M48 A2/A3 Patton

Hobart's funnies of the 1944 D-Day landings were my last tank builds and had it not been for me discovering the delights of the Operation Silver Bayonet multi kit it would not have been a tank I'd be sharing with you now but my next helicopter build .. as it is, this will now have to wait.

Italeri 1/72 scale M48 A2/A3 Patton

The tank which the US sent to fight the sandal wearing, bicycle pedalling North Vietnamese was the M48 A2/A3 Patton and Italeri included this in their multi kit. The initial M48s first landed with the US Marine 1st and 3rd Tank Battalions in 1965 and although 600 were eventually sent to Vietnam, there were few actual tank versus tank battles. Most M48s were either used for static gun support to infantry or simply as a deterrent. 

The M48 Patton was an American first generation 'main battle tank' introduced in February 1952 to replace the M26 Pershing, M4 Sherman and M46 Pattons which had been used in the Korean War. While its role in Vietnam may have been underwhelming, the M48 did see heavy action in the Indo-Pakistani Wars against India's Soviet supplied T55s, and during the Six-Day War of 1967 in the hands of the Israelis against Egypt's Soviet supplied T-54s/T-55s, T-34/85s. It was also the tank which faced off against Soviet T-55 tanks across Checkpoint Charlie in the The Berlin Crisis of 4 June to 9 November 1961. This crisis was brought about followed the USSR's ultimatum to the West, to the withdraw all armed forces from West Berlin which concluded with the the Soviet / East German construction of the Berlin Wall.

U.S. M48 tanks face Soviet T-55 tanks at Checkpoint Charlie, October 1961.

My experience in constructing the M48 scale model was probably one of my worst in recent history. I removed 10 wheels from their sprue by cutting off the lugs which attached them to the body and so had to individually glue them all back on. See the picture below of the actual tank running gear. It was these 'lugs' visible to the left of the wheels which Italeri had decided to use rather than traditional axle fixings! Then when attaching the railings around the turret, I managed to let glue flow into rotating mechanism such that it seized in the forward facing position ... fortunately a tank on sentry duty does not have to move! (see later comment). On a positive note, because the full sized turret and hull were made of huge castings rather than welded pieces - making the it immensely strong - it was harder to craft into a smooth shape, something which Italeri replicate in their scale model very well and a factoid which changed my opinion of Italeri turning out a poor quality lumpy build to a 'thumbs up' to Italeri for creating a realistic scale model! Despite all the issues, the end result is OK when viewed from a distance!

How the running gear look on the real thing

Meanwhile, I was lucky enough this week to drop in at the Bovington Tank Museum to get a close up view of their M48. This, as pictured below, is an early model - labelled as the T48, its project name before receiving its production 'M' nomenclature -  that was sent to Britain for testing and examination.

Bovingtin Tank Museum's T48 / M48

The only reference to tanks being used in the 1965 Battle of Ia Drang and thus Operation Silver Bayonet, is when a South Vietnamese relief force, which included tanks and armoured cars, was not only delayed gathering troops but was also halted almost immediately at a bridge destroyed by local Viet Cong!  I did not feel justified, therefore, even with the generous use of poetic license I've already used, to include the M48 in my diorama of the attack on the North Vietnamese supply base in the Drang Valley, instead I placed it on sentry duty, guarding the helicopter airbase of Camp Holloway, reminding me somewhat of that Chieftain tank that sits outside the MOD Defence Storage and Distribution Agency (DSDA) off the A46 in Ashchurch.

M48 provides support and cover to soldiers repelling the NVA attackers

So, in my Vietnam War diorama, picture the scene: North Vietnamese & Viet Cong soldiers launch a morning raid on 7th February, 1965, at Camp Holloway airbase 3km east of Pleiku in the Central Highlands, causing over 100 US casualties and destroying 18 helicopters. The blazing wrecks of the Hueys illuminate the dawn sky and the heat and the acrid smoke from the fires fill the air across the base. The M48 on sentry duty, using its .5 caliber machine-gun and 90mm main gun, provides support and cover for the soldiers engaging the communist attackers. It is following this attack that U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson is so instanced that he orders the bombing of North Vietnam, plunging the county into a bitter war of attrition which will last the next 10 years.

