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BPF FAA Hellcat Mk.I Serials/Registration Numbers/Codes


Kleio

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Hello everybody,

 

I'm in the process of building a FAA Hellcat Mk.I used during Operation Meridian I/II. Many questions on details I could solve myself while analyzing, I think, nearly every picture and video accessible on the Internet, or by reading books and posts in various forums. Only one very important question I couldn't solve to my satisfaction at all yet: Which specific airplane I'm building?

Of the many pictures I looked at, most were seemingly taken in 1944 (many pics are dated definitely wrong throughout the Internet) and I don't like to guesstimate if the aircraft, this long after, used the same code during the raids on Palembang. Also the FAA registrations are not easy to make out most of the time, and I'm not familiar with the codes used by the 1839/44 NAS nor any other FAA squadron.

 

So the questions is: Does anyone know which specific Hellcats were flown during the 24th/29th January 1945?

I would highly appreciate if you could include the source of the information, but the ultimate goal would be a picture of the specific plane. Still just a registration number would already help a lot, as this would clarify at least which style of cowling would be accurate.

 

If you can contribute anything I'm very grateful!
Any other commend, picture, etc., is of course appreciated as well - you never know everything or could locate every picture.

 

 

 

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Yes, I know the article you linked. Thank you anyway.
It was actually the foundation of my research. The book "The BPF: The Royal Navy's Most Powerful Strikeforce" linked there, I have read since.
Both sources are essential if you want a bigger picture, but do not answer such specific questions.

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So to be clear you want a photograph of a specific Hellcat I that was involved in the raid?  You need the aircraft I'd and Serial?

 

Did you try looking for 1838/44 squadron Operations diaries?

Edited by Grey Beema
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Air Britain has just published a new edition of their The Squadrons and Units of the Fleet Air Arm.  They don't include photos of Meridian Hellcats but confirm that they were Mk.Is, which should sort out the cowlings.  They provide an example for each unit: 1839 had FN434 code R5K, 1944 had FN383 coded R6F. Other combinations can be found in Air Britain's "FAA Aircraft of WW2", but again sadly no photos to provide a guide to the size and shape of the codes.

 

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@Grey Beema

Yes exactly.
No, I didn't, as I don't know about them nor do I know where to find them. But this sounds like a good trace!

 

In relation to your first reply: The BPF was already founded then, but you are right, it's a gray area, as Sumatra does not border the Pacific.

 

@Graham Boak

Thank you! It looks more and more as if there weren't any photos taken during the timeframe surrounding the raids. But I haven't give up hope yet.

Them just beeing Mk.I doesn't clearify the question about the cowling, but the registration does. I wonder where they got them from.

Edited by Kleio
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Not a grey area at all: Meridian was not a BPF action.  The aircraft carried the Indian Ocean markings of blue and white roundels without the bars.  There are photos of Seafires, Avengers and Corsairs taken during the action, so I suspect that there are ones of Hellcats too.  I just don't know where they might be.

 

The previous (second) edition of "Squadrons" had a photo of 1839's FN373/J, but taken when the squadron formed at Eglinton late in 1943 and still with European roundels.  (J was to become R5M.) They got their Hellcats from the same place as all the others - I don't think I understand the question.

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I have found a picture of JX758/5A NAS 1839 going over the side of Indomitable on 24 Feb 45.  JX758 was involved in 3 claims.  2 claims were made on 24/01/45 Lt CD-R Shotten and a claim was also made by Lt Mackie 29/01.

 

picture is on page 76 Royal Navy Aces of WWII..

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Are you sure you can determined from the FAA roundel alone, if Operation Outflank accounts as a BPF action? To quote Wikipedia (not the best piece of evidence of course): "Operation Outflank was the first combat operation of the British Pacific Fleet". The mentioned book "The BPF: The Royal Navy's Most Powerful Strikeforce"  also accounts it as a BPF action.

