F4U Corsair

Next to motorcycles and cars, airplanes are
my favorite means of transportation. Especially
those planes from the 1940's thru the 1950's.
I recently finished work on this model of a
F4U Corsair. It was primarily a Navy/Marines
plane of World War II. Major Pappy Boyington and his Black Sheep Squadron flew the Corsair and the Japanese hated it. They called the F4U
"Screaming Death". It was developed in 1938
but did not come into active service until the
early 1940's. The Navy wanted a carrier-based
plane and the long propeller of the Corsair was
too long....so they angled the wing for more landing
gear clearance. The one photo is from the Korean War
in 1951 and the rest are of my model.

History: Development of the Corsair began in 1938, when the US Navy issued a request for a new single-seat carrier-based fighter. The Chance-Vought company won the contract with their unique, gull-winged airframe pulled by the largest engine then available, the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp. The wing design was necessitated by the tall landing gear which was, in turn, necessitated by the huge propeller required to propel the plane at the desired high speeds.

The prototype of the Corsair was first flown on 29 May 1940, but due to design revisions, the first production F4U-1 Corsair was not delivered until 31 July 1942. Further landing gear and cockpit modifications resulted in a new variant, the F4U-1A, which was the first version approved for carrier duty.

The Corsair served with the US Navy, US Marines, the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force (and later, the French Aeronavale), and quickly became the most capable carrier-based fighter/bomber of the war. Demand for the aircraft soon overwhelmed Vought's manufacturing capability, resulting in additional aircraft being produced by the Goodyear Company (as the FG-1) and the Brewster Company (as the F3A-1). Production ceased in 1952. Over two dozen Corsairs are believed to be still airworthy, most in the United States.

Owned by Terriers

All my life I have heard the expression, "you don't
own a Terrier, they own you". I have had some
form of Terrier just about all my life. Schnauzers,
Scotties, Poodles, Fox, or Rat Terriers...I have had
them all.
My wife and I have two at the moment they rank
pretty high on the pecking order. "Her" dog is a
Wire-Haired Fox Terrier and "my" dog is a nine
month old Schnauzer. The Fox is named 'Tinkerbelle'
and the Schnauzer is 'Cosmo'. Tink is eight and a
half years old and pretty well set in her ways.
The pup wants to play all day, while Tink wants to
find a comfortable spot on the couch and relax.
The grandkids come over and the dogs go bonkers
over them. Our youngest daughter and her family
live two (2) blocks from us, so they are over at our
house often. The dogs greet them as though they
haven't seen them in ages. We wouldn't have it any
other way!!

Funny Cars

A continuing reminder that this blog page
is dedicated to the memory of my brother, Carl.
He was one of the founding members of the
National Hot Rod Association and a former
National Champion.
In previous posts I have told you about his
venture into the competition classes of Roadsters,
Altered Roadsters, Competition Coupes, and the
early outing in the Funny Car Class.
Funny Cars and Fuel Dragsters are the Major
Leagues of Drag Racing. These are the two
divisions that fans come to see. The Fuel Dragsters
used to be the fastest thing at the track, but
the Funny Cars have equaled them in speed and
elapsed time in the past five to ten years. The long
wheel based dragsters allow a lot more control
over the car, while the Funny Cars are a crap shoot
at the least.
My brother was loyal to Chevrolet from his first
venture into drag racing right to the last. All of his
cars had Chevy engines in them beginning in 1956.
Before that he was like everyone else in running
the Ford flathead engine in his early cars. In the
early 1950's he raced at Bonneville Salt Flats in a
car that looked more like a torpedo than it did a
car. It was powered by the Ford flathead V-8 and
ran the course over 180 miles per hour.
The photos posted here are of the Funny Car he
campaigned right up to his death in 1981. This car
had a Chevrolet engine with Donovan heads, a
Chet Herbert cam, among other things. The exhaust
was custom built by my brother. This car ran on
alcohol instead of nitro and still turned in the low 8
second bracket around 245 miles per hour.

"Surrogates" the Movie

"Surrogates" is the new movie starring Bruce
Willis. It started today (Friday 9-25-09) and
my wife and I went to see it.
It is hard for me to dislike a Bruce Willis
movie and this one followed a similar path
for Bruce. He sheds the usual amount of
blood before prevailing in the end. This
futuristic setting has humans staying inside
and sending their surrogates out in the world
to do their business (and pleasures). Over
90 per cent of the world has surrogates but
there are pockets of humans that do not allow
surrogate robots in their neighborhoods. There
is a weapon that kills the robots and the operator
at the same time. Bruce is our boy trying to track
down the weapon...and the bad guys behind it.

Bruce's wife in the movie is played by Rosamund
Pike... one of my top five most beautiful women
in the world. She alone made the price of
admission worthwhile. Her character is the
survivor of an auto crash, while her surrogate is
the drop-dead beauty she is in real life.

The movie is rated PG13 and takes a little bit of
concentration to remember who is who...but it
is a good movie..

