https://aeroscale.kitmaker.net/forums/192498#1611158
this is where she stands as of last sunday:
So far my thinking is to model the aircraft LCDR John C. Waldron's, CO of VT-8, flew during his fateful run on on the Japanese fleet.
Having just finished reading "shattered sword" by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully, I was still inspired to do an aircraft from VT-8, despite the more accurate findings the effects VT-8 had on the outcome of the battle that the above book highlights (written from the perspective of the goings on and operations of the Japanese fleet and debunking what was previously thought to be known about that in the west).
It is usually thought VT-8 brought down the CAP so the Dauntless dive bombers could get in unmolested, but "Shattered Sword" actually shows (via records from the Japanese carriers)that the CAP was increased between the time VT-8 attacked and the dive bombers arrived. The dive bombers got thru because everyone was looking for more torpedo attacks on the horizon, not looking up for dive bombers (a version of so-called "target fixation" - 'wow, look at all those American torpedo planes being shot down - HEY! where did all these dive bombers come from???!!!???')
VT-8s real contribution was keeping the Japanese fleet maneuvering and cycling their CAP for an extended time (something like 20 minutes, followed on by a similarly drawn out and futile but identically valuable attack by VT-6) instead of spotting the strike aircraft intended to go after the American carriers. By keeping pressure on the Japanese, even if by ineffective attacks, the doctrine under which the Japanese operated at the time (combined massive airstrikes coordinated across all carriers with no individual initiative allowed from separate carrier commanders) prevented them from having time to coordinate in a timely fashion and bought the American side just enough time to strike decisively BEFORE the Japanese could launch a powerful combined offensive strike against US naval forces.
Had Waldron followed orders and gone the same direction the rest of the aircraft from Hornet went, they would have missed the battle entirely (just as the rest of Hornet's forces did) and it is very possible this would have allowed Admiral Nagumo enough breathing room to order the strike aircraft intended to go against the US carriers to be spotted on deck and prepped for launch.
So this build is dedicated to a commanding officer who was savvy enough to know when not to follow orders, even though he knew it meant no fighter cover and no good chance of survival when it came down to the line.
so a question for any of you still reading who might know - would Waldon's a/c be marked "T-16" or just "16"? I am fairly certain "8-T-16" is incorrect for this particular a/c, and "T-16" is popular and most photos i have seen of VT-8 a/c have "T-#", but i have not seen 16, so can't be sure. Here is the best photo I can find of the a/c, taken as they are lifting off to go die in battle:
At least it tells me which of the 2 or 3 possible national insignia marking schemes possible to use, but i can't make out the numbering schema. any better copies of this photo out there?
I also don't know if i need to be concerned about depicting red and white rudder stripes that were painted over earlier in the year, or if this a/c had been thru an overhaul lately (in which case no evidence of the rudder stripes as they were supposedly thoroughly stripped and repainted). The above picture is too dark and grainy to help with that. Given the older insignia pattern, it may well be this aircraft was not overhauled (apparently many aircraft that were overhauled after the markings were changed received the large insignia, but i am not sure that is entirely true - i think there was some time between the removal of the red and white stripe and red centers to the stars and the time they started with the larger markings and perhaps this a/c was overhauled between those two dates, but i don't really have any good notion if that is possible)
