US Navy Spitfires

Spitfire LF Vb, 4Q, VCS-7, 6 June 1944



This is one of those impulse builds that resulted when I was searching the web for Spitfire info and came across a site that summarized the use of Spitfires by a US Navy squadron. I had to do it! I built this model back in 2009 as part of an anniversary build for D-Day.

The Subject

When the US battleships and cruisers got to the European theater for Operation Neptune (the actual landings part of Overlord) everyone quickly noticed the aircraft used for spotting were obsolete biplanes, SOC-3 Seagull floatplanes. These would be no match for any fighters the Luftwaffe would put up against them. So the squadrons traded in their biplanes (albeit temporarily) for Spitfires.



The Spitfires were older Vb aircraft, retrofitted with cropped superchargers and clipped wings as they were primarily used for low level work by this time of the war. Because of their age they were referred to as "clipped, cropped, and clapped out". The Naval Spotting Pool of Spitfires and Seafires was formed to provide spotting to the supporting battleships and cruisers during the landings. Both FAA and USN aircraft were used.

After about a month VCS-7 returned their Spitfires to the RAF; the land forces had moved far enough inland that sea bombardment no longer was effective. From what I can find on the internet (I know, not the best source of research!) there was only a couple of close encounters with the Luftwaffe, neither side actually shot down the other.

The Model

I decided to do this one as a quick build from an Airfix kit. I chose not to clip the wings as I found one photo that showed the wingtips in place, and at the time I wasn't keen on trying to clip wings. I also wanted to brush paint the entire model, instead of my typical air brushing. I did, however, airbrush the base color of Medium Sea Grey.

The paints are a mix of Humbrol and Testors enamels. Standard colors for Dark Green, Ocean Grey and Medium Sea Grey; any old black and white. I used a mask for the code letters so that they'd match the Sky band and spinner.

Decals were from the spares box. The serial number is not visible in the only photo of 4Q I've found, so I decided not to include it.

Summary

This was an easy build, and very enjoyable. It felt "old school" and the stripes are just rough enough to look quickly put on as they were on 5 June.

Thanks for looking...