Tracy White wrote:
The Weekly summaries of aircraft locations just list Saratoga at Pearl Harbor with no aircraft assigned in late October and November. Early October is a data format that's pretty useless, but they do show that VFN-106 was as Pearl Harbor with 16 aircraft (they don't list types, which is why this data format is pretty useless)
Need some help with aircraft air group markings. I've started painting the conning tower and funnel for my October, 1944
Sara in Ms.32 11A and have to start thinking about aircraft aboard and their markings. If I understand Tracy's report, VFN-106 was at Pearl and may have operated from her for training in October.
Fry's book on pages 144-145 lists the following air groups or squadrons as having landed aboard
Sara while conducting training:
-October 1st: Air Groups 3 and 81
-October 2nd: Air Groups 4 (USS Ranger), 81, 82, and 90
-October 3rd: Air Group 4 (USS Ranger); VB-4 had four SB2C-4 crashes that day and VB-81 had one Helldiver crash into the number 4 gun gallery - possible dramatic flight deck scene on the model!
-October 4th: Air Group 3, VC-82 and VC-83
-October 12th: Air Groups 80 and 100 (CVG-100 a training group??)
-October 13th: Air Group 80 with one SB2C-4 crash into the stack - another dramatic modeling opportunity
-October 14th: USS Clark collided with Sara on the port side
-October 16th: unspecified units
-October 18th: Air Group 4 (USS Ranger)
-October 19th: CVLG 45
-October 20-21: unspecified units
-October 25th: CVLG 45 and CVG 100
-October 26-31: unspecified units
-November 1st: drydocked for collision repairs and repainted Ms.21.
In comparison, sources indicate that when
Yorktown CV-10 was forward deployed at the same time, and air groups rotated to and from the carrier, the aircraft in their distinctive
Yorktown markings remained on ship and just the personnel rotated. This is probably
not the case for
Sara at Pearl; Fry strongly implies that in his narrative, that the air groups operating for training were flying their own air group's aircraft out of Pearl and landed aboard
Sara and then took off from the ship the same day.
I'm leaning towards CVG-4 off of
USS Ranger, with perhaps some VFN-106 Hellcats but welcome your suggestions or any other group whose markings are well-enough known to be able to replicate.
So, what were the markings for these groups/squadrons? Please help me find the proper markings for the CVGs' aircraft you suggest.