Junkers Ju 188 German Bomber

I have another model to show you...It is a
World War II Ju 188 Bomber... While not as
famous as the Stuka dive bomber, this one was
a high level bomber.
The Junkers Ju 188 was a twin-engine aircraft
used by the Luftwaffe as a bomber and as a
reconnaissance plane. The Ju 188 evolved from
the Ju 88. In the summer of 1943, the first Ju 188's were
delivered and entered service on bombing missions
against England. With a crew of four, the Ju 188 could
carry 4400 pounds of bombs, and had an effective
range of almost 1300 miles. Armament included one
20mm machine gun, a 151 mm cannon mounted in
the front canopy, two 13mm machine guns mounted
underneath, and two 7.9mm machine guns in the
vertical positions. Production of the bomber version
was stopped in early 1944 and only reconnaissance
versions were built until the end of the war.

The Sargeant

I have mentioned our two inside dogs a couple
of times on this blog... Today I will introduce you
to my big dog, who rules the outside and guards
our backyard..
We found 'Sarge' in a newspaper ad and fell
in love with him at first sight. He is a Yellow
Labrador, but that is not his color. He is more of
a champagne colored dog. Our youngest daughter
had just moved back to Texas from Virginia with
her one year old daughter, Lilly. Sarge and Lilly
have grown up together. From the backyard he
can recognize Lilly's voice inside the house and he
will whine and whimper until she comes outside to
tell him hello.
I have always been a terrier fan, so Sarge is my
first relationship with a bigger dog. He actually
scared me with the rapid growth of his puppyhood.
We got him when he was 8 weeks old and he weighed
about 9 pounds. The Sarge is now 5 years old and
tops the scale at 140 pounds. He reminds everyone
of a lion when he walks as his flanks shiver as he moves.
He may scare strangers and would-be intruders, but
he is actually very tame. I have no fear of allowing the
grandkids to go in the backyard as long as Sarge is
on-duty. When Lilly was small he would always position
his body to be between her and everyone else...obviously
in a protection stance.
Sarge shares the backyard with 'Emma",.. a boxer we
saved at a rescue mission. When they told us she would
be destroyed the next day, we had to come home with
her. She is 8 years old and is sweet as they come. Even
when snow does come to Texas, the two outside dogs
stay outside. We have a large doghouse for them, but
they prefer to sleep in the middle of the yard. Go figure!

1962 Corvette

I went to a motorcycle show yesterday, BUT
spotted this 1962 Chevrolet Corvette in the
garage being detailed. The Vette has only
36,000 miles on it. It brought back a lot of
memories for me.
I had a 1961 Corvette that my Dad bought
for me as incentive to go to college. The '61
was solid black and outwardly looked a lot
like this '62. Appearances were the only
similarity of these two models. The '61 had
a 283 engine, while the '62 came with a 327
cubic inch engine. My '61 had 2 4-barrel
carburetors and put out 275 horsepower.
It was a nice car for cruising the streets, but
it was by far NOT the fastest car in my car club
at the time. In 1962 the 'smallest' engine you
could get in the Corvette had a single 4-barrel
carburetor atop the 327 engine and it put out
250 horsepower.
Those were the days when 409 Chevrolets,
427 Fords, and 426 Hemi Dodges & Plymouths
ruled the streets...and Super Shell gasoline sold
for 31 cents a gallon... As I said, "the good
ol' days."

Jager Update

In an earlier blog entry I mentioned we have
a new grandson... Jager Bates. He was born
July 14, 2009 and just two weeks later had to
have surgery to repair a stomach muscle that
would not allow formula to reach its final
destination. He came through the procedure
like the champion he is. Since then he is
steadily gaining weight and doing great.
Here is a couple of photos of Jager...With
his granny (my wife) and our youngest
daughter, who is now a new aunt.

Battleship Texas

My wife is a sucker for ships....We once went all
the way to Nashville, Tennessee just to ride on
a stern-drive paddle-wheel boat. (I have to admit
the Marguritas tasted awfully good in the mist of
the paddle-wheel boat.. These photos were taken
on a visit to the Battleship Texas, which is
permanently moored at San Jacinto State Park just
east of Houston. The 'Texas' was the pride of the
U.S. Navy when she was commissioned in 1912.
The 'Texas' was the first ship to have anti-aircraft
guns, and also the first to have directional-assisted
firing of her sixteen inch guns. The 'Texas' fought
in both World Wars for America. During the invasion
of Normandy, the Texas fired salvos over the heads
of Americans soldiers as they headed for the beaches
of France. The Texas also fought in the Pacific campaign
after Germany surrendered. The Texas was a key
player in the U.S. invasion of Okinawa.
Today the 'ol girl is in retirement in Southeast Texas
and a lot of the ship is off-limits to visitors as it has
fallen into a state of disrepair. Some of the crew compartments
can be rented out to groups to spend the night. Boy Scouts,
athletic teams, and the like are always welcome. The 'Texas'
is within sight of the San Jacinto Monument,..where Santa Anna
surrended his Mexican army to the volunteer army of Sam
Houston...and Texas had won its independence!

Local Car Show

Usually when you go to a 'Car Show' in a
smaller town you find the display models
lacking somewhat.....BUT that was not
the case recently..
Denison had a car show that really
featured some nice models. Right off the
bat let me state that 1940 and 1941 model
Chevrolets have always been one of my
favorites..
It was those early model Chevys that
dominated this particular show. The bronze
one was really nice outside and inside. The
red 1939 Ford was also one that garnered
a lot of votes from the visiting crowd.
The final vote gave the winning ribbon to a
black 1938 Chevy from Plano. This car was
immaculate inside and out....and the owner
drove it to Denison for the show. No trailer
for this beauty.