Recently we had a fantastic posting in the headlines section. It was titled "Burial at Sea" by our friend Peter Hausamann

@tecko

He told the story of how the rear seat gunner Lloyce Deen was killed in the turret of his Avenger, then buried at sea in the aircraft.

Peter told me where he found this picture. Here's a link. Scroll down a ways and you will see it...

Stalag Luft III Newsletter – November 2017

I remembered watching this on TV as a child when it was shown on the weekly series called "Victory at Sea". By this time in the 1970's the TV show was re-runs, as the original series aired on television during the 1950's. Fast forward until several years ago ... 2012 to be exact, and I started doing some research as I have been wanting to build a tribute model to this crew every since Accurate Miniatures released their wonderful Avenger kits in 1/48 scale. Here are some of my notes from back then... As luck would have it, this event was aired again on TV. This time it was on a TV show called "Battle Group Spruance" and was aired on the Military History Channel. This time I was able to pause the show, fast forward it as needed or even rewind to get some good reference photos of the plane. Sadly there's a dead man in this mangled mess of twisted aluminum and steel that once was a turret. His name was Lloyce Deen. If you look close at this picture, you can see his friend and fellow crew member Digby Denzek (who was the radio operator and manned the "stinger" gun behind the torpedo / bomb bay). He is sitting with his back against the bulkhead facing rearward, and is looking at the turret. Digby's head can be seen just at the middle section canopy where the plexi glass meets the fuselage sidewall, and is almost directly under the antennae mast. One can only imagine what is going through his mind at this point. The pilot Robert Cosgrove folded the wings and taxied into his parking position. Robert Cosgrove is seen standing on the left side and is looking at the camera when this was taken. He is still wearing his flight coveralls, and is next to the man with his hands crossed in front of him. This was part of the burial service that Lloyce Deen received immediately upon landing. Here in this next sequence of photos, you will see the crew pushing the Avenger off the fantail of the carrier. Deen is still inside the plane. Here's the kit I started building a little over a year ago. It's the Accurate Minitaures 1/48 kit. I added rocket stubs from a Tamiya Corsair, since this plane had them... The project stalled when I couldn't decide on whether or not to display the plane with the wings folded or not... The problem was the rocket stubs. I had a nice resin wing fold kit that was originally made by a company that is no longer in business. This is the "Danger Boy" wing fold kit. Thanks Peter for the inspiration to get this one done... This would not have happened if David LS @dirtylittlefokker didn't start this wonderful GB. Please follow along with me as I recreate this TBM-1C Avenger. I want to build it up as it would have looked just before the last mission... as a tribute to the crew. Thanks

Louis, this will be a nice tribute to that aircrew that took part on this mission. A side story that was captured and documented. We don't get too many chances to see some of the side stories during a war, the aftermath of combat when aircrews return in damaged aircraft and what injuries some of them will unfortunately suffer. Wounds that at times will not end well. In this case it was instant for AM2 Deen. Can you imagine how many others returned will similar or maybe not as tragic but still devastating damage that were not documented on film. This is just one of many that occurred during the war in the Pacific and in Europe. On all sides. Gotta remember that most of these planes were using heavy weapons, most .30 caliber or 20mm cannon that can tear a plane apart and imagine what it can do to the human body, not pretty.

Like you Louis I watched Victory at Sea and the World at War series, footage that really showed war what it is. I have the Victory at Sea series on Cd's. Haven't had time to watch them, but may start to at least get an hour in or so.

I have this kit too with the old Kendall wing fold set, bought it with the kit, wow I would say the mid 90's I have had it that long. it is quite a set. Looks very similar to the Danger Boy set. Looking forward to watching this with extreme interest.

I picked up on this story recently as well.
Emblematic of so many others in the conflict.
Recalls the courage of combatants but also the respect and concern of his shipmates. A fitting tribute Louis,especially for all those with no known resting place.

Louis, this is just fabulous.

Thinking about you and praying for you.

Louis, if anyone needs to take care it is you. You encourage people, help and support them, and you really are a first rate human being. This tribute build has you written all over it and that is a great compliment.

I’d love to do a ‘transatlantic double build’ - maybe in the new year; I have a couple of ideas and who knows, maybe we could start a trend.

Thanks for the amazing support of this group - I salute you.

I hadn't hear this story until Peter posted it earlier this past week. Now Louis has added to the terrific drama. I say "drama" but this is sadly not fiction, but it is a story of ... well, love. It's the love and respect shown by Louis, Peter, David and all you others who add to this great recounting. Tom has added a personal note to it, too. My hat is off to you all, my friends! My greatest hero was my own Father, who flew this plane (and others) in both the Mediterranean and then the Pacific from early 1942 through the end of the War. I think this is a fitting tribute to ALL the Fathers, Uncles, Brothers, Grandfathers and even Mothers (mine was in the Navy and operated Link Trainers - 1943-46) whose "little boys" have grown to adulthood and have gathered here. I salute them ... and you ALL!

@dirtylittlefokker @lgardner @tcinla @tecko and more than can be mentioned here

I'm crazy, but not crazy enough to attempt something that ambitious !

