navy designation, the Cassowary was a conversion of (carrier capable) Dauntless and (land based) Shrikes for the RAN and RAAF, respectively. The Cassowary effectively turned a specialised dive bomber into a more versatile attack plane. The ventral dive bombing equipment was removed and the central bomb recess faired over, replaced by a wet centreline hard point. Zero-length rocket stubs were attached to the outer wings and there was provision for the underwing bomb pylons to be replaced by twin .50 MG pods. ASV radar was retained, as were the navigator's guns, but these weapons were rarely mounted during this campaign as Japanese fighters were no longer prevalent in the area. In areas where there was a Japanese aerial threat, the SBD-5s were always escorted by the Hellcats deployed alongside them on Melbourne.
Miller returned to the area in 1946 to participate in the Allied invasion of Java and served until July 1946. He went on to become a controversial cricketing legend.
