283 articles · 39.5K karma · 203 friends · active 12 hours, 25 minutes 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…May 29th.

29th of May 1940: Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division test pilot Lyman Bullard, Jr. took the U.S. Navy’s new prototype fighter, the XF4U-1, Bu. No. 1443, for its first flight at the Bridgeport Municipal Airport, Bridgeport, Connecticut. [...]

On This Day…28th May.

Hugh Dundas, only 19 years old on May 28th, 1940 (Group Commander by age 23), experienced his first dogfight. His relaxed demeanour, ‘scruffy’ appearance, and attachment to his dog (below) did not endear him to the establishment, but [...]

On This Day…May 27th.

Phorever a legend. May 27th 1958, the McDonnell Aircraft (later McDonnell Douglas) F-4 Phantom II naval interceptor made its first flight. Designed as a carrier aircraft to defend the fleet against Soviet supersonic bombers, the design [...]

On This Day…May 26th.

Two A6M2 Type 0 Model 11 ‘Zero’ fighters pictured in flight from Yichang, Hubei Province en route to attack targets in Nanzheng, in China, 26 May, 1941. British Cruiser Mk IV tank at Huppy, France, 26-29 May 1940. Below is George [...]

On This Day…May 25th.

Nice set of Spitfire references for weathering. Spitfire MkVb of RAF 222 Squadron (ZD-H) named ‘Flying Scotsman’ In Essex, England, 25th of May, 1942. Pilot, South African Flight Lieutenant Laurie, is a flier of the 222 Squadron [...]

On This Day…May 24th.

The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a short, intense encounter that was a humanitarian disaster for the Royal Navy. In the early hours of May 24th 1941, the HMS Hood was sunk and with 1,418 souls on board, a staggering and scarcely [...]

On This Day…May 23rd.

American Volunteer Group squadron flight leader Robert 'R. T (“for tadpole”) Smith standing next to his P-40 Warhawk fighter, Kunming, China, 23 May 1942. Smith resigned his commission as a second lieutenant in 1941 in order to join [...]

On This Day…May 22nd.

The HMS Glouster was lost today following a series of catastrophically poor decision making and terrible communication. While the battle of Crete was raging on May 22nd, the Glouster was assigned a role in preventing a German Sea-landing [...]

On This Day…May 21st

A still taken from a gun camera film shot by Flight Lieutenant A G “Sailor” Malan, leader of ‘A’ Flight, No. 74 Squadron RAF, recording his first aerial victory, a Heinkel He 111 over Dunkirk. This was on May 21st as the Battle of [...]

On This Day…May 20th.

On May 20th, 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field in New York, bound for Paris and a place in the history books. The flight and the man are the stuff of legend, his deeds famous and infamous in equal proportion. On the [...]