The 1/200 Merit Hornet I just got has them as F4F-4’s as well.
Rick
The 1/350 Trump kit has them listed as -3s on the outside box, but the small box inside labels, and contains -4s.
I would be interested to know what really was the situation. Trump obviously had no clear idea.
Easy - they were F4F-4s. the -3 did not have wing folds and the Wildcats on Hornet clearly did. Look for wing fold panel lines on the kit’s Wildcats.
Thanks for the pic. Where can I find it and do you know when it was taken I.e. what was being done?
The kit Kats have folding wings so good to go as shown
I don’t know the exact date, but the photo is from Hornet’s Navsource page.
Thank you Tracy. The caption to the photo Tracy provided;
“Most of Hornet’s Air Group (made up of 30 F4F-4 Wildcats from VF-8, 12 SBD-3 Dauntlesses from VB-8, 12 SBD-3’s from VS-8, and 10 TBD-1 Devastators from VT-8) was carried down in the hangar, but five Wildcats were kept up on deck in case they were needed in an emergency.”
Well :
Are you going to tell us what the problems are with the Trumpeter model (That;s the one I was gifted) .
Well you can not get any more definitive evidence as to time and place and types of aircraft carried than this photo.
The hull looks stupid. I am in the process of making a new one from the hangar deck down.
Now this brings up an intersting point- it appears that Hornet was the first carrier to take the F4F-4 to sea and combat. Yorktown and Lexington had -3s at Coral Sea. I am curious now as to when VF-6 aboard Enterprise recieved -4s. Also Hornet and VT-8 just missed being the first carrier to take the TBF to sea and introduce them to combat from aboard ship at Midway. I find it interesting how the newest and least experienced Carrier Air Group got those two aircraft types first.
Logistics, probably? Hornet had just completed her shakedown, when we were attacked, while the other carriers were all on forward deployment (except Saratoga, I think, which was in Bremerton?) When the TBFs were available, it was probably fastest to fit out the VT-8 detachment with the new planes. They just missed the ship as she departed for Midway. It’s interesting to think how they might have fared, had Waldron had the time to put the most experienced crews in them and applied his training.
Of course, I could be talking out my Arsch, speculating like this.
I don’t think you’re totally talking from the rear - the Navy had weekly reports for the locations and numbers of aircraft for most of the war (first one I’ve seen started in February of 1942). The April 7 1942 report lists VT-8 as only having four TBF-1 with a note “in progress of re-equipping.” The week after that they are listed with 9 TBD-1 with the note “14 TBF-1 at Norfolk fly west coast when ready” below. That doesn’t change until the May 14 report that states “17 TBF-1 Enroute West Coast” and then “21 TBF-1 arrived Alameda,” the week after. The June 4 report has those aircraft at NAS Pearl Harbor (Ford Island) and 13 TBD-1s aboard the ship - the next report lists no TBDs and 31 TBF-1s at Pearl Harbor. It was rather sobering and gloomy when I first went through those reports…
So it would appear to me that someone up the chain was expecting those aircraft on that carrier before the time of the battle.
Looking at Hornet, she spent until late march 1942 in US waters or in transit from the Atlantic to the Pacific, so, yes it would have been easier to get the newest aircraft aboard her first from a logistical standpoint. But even if the TBFs had reached Hornet, even with those in VT-8, had all other things remained the same, the unescorted TBFs would likely have been annihilated by Kido Butai’s Zeros just the same, just as the Midway Detachment was.
Tracy, I can imagine that looking at those status reports would be sobering. Attrition rates in WWII were frightening indeed. Then one adds in meat grinder battles such as Coral Sea, Midway, Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz, and the Guadalcanal Campaign as a whole for that time period.