More shots from Camp Holloway

There were actually just 3 true tank versus tank battles of note, where US or later, South Vietnamese, M48s took on Soviet built T-34, T-55 and PT-76 tanks of the NVA. The first was really a minor skirmish when US tanks fought off an NVA attack on Ben Het Camp, similar but more successfully dealt with than the Camp Holloway incident, in March 1969, destroying 2 PT-76 amphibious light tanks. The second, in February 1971, involved 62 South Vietnamese tanks in the disastrous Operation Lam Son 719 which catastrophically failed in its attempt to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail along which the NVA brought resources south and across the border from Laos. The final engagement, in more ways than one, was during the 1975 Spring Offensive. With the US forces having all but pulled out of Vietnam by 1973, having agreed a 'convenient' cessation of hostilities with the North, this was effectively a final fight to the end between the North & South. The NVA drove the South Vietnamese, now lacking both US air and financial support, out of the Central Highlands, where the fighting began 10 years ago, and into the final battle in which with only 89 tanks the NVA captured Saigon and its defending 550 tanks!

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The model

Brand: Italeri
Title: M48 A2/A3 Patton
Number: 7015
Scale: 1:72
Type: Full kit
Released: 2003 | Rebox (Updated/New parts)

Bell UH-1 Iroquois 'Huey'

It was my recent deviation from winged aircraft to helicopter scale models which lead me to one of the most iconic of them all, the Huey. I had already acquired one Huey model to construct before the idea even formed in my head to invest in Italeri's Operation Silver Bayonet 1965 kit which came with a second helicopter. Little then did I know how different they would be to build or the history behind them. 

 My Hueys participating in Operation Silver Bayonet 1965

The Huey first saw combat with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Originally designated the HU-1 it become known by the nickname 'Huey'. Even though in 1962 it was re-designated the UH-1, the name stuck and even Bell came to adopt it by casting 'Huey' into the metal of their rudder pedals!  

Approximately 7,000 Hueys saw service in Vietnam where it was used for a variety of purposes for which they bore different names based on the role they assumed. Gunships became known as 'Frogs' or 'Hogs' if they carried rockets and Hueys that only carried guns became known as 'Cobras' or 'Guns'. Troop transport Hueys came to be known as 'Slicks' due to their lack of weapons pods.

Huey duo - UH-1D Hornet and UH-1C Easy Rider

My two Hueys are the UH-1C and UH-1D variants. On the sprue they looked very different, so much so that I found it hard to believe they were from the same scale model producer, for quality let alone being the same scale! See what you think from the two fuselage sections laid side by side in the photo. The UH-1D is on top still attached and the UH-1C below.

Being Italeri models, nether helicopter was provided with any crew, so I sourced a set of PJ Production 1/72 resin figures, hoping that I could share the 4 crew members between the 2 models.

PJ Production 721129 1/72 US Helicopter Crew
(Vietnam war) Resin Figures

The UH-1C variant, which came with the Operation Silver Bayonet kit, was specifically developed as a gunship version with an uprated engine on the earlier UH-1B to provide the increased power required to carry additional ordinance in the form of guns and rockets. While development on the UH-1C, 'Charlie', version commenced in 1960, it did not go into production until June 1966 and thus its inclusion in this 1965 kit seems to be somewhat of an error on Italeri's part. Indeed, even the markings provided for the model are that of the 174th Assault Helicopter Company which didn't arrive in Vietnam until 1966!

Bell UH-1C Huey, US Army, Easy Rider | VN 1965

As this was going to be the gunship of my Huey duo, while I had a door gunner going spare, Italeri had provided neither model with a door mounted gun, so I had to improvise. Repurposing one of 6 ski mounted guns from my earlier MASH inspired Bell H-1 helicopter build, I fashioned a bracket to the rocket launcher and attached the .50 caliber machine gun. I would not like to have been the gunner when the rockets fired but just as this gunship would not have even been around in 1965, I'm not going to overthink it; but one thing's for sure, you can't have a picture of Hueys over Vietnam without at least one of them having a door gunner!

