Jim MacDonald

Thanks for the welcome, Phil. I don't currently have any modeling to contribute. It seems like forever I've been in the planning and prep stages to kit bash and super detail a 1/16 Deagostini Zero. I've made an Excel spreadsheet Master Parts List and have been bagging and tagging all of the parts. I've also been working on learning Solidworks 3D drawing program to help with the designing and modification of the original Deagostini parts. Hopefully, I'll actually be able to start working on the model itself sometime early next year. Jim http://www.ww2nar-pac.com/

I'm a little late to the party, but here goes. Shangri-La was not involved in the strikes on Tokyo on 16-17 Feb 45. So it's not a VBF-85 Corsair according to the caption. The caption for the first photo has the plane lost on the 16th of Feb from the Essex. I have no Essex Corsair losses on the 16th or 17th. The Caption for the 2nd photo states "61" was a Bennington Corsair from VMF-123 piloted by Robert M. Cies. Twenty-four year old 2nd Lt. Robert Mervin Cies (026780) from Chillicothe MO, was flying BuNo 82344 on 16 Feb. He was last seen during a dogfight involving 5-6 Zekes over Hamamatsu Airfield, Honshu, Japan. Cies was not reported as a POW nor were his remains recovered. Another possibility if the caption is not correct is a Wasp Corsair of VMF-217 Corsair BuNo 57858 piloted by 217's CO Maj. Jack Ralph Amende, Jr. (06909). Amende from Seattle WA, was hit by AA after making a strafing run on Hamamatsu Airfield. The plane smoked and dropped off into a shallow gliding turn. The plane was not seen to crash and Amende was not seen to bail out. He was last seen approximately five miles south of the mouth of the Tenryu River which is near Hamamatsu A/F. Amende also was not reported as a POW and his remains were not recovered. The reason I believe that Amende's plane is a possibility is because it was seen in a "shallow gliding turn". The damage to the corsair in the photos appears to be fairly minor which would fit with a plane in a shallow glide. It's too bad that the photos don't show the tail of the plane so we could see which carrier the plane was from. Does anybody know which Japanese magazine the photos were from? Jim MacDonald http://www.ww2nar-pac.com/