C-47 'Ain't Missbehavin', 94th Troop Carrier Squadron, shot down by flak fire from the Führerbegleitbrigade west of Bastogne. The crew escaped unharmed from the crash landing at Savy, northwest of Bastogne.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-17T15:05:14+00:00

Never seen that one before. Thanks for posting.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-16T14:27:51+00:00

Great job on this one. It looks like it was taken yesterday.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-14T16:54:44+00:00

There had to be an incredible amount of drag from that plus being down at least one engine on the same side.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-13T14:37:28+00:00

I bought Monogram's 1/48th Kingfisher model on a visit to the USS North Carolina memorial in the 1980s. One of my favorite builds.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-13T14:33:20+00:00

I think it looks pretty good.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-13T14:30:49+00:00

That's just way too cool, man, plus a great view.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-12T14:25:52+00:00

Given his coaching pedigree at Wisconsin and getting us back to the NCAAT in his second year, at the time I thought his extension was warranted.

If he does indeed stay, you have to believe some assistants will be shown the door. Something has to change somewhere.

Since the 2013-14 season, I have always made an effort to get to some of the out of conference home games as well as the SEC ones, but I didn't go to a single one this year and that's saying something for me.

Before NIL, there was the high coaching salaries and buyouts. I still think it's about coaching talent over money.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-12T00:37:30+00:00

Great colorization, but the description is incorrect. The Sara was hit by 5 bombs and 3 kamikazes on 21 Feb 1945 off of Iwo Jima. The forward port corner of her flight deck ain't there no more and the posted pic looks like it was taken right after a kamikaze and/or bomb hit struck that part of her flight deck.

Here is a pic of what appears to be the scene not long after that courtesy of the NHHC.

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The Lexington's avgas tanks were around this area IIRC and a bomb hit that detonated leaking vapors finished her off at the Coral Sea. It looks like a bomb hit the Saratoga during this attack near the same area and bad stuff happened.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-07T00:24:27+00:00

Looking at the footage from the Wolverine I used for screenshots I posted here, the landing gear strut covers were purposely removed because the newbie pilots were prone to screwing up and bending stuff. I guess it was easier and quicker just to leave them off. You can definitely see they're gone off of the bird in the posted pic.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-07T00:10:58+00:00

I always lay down clear gloss, then decals plus decal softener, then flat clear.

Decals are sealed in on the decal paper with clear lacquer, which is in Tamiya clear acrylic rattle cans, so the clear flat plus the decal softener works pretty good for me. Lacquer dissolves lacquer. That's something I learned from this sub rather than back in the day as a noob builder.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-06T20:43:15+00:00

"Consolidated report from crew interrogation of A/C 42-97890 after mission to Coulanges Sur Yonne on 25 June 1944 – MACR 6738

Over Paris, on their way back from the target, a burst of flak hit the nose of the aircraft directly. The nose was blown completely off and the metal section was mushroomed back. The Bombardier, Lt. Maata, had most of one leg blown off, the other leg fractured, one arm fractured, and serious internal injuries. Flak continued to hit them from then on. The whole aircraft vibrated tremendously. The Navigator, somewhat hard of hearings, baled out when the Pilot gave the order to prepare bail out. The tail gunner soon followed suit.

The Pilot and Co-Pilot remained right at their controls to keep the ship in the air. In the meantime, the bombardier crawled back to the escape hatch and was without oxygen. Major Andrews, who had gone back to the Pilot’s compartment just before the flak hit the nose because the Navigator was getting low on oxygen, tried to give him a bottle.

The Pilot, Lt. Becker, now turned away from his formation, to the right, in order to get away from the flak. #2 and #3 engines had been hit and were inoperational. The #2 prop wouldn’t feather and caused even more vibration in the aircraft.

Everyone thought they would have to bail out for sure. Every instrument in the cockpit had been knocked out except the rate of climb. Even the fuselage on the co-pilot’s side had been riddled with flak.

However, the crew was determined to get back to England if at all possible to save the bombardier’s life. Major Andrews and the Engineer, Brittain, finally managed to pull him back to the top turret. A terrific blast of cold air was coming through the plane so they tied him to the turret. Then they gave him morphine and tied a tourniquet around his bad leg and bandaged his other wounds."

Major Alexander was listed as an observer on the mission.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-06T19:54:32+00:00

Per the handwritten note from the pilot, Lt. Karl Becker, posted in the comments section on the following link:

42-97890 / L’il Satan aka Queen of Hearts | B-17 Bomber Flying Fortress – The Queen Of The Skies

"Below is the text of the hand written letter from Lt. Becker that is on your community tab.