Bell UH-1C Huey door gunner with gun repurposed from a Bell H-1 

In the Hollywood version of the Vietnam War, the gunship is synonymous with Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now, when, to the sound of Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries', the 1st Squadron of the 9th Cavalry Regiment attack a VC village at the mouth of the Mekong. 

Huey gunship of 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment as in the film Apocalypse Now

The second model, the UH-1D, was to be my troop carrier so that, as you may recall from my Westland Whirlwind post, I could finally create that diorama with soldiers deplaning into action. While earlier Hueys may have made good gunships, they lacked the cabin space that the US Army wanted so as to carry both a crew of four (two pilots and two door gunners) and also deliver an infantry section of eight to ten soldiers. Bell's solution was to stretch the UH-1B fuselage by 105 cm and use the extra space to fit two sideways-facing seats on either side of the transmission. This brought the total seating capacity to 15, including crew seats. In the picture below, the UH-1D is on the left, the UH-1C (the same size as the UH-1B is on the right) ... and yes, I should have left the roof off the D, 'Delta', version for this visual comparison! 

Extra seating capacity of the UH-1D compared to the UH-1C and earlier UH-1B

In addition to adding more space, the Delta had in place of the earlier variant's sliding side doors and single window, a set of larger doors with two windows, plus a small hinged panel with a window providing access to the cabin. A longer tail section was also designed to accommodate the longer rotor blades required to lift the larger unit. All these changes between versions now explain why my two models were so vastly different when placed side by side during the build.

US Special Forces deplaning into action from a UH-1D Huey

Interestingly, one anomaly in Italeri's scale model build of the Delta is that they have included a small rocket delivery system and set of guns beneath the crew doors which, maybe mistakingly, I affixed as instructed, somewhat thus deviating from both the US Army's and my intention for this Huey to perform a troop carrying role! But then again, I have read of units locally pimping their Hueys with additional armaments, so maybe this Huey is being flown by a gung-ho pilot who after dropping off his stick of Grunts, wants nothing more that to go shoot off some rockets!

Again, in the Hollywood version of the Vietnam War, the first ever troop deployment from Hueys is portrayed in Randall Wallace's film We Were Soldiers which was actually set in the period of my Operation Silver Bayonet diorama. If you look carefully you will see the Huey's are even of the UH-1D design.

Landing scene from the film We Were Soldiers

Development of the UH-1D began in 1960, with Army units receiving deliveries for use in Vietnam by 1965. Therefore, unlike the UH-1C, the UH-1D would have been involved in Operation Silver Bayonet; albeit my model is painted in the colours of US Army Wasp [also Hornet] Platoon, 116th Assault Helicopter Company from 1971. Although the116th did actually arrive in Vietnam in 1965, they were based near Saigon and not Pleiku around which Operation Silver Bayonet was centred. However, it does just add beautifully to the poetic licence of my Vietnam War Diorama, which, as I will continue to share in my upcoming posts, includes all the right views but not necessarily in the right order!

No Frogs, Hogs, Cobras, Guns, Slicks, VC or Grunts were harmed in the making of these models ;) 

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The model(s)

Brand: Italeri
Title: Operation Silver Bayonet Vietnam War 1965

Number: 6184
Scale: 1:72
Released: 2018 | Rebox (Model set)

Brand: Italeri

Title: UH-1C Gunship
Number: 050
Scale: 1:72

Released: 2007 | Rebox (Changed box only)

Brand: Italeri

Title: Bell UH-1D Iroquois

Number: 1247

Scale: 1:72

Released: 2010 | Rebox (Changed box only)

Operation Silver Bayonet - Vietnam War 1965

I think 'boys' of a certain generation have a morbid fascination with the Vietnam War. Fought during a period of major political, social and economic change, by a superpower with seemingly unlimited military hardware, against a fanatical foe dressed in black pyjamas and sandals, over a distant exotic land of jungle, swamp and palm trees, which when coupled with free love and a great musical soundtrack provides the perfect intoxicating mix for a great action film ... and this is where such 'boys of a certain generation' have probably formed this morbid fascination with the Vietnam War!