In the book is a picture of a distant Hellcat, which looks to be coded K6K, and, according to the author, was taken over Medan during Op. Robson. This, if the author located it correctly, is the closest shot to the Meridian action I know of. Maybe someone can tell more about K6K. It wears white IFF stripes on the front of the cowling, the wings, and the horizontal/vertical stabilizers - something I only have seen before with Hellcats embarked on escort carriers in the Indian Ocean during 1945.
Therefore I take the caption with a pinch of salt, until someone can tell me more about K
6K.

 

To clarify the question: Im looking for a Hellcat used during the two Palembang raids. Therefore I need to know it's FAA registration number, it's operational code and maybe it's pilot. The best case would be a photo showing it, so I can copy the placement and style of the markings exactly.

Maybe this wasn't clear from my initial post. I'm sorry, I'm not a native speaker.

 

@Grey Beema

That sounds quite interesting! Good find, thanks!

Can you tell me where to find the Squadron Operations Diaries you mentioned earlier?

 

 

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1 hour ago, Graham Boak said:

Not a grey area at all: Meridian was not a BPF action.  The aircraft carried the Indian Ocean markings of blue and white roundels without the bars.  There are photos of Seafires, Avengers and Corsairs taken during the action, so I suspect that there are ones of Hellcats too.  I just don't know where they might be.

 

 

The BPF was established on 22 November 1944.  The first raids were in the Palembang area in Jan '45.  The Roundel and bars were not sanctioned until Mach '45

 

In February 1945, there was a new directive for aircraft of the Eastern Air Command. This directive ordered that aircraft be painted with the following ID markings: 
The cowling was to be painted with a 17" white ring,
The tail and wings would have white ID bands of 18" width on the tail and 28" width on the wings.


Aircraft of the East Indies Fleet (with the exception of Photo-Recon aircraft) carried these markings. On the Hellcats, the wing bands were carried so that they covered the inboard edge of the upper wing roundels.

 

Also in March 1945, there was a revision to the national insignia used by the BPF. The insignia was to have panels similar to the US national insignia and was to be made up of a blue ring, with a narrow white border, and a white circular centre. This insignia is sometimes wrongly referred to as the SW Pacific marking. This is not the case, as the RNZAF and RAAF did not use these markings. Only the BPF used them.

 

 

 

 

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38 minutes ago, Kleio said:

 

That sounds quite interesting! Good find, thanks!

Can you tell me where to find the Squadron Operations Diaries you mentioned earlier?

 

 

 

Maybe I should think before typing.  NAS Squadrons seem to not always have operations recorded in their own ORB (Operations Record Books). Records were kept by the ships operations book ADM 199 (I think) unfortunately the record is not digitised so you can't download it!!  Sorry...

 

 http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4120466

 

Fleet Air Arm Aircraft reference...

IMG_0729_zpsccijqdaq.jpg

 

 

 

Edited by Grey Beema
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The establishment of the BPF as an organisation is one date: the attachment of specific ships/units is another. Or, indeed, several different dates.  My understanding (which may be wrong) was that these raids were carried out under the authority of the East Indies Fleet.  However, either way, certainly the aircraft were carrying EIF markings which did not include at that time the white trim.  That these ships were on their way to the BPF is true, but the BPF markings didn't include the white trim either.  After the date quoted the trim can be seen on those aircraft operating in and around the Indian Ocean, including the Hellcats on the Escort carriers.

 

Talking of which, you are quite right to doubt the photo of K6.K: K6 belongs to the 3rd Naval Fighter Wing, and was carried by 804 and 808 Squadrons - and as Grey Beema has made clear above, the white trim was not carried for the Meridian actions.  As 808 Sq also carried C7 codes in 1945, the photo presumably shows an aircraft of 804 Sq.

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From Owen Thetford's "British Naval Aircraft since 1912"

 

Hellcat I's were allocated the serial numbers FN320-FN449 ans JV100-JV221. Hellcat II's were allocated serials JV222-JV324, JW700-JW784, JW857-JW899, JX670-JX999, JZ775-JZ827, JZ890-JZ999, KD103-KD160 and KE118-KE265.