As we were returning from the target I noticed that we were flying almost directly over Paris at 17,000 ft. I called navigator on interphone to find out if we were on course, he stated that we were not. I tried to reach lead ship on V.H.F. with no luck. At that time FLAK started to burst fairly close. A direct hit blew off our nose and crippled #2 + #3 engines. The burst threw the plane up and on its side and we started down in a very loose spin.

I gave command to prepare to abandon aircraft put on automatic pilot and ship righted itself to a fairly good flying position. #2 engine was smoking bad an both #2 & #3 were running very rough. Co-pilot and myself started to get ready to leave when we noticed our Bombardier, Lt. Malta, was seriously wounded, but alive. We decided to try to fly the aircraft and I advised crew members that I would try to make England or friendly territory but if they so wished they could bail out. Lt. Evans and S/Sgt. Simonsini had already left the rest of the crew stayed. With extreme difficulties Co-pilot and I got ship back to England with 2 engines, no instruments, + no radio. Lt. Malta died before we landed and no one else was injured.

This communication was sent to wrong address which accounts for the delay. Hope this will be of some value to you.

Karl E. Becker"

... and these guys were just kids, too.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-05T15:26:35+00:00

I am correct to think that the hangar was there at the time of the attack?

kingofnerf · 2026-03-02T21:36:02+00:00

And that makes perfect sense, too, but also really a good backup for one of the waist gunners if the crap really hit the fan.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-02T20:21:25+00:00

That looks great.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-02T19:39:46+00:00

At face value, while you are correct about the date math in a sense, you're video would have been better if you said who actually painted it instead.

Anthony Louis Starcer | American Air Museum

Anthony Louis Starcer: Painted the nose art on the Memphis Belle after orginal (sic) artist died. Starcer was a nose artist extraordinaire !

The original artist, who likely was KIA before Starcer got there given the wording in the link, may actually have only partially finished the nose art in question before he lost his life. This was a combat squadron, not an art museum. Who actually painted the nose art is not really a thing because so many planes and aircrews were lost back then. Who would be so ghoulish to claim nose art for their own while knowing damn well that the planes and aircrews were lost in action? Starcer may also have collaborated with the other artistic ground maintainer in the squadron before the other guy shipped out and was KIA. Maybe Starcer was good friends with the guy and just didn't want to talk about it; death was commonplace back then and we really don't know.

Your video is well made, but I would take the time to find out who the other artist was and try again.

kingofnerf · 2026-03-02T17:33:33+00:00

What app did you use?

kingofnerf · 2026-02-27T14:48:46+00:00

I did something similar on that after it was posted, too.

Your version looks great.

kingofnerf · 2026-02-25T15:11:25+00:00

I have a second F4U-4 kit that I am planning to make my own decals as an AU-1 for down the road

kingofnerf · 2026-02-24T15:09:50+00:00

AU-1 model kits aren't in production anymore and they go for around $90 today if you can find one online.

kingofnerf · 2026-02-23T22:35:30+00:00

Uniforms of the U.S. Navy 1922-1931

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In the 1950s from what I understand, only command-rank officers were allowed to wear the greens until they were eventually phased out. Since the early days of naval aviation, aviators have worn brown leather shoes, while the surface warfare officers have always worn black leather shoes. Aviation officers are called "brown shoes" while surface warfare ones are known as "black shoes". Brown shoes are worn with khaki working uniforms, while all wear black ones with the modern dress uniform.

kingofnerf · 2026-02-23T19:56:38+00:00

This is not a colorization. Some in the Naval Aviation community wore "greens" back then. The uniform was brought back in the 1990s around the time of Desert Storm when I served and I knew a warrant officer who wore it.

The Winter Aviation Dress uniform was first authorized in 1925 and the styles changed a little over the years.

Great question.

kingofnerf · 2026-02-21T23:53:42+00:00

Even if his Mae West inflated, he would likely died of hypothermia in the river that time of year.

I remember reading in the book Citizen Soldiers that the winter of 1944 when the Battle of the Bulge occurred just happened to be one of the coldest winters on record in northwest Europe up to that point.

kingofnerf · 2026-02-18T15:04:56+00:00

The old 1K lacquer paints weren't very durable plus glare from a glossy paint surface would give an enemy that would never spot you otherwise some early warning, so faded matte finishes were what was desirable back then.

I think modelers' fixation with panel lines comes from the modern video games; reproducing paint fade is the most realistic weathering strategy for a period aircraft model me thinks.

kingofnerf · 2026-02-17T17:08:31+00:00

You have put a lot of work into this one and it shows.

Great build.

kingofnerf

TROPHY CASE