At 'Em Arizona Fans!

[Leftie]

Do I have a deal for you...Or anyone else out there. I'll gladly send you one of my Kingfishers with decals for a pair of 1/200 range clocks. USA preferred. I'm just about to finish off my Trumpeter Arizona. If you don't want the Kingfisher I'll give you a 1/350 Arizona. Any takers?

[sixman]

Leftie,

I could send you a pair of the Range Clocks from the WEM PE set. PM me with address.

Sixman

[Leftie]

Sixman,

Email sent. Thanks.

Leftie

[sixman]

Question of the colors for the Arizona's aircraft for the late 1941 time frame (August 1941 onward).

From what I have been able to find the bottom surfaces were to be NS Light Gray and surfaces viewed from above were to be NS Blue Gray. The demarcation was to be an irregulay, wavy line. US Insignias were to be on the top of the left wing and the bottom of the right wing. The rudder was to be red and white alternating horizontal strips (to be discontinued as of May 15, 1942).

Would this be the correct color scheme?

[Leftie too]

[Leftie too]

[Tracy White]

No Rudder stripes; that happened after the attack.

[Leftie too]

[pbudzik]

That is one pristine a/c.

Paul

[sixman]

To all that posted about the rudder stripes on the Arizona aircraft, thanks.

I have found the first picture, but it did not show the rudder. The other two pictures were great.

[Leftie too]

Sixman,

I thought you might like those photos.

Leftie and Leftie Too.

[Leftie too]

I think I might regret this but do any of you think that the first Arizona Kingfisher were OS2U-1s and were "yellow wings", but they were painted later like the Kingfishers on the Uss Texas grey upper and lowers. Then, later in late 1941 they were replaced with OS2U-3s and those were the common blue/grey over light grey. What are your thoughts?

[SeanF]

I think I might regret this but do any of you think that the first Arizona Kingfisher were OS2U-1s and were "yellow wings", but they were painted later like the Kingfishers on the Uss Texas grey upper and lowers. Then, later in late 1941 they were replaced with OS2U-3s and those were the common blue/grey over light grey. What are your thoughts?

The answer is yes. (Though it might've been -2 rather than -3 replacements. I don't recall off the top of my head.) It's well documented in the Classic Warships book on the OS2U.
- Sean F.

[Hippy Ed]

Found this on the USS Arizona & info on her Kingfishers
http://redhandsmodels.blogspot.com/2009 ... d-uss.html
Looks like they were -1s

[Guest]

Looks like they were -1s

Aloha All,
The late Vought historian, Art Schoeni, helped me with their files some 30 years ago. He found the OS2U-1 "Dispositions and Delivery, date 31 August 1941" which gave the dates of delivery to the US Battleship Fleet...beginning with USS WEEVEE in 31 July 1940...

This lists the three OS2U-1 for USS Arizona as:
Bu No 1695, Fab Seq 15; delivered 22 Aug 1940
Bu No 1696, Fab Seq 16; delivered 23 Aug 1940
Bu No 1697, Fab Seq 17; delivered 29 Aug 1940

However, another shipment (OS2U-3) was sent to the US Battleship Fleet in the Fall of 1941.
These are noted within the US Navy's OS2U loss records...
The USS Arizona did NOT loose any of its OS2U-3s on 7 Dec...being on Ford Island.
The OS2U-3 replacements lost on 7 Dec 1941:
Bu No 5326 WEEVEE
Bu No 5327 WEEVEE
Bu No 5305 TN
Bu No 5353 CA
Bu No 5294 NV
Bu No 5288 OK
Bu No 5289 OK
Bu No 5290 OK
Bu No 5285 MD

Cheers,
David Aiken, a Director: Pearl Harbor History Associates, Inc

[Tracy White]

Edit - Double tap, sorry.

[Leftie too]

Excellent guys. And this is where I'm going with this. The Navy seemed to do a lot of painting in 1941. The Arizona was light grey in Jan 1941, so I was thinking the first Kingfishers were "Yellow Wings". There's a You Tube Video that confirms this. But then there's the time after that the Arizona was painted dark grey. Could it be that it was at this time the Kingfisher's were painted overall grey like the USS Texas photo? If so, my feeling is these would be the OS2C-1, the first batch. Then, probably before the Arizona was painted blue, the next batch of Kingfishers, OS2C-3 were delivered with a factory blue gray over light grey. That's what I'm trying to nail down, hopefully you guys can have the facts to support this theory. Thanks for being there.

[Leftie too]

Additional photos

[ESzczesniak]

Could anyone comment on the possibility that the Arizona carried yellow winged Kingfishers after she was painted in 5-D in June/July of 1941? I'm building my ship of her in this 5-D scheme. I'd like to stay accurate, but would also love the splash of color the silver/yellow Kingfisher would provide. Not real sure if this was probable, possible or improbable though.

[Tracy White]

Not likely. From http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/avchr5.htm

1940

DECEMBER 30--The Bureau of Aeronautics directed that fleet aircraft be painted in non-specular colors. Ship-based aircraft were to be light gray all over; patrol planes were to be light gray except for surfaces seen from above which were to be blue gray.

1941

FEBRUARY 26--An extensive modification of aircraft markings added National Star Insignia to both sides of the fuselage or hull and eliminated those on the upper right and lower left wings; discontinued the use of colored tail markings, fuselage bands and cowl markings; made removal of vertical red, white and blue rudder stripes mandatory; and changed the color of all markings, except the National Insignia, to those of least contrast to the background.

OCTOBER 13--The Bureau of Aeronautics directed that all fleet aircraft be painted non-specular light gray except for surfaces seen above which were to be blue-gray. In late December, this color scheme was extended to shore based airplanes except trainers.