November 2014
Boeing B-
Link to Website Index: 
Selected WW2 70th Anniversaries this month:
Between 2009 and 2015, I have set myself a general modelling theme based on selected 70th Anniversaries from WW2.
As the Allies continue their advance in Europe, eyes turn to the Pacific Theatre.
7 Nov 1944 -
12 Nov – RAF Lancaster bombers flying from RAF Lossiemouth finally sink the German Battleship Tirpitz in her Norwegian Fjord lair.
22 Nov -
27 Nov – Following an accident, the RAF Fauld ammunition depot in Staffordshire explodes,
killing 75 people and leaving a crater nearly a mile across and 400ft deep. It is
one of the largest non-
29 Nov – US Submarine USS Archerfish torpedoes and sinks the Japanese super-
Joltin Josie, the Pacific Pioneer
1498th Bomb Group, 873rd Squadron US Army Air Force
Saipan, Mariannas, November 1944.
Airfix 1/72
The first B-
Josie arrived in the Marianas on the 12th of October, 1944 with General Haywood S.
Hansell in the pilot seat and Major Jack Catton -
After some 400 hours flying and 24 missions over Japan, during which Josie never suffered an abort and always hit the primary target, Major Catton was transferred to General LeMay's Headquarters. Captain Wilson C. Currier took over as aircraft commander.
Josie was lost on the first mission following Major Catton's departure. Immediately after taking off on 1 April 1945, she crashed into Magicienne Bay (also known as Laulau Bay) and exploded on impact. There were no survivors.
Link to Website Index:
www.gengriz.co.uk
Background Image: Poppy on Salisbury Plain.
This particular Airfix kit has been a bit of a nemesis for me in the past. Its the only kit in over 45 years of modelling that I can remember giving up on, although to be fair I must have been about 8 or 9 years old at the time. Bits of it still appear in the dark corners of my spares box from time to time.
So here I am 40+ years later, giving it a try again, using the excuse of my WW2 70th Anniversaries theme. This particular kit was purchased secondhand last year and seems to be a fairly crisp mould from the 1970s, and although many of the parts were off the sprues (why do people do that?), Only one part was missing, a main wheel half, that was quickly replaced by one cloned in Milliput putty.
Have a look at my "Friends & Allies" pages for some other US aircraft models
The kit comes with a fair amount of interior detail, but some surprising omissions,
including the very prominent (and important) bomb sight, as well as instrument side
panels. These were scratched up using some sprue, along with some bright red throttle
sticks., All based on the many B-
For the most part, fit was better than I expected, but that is not saying much. Just
like my younger self, I found joining the two fuselage halves quite challenging,
resulting in some difficult filling. The sheer size of the kit slightly overwhelmed
my cramped “computer-
Airfix kindly supply a ladder to use as a prop, since the kit is definitely a tail sitter, however the prop is slightly too short, leaving the front wheel hanging a few scale feet up in the air!
Overall, this is a kit that is definitely past its time, but one that, for me, reawakened some of the boyhood enthusiasm with which I tackled its predecessor all those decades ago! And this time I beat it!!!!!!
