History
of this aircraft
VMA-312
pilot Capt. Jesse G. Folmar was the first American to shoot down a jet fighter
with a propeller-driven aircraft. Jesse recently passed away in July
2004. The following extracts of his jet encounter come from the Flight
Journal website:
Capt.
Jesse G. Folmar:
"On September 10, 1951, we were scheduled to fly a strike mission against a
heavy troop concentration up in the Chinnampo area of
North Korea
. Crossing into hostile territory, I glimpsed two MiG-15s about to set up a
firing pass on us."
At medium to high altitudes, conventional aircraft did not stand a chance
against the fast MiG. But, if you could drag a MiG down to a much lower
altitude, the playing field became more level. In numerous clashes between
Mustangs and MiGs, the Mustangs' most successful confrontations were below 4,000
feet. The Corsairs could turn on a dime down where the air was heavier, and the
MiGs' fuel consumption rate was horrendous at that altitude.
"The MiGs were in loose echelon at the time, so I steepened my bank and
turned sharply into them as I jettisoned my ordnance and external tanks. I told
Lt. Daniels to fly a much tighter weave and not to let them out of his sight!
Seconds later, I saw two more closing rapidly from my eight-o'clock position. At
this point, I turned hard to the left trying to bring my guns to bear on them
before they opened fire. No such luck; their closure was so fast that when they
opened fire on us, the tracers from their cannon overshot us, so I reversed my
bank to the right and turned inside one of the MiGs just as he started a
climbing left turn. I pulled up and got him in my gunsight, giving him about a
20mils lead, and then triggered off a five-second burst with my 20mm
cannon."
The MiG-15 was armed with two 23mm cannon and one big 37mm cannon. Although its
rate of fire was slow, a couple of well-placed rounds into any aircraft could
cause lethal damage. Only the F-86 Sabre was evenly matched with the MiG at any
altitude, and there are numerous accounts of the MiG's cannon blowing off most
of a Sabre's vertical stabilizer or putting a hole in the wing that a man could
stand up in. One slip-up by a Corsair pilot could spell disaster against this
firepower!
"I could tell that I had him bore-sighted by the blinking flashes that hit
along the left side of his fuselage. A gray trail of fuel vapor began to stream
from the MiG, and this quickly turned into billowing black smoke. It nosed over
slightly and seemed to lose acceleration. Seconds later, its pilot ejected and
tumbled through the air in what appeared to be a ball of smoke. When his
parachute opened, I could see his G-suit burning from head to foot. I glanced
down and saw the flaming MiG hit the water in a vertical position."
"Just after the MiG hit the water, I saw four more strung out in a loose
column of two sections. I did not like the odds and decided to break it off.
Radioing my wingman, I told him to break hard left and down! As I picked up
airspeed, I noticed fiery balls of tracer rounds passing the left side of my
cockpit, then I felt a severe jolt and explosion in my left wing! My
aircraft began to shudder as if in a high-speed stall. I glanced over and
noticed that the left aileron and four feet of my left wing were gone! The top
of my wing was gutted to the side of my inboard gun. My Corsair tried to roll
left, although the stick was in a full right position. This led to my decision
that it would be too hazardous to attempt a landing on the carrier, so I decided
to bail out."
As Capt. Folmar transmitted the SAR distress signal, another MiG-15 made a
firing pass on him with all cannon blazing, but not a round hit! The situation
was deteriorating by the second, and there was only one possible course of
action.
"At
about three thousand feet, I rolled out of the right side of the cockpit and
fell clear. As I pulled the ‘D-ring,' I heard an ear-splitting sound, and as I
looked around, I saw a MiG come by me with his guns firing at my spinning
Corsair. By my count, seven MiG-15s were in the area. Fortunately for me, they
departed, and I hit the water about a quarter of a mile southeast of a small
island. Lt. Daniels circled my position; the rescue plane arrived quickly and,
if I remember correctly, I was in the water less than eight minutes before I was
rescued!"