 

 

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Here is my list from Admiralty documents, with dates:

 

Aircraft Assignments Operation ‘Meridian’, 1945  HMS Indomitable

 

 

1839 Squadron:              Hellcat I and II

 

 

R5A:  JW781 (4.1.45) JX758 (24.1.45)

R5B   JW859 (4.1.45)

R5C

R5F

R5G:  JV141 (4.1.45 and 24.1.45)

R5H:  FN431 (4.1.45 and 24.1.45)

R5J:   FN412 (4.1.45)

R5K:  FN434 (4.1.45)

R5L:  FN362 (4.1.45)

R5M: FN373 (20.12.45)

R5N:  FN421 (20.12.45); FN438 (4.1.45)

R5P:  FN432 (4.1.45)

R5Q

R5R:  JV100 (24.1.45)

 

 

1844 Squadron:              Hellcat I and II

 

 

(R)6A

(R)6B

(R)6C

(R)6F: FN383 (4.1.45 and 24.1.45)

(R)6G: FN398 (4.1.45)

(R)6H: FN422 (24.1.45)

(R)6J:  FN396 (4.1.45)

(R)6K: FN439 (4.1.45 and 24.1.45)

(R)6L: JW731 (4.1.45 and 24.1.45)

(R)6M

(R)6P: FN378 (24.1.45)

(R)6Q

(R)6R: FN430; JW723 (24.1.45)

(R)6T

(R)6W: FN359 (4.1.45)

(R)6X: FN436 (4.1.45)

 

TH: JW860 (Harrington, 5 wing Leader)

 

 

I have a fairly complete list of pilots for Operation Meridian (with assigned aircraft), which are in a separate file.

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7 hours ago, Kleio said:

Hello everybody,

 

I'm in the process of building a FAA Hellcat Mk.I used during Operation Meridian I/II. Many questions on details I could solve myself while analyzing, I think, nearly every picture and video accessible on the Internet, or by reading books and posts in various forums. Only one very important question I couldn't solve to my satisfaction at all yet: Which specific airplane I'm building?

Of the many pictures I looked at, most were seemingly taken in 1944 (many pics are dated definitely wrong throughout the Internet) and I don't like to guesstimate if the aircraft, this long after, used the same code during the raids on Palembang. Also the FAA registrations are not easy to make out most of the time, and I'm not familiar with the codes used by the 1839/44 NAS nor any other FAA squadron.

 

So the questions is: Does anyone know which specific Hellcats were flown during the 24th/29th January 1945?

I would highly appreciate if you could include the source of the information, but the ultimate goal would be a picture of the specific plane. Still just a registration number would already help a lot, as this would clarify at least which style of cowling would be accurate.

 

If you can contribute anything I'm very grateful!
Any other commend, picture, etc., is of course appreciated as well - you never know everything or could locate every picture.

 

 

 

 

that would be iang

 

1 hour ago, iang said:

Here is my list from Admiralty documents, with dates:

 

Aircraft Assignments Operation ‘Meridian’, 1945  HMS Indomitable

 

 

1839 Squadron:              Hellcat I and II 

 

R5P:  FN432 (4.1.45)

I have a fairly complete list of pilots for Operation Meridian (with assigned aircraft), which are in a separate file.

 

2833230822_d1c5aa68f6_o.jpgFleet Air Arm Pilot by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

Quote

"Lt John ‘Jack’ Haberfield RNZNVR


Jack Haberfield of 1839 Squadron was shot-down during the Fleet Air Arm attacks on the Japanese held oil refineries at Palembang on Sumatra (Operation Meridian 1) on 24.1.45. 1839 Squadron was one of two fighter squadrons on Indomitable (the other being 1844 Squadron). Both were equipped with Hellcats. For the first attack on Palembang Indomitable supplied 16 Hellcats as part of the fighter escort for the Avenger bomber strike force (comprising 40 Avengers from Indefatigable, Victorious, Illustrious and Indomitable). The rest of the fighter escort was provided by 29 Corsairs from Illustrious and Victorious and 9 Fireflies from Indefatigable. A small ramrod sweep were also carried out on the Japanese airfield at Mana by a mixed force of 4 Avengers and 4 Hellcats, while Indefatigable’s Seafires flew CAP over the fleet.


