Vought Factory Fresh

[Jack Cook]

[gregv]

Wow, great shot!

So are these Corsairs finished in overall glossy sea blue? There seems to be an area which would correspond to the anti-glare panel that appears to be a different sheen or color than the rest, or is this just a trick of the angle of the light and curvature of the fuselage?

Also, I was under the impression that at some point later in the war the insignia blue portion of the star 'n bar was deleted leaving just the white; is this true, and if so was it done at the same time that the sea blue got darker?

cheers

greg v.

P.S. what are the small white dots on the tail and lower cowling area?

[Beachy]

Oh, be still my beating heart! They're beautiful!!!!!

[B17news]

they sure are.

B

[51fixer]

P.S. what are the small white dots on the tail and lower cowling area?

Probably insp sign off stickers. When I restored Stephen Grey's P-38 they were all over on the inside. They seemed to be used when an area was completed and then a panel was installed to cover up that area. The sticker would be placed so that part was on the panel and it overlapped onto the base structure. If the panel was removed the sticker would tear. The sticker would have an inspectors stamp with a number.
Rich

[mustangdriver]

I would like to see a Corsair restored like this. No markings, just standard delivery scheme. Does that make me wierd.

[Jerry O'Neill]

A factory fresh scheme has already been done by John Lane for Gary Kohs, sold this year and now in Canada.
Here's a link to