From this introduction, you'll gather that the Vietnam War is the focus of my latest lockdown scale modelling project. The year is 1965 and the US launch Operation Silver Bayonet. This was a defining moment; it was the first major engagement of US ground forces in a 10 year conflict the Vietnamese would call Kháng chiến chống Mỹ, 'the Resistance War Against America'.  Operation Silver Bayonet was fought during what was to be known as the Battle of Ia Drang during November 1965; the objective being to destroy North Vietnamese positions in the Pleku Province in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

Scale model company Italeri have, in recent years, produced a number of themed multi kits with all the parts required to recreate one's own historical battle scene. It was a 'no brainer', therefore, that I should lay my hands on their Operation Silver Bayonet kit for this Vietnam War phase of my scale modelling project! 

This Italeri 'Operation Silver Bayonet' multi kit included:

• 2 MDF Village houses
• 100 Viet Cong and US Special Forces figures
• Bell UH-1C Huey helicopter 
• M113 Armoured Personel Carrier
• M48 Patton Tank
• 3 Battlefield buildings

While the most famous event of the Battle of Ia Drang, as depicted in the 2002 movie We Were Soldiers, is the one fought over a helicopter landing zone overrun by the North Vietnamese, I at least needed a location with a village backdrop so as to make full use of Italeri's excellent wooden buildings. My build, therefore, was to depict one of Operation Silver Bayonet's other engagements where US Special Forces,  delivered by air and over land by APC, launch an attack with helicopter gunship support, on one of the heavily defended North Vietnamese supply bases in the Drang Valley. 

US attack a heavily defended North Vietnamese supply base in the Drang Valley

Battle of Ia Drang 1965 - US Department of Defense

This still left me with a few unused bits; namely a checkpoint, watch tower, a storage building and an M48 Patton tank! With these, I recreated the location of another key event of the war, the airbase of Camp Holloway, home of the UH-1 helicopters of the 119th Assault Helicopter Company, located just 3km east of Pleiku also in the Central Highlands. Here, on 7th February, 9 months before Operation Bayonet, the Viet Cong launched an early morning attack killing 8, wounding 108 and destroying 18 helicopters, prompting U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson to begin bombing North Vietnam!

Viet Cong attack. on Camp Holloway

Camp Holloway 1965

In the next few posts, I'll deep dive into each of these models, displaying the finer details of the models which can only be seen in close up shots, explaining how they were constructed and of course sharing those additional factoids and backstories which will hopefully bring them to life!

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The model(s)

Brand: Italeri
Title: Operation Silver Bayonet Vietnam War 1965

Number: 6184
Scale: 1:72
Type: Multi-kit
Released: 2018 | Rebox (Model set)

North American F-86F Sabre v MiG 15

Today’s build dusted off from my modelling back catalog includes not one but two iconic aircraft from the Korean War: the North American F-86F Sabre and MiG 15. Both models came boxed for the Airfix Club's 2011 limited edition release. A Korean War combo not to be missed and the perfect end to this phase of my lockdown build project! 

The MiG-15 has had numerous name checks over the past few weeks as I've worked my way through the British and American aircraft of the period. It was such a phenomenal and surprising adversary to appear in the North Korean sky that, in the early days, the United Nations had nothing to counter it. Interestingly, at the start of the war, the North Korean Air Force was only equipped with vintage World War II Soviet prop-driven fighters. It was only after China entered the conflict, feeling threatened by the growing risk of having an American supported aggressor on its border, which turned the tide through the introduction of MiGs. The MiG-15 quickly gained air superiority forcing the United Nations to cease daylight flights and in particular the bombing which was having such a devastating effect on the North's ability to continue the war. Interestingly, although not admitted until 40 years later, these MiG pilots were neither Chinese nor Koreans but Russians!  