The main attacking force and its fighter escort encountered enemy fighter opposition about fifteen miles away from Palembang. The British believed about 20 Japanese fighters attacked the force before it reached its target. Further Japanese attacks were carried out as the strike force of Avengers reformed and headed to the rendezvous point after the attack. Six Corsairs, one Hellcat and two Avengers failed to return from Meridian I, though not all of these were shot-down by fighters. An additional strike was made five days later on 29.1.45. A further two Corsairs, one Firefly and four Avengers failed to return from Meridian II.


Of these 16 British aircraft losses, 30 FAA personnel were either KiA or PoW (11 others had been picked up by destroyers from the fleet). Post-war it was learnt that of these 30 airmen, 9 were captured alive by the Japanese. One of these was ‘Jack’ Haberfield who was the pilot of the one Hellcat lost in the entire operation. The Admiralty reports do not record the serial or code of the Haberfield’s Hellcat. The 1839 Squadron Diary may record this information, and while it is definitely extant, it appears to be held privately, as it is not at TNA or the Fleet Air Arm Museum.

From the Admiralty reports it is known that Indomitable’s Hellcats were flying middle cover, 8 at the front and 8 at the back of the main strike force. Haberfield was leading one of these sections, but it is not known which one. From the Report of Lt Cdr T.W Harrington, who was Escort Leader, it is clear that the fighter escort was not well-disciplined after the strike force was attacked by Japanese fighters about 3 minutes from the target, “About half way through the attack I could see no top cover, three aircraft of middle cover, and the remaining aircraft engaged in dog-fights in and around the target area.” In the two Meridian Operations, Fleet Air Arm pilots claimed 30 Japanese aircraft destroyed in the air, plus another 7 probably destroyed, so the air fighting was clearly intense at times. The details of the loss of Haberfield’s Hellcat are scant. Indomitable’s Report tersely concluding that “the fate of the Hellcat is unknown”


L/Cdr Fraser Shotton, the CO of 1839 Squadron, wrote to Haberfield’s mother, before news of his captivity was known:

"We made an attack against the oil refineries at Palembang in Sumatra: our squadron was escorting some of the bombers & Jack (Haberfield's nickname) was leading a section. Over the target we were attacked by Japanese fighters and a fierce fight developed, during which it was on possible to see what was happening in a small part of the sky & there were aeroplanes everywhere. Jack's wingman saw him attack an enemy fighter and followed it down in a steep, fast dive, then lost sight of him. He was not seen again after that. Several pilots reported having seen aircraft crash into the ground, but none could say with certainty whether they were our own or the enemy's."

It is possible that Haberfield’s Hellcat was damaged in this air combat or by flak subsequently. Aircrew in an Avenger from Illustrious record seeing a Hellcat in distress, which joined up briefly, but was last seen going down near Lake Ranau. During the withdrawal, the flight plan was for aircraft to follow the river to the rendezvous point, so this was certainly Haberfield’s Hellcat, as his was the only one lost.

According to the Official History of the New Zealand Navy, a Chinese prisoner in Sumatra, who was released on 20.2.45, recounted that, “….it was town gossip that the photograph of a well-built, blind-folded pilot prisoner was shown for propaganda purposes at the premises of the Palembang Sumboeng, a local newspaper.” The description of this prisoner matches Haberfield, who was refused water and food during his interrogation at Palembang prison. After seven days he was taken blind-folded for transit to Singapore by boat. On arrival Haberfield was interned along with the other Palembang FAA aircrew in Outram Road gaol.

A few days after the cessation of hostilities with Japan, around the 18-20 August 1945, a group of Japanese soldiers took these 9 Fleet Air Arm aircrew from Outram gaol in a lorry to a beach at the northern tip of Changi and executed them by beheading them with a sword. Their weighted bodies were subsequently put in a boat and disposed of in the sea. The senior officer responsible for these unlawful executions, Captain Toshio Kataoka committed suicide prior to his arrest by British war crimes investigators.

