I just saw The Flying Leathernecks. What kind of plane did they fly in the first half or so, and are any kits of it available? TIA
Lee
Do you mean the John Wayne movie ? If so, they were flying Grumman F6F Hellcats (although they were referred to as Wildcats by Wayne’s character’s son). Interestingly, the Japanese flew them also ! Only their’s were painted gray !
There are many kits of this plane available. The 1/48 Hasegawa kit is very nice, although some have cited a small inaccuracy in the cowl. That’s the only one I’ve built (outside of their old 1/32 kit YEARS ago), so someone else may be able to help you in a different kit or scale.
Hope this helps !
As usual Hollywood subs one plane for another. In the first half they “use” F6F Hellcats as a stand in F4F Wildcats (the Navy & Marine fighter during the time depicted). Then they switched to the F4U Corsair (obviously). When the movie was done Wildcats were very hard to come by and Hollywood had a budget. Hence the switch.