RCAF Kittyhawk's in Alaska

[Scott Hemsley]

Subject:         111 Sqn. Kittyhawk I; s/n AL194 as it appeared in Anchorage Alaska, September 1942

Kit:                 conversion between the Sword P-40K and the Hasegawa P-40E

Aftermarket:  True Details P-40E resin cockpit (Unfortunately plans to open the cockpit didn't materialize)

Decals:           IPMS/Canada decal sheet for 111 Squadron - coverage of all the types used by the squadron.  (long OOP)

                      the outlines to the "Z" and the "V" where they overlapped the fuselage band was simply clear decal film, painted in the appropriate cam colour. cut into thin slices and individually placed around the letter.

 

Summary background:

 

Late May, '42 saw the Japanese launch a diversionary attack on the Aleutian island chain, in order to cover for the main attack on Midway. On May 27, the US requested assistance from the RCAF Western Air Command (WAC) and immediately 111 (F) with their Kittyhawk I's and 8 (BR) with their Bolingbroke's were dispatched to Yakutay in southern Alaska and on June 5, to Anchorage.  This was the same day he Japanese attacked Dutch Harbour and saw the occupation of Kiska and Attu, two days later.   Both 111 and 8 Squadron formed "X" Wing, RCAF … directly under US command. 8 (BR) Sqn., remained at Anchorage, with a detachment at Nome until Jan. '43, where it was replaced by 14 (F) Sqn.'s Kittyhawks.   111 (F) Sqn. operated from Anchorage, Umak and Kodiak, with occasional detachments at Adak and Amchitka for strikes on Kiska. 14 (F) operated from Umak supporting sorties from Amchitka.  Both of these squadron's returned to Canada August and September, respectively.

 

In June '42, another wing consisting of 115 (F) … later (BR) and 118 (F) was established on Anette Is., Alaska for defence of Southern Alaska and the Prince Rupert area of B.C. They returned to Canada in August '43.

 

As an aside, in late '43, 111 (F) was selected as one of six squadrons to go overseas (personnel only, no equipment) where it was re-designated 440 Squadron at Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland on Feb.8, 1944, flying Typhoon Mk.Ib  (Mar'44 - Aug.'45) after a work-up on Hurricane Mk.IV's (Feb.-Mar.'44).

 

The model:

 

Not having the SH Kittyhawk kits, I was facing having to fix the wing flaws of the Hasegawa P-40E until I was 'gifted' a Sword P-40K double pack and a Sword P-40K (long-tail) kit, ironically from a long-time friend who had just got the SH kits.  Thus a new plan for a P-40E/Kittyhawk conversion took root … mate the Hasegawa P-40E tail with the P-40K airframe (I was pleasantly surprised at how well the two kits mated).  My research showed me that they were essentially the same airframe but the "K" had the larger fin to compensate for a more powerful version of the Allison engine.  As I stated above, not having an option to open the canopy, I resigned myself to having it closed, but I did replace the kit's 'flared' exhaust with the earlier 6-stack 'round' exhaust using a set of AeroClub white-metal exhausts that I found in my parts box.  The 'stepped' pitot was made from sprue although I wish I had the resources at the time, to get some proper one's from Master.

 

Most of 111 Sqn. had their tailwheels locked down for the duration of the Alaskan campaign, presumably for ease of maintenance due to the effects of the harsh weather conditions on the fields they operated from.  Not exactly up to RAF specs, but the camouflage pattern is the standard factory-applied pattern used by Curtiss on all their P-40's destined for export ... certainly to the RAF/RCAF.

 

 

Almost immediately upon arrival in Anchorage, the US command ordered the squadron to 'white-out' the red centre's of the "B-type" upper wing roundels and to overpaint the outer yellow ring of the fuselage roundels.  The Sky fuselage band was also added in Anchorage … but only for 111 (F) Sqn.   Some not all, of 8 (BR)'s Bolingbroke's also received the same treatment on their upper wing roundels. Sometime mid-'43, the squadron was ordered to paint out their squadron codes, leaving only the individual aircraft letter.  14 (F) Sqn. didn't suffer these paint modifications as they were still under RCAF command at the time. 

 

Note the contrast, or lack of it … between the Duck Egg Blue underside and the Sky fuselage band.

 

     

 

 

The final shot with the Hurricane I of 1 (F) Sqn. RCAF, is to show the difference between a proper RAF paint job (the Hurricane was painted in the UK., prior to shipping to Canada) and the 'infamous' DuPont RAF equivalent colours applied by Curtiss.  I've mentioned it before, but after reading discussions about the RAF equivalent export (DuPont) colours and looking at many B&W (even some colour-ized) photos, I went with the following suggestions:

 

underside:   Duck Egg Blue

Dk. Green:   FS34079 (Forest Green)

Dk. Earth;    a lightened RAF Dk. Earth (similar to the RAF's Lt. Earth)

 

 

Scott

                                           

Edited June 29, 2020 by Scott Hemsley
Corrected FS no. for "Forest Green" in DuPont Export Colours listed above

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Very cool, Scott!  The P-40 looks great, and it must've taken a lot of work to integrate the parts from two kits seamlessly.  Regarding the history, I had no idea the U.S. requested Canadian assistance in Alaska, and it shows what a desperate turn (against the Allies) the war had taken at that point.  Aside from this action, and the doomed defense of Hong Kong, did Canada participate in other actions in the Pacific?