Haberfield had a short twentieth century life, shared by so many of his generation, enlisting in the Fleet Air Arm in 1941 and dying four years later age 26. He was one of the original 1839 pilots when the squadron formed at Eglinton in November 1943. Henry Adlam, who joined the squadron later, recalls Jack Haberfield with fondness in his memoir as “that friendly New Zealander”. 

Haberfield claimed an Oscar shot down during Operation Lentil on 4.1.45 in R5P:FN432, which is the aircraft in the photograph."

Thank you Ian

 

this maybe the other side of R5P

 

2527541926_bbc702fb04_o.jpgHellcat by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234970633-faa-corsair-iv-pilot/

 

I guess these to be more of the series of photos

note pint scuffed back to zinc chromate primer on wing

16292745962_5aa6851b84_o.jpgFAA  Grumman Hellcat. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

good for wear, fading and staining, note the light paint on plane in rear where roundel has been repainted, and again scuffed back to primer on wing

5563260449_7cf7215962_o.jpgHellcat. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

assume this is R5F, but no serial listed

 

 

 

Edited by Troy Smith
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10 hours ago, Grey Beema said:

Here is JX758 going over the side...  As Graham noted no white bands..

IMG_0731_zpssvxjnl87.jpg

 

 

Not sure I can agree with either the identity or the date given for this photo in Andrew Thomas' Royal Navy Aces of World War 2 (as above):

 

1.  As this thread has made clear, by Feb 1945 this aircraft should have been wearing white ID bands: it isn't.

2.  The photo clearly shows the cowling side bulges and lower cowling flaps: these were deleted from FAA Hellcats somewhere between JV100 and JV189 ie well before the JXxxx serial range.

 

The same photo appear at almost A4 size in D A Hobbs' The Fleet Air Arm In Focus Part 1 (Maritime Books), where the serial is just about legible: I am 80% certain that it starts with FN and ends with 7.  I therefore believe that the photo depicts the loss of Hellcat I FN427, an earlier 5A of 1839 Squadron, on 17 October 1944 during Operation MILLET, during which Sub Lieut DM MacKenzie lost his life.  Sturtivant's FAA Aircraft 1939-45 lists the incident twice without making a correlation between the 2 entries: FN427 is listed (p. 252) as 5A of 1839 Sq lost over the side of Indomitable but without a date while the Unidentified section (p.271) lists an unidentified 5A of 1839 Sq as follows: 17/10/44 Operation MILLET, attack on Car Nicobar, port oleo hit rounddown, over port side landing Indomitable 0901 (S/L DM MacKenzie killed).  You will note from Ian G's list of 1839 Sq Hellcats during Op MERIDIAN that several close neighbours of serial FN427 were still with the squadron in Jan 1945.

 

It is gratifying that the transfers in the Eduard 1/72 Hellcat Mk.I Weekend Edition provide FN427 as serial for this aircraft though of course this proves nothing: two people can be as easily wrong as right.

 

NB the ident means this aircraft is a Hellcat I, not a Hellcat II.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Seahawk said:

 

Not sure I can agree with either the identity or the date given for this photo in Andrew Thomas' Royal Navy Aces of World War 2 (as above):

 

1.  As this thread has made clear, by Feb 1945 this aircraft should have been wearing white ID bands: it isn't.

2.  The photo clearly shows the cowling side bulges and lower cowling flaps: these were deleted from FAA Hellcats somewhere between JV100 and JV189 ie well before the JXxxx serial range.

 

The same photo appear at almost A4 size in D A Hobbs' The Fleet Air Arm In Focus Part 1 (Maritime Books), where the serial is just about legible: I am 80% certain that it starts with FN and ends with 7.  I therefore believe that the photo depicts the loss of Hellcat I FN427, an earlier 5A of 1839 Squadron, on 17 October 1944 during Operation MILLET, during which Sub Lieut DM MacKenzie lost his life.  Sturtivant's FAA Aircraft 1939-45 lists the incident twice without making a correlation between the 2 entries: FN427 is listed (p. 252) as 5A of 1839 Sq lost over the side of Indomitable but without a date while the Unidentified section (p.271) lists an unidentified 5A of 1839 Sq as follows: 17/10/44 Operation MILLET, attack on Car Nicobar, port oleo hit rounddown, over port side landing Indomitable 0901 (S/L DM MacKenzie killed).  You will note from Ian G's list of 1839 Sq Hellcats during Op MERIDIAN that several close neighbours of serial FN427 were still with the squadron in Jan 1945.

