Baa Baa Blacksheep has an episode where VMF-214 is competing with an Army Air Corps squadron for who gets to shoot down Admiral Yamato (not, you will note Yamamoto).
They're using real planes and suddenly I'm hit with a sense of scale.
They Blacksheep are trying to sabotage the compass on a P-15D and these familiar actors are standing next to the plane and it's so much smaller than the F4U's we're accustomed to seeing them next to.
I think I never noticed before because I've never had a model of a P-51D next to one for an F4U-4.
I am pretty sure I only built the one Mustang and it was in 1/32.
The numerous F4U's were the 1/48 Monogram kit, and that was a Korean War F4U-5N with 4x 20mm and the radar set.
The Corsair, the Hellcat and the Thunderbolt all used the same engine. The smallest of those is the Hellcat, and it looks huge next to a Mustang.
ReplyDeleteFunny fact - the inline Merlin engines were much more finiky and short-lived than the big R-2800 radial engine, which was practically unkillable mechanically (seriously, they ran one with minimal to none oil and couldn't kill it.)
And the fastest US piston fighter? A P-47? Longest ranged? A P-47. Yet the darned Mustang gets all the glory.
Plus The Jug had more guns and more ammo per gun.
DeleteI was at a Collings Foundation event in September at Worcester Airport. They had a P-51 on the flight line getting ready to go, when the A1-E Sky Raider that just landed pulled up next to it. Holy crap, that thing was huge, but looked much smaller while taxiing because of its configuration.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, I paid for a flight on their B-25 Mitchell. I wanted the B-17 but it was booked solid. My flight was 30 minutes long and was over the very scenic Quabbin Reservoir. Well worth the $400.
It was two weeks later that the B-17 went down at Bradley Airport, killing 7. So sad.