[airjiml2]

Great job Scott!

 

As to the question of did Canada participate in the Pacific...that depends on what you mean.  Besides the Alaska ops, that later included 135 Squadron Hurricanes, there is a great story posted somewhere in a Beaufort thread, of a RCAF Beaufort that was scrambled to attack a Japanese sub that shelled the west coast of Canada and the US, but crashed on takeoff.  There are is also, a probably apocryphal story of a Bolingbroke attacking a Japanese submarine, or maybe drift wood, or a whale.  It was claimed the sub was Ro-32, but that sub survived the war.)  Outside of those, no other RCAF squadrons participated directly, but a bunch of Lancaster Squadron were planned for Tiger Force and many many RCAF and RCNVR personal participated in the Pacific.  Two RCNVR pilots achieved ace status and one won a VC in the British Pacific Fleet.

 

Jim

[Scott Hemsley]

Quote

Aside from this action, and the doomed defense of Hong Kong, did Canada participate in other actions in the Pacific?

Good question, TheyJammedKenny.

 

Just to add what Jim stated … the RCNVR (Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve) had personnel operating/flying with the RN (not sure if we had any RCN ships in the Pacific) and the RCAF was operating in the Pacific theatre with a three squadrons - namely 435 and 436 Squadrons operating in the transport role with Dakota in support of the British 14th Army in India and Burma, plus 413 Squadron as coastal recon,  flying Catalina.   413 were most known for saving Ceylon from Japanese invasion, when shortly after the squadron transferred from Scotland and began ops in the Pacific, S/L L.J. Birchall and crew spotted the invasion fleet heading for Ceylon.  The RCAF also had an increasing number (over the duration of the war) of personnel crewing RAF bomber units, to the point where some crews apparently were entirely RCAF.   5 OTU, at Boundary Bay, B.C, was the principal (Canadian-based) bomber OTU on the West Coast for the training of bomber crews destined for the Pacific.

 

Quote

Very cool, Scott!  The P-40 looks great, and it must've taken a lot of work to integrate the parts from two kits seamlessly.

Thanks!   Actually, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the two fuselages mated . almost like they were meant to do that.  The real challenge was to keep the two together when sanding, despite using sheet plastic to provide location-assisting tabs.  How I determined the location of the cut to the fuselages was  logical, but completely unscientific.   Since the P-40K and the P-40E had the same dimensions (length, etc.), I simply matched a fuselage half from both kits, marked off the fwd point of the P-40K fin fillet on both … and cut.  Then used the those halves as a guide for the remaining two halves.  The actual cut lies somewhere under the Sky fuselage band.  

 

 

Scott

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2020 by Scott Hemsley

[Scott Hemsley]

Quote

Great job Scott!

Thanks Jim.   It may not be that SH P-40E you got, but it fits right in with the other WW2 RCAF aircraft on the shelf.  

 

 

Scott

 

Edited June 27, 2020 by Scott Hemsley

[airjiml2]

Scott,

 

How did I forget 413, the two Burma Dak Squadrons?  My RCAF history hat may be repossed after that mistake!

 

Jim

[dogsbody]

17 minutes ago, Scott Hemsley said:

The RCAF also had an increasing number (over the duration of the war) of personnel crewing RAF bomber units, to the point where some crews apparently were   entirely RCAF.

No. 6 Group of Bomber Command was almost all Canadian crewed and administrated.

 

 

 

Chris

 

[Scott Hemsley]

True enough Chris, but TheyJammedKenny was asking specifically about Canada's involvement with the Pacific.  While the BCATP took care of the lion's share of the training of Allied aircrew, later in the war years, 5 OTU trained bomber crews destined for the Pacific with things like dis-similar air combat using aircraft like P-40's, withdrawn from squadron service, against the likes of B-24J and B-25D's.

 

Scott

Edited June 27, 2020 by Scott Hemsley

[Scott Hemsley]

Quote

How did I forget 413, the two Burma Dak Squadrons?  My RCAF history hat may be repossed after that mistake!

Jim … Shhhh. Nobody knows except the two of us and the rest of the BM community. and I won't tell... 

 

Scott

[airjiml2]

Yea, a ton of the SEAC Liberator Crews in the RAF were Canadians.