 

It is gratifying that the transfers in the Eduard 1/72 Hellcat Mk.I Weekend Edition provide FN427 as serial for this aircraft though of course this proves nothing: two people can be as easily wrong as right.

 

NB the ident means this aircraft is a Hellcat I, not a Hellcat II.

 

 

 

Cool I'll make a note in Royal Navy Aces. For my own references..  

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In the colour photos above note the similarity of hue of the code letters 'SP' and 'R' to the lower forward cowling, and the 'F' marked door, all appearing a very pale blue-green/blue-grey in contrast with the more yellowish-green Sky seen under the wing leading edge. Re-painting (?), suggesting perhaps that the paint colour in the ship's locker was not a match for the delivery colour(s). That pale blueish-green variant (?) of Sky (?) also appears in other FAA colour photos. 

 

Nick 

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13 hours ago, iang said:

Here is my list from Admiralty documents, with dates:

 

Aircraft Assignments Operation ‘Meridian’, 1945  HMS Indomitable

 

 

1839 Squadron:              Hellcat I and II

 

 

R5A:  JW781 (4.1.45) JX758 (24.1.45)

R5B   JW859 (4.1.45)

R5C

R5F

R5G:  JV141 (4.1.45 and 24.1.45)

R5H:  FN431 (4.1.45 and 24.1.45)

R5J:   FN412 (4.1.45)

R5K:  FN434 (4.1.45)

R5L:  FN362 (4.1.45)

R5M: FN373 (20.12.45)

R5N:  FN421 (20.12.45); FN438 (4.1.45)

R5P:  FN432 (4.1.45)

R5Q

R5R:  JV100 (24.1.45)

 

 

1844 Squadron:              Hellcat I and II

 

 

(R)6A

(R)6B

(R)6C

(R)6F: FN383 (4.1.45 and 24.1.45)

(R)6G: FN398 (4.1.45)

(R)6H: FN422 (24.1.45)

(R)6J:  FN396 (4.1.45)

(R)6K: FN439 (4.1.45 and 24.1.45)

(R)6L: JW731 (4.1.45 and 24.1.45)

(R)6M

(R)6P: FN378 (24.1.45)

(R)6Q

(R)6R: FN430; JW723 (24.1.45)

(R)6T

(R)6W: FN359 (4.1.45)

(R)6X: FN436 (4.1.45)

 

TH: JW860 (Harrington, 5 wing Leader)

 

 

I have a fairly complete list of pilots for Operation Meridian (with assigned aircraft), which are in a separate file.

Hi Ian,

 

Would you have a similar list, or know where I could get a similar list for 24th NFW on Indefatigable for July / Aug 1945?  I have been trying to work it through from looking at photos and various Seafire reference but im not getting to far..

 

Cheers..

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First of all, I want to say I'm very happy about the many contributions! It's not solely about finding a model for my model kit, but it's a very interesting topic in general.

 

While reading through the new comments chronologically, I was surprised and happy how seemingly easy the main question could be solved - now we know it wasn't. I think Seahawks thoughts are very reasonable and legit. Therefore we still have no photographic example of a Meridian Hellcat yet.

While writing this post, I found a build report of a 1/72 Eduard Hellcat, wherein the author deals with the same "5A-Problem".

 

@iang's list seems to be a very good trace. Is it based on the same records from "The National Archive" Grey linked earlier? 

@Gomtuu provided us with all FAA Hellcat registrations (I call it like this to partition it from the Grumman s/n) according to "British Naval Aircraft since 1912". Following is a comparison and visualization of this listing, the one published on fleetairarmarchive.net and the Palembang Hellcats called out by iang. Note I simplified the listing from fleetairarmarchive.net for a better visualization. Check their page for more information like the contract numbers and more.

