Purplethistles Kiwi 'Cut and shut' **FINISHED**

[fredk]

What style and size of 3 0 7 do you need? I may have the right size & style in my spares.

[Purplethistle]

Very good of you to offer Skipper, it hardly seems worth your trouble as it's only the tail numbers, (I managed to get the a/c serials from spare complete Red Arrows serials, same size and style) I've found some black ones in the same style and close enough to the size. I'll just overpaint them with yellow. Thanks again.

[Purplethistle]

RNZAF Corsair(s) at No.1 Maintenance unit, Henderson Field, Guadalcanal.
This a/c was made from two damaged Corsairs -

NZ5272 4904 F4U-1 56480 Shipped from USA on 04 April 1944 aboard "USS Rudyard Bay".
Assembled in Espiritu Santo and BOC Unit 60 on 01 May 1944.
Issued to No.15 Fighter Squadron, Espiritu Santo on 18 May 1944.
Coded "72".
Crashed during night flying exercise at Henderson Field on 01 June 1944 when the undercarriage collapsed on landing.
Sergeant W. Thomson uninjured.
Aircraft written off at Guadalcanal but rear fuselage used in the rebuild of NZ5307 in March 1945.

and

NZ5307 5114 F4U-1 49867 Shipped from USA on 26 April 1944 aboard "USS Table Rock".
Assembled in Espiritu Santo and BOC Unit 60 on 22 May 1944.
Issued to No.14 Fighter Squadron, Guadalcanal on 13 June 1944.
Received extensive tail damage during June 1944.
The rear fuselage was removed and replaced with that of NZ5272 and the aircraft was operational again by October 1944 with No.18 Squadron.
To No.21 Squadron by December 1944.
To No.26 Squadron by April 1945.
Ferried to New Zealand in October 1945.
Advertised for sale by WARB tender number 1704 and sold from Rukuhia to J. Larsen, Palmerston North on 02 March 1948.

I would have loved to have done this in 1/32, just to be able to do the dubious expression on the face of the pilot who is signing the Form 700 to acknowledge receipt of the a/c!

The repair must have been a good 'un, though, as this particular Corsair survived to be sold in 1948!

[Stevehnz]

Nice job on this, one of the more interesting Kiwi Corsairs, one bird from two, the Americans would have pushed them both into the jungle to rot no doubt.
Steve.

[TobyC]

That really is very good and a novel plane/s

[fredk]

Nicely done

[splash]

Brilliant work, well done.

Regards Splash

[DavidWomby]

Nice work and interesting history. Paint job looks good.

David

[Purplethistle]

Cheers chaps! much appreciated.
I was disappointed that the photos didn't show the weathering at all, but the camera had focused on the whole thing rather than the near wingtip as it usually does and the light showed off the demarcation well, so 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

[Marek]

Really nicely done! And the story is there too! Congrats

[K5083]

Excellent job, very interesting paint scheme.

August

[Molly-new]

A cracking build and interesting back story.