MiG-15 .. the Airfix and Museum versions 

Fortunately, the US Air Force had just brought into service the only fighter in the world that could come close to matching up to the MiG in even battle. During its development, the design of the North American F-86 Sabre had been switched from a straight-wing to swept wing, which added 70 mph to its top speed. Followers may have noticed a theme surrounding straight v swept wings and the latter was the way to go! In 1950, it entered service in the United States as an air defence interceptor but as the MiG made its presence all too well known in Korea, a wing of F-86 Sabres was rushed overseas to participate in its first combat missions against the Mig-15 in December.

The MiG-15 and the F-86 Sabre were well matched. The MiG, smaller and lighter, had less range, but it was faster and climbed better but was less stable at high speeds. In the area of firepower, neither could be said to be optimally armed. The Sabre had six 50 mm caliber machine guns each with a rate of fire of 1,200 rounds per minute, but were too light to take down a MiG unless the engagement was close-in. The MiG had three cannons, two 23 mm and one 37 mm, but they fired too slowly for good accuracy against the fast-moving Sabre. However, if a MiG managed to score a hit, its high explosive canon shells could rip up to a square meter hole in a Sabre meaning few would fly again even if their pilots managed to get their stricken Sabre back to base, meanwhile,  the MiG-15s with their thicker skin could take far more punishment. I feel the need for a game of Top Trumps!

North American F-86F Sabre

Both aircraft went through a number of upgrades during the war with the Sabre finally switching to canon just as the armistice was signed in 1953. The MiG-15 was probably one of the most widely produced jet fighters of any nation. In excess of 13,000 were manufactured and licensed foreign production may have raised the production total to almost 18,000. While, between 1949 and 1956, even with its extended production run, 7,800 Sabres saw service with a further 1,815 airframes having been provided for the Canadair Sabre, the subject of one of my first Lockdown builds.

Next week, Nam .. I love the smell of polystyrene cement in the morning!

Brand: Airfix 
Title: Airfix Club Ltd Edition North American F-86F Sabre | MiG 15
Number: A82011
Scale: 1:72
Type: Multi-kit
Released: 2011 | Rebox (Updated/New parts)

Grumman F9F Panther

I came across this, my third scale model of a Korean War fighter aircraft, while watching the film The Bridges at Toko-Ri. If you like your military aircraft films, then I recommend you add this one to your watch list. This is a film about US Navy pilots staring: William Holden, Grace Kelly, Mickey Rooney and co-starting the Grumman F9F Panther! Released in December 1954, a year after the war ended, Director, Mark Robson, was fortunate to have unique access to the actual aircraft and pilots who would have seen similar action to that acted out by the film stars. The most impressive part of this film to me, was that most of the flying and aircraft carrier scenes are for real and provides in itself a real insight to life on the flight deck! 

So, by now you will have guessed that the model selected from my back catalogue this week is the Grumman F9F Panther; not only one of the US Navy's early carrier-based jet fighters, but actually Grumman’s very first operational jet fighter. As with Britain's own Gloucester Meteor, the straight winged Panther was no match for the Russian-built MiG-15 but, as portrayed in film, and just like our Meteor, it was quite at home in its ground attack role. To the credit of Lieutenant Commander Tom Amen's flying abilities, in November 1950, just 4 months after arriving in Korea, he claimed the US Navy's first jet-on-jet kill when his squadron was jumped by MiG-15s!

Hasegawa Grumman F9F-2 Panther

It was a revelation, for this life long aircraft enthusiast, to discover a new aircraft after all these years, especially as I was to learn, it was the most heavily used jet fighter of the US Navy and Marines during the Korean conflict. Naturally, I had to then seek out the scale model to build, an experience I remember fondly as it was my first attempt at using masking tape and the application of gloss varnish to complete the finish. I am also sure that it was the catalyst for my first foray in to the Korean War and the aircraft flown.

Here are a few interesting factoids about this aircraft: following on from an earlier scale modelling theme, a number were were field-modified by the Navy to perform a photo-reconnaissance role, indeed in the film I opened with, such modifications were used to photograph the target. Modifications were made by adding a selection of vertical and oblique cameras in place of the nose mounted cannon. In the year before seeing active service it also became the first jet aircraft to be flown by the US Navy's "Blue Angels" air display team! I can't believe it took a chance viewing of an old film for me to discover this gem of an aircraft!

US Navy's "Blue Angels"

It's end came, just as we saw with the Gloucester Meteor, with the need to move to swept wings to keep up, literally, with the Russian MIGs. Its successor was effectively just an updated, swept wing variant of the Panther F9F. Grumman however, felt the changes were sufficient for it to be given a new name, and the Cougar F9F was born. 

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The Model 

Brand: Hasegawa
Title: Grumman F9F-2 Panther U.S.Navy fighter
Number: D011 (Also listed as D11)
Scale: 1:72
Released: 98x | Rebox (Unknown what changed)

Hawker Sea Fury

Last week you may recall me noting that while the RAF took no aircraft to Korea, the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm turned up in force. Supermarine Seafires, Hawker Sea Furies and Fairey Fireflies from Royal Navy aircraft carriers provided the only British air combat contribution to the Korean War. So, in my back catalogue of 1:76 scale models, I'm pleased to have my 2008/09 construction of what I think was a PM Model's Hawker Sea Fury FB.11. I say "I think" because it is the only scale model company I can find having released a Sea Fury in the markings I have on my model, and this was before I started improvising!

So, not unsurprisingly, I don't remember much of the build itself, although it looks very simple, of few detailed pieces and, observing the empty canopy, I have a vague memory of it lacking a pilot figure as well, so I had to go for that parked up unattended look! Overall my feeling is that it was a disappointing build of a kit from a lesser known producer, making me even more convinced it's PM Models work. In the end, it was probably just an important addition to my Korean War model collection, one of the British few.

My Hawker Sea Fury awaits its pilot for takeoff!

Following the outbreak of the Korean War on 25th June 1950, Sea Furies were dispatched to the region as part of the British Commonwealth Forces Korea, Britain’s contribution to the United Nations multinational task force, to assist South Korea following an invasion by North Korea. Sea Furies were flown throughout the 3 year conflict, primarily as ground-attack aircraft, from the Royal Navy's light fleet carriers: HMS Glory, HMS Theseus, HMS Ocean, and the Australian carrier HMAS Sydney. 

After a Fleet Air Arm Seafire was shot down by a United States Air Force Boeing B-29 Superfortress on 28th July 1950, all Commonwealth aircraft were painted with black and white Invasion stripes as first used 6 years earlier during and post the D-Day landings of 1944. I wonder if I balked at the time of painting these stripes on my model, a task I later relished when building my lockdown D-Day inspired Hawker Typhoon.

Probably how my model should have looked

The role of British airpower in the Korean War was small but vital, and the Hawker Sea Fury established a unique record during the conflict. The Sea Fury was the last propeller driven fighter in service with the Royal Navy. It also has the distinction of being the fastest single piston engine aircraft on record with a maximum speed of 460mph, 50mph faster than even last week's jet fighter, the Gloster Meteor! Initially put into production in 1945, the Sea Fury saw service throughout the Korean War, proving itself as an effective carrier defence fighter when it set a unique record during the conflict. On August 8th, 1952, a Sea Fury piloted by Lt. Peter 'Hoagy' Carmichael of 802 NAS, launched from HMS Ocean, became one of the few propeller driven aircraft to shoot down a jet fighter, a MiG-15, in combat. 

How I wished I'd painted my model! 

Although the Sea Fury was retired by the majority of its military operators in the late 1950s in favour of jet-propelled aircraft, a considerable number of aircraft saw subsequent use in the civil sector. Several remain airworthy today as heritage aircraft, while a number were snapped up for air racing in the United States where they set world speed records. See the above picture.

Hawker Sea Fury taking off from HMS Ocean in Korea 1952

Finally, the above photo of a Hawker Sea Fury taking off from HMS Ocean Korea 1952 definitely lacks the Invasion stripes which were reportedly added in 1950, so either the date is wrong or maybe the stripes were dropped later in the war ... more research required! 

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.. and may be the model in the markings of the Royal Navy Historical Flight Yeovilton

Brand: PM Model

Title: Hawker Sea Fury

Number: PM-211

Scale: 1:72

Released: 199x