 

British Naval Aircraft since 1912:       fleetairarmarchive.net:                                            Allocating the Palembang F6F's according to iang's list:

                                 F6F-3/Mk.I

FN320-FN449                                        FN320-FNB449*                         1839 NAS: R5H, R5J, R5K, R5L, R5M, R5N, R5P; 1844 NAS: (R)6F, (R)6G, (R)6H, (R)6J, (R)6K, (R)6P, (R)6W, (R)6X

JV100-JV221                                         JV100-JV221**                                                     R5G, R5R

           All following are F6F-5/MK.II if not specified:

JV222-JV324                                         JV222 - JV324

JW700-JW784                                       JW700-784                                                         1844 NAS: (R)6L, (R)6R                                              

JW857-JW899                                       JW857-JW899                                                    5. Wing Leader: TH

JX670-JX999                                         JX670-JX964                                                       1839 NAS: R5A, R5B

                                                             JX965 to JX967 Mk.II (NF)

                                                             JX969 to JX999

JZ775-JZ827                                         JX775-JZ827 ("Some delivered as II NF")

JZ890-JZ999                                         JZ890-JZ911 Mk.II (NF)

                                                             JZ947--JZ999 Mk.II (NF)

KD103-KD160                                      KD103-KD160 Mk.II (NF)

KE118-KE265                                       KE118-KE265  Mk. II (NF)

 

*: For reasons of correct quotation I carried over what I think is a mistake: The B in FNB

**: According to @Seahawk: "...cowling side bulges and lower cowling flaps: these were deleted from FAA Hellcats somewhere between JV100 and JV189...". Therefore the cowlings used on R5G and R5R are not clarified yet, but R5R most likely had the first style - if the FAA registration is correct (what I do and have to believe right now).

 

@iang, you say you have a list of pilots serving during the Meridian-timeframe. If you want to share it with us, please do so! I would highly appreciate it.

 

 

I didn't know the photo of JW782 (couldn't it be JW762 also?), nor the third one Troy posted. Thank you both for sharing!

Are those colorized or originally colored ones?

Nick (whose knowledge I highly appreciate and who already helped me with the TSS), what do you think about the color- accuracy of those photos at all? From what you have written, you sound somewhat confident about it, whilst it doesn't look to me like the chips we have talked about. For example, to me the Extra Dark Sea Grey looks much more violet in this photos. :huh:

 

 

Greetings

 

 

Edited by Kleio
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One point for clarification.  Civil aircraft carry registrations.  British military aircraft carry serial numbers.  USN aircraft carry Bureau Numbers (Bu.Nos.).  Grumman aircraft presumably have construction numbers, but I think in context you are referring to the Bu. Nos.

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35 minutes ago, Kleio said:

 

Nick (whose knowledge I highly appreciate and who already helped me with the TSS), what do you think about the color- accuracy of those photos at all? From what you have written, you sound somewhat confident about it, whilst it doesn't look to me like the chips we have talked about. For example, to me the Extra Dark Sea Grey looks much more violet in this photos. :huh:

 

I don't think the code letters are white! But confident? No, not with three question marks. The colours look so real but what colour is that prop blade? ;-) 

 

Nick

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On 5/30/2017 at 12:30, Grey Beema said:

Hi Ian,

 

Would you have a similar list, or know where I could get a similar list for 24th NFW on Indefatigable for July / Aug 1945?  I have been trying to work it through from looking at photos and various Seafire reference but im not getting to far..

 

Cheers..

 

Nope. The reason you are not getting very far is because there is very little extant primary data, so the secondary sources have little to work with.  Overall, Indefatigable was the worst carrier for recording aircraft identities and a great many Seafires were written off in deck-landing accidents. I'm working through the Admiralty documents that have survived, pilots' log books and photographs and have made only limited progress. I have a lot of gaps in both the Seafire and Avenger lists. Only the Fireflies are pretty complete - at least until 1772 replaced 1770. 

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