Flight 19 Lost Squadron 75th Anniversary Tribute AM 1/48 TBF-1C Avenger
The History: As related by Chuck Villanueva this marks the 75th Anniversary of the mysterious lost of Flight 19. This event has sparked many theories as to what really happened on this rather routine flight and has inspired tales of alien abductions etc. Expeditions have tried to find the remains of these aircraft but have so far came up short. Maybe one day they will be found.
The Men: Cpt Edward J. Powers was a 1941 graduate of Princeton University and was born in 1919 in Mt Vernon, NY. On that same year he joined the Marine Corps and became a training instructor at Quantico, Va. He later gave up a command position to become a Naval Aviation Cadet and was later assigned to NAS Ft Lauderale and was the pilot of FT-36 on December 5, 1945.
Sgt. Howell O. Thompson was from Chicago, IL and was born in 1925. He was aboard the USS Franklin CV-13 in 1 945,a carrier that received severe damaged by a dive bombing attack. Over 800 men were lost. In July of 1945 he received Gunnery Training and became a turret gunner for Avenger's at NSA Laudrdale.
Sgt. George R. Paonessa, was born in 1917 in Mamaroneck, NY. He was the 3th of 8 children and along with 4 of his brothers would served during the war. After serving in the Pacific he would return to states and was trained as a Radioman/Bombardier on Avengers.
The Kit: Accurate Miniatures though out of business produced some really nice models. This TBF-1 is no exception and was build OOB. My only addition was a True Details seat. Paints were a combination of Model Master and Tamiya paints. The antenna wire is nylon thread. I highly suggest one acquire a mask set for this kit as it has a lot of glass to cover. This A/C depicts FT-36 with Cpt Powers as the pilot.