 

Jim

[Carl V]

 

1.         While straying a little from a strictly modelling subject, the conversation concerning Canadian participation in the Pacific is most interesting. My little contribution follows:

2.         A Canadian brigade participated in the Kiska landings in August 1943. As the Japanese had pulled out several weeks earlier they were unopposed. Due to the thick fog, the only casualties were due to friendly fire – 24 Americans, 4 Canadians. Nevertheless, had the Japanese chose to defend with their usual tenacity, casualties would probably have been extremely severe, e.g. Attu.

3.         On the subject of Kiska, during the last round of 14 (F)’s strikes, they were flying USAAF P-40 K’s with hybrid US/RCAF insignia. An intriguing model subject.

4.         Back to the Pacific. The cruiser HMCS Uganda served with the British Pacific Fleet through 1945 and saw a fair amount of action. The ship became notorious when two thirds of the crew, responding to a Canadian government mandate that only volunteers for the Pacific campaign would be required to serve there, voted themselves out of the war. As this was comparatively late in the day, the ship only missed the last few weeks, but it was as embarrassing as hell to the RCN and the Canadian government.

Carl Vincent

 

[Scooby]

Nice build.

 

Another interesting bit of history in regards to the Alaska P-40s is the aircraft were shared between the RCAF and US. An RCAF pilot was flying and American P-40 when he was awarded a shoot down of a Japanese aircraft.

 

An on a personal note, my mom was from Ayrshire, where 440 was formed. 440 was one of six squadrons I served in.

Edited June 27, 2020 by Scooby

[Scott Hemsley]

^{At the risk of endorsing my own RFI as a history lesson … the old IPMS/Canada decal sheet for 111 Squadron - the one that I used for this Kittyhawk - also covers the P-40K  (111 Sqn. were also flying a number of 'borrowed' P-40K's) that Scooby alludes to … and I will be doing that aircraft at some point!  Also of note … that 1 'kill' was the only 'kill' attributed to an RCAF pilot during the Aleutian campaign.}

 

^Scott

Edited June 27, 2020 by Scott Hemsley

[dogsbody]

15 hours ago, Scott Hemsley said:

True enough Chris, but TheyJammedKenny was asking specifically about Canada's involvement with the Pacific.  While the BCATP took care of the lion's share of the training of Allied aircrew, later in the war years, 5 OTU trained bomber crews destined for the Pacific with things like dis-similar air combat using aircraft like P-40's, withdrawn from squadron service, against the likes of B-24J and B-25D's.

 

Scott

 

Right! I forgot about that. My bad!

 

I blame my old age and my old brain that got quite abused in my 20's.

 

 

 

Chris

[Carl V]

1.            Scott is correct in any animadversions he chooses to direct at the IPMS Canada decals covering RCAF fighters in Alaska and the Aleutians. They are, I believe, based on articles and drawings that I did for RT a half century ago. As Marx so succinctly put it “Time wounds all heels” (I refer, of course, to Groucho, not Karl) and this is certainly true here. My research skills at the time were less developed, particularly as far as photo interpretation was concerned, and my artistic skills were then, as now, negligible. I would advise anybody wishing to model or depict these aircraft to rely on photos or, if desperate, get in touch with me and I will do what I can. I do have a very large number of photos devoted to the subject.

2.            Many modellers/artists/historians find the whole subject of the P-40K’s flown by the RCAF in Alaska confusing. Below is a brief summary:

                I.             Only two Kittyhawks from 111 (F) actually made it as far as the Aleutians in 1942. This was due to major attrition on the way there, particularly one ghastly incident in which five were lost simultaneously. As the Kittyhawk I’s at that time were incapable of carrying belly tanks it was decided to use the squadron pilots but not the aircraft in operations from Umnak. After a period flying USAAF P-40E’s, nine P-40K’s were purchased from the USAAF. At this time, the remainder of the squadron stayed at Anchorage flying the remaining Kittyhawk I’s.

                II.            During the strike on Kiska in September 1942 in which S/L Boomer scored his victory, he was flying an RCAF P-40K in RCAF colours and on RCAF strength.          

                III.           In October 1942 111 (F) was transferred to Kodiak along with its Kittyhawks and P-40K’s.

                IV.          In February 1943 14 (F) arrived in the Aleutians with its Kittyhawks, now equipped to carry belly tanks.

                V.            I’m using up space!! To condense, from April through August 1943, the pilots of 14 (F) and 111 (F) alternately flew from the advanced to base on Amchitka as part of a joint USAAF/RCAF fighter pool. As the Americans were running short of P-40K’s the RCAF agreed to re-transfer their P-40K’s. Ironically, the Canadian government, late as always, had just allotted the money to pay for them but the Americans simply cancelled the invoice so no harm was done.

                VI.          The majority of the Kiska strikes flown by the RCAF men during this period were in USAAF aircraft bearing American markings.

                VII.         For some bizarre reason, RCAF HQ back home was worried that the Japanese would take reprisals on Canadians flying American-marked aircraft so, for the last session of strikes by 14 (F), they flew US P-40K’s with RCAF roundels superimposed on the stars in the US stars and bars insignia.

Carl Vincent