Vintage Airplane Models

10/01/2012

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Don Fallon Sr., donated a large collection (100+ and growing) of vintage World War II miniature airplane models that he built. His wife Helen created the card legends for each model.

Mr. Fallon was an aircraft mechanic in the US Navy, from 1957 through 1961, and continued working in the airline industry for 50 years. He has been building airplane models for over 30 years and has a large collection. Don also worked on restoring a B-24 Liberator. Don and his wife Helen became our newest members. Welcome and thank you Donald & Helen!
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Aircraft Paint Schemes

04/30/2012

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WWII NAS Fort Lauderdale Aircraft Paint Schemes

Used throughout the life at the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale. This Naval Air Station was a Specialty School on the Avenger Torpedo Bomber Aircraft. The following Paint Schemes were used during the base's operational history. Pilots were paired up with gunner and radioman at NAS Fort Lauderdale, and went through a 45 day training period, then they went to "action" as a team. Each week a new training squadron began, therefore there were 9 to 10 squadrons in training at a time. NAS Fort Lauderdale also had Beechcraft SNB-1 twin engine bomber trainers, and Boeing-Stearman N2S-5 biplane trainers.

Click on each image to zoom and read descriptions. Images of model aircraft and drawings provided by the co-founder of the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Historical Association (NASFLHA), Ben Langley.
  • Image 1: Fox Juliet 9 OS2U Kingfisher with wheels rather than pontoons. Used for flying high above training and spotting for Bomb/Torpedo hits on targets.
  • Image 2: NAS Fort Lauderdale WING TOPS on the Avengers.
  • Image 3: TBF-1 Fox Tare-43. Late 1942 - Early 1943. Painted non-specular sea blue over non-specular light gray with a wavy line per Bur Regs. Oct 13, 1941. National insignia 24" high on fuselage with national insignia on all 4 wings positions. 12" high letters and numbers. FT-43 was widely photographed for publicity as T-43, it is unknown if F- was censored off or not applied yet.
  • Image 4: Drawing of TBF-1 Fox Tare-43. Late 1942 - Early 1943.
  • Image 5: SB2C-1 Fox Baker Tare-5, 1943. The Helldiver or "Beast" as it was affectionately known. Painted non-specular sea blue over non-specular intermediate blue over non-specular white as per Bur Regs. Feb 1, 1943. White rectangles on National Insignia. 12" letters and numbers. FBT-5 was used for dive bombing pictures for publicity. Helldivers trained at NAS Fort Lauderdale for short time.
  • Image 6: TBF-1 Fox Tare 35, 1943. Painted non-specular sea blue over non-specular intermediate blue over non-specular white, per Bur Regs. Feb 1, 1943. White rectangles added to the national insignia June 28, 1943, also national insignia on upper left and lower right wing positions. Letters and numbers were 12" high, with letters over numbers to make room for the white insignia rectangles. Letters: first letter for base, second for squad purpose. ie: FT was for Fort Lauderdale - Torpedo, followed by the aircraft number. FBT - Fort Lauderdale-Bomber-Torpedo. & small number on cowling.
  • Image 7: Drawing of a TBF-1 Fox Tare 25, 1943.
  • Image 8: TBM-3 Fox Tare 28. Ser #23307, 1945. Painted overall glossy sea blue per Bur Regs. March 22, 1944, most were faded flat in hot Florida sun. White rectangles on national insignia. Letters and numbers were 24" high with letters on fuselage and numbers on rudder. In March, 1945 the prop hubs were painted flat black. This "Turkey" was an Instructor's aircraft and flown by Lt. Charles Taylor on December 5, 1945 as leader of Flight 19.
  • Image 9: Drawing of TBM-3 Fox Tare 28. Ser #23307, 1945.
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