Like you Tom C.,
@tcinla
Im going to try and get my Avenger to look like it did just before the last mission.

As far as the ignition wires and the dark red color, I intended it to be a base color for the final paint. I'm experimenting with a new idea, and hoping that it will look good once done.

Luckily I had the wonderful opportunity to see a real life sized 1 to 1 scale TBM Avenger in person about a year ago...

and I took some up close and personal detail photos of the plane. You don't realize just how big this plane is until you're standing next to it !

The ignition wires were pressurized and sealed on the real engine. They found out the hard way that if they were not sealed then in the thin air and lower pressure at altitude, the engine would shut off just as if you killed the master switch. The electrical spark made by the magnetos was not strong enough to cause the spark plugs to "arc" thereby igniting the air fuel mixture. This normally happened around 32,000 feet. With the pressurized/ sealed harness, the engine would not mysteriously cut out once the altitude was reached.

Corky Myer, who was a test pilot for the Grumman Hellcat spoke about his experiences with this in a book I have on the F6F. He stated that he could not get the Hellcat to climb above 32,000 feet but yet the Army was having no problem with the P-47 going up to much higher altitudes. The Hellcat engine was cutting out, while the P-47 kept climbing, yet they both used the Pratt and Whitney R-2800.

The pressurized ignition harness was the difference. The P-47 had the pressurized harness and the Hellcat didn't.

By keeping the spark plug wires pressurized, it tricks the electrical current going to the spark plugs that the engine is at a lower altitude. The difference in atmospheric pressure at altitude versus sea level was enough to effectively stop the spark.

They used this R-2600 type of radial engine on numerous Allied planes during the War.

The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, B-25 Mitchell, Boeing Clipper,

A-20 Havoc, Martin Baltimore (and the Mariner), Vultee Vengeance, are just a few ...

enjoy the photos ! Many more to come.

Maybe I can persuade my friend James

@jamesb

to post up a few pictures of the SB2C engine for us... That would be really cool !

Yes David LS

@dirtylittlefokker

a Trans Atlantic co-op would be a great idea... 🙂

David Mills,
@davem

Our family lost a member during WW2 at sea. He was a 1st Lt flying with the 42nd Bomb Group and his name was Thomas Smith. Tommy was a B-25 pilot flying from Palawan in the Philippines. He was killed in a training mission, along with 7 other men (including the Unit Commander ) on April 8th, 1945 when his B-25 hit the water. They were practicing low level "Split -S" maneuvers and skip bombing when the accident happened. He and the rest of the pilots (5 were on board in addition to the two gunners) on the plane were never recovered. He was lost in an area called the Sulu Sea.

Chuck,
@uscusn
That is very cool you have the series "Victory at Sea" on CD. I remember watching the series "World at War" as well as "Victory at Sea" on television as a teenager. We have a lot in common my friend...

Jeff Bailey, my fellow Army Tanker brother...
@mikegolf
Sounds like both of your parents were special persons. You are rightfully proud ! Good to hear from you my friend. 🙂
Thanks again everyone for the kind words. Maybe I can get some more work done on this one soon.

Wow... Has it really been 10 months ?

I'm afraid it has. I have several builds with a self imposed deadline and this is one of them. I want to get it done by November 5th. So today I dug it out of the "in progress" builds and spent some time with it.

Here goes !

I was not happy with the red color on the spark plug wires, So I repainted them using a burnt metal color. This looks much more realistic to me.

I have an old "Danger Boy" resin wing fold set. I spent some time cleaning up the resin pour blocks. These parts were degreased using "Windex" glass cleaner to remove the mold release agent. Then I sprayed on some flat black where the crew walk way is located. I'm still not sure if I want to use this wing fold set on this particular model, or if I want to use it on another Avenger later down the road.

This is because I have the wings almost ready for this particular Avenger. Since I was painting "Flat Black", I went ahead and sprayed the crew walk ways on the kit supplied wings.

I added most of the clear canopy parts and side windows,

Then assembled the turret halves...

This plane has a small white horizontal stripe that goes across the rudder and fin. It was sprayed on today. I also managed to break off the antennae post in the process... oops.

This plane also had a partial Bureau Number brush painted on the cowling. This was most likely done by Grumman and it was hand painted on the center access panel. You can see how it had mostly faded away in some of the photos of the plane.

I had an idea... so I too brush painted on the 3 numbers.

The thought was to "lightly" sand away the white, leaving a ghost outline similar to how it looks in the pictures. It was not the easiest thing to do, and naturally I sanded away too much... another oops. Hey it sounded good on paper !

Then I had another neuron flash. Maybe the paint fumes were getting to me...
I took a bottle of flat white paint that had been sitting for a while and used it... I didn't shake or mix it, instead I brushed it on as is.

It ended up semi transparent, which is exactly what I wanted. I might tempt fate and try to lightly sand it again... or I might just leave things be.

Overall, it was an eventful day at the "Iron Werks".

Here's how the Victory at Sea TBF looks at the moment.

as always,
Comments are encouraged.

It's been a long time. Too long.

Thanks for looking.