283 articles · 39.5K karma · 203 friends · active 1 month ago

Professional psychologist, father of four, musician, modeler, lecturer. Tired.

My modeling defaults are building dioramas and WWII aircraft. Enjoy WW2 history, reading, single malt scotch whisky (without the 'e'), music, good food, bit of philosophy, and general history.

On This Day…December 23rd

No, this is not Louis Gardner’s Iron Works. Real F4U 1 Corsairs being made on the Vought Sikorsky production line on 23rd Dec 1942. Would love to see a colourised version of this. Santa Claus exchanges his traditional civilian red hat [...]

On This Day…December 22nd

Polikarpov I-15 biplanes under repair in Moscow, 22 Dec 1941. The I-15 was nicknamed ‘Chaika’ (seagull) due to the gulled shape of the upper wing. Always partial to a carrier. This is the USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) as she enters [...]

On This Day…December 21st

Great modeler’s reference of a F4U-1 Corsair of No. 16 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force, being serviced at Green Island (now Nissan Island), Bougainville, 21 Dec 1944. Squadron Commander Samson flew a Farman MF-II for its first [...]

On This Day…December 20th

Apologies for shamelessly plugging my own model here. On the return journey home from a bombing raid on Germany in December 1943, 20 year old pilot Charlie Brown nursed his critically injured B-17 toward the North Sea at under 2,000 ft and [...]

On This Day…December 19th

Destroyed TBM Avenger on the hangar deck of the USS Monterey (CVL-27) on December 19, 1944. The Monterey was named after the Battle of Monterey in California, during the Mexican–American War in 1846. The damage was caused by the typhoon [...]

On This Day…December 18th

Some lovely photos of early Mk IX Spitfires at dispersal (Biggin Hill) in the event of air raids. Taken 18th December, 1942. Typhoon Cobra hit Admiral Halsey’s Task Force 38 on December 18th, 1944 in the Philippine Sea resulting in [...]

On This Day…December 17th

There is a real beauty in this colourised photo of Wilbur (running along the wingtip) and Orville Wright (piloting) during their historic flight on December 17th, 1903. Below is a copy of the telegram sent by Orvelle (sic) excitedly [...]

On This Day…December 16th

SOC-3A ‘Seagull’ floatplane of US Navy Scouting Squadron 201 (VS-201) photographed today in 1941 on the deck of escort carrier USS Long Island (CVE-1, the first US escort carrier). LST (Landing Ship,Tank) -66 landing troops during [...]

On This Day…December 15th

The Norseman C64 (44-70285) was the aircraft in which Glenn Miller boarded en route to France on the 15th December 1944. That aircraft disappeared somewhere over the English Channel with the loss of Major Glenn Miller, Pilot Flight Officer [...]

On This Day…December 14th

On 14th December, 1931, Douglas Bader crashed his Bristol Bulldog while executing a roll at ‘naught feet’ in response to a dare. In the first photo below his shoes can clearly be seen in the foreground of the devastated Bulldog. He [...]