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Midway build, for the U.S.S. Hornet


Chris Bucholtz

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I was pleasantly surprised a couple of weeks ago to get an e-mail from a trustee from the USS Hornet Museum, based in my home town. He was reaching out to Silicon Valley Scale Modelers, which is based about 35 miles away, and he himself was pleasantly surprised to find out I lived 1000 yards from the ship!

 

Anywa, they needed models for a tribute to Stephen Jurika, specifically a TBD-1 Devastator and a B-25B Mitchell, both in 1:48. I now have TWO TBDs on my desk awaiting delivery, built by a modeler who had Jurika as a teacher (!), and I'm picking up the B-25B at the Stockton contest on Sunday.

 

Here's where it gets really neat, though. The ship also wants to do a MIdway display. At first, the idea was a Dauntless, a Wildcat and a Devastator from Hornet. I said we could do better than that and deliver a representational collection from the entire battle in 1:72 scale. It has to be installed on June 1; it'll be on display for a limited time, then the models will go back to their builders. (After that, we may enter into a permanent rotating exhibit arrangement with the museum, much like the Northwest Scale Modelers do with the Museum of Flight in Seattle.)

 

I sent the news out to Region 9 and received a bunch of volunteers, and I have some volunteers from parts east - as far away as Virginia and Wisconsin!

 

Here's what our linup looks like right now. If the subject has a name and a builder (in parentheses), it's been spoken for and markings have been selected. If there's just a builder (in parentheses), the type and unit has been selected but specific markings have not been chosen:

 

Hornet Aircraft:

 

Bombing 8: SBD-3 Dauntless #24 flown by ENS Clayton Fisher (Chris Bucholtz)

 

Scouting 8: SBD-3 Dauntless

 

Torpedo 8:TBD-1 Devastator: (Thomas Naugle)

 

Fighting 8: F4F-4 Wildcat #17 flown by ENS Stephen Groves (Randy Ray)

 

 

 

Yorktown Aircraft:

 

Fighting 3/42: F4F-4 Wildcat #16 flown by MACH Tom Cheek (Chris Bucholtz), #13 flown by LT Bill Leonard (Mark Rezac); #1 flown by LCDR “Jimmy” Thach (Ed Ingersoll)

 

Torpedo 3: TBD-1 Devastator

 

Bombing 3: SBD-3 Dauntless

 

Scouting 4: SBD-3 Dauntless

 

 

 

Enterprise Aircraft:

 

Fighting 6: F4F-4 Wildcat: (John Carr)

 

Torpedo 6: TBD-1 Devastator

 

Scouting 6: SBD-3 Dauntless

 

Bombing 6: SBD-3 Dauntless

 

 

 

Midway Aircraft:

 

VP-23, VP-44: PBY Catalina

 

VSMB-241: SB2U-3 Vindicator (Brian Sakai)

 

VSMB-241: SBD-2 Dauntless

 

VMF-221: F2A-3 Buffalo MF-15 flown by Capt. William Humberd (Laramie Wright)

 

VMF-221: F4F-3 Wildcat 24 flown by Capt. Marion Carl (Laramie Wright)

 

69th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 38th Bombardment Group; 18th Reconnaissance Squadron (Medium), 22nd Bombardment Group: B-26A Marauder

 

431st Bombardment Squadron, 11th Bombardment Group; 394th, 31st and 72nd Bombardment Squadrons, 5th Bomb Group: B-17E Flying Fortress

 

Torpedo 8 Detachment: TBF-1 Avenger

 

 

 

Japanese Aircraft:

 

Mitsubishi A6M2b Navy Type ”Zero” Carrier Fighter: Lt. Iyozo Fujita from Soryu (Chris Bucholtz)

 

Nakajima B5N2 Navy Type 97 Carrier Attack Aircraft: Lt. Joichi Tomonaga/Ens. Saku Akamatsu/PO1c. Sadamu Murai (Daisuke Nakabayashi) from Hiryu; Lt. Yoshitaka Mikami and crew from Kaga (Mark Schynert)

 

Aichi D3A1 Navy Type 99 Carrier Bomber: (Bill Ferrante)

 

Yokosuka D4Y1 Experimental Model 13 Carrier Bomber

 

Aichi E13A1 Navy Type 0 Reconnaissance Seaplane: (Jim Priete)

 

Nakajima E8N2 Navy Type 95 Reconnaissance Seaplane

 

 

 

This is turning into a great way to help the museum, work together and strengthen ties within IPMS, and build some things that are outside our usual comfort zones.

 

Here's the first one done - MACH Tom Cheek's F4F-4 from VF-3/42. (Okay, I finished this in 2002, so I had a head start on everyone. But still...)

 

Wildcat.jpg

 

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

Well, I see there's been no joy in getting a response.

 

Would anyone happen to know how I can send him an e-mail? His box here is full and won't accept any more PMs.

 

Or can someone draw his attention, back to his original thread.

 

Tks

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