by dhenning » Sun Apr 14, 2019 7:01 pm
JEM,
Thank you for the compliments and thank you for your father's service. No, no connection to the 592. Since your not a modeler, I will give you the brief history of how I decided to build the 592 (other modelers will find the story familiar).
I received the LCT/LCU kit from my former brother in law and sister in law many years ago for Christmas. I started looking into the use of LCTs at Normandy at that time and decided that I wanted to model one that landed tanks at Normandy, but didn't find a lot of info at the time (I believe back then I was actually using WebTV). Fast forward many years later and after building a LCI(G) from the Lindberg LCI kit, I decided to dig out the LCT kit and maybe have a go at it. As most modelers do, this entailed purchasing/locating as many reference books as you can find on the subject (normally well in excess of the cost of the initial kit). I found one of the only books specifically about LCTs, "The LCT Story, Victory in Europe Plus the Letters of a Young Ensign", by William Baker. The book mentioned that LCTs were built at Pidgeon-Thomas Ironworks in Memphis, TN-right across the river from my home state and a town that I know pretty well. It also related the story of two young LCT officers that went to Memphis for Navy Day after the war on board their new assignment-a LST. An older gentlemen touring the ship asked them if they knew anyone who had served on LCTs. Turned out the individual was the owner of the Pidgeon-Thomas Ironworks and he was delighted to meet two men who served on his ships and he treated them to the best that Memphis had to show his appreciation to them. I was sold on building an LCT from that company.
I then found out that Pidgeon-Thomas built only the Mark 6 LCTs and then started researching further on-line and in Mr. Baker's book to find which Mark 6s built in Memphis were at Normandy. That in turn led to narrowing the field down to ones that were used to land the DD tanks successfully, which narrowed it down further. I also used the photographs available on Navsource.org to try to find good photos to use as references. Then I stumbled across the oral history of the Officer in Charge of the 592 at Utah Beach at this website :
https://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/intervi ... -charles-w and decided that was the ship that I would portray with my model.
A long story, but the journey of many scale modelers in looking for the right ship in history to portray. Would love to see any information that you have on the 592 to include in my displays at upcoming model shows.
David
JEM,
Thank you for the compliments and thank you for your father's service. No, no connection to the 592. Since your not a modeler, I will give you the brief history of how I decided to build the 592 (other modelers will find the story familiar).
I received the LCT/LCU kit from my former brother in law and sister in law many years ago for Christmas. I started looking into the use of LCTs at Normandy at that time and decided that I wanted to model one that landed tanks at Normandy, but didn't find a lot of info at the time (I believe back then I was actually using WebTV). Fast forward many years later and after building a LCI(G) from the Lindberg LCI kit, I decided to dig out the LCT kit and maybe have a go at it. As most modelers do, this entailed purchasing/locating as many reference books as you can find on the subject (normally well in excess of the cost of the initial kit). I found one of the only books specifically about LCTs, "The LCT Story, Victory in Europe Plus the Letters of a Young Ensign", by William Baker. The book mentioned that LCTs were built at Pidgeon-Thomas Ironworks in Memphis, TN-right across the river from my home state and a town that I know pretty well. It also related the story of two young LCT officers that went to Memphis for Navy Day after the war on board their new assignment-a LST. An older gentlemen touring the ship asked them if they knew anyone who had served on LCTs. Turned out the individual was the owner of the Pidgeon-Thomas Ironworks and he was delighted to meet two men who served on his ships and he treated them to the best that Memphis had to show his appreciation to them. I was sold on building an LCT from that company.
I then found out that Pidgeon-Thomas built only the Mark 6 LCTs and then started researching further on-line and in Mr. Baker's book to find which Mark 6s built in Memphis were at Normandy. That in turn led to narrowing the field down to ones that were used to land the DD tanks successfully, which narrowed it down further. I also used the photographs available on Navsource.org to try to find good photos to use as references. Then I stumbled across the oral history of the Officer in Charge of the 592 at Utah Beach at this website : https://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/interviewees/30-interview-html-text/397-mcdougall-charles-w and decided that was the ship that I would portray with my model.
A long story, but the journey of many scale modelers in looking for the right ship in history to portray. Would love to see any information that you have on the 592 to include in my displays at upcoming model shows.
David