Click on
images below to see larger images
|
|
|
|
Construction
I
got this kit in
Bali
. It sustained nearly as much damage as Jesse’s aircraft on the way home
in the hold, with major cracks in the fuselage & starboard wing and many
small pieces snapped. Still, the plastic was incredibly brittle and I
snapped many more intact small parts removing them from the sprue.
I
did some scratch building to improve this basic kit including:
·
Removed wing and cowl flaps &
replaced with items built from Vodka-Lemonade can metal;
·
Added
cockpit detail including various levers, weapon selection boxes, gunsight from
sprue/card, seatbelts from masking tape with scratchbuilt buckles from Evergreen
U-shaped rod, opened up bulkhead behind seat;
·
Cut open
tail wheel well, detailed & re-built tail wheel structures;
·
Thinned
fins on bomb, added wire sway-braces;
·
Thinned
funs on rockets, added fuses;
·
Added
hydraulic lines to wheel wells and landing gear from stretched sprue;
·
Built
hinges & actuating rams for main gear doors from sprue/fuse wire;
·
Added
fuel filler caps to main & drop tank & sway braces to drop tank.
The
fit was reasonable, but after cutting off flaps, getting the wing to mate with
fuselage was rough. I used soda-can strips bent into an L shape to cover
the topside wingroot gap (they’re about 2x over-scale!) and much plastic card/Tamiya
putty underneath.
Painting
& decals
All
major markings were masked and sprayed, except decals on rear fuselage which
were kindly sent from
Canada
by ARCer Jim Birchfield. Masking each ‘9’ took about 15 tiny pieces
of Tamiya tape – madness, I’ll find decals next time.
Choosing
a blue was confusing. Dark sea blue was a common suggestion, but after
experimenting, it did not match colour photo’s of VMA-312 aircraft. Then
I saw an Italeri Corsair in the hobby shop which recommended Gunze Blue Angel
Blue, so I went with that. Out of the pot, it was too glossy/sparkly so I
flattened with Tamiya flat base & it looked spot on. The model was
pre-shaded with gloss black & I went with ARC feedback & faded some
areas & sprayed a few panels in different shades to replicate replacements.
Cockpit
was painted a mix of Model Master USMC Green & Interior Green, then
drybushed with interior green and a pastel sludge wash applied. Instrument
panel was sprayed flat black, drybrushed with light ghost grey to bring out
dials etc.
Click on
images below to see larger images
|
|
|
|
Pictures
of real VMA-312 aircraft showed extensive heavy light grey exhaust stains –
bliss, I love filthy aircraft. Weathering consisted of:
·
Pre-shading;
·
Faded
Gunze Blue Angel Blue by adding a little white;
·
Light
grey/red brown pastel sludge wash in panel lines;
·
Thick
exhaust stains sprayed on with mix of dilute white/grey, slowly built up with
short bursts from the Aztec;
·
Fuel
spill discolouration with very dilute light grey airbrushed down masked fuselage
(artistic license here);
·
Oil
leaks with pastel sludge mix;
·
Paint
chips with silver pencil;
·
Used
Swanny’s salt crystal chipping technique on the bomb for first time to give
paint colour variation – worked well except air-brush blast blew off some
crystals.
Finally,
I added the tricky-looking two-piece antenna wire. I sprayed some
stretched sprue with Tamiya AS-12, then drilled a locating hole in tail fin
& CA’ed in one end of sprue. The other end was CAed to the antenna
mast, with some slack in the line. A locating hole was drilled in the
fuselage side and another piece of sprue CA’ed half way down the first, then
pushed tight into the fuselage hole and a tiny drop of CA added to secure.
The main line was too loose and too far to port, so fearfully, I reached for the
heated wire. Risky, I’ve snapped heaps of rigging this way, but it
worked, with the main wire tightening up beautifully, pulling the fuselage wire
up tight with it.
My
hardest build yet, due to the poor quality kit and over-enthusiasm cutting off
major bits, but in the end, I’m very happy.
A
few near-OOBs are now in order if I can just break the scratching habit!
David
Click on
images below to see larger images
|
|
|
|
|
|