hi all… Ive been looking forward to building a timeline of aircraft in a certain squadron and the skull and cross bones of the jolly rogers made my mouth water. Now all im asking is if anybody can help me locate a few models and a few pics of certain aircraft. heres the list of air craft: F4U-1 Corsair F6F Hellcat F8F Bear Cat F9F Cougar FJ-3 Fury F-8 Crusader F-4J Phantom II F-14A Tomcat F-14B Tomcat F/A-18F Super Hornet now im looking for pictures of the bearcat, cougar, fury and crusader. and i am looking for models of the cougar, and the fury any help would be greatly appreciated
You’re sorta in luck. There is a kit of the Fury in 1/48 but I can’t remember whose it is (MPM?, its advertised in FSM, which is at home and I’m at work). There is no kit of the Cougar in 1/48. IIRC Hasegawa had one in 1/72 but that was years ago and I may be mistaken. To find pics of VF-17/VF-84 do a google or yahoo search by using the squadron numbers.
Actually there was an old Revell kit of the Cougar, Kit # 4030 of a late model one. It dates back to the 60’s and isn’t a very detailed kit. I guess since the Panthers didn’t make a “ton” of money they won’t make the Cougar. Hobby Craft had one listed for years as a new release, ha, ha! Matchbox made the Fury, another kit needing a lot of work.
ESCI made a 1/48 Fury way back when. Can’t remember if it was a -3 or -4 though. Seems like it had good molded in detail in the wheel wells, can’t remember what the cockpit was like.
i just did a semi conversion of a Hasegawa 1/48 RF-86F to an FJ-3,it was the closest i could find and wan’t much different
Grand Pheonix makes a -4 and Classic Airframes makes a -1 fury.
As for 1/48 cougar, the really old 1/50th (?) revell cougar. If you are really lucky
you can an even older Auroa cougar.
Try this site for pics- http://www.almansur.com/jollyrogers/
Fujimi did their Tomcat in the colours of that squadron - Pacific Fleet Squadrons or similar?
You left off their F3H-2 Demons and also the F-8 version they operated was the F-8C, which means you need to modify the -8E kits that are out there. HTH Gary
So you want to know about Billy Bones do ye? See my avatar. The 31 Aero has its genesis in 1917 - 1918. "…The emblem of the 31st Aero Squadron on their Nieuport 24-27 cadre aircraft, though not a very striking beauty (The Skull and Cross Bones) is noted not for its appearance but for the Squadron it represents. Efficiency means duty to every man in the Squadron. (Ed. note - Demobilized officially on 14 April 1919, the 31st Aero Squadron was re-formed and re-designated the 31st Bombardment Squadron on 24 March 1923. The 31st was activated on 1 April 1931 assigned to the 7th Bombardment Group. on 30 June 1931. Its insignia was still the “Billy Bones” but its background had been changed to a black inverted triangle. The term “Billy Bones” applied to the 1918 insignia is from a character in the Scottish author Robert Louis Stephenson’s Treasure Island was similar to the term “Billy Yank”. It was thought then that “Jolly Roger” was more a British term…"
http://www.wwi-n-plastic.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=138
To my knowledge, at LEAST three different US Navy Fighter Squdrons have used that emblem as part of their Squadron markings. Starting of with VF-17 in their F4U’s. At some point VF-84 inherited the colors/markings and flew F-4’s and F-14’s with those emblems. In the 90’s VF-84 was inactivated and VF-103 became the new keepers of the Jolly Rogers markings first in Tomcats and currently the F-18. It should be interesting to see this whole collection you plan!
Here’s a bit on Jolly Rogers squadron lineage. Maybe this will help clear some confusion. (My apology in advance for being long winded, this is my favorite Navy squadron). First though, an explanation of how the Navy (at least used too) preserves squadron history and lineage. Unlike the RAF which makes every effort to keep lineages intact, the USN, until recently, didn’t. When a USN squadron was deemed “surplus” they were DISESTABLISHED, unlike a USMC one which is deactivated. If in time a new unit was ESTABLISHED with the same number, they may have used the older units nickname but are considered to be a different unit without the history of their predecessor. Which brings us to the Jolly Rogers. Established as VF-17 in January 1943, CO Tommy Blackburn adopted the Jolly Roger as the units squadron emblem and had it painted on all their Corsairs. VF-17’s WW2 record speaks for itself After their tour, IIRC, while VF-17 was stateside training for the invasion of Japan, former members used the Jolly Roger emblem in another unrelated squadron, they weren’t our Jolly Roger unit however. Our VF-17 was redesignated VF-5B (11/46) then VF-61 (7/48) and finally disestablished in April 1959. This officially ends the lineage of wartime VF-17. Which brings us to VF-84 (Established 7/55) and called the Vagabonds. When VF-61 disestablished VF-84 took on the Jolly Roger name and colors (but not the Official lineage and history) and this happened again when VF-84 disestablished in 1995 and VF-103 took on the name, because the Skull and Crossbones is way to cool to discard. Thanks for your time. Gary
hey thanks guys for all the help when i get this collection up and going ill definately post pictures… thanks for all the lineage history and especially the links because i could find any pics of the jolly rogers in the fury, crusader, or the demon…again thank you everybody and keep the info coming
you know this would also make a pretty cool gb. just some thoughts in my head
I had similar thoughts myself. It would be one heck of a collection wouldn’t it! What a GB too. Imagine a table at the nats of a/c decked up in skulls and cross bones! Too cool! If it is decided to be a GB, I’m in!
Drew
well then lets take a vote on it…i personally want to do the entire collection for myself…but i think that if a gb happens id do the vf-103 jolly rogers merry christmas edition or their full colors…
if this does go to a gb then the list will be open to all the listed aircraft above with the addition of the f3h demon…and the scale will be unlimited…if this gets enough votes then ill transfer it over to the gb forum
Count me in. Since the “Billy Bones”, “Jolly Roger”, “deaths-head” insignia can be found on multinational birds are we talking a GB of just American, or all nations? Unit marking only or inclusive to personal markings? The history of the Deaths-head goes back many years and you will find British RE 8, BE2 types, German Fokker and Albatros D types even Italian Nieuports carried the insignia in various forms. Here is a bit of fun from my website.
tell ya what if we get enough people to sign on to this gb idea then maybe ill up it from just the USN’s squadrons to international. I dont really think that personal insignia would count just squadron. anybody else have any ideas