15.05.2009, 16:31
Great skin. I really like the Korean era and it's great to see some recognition of a forgotten aircraft from the Korean Conflict.
My grandfather served as aircrew in an Avenger squadron during Korea with VS-23. Their primary task was the detection and destruction of hostile submarines, Korean, Chinese and even Russian if the need had arose. Given the extremely limited Korean and Chinese Navies at the time they never killed any subs although they tracked a number of Russian subs to keep them away from American fleets operating in the Yellow Sea.
They were also called upon in the early stages of the War to launch ground strikes with HVAR's and bombs. He mentioned a few strikes where they were the nearest asset and were called upon to launch their ASW rockets at ground targets. It was very hit or miss for the UN gorund forces during the early part of the war and apparently desperate times called for desperate measures.
As a side note, early Korean Avengers still carried their aft turret, these were TBM-3E's. The TBM-3S had the turret removed and the extended canopy added for an additional radar/sonar bouy operator. It also was fairly common to have a mixed squadron of both types while transitioning to the S model (my grandad has a squadron pic with both versions in the formation). The R model was the COD version.
Anyway, great skin.
Stretch
I forgot to ask, where did you get the template? I'd like to do my grandfather's squadron at some point but haven't found a good template. Thx.
My grandfather served as aircrew in an Avenger squadron during Korea with VS-23. Their primary task was the detection and destruction of hostile submarines, Korean, Chinese and even Russian if the need had arose. Given the extremely limited Korean and Chinese Navies at the time they never killed any subs although they tracked a number of Russian subs to keep them away from American fleets operating in the Yellow Sea.
They were also called upon in the early stages of the War to launch ground strikes with HVAR's and bombs. He mentioned a few strikes where they were the nearest asset and were called upon to launch their ASW rockets at ground targets. It was very hit or miss for the UN gorund forces during the early part of the war and apparently desperate times called for desperate measures.
As a side note, early Korean Avengers still carried their aft turret, these were TBM-3E's. The TBM-3S had the turret removed and the extended canopy added for an additional radar/sonar bouy operator. It also was fairly common to have a mixed squadron of both types while transitioning to the S model (my grandad has a squadron pic with both versions in the formation). The R model was the COD version.
Anyway, great skin.
Stretch
I forgot to ask, where did you get the template? I'd like to do my grandfather's squadron at some point but haven't found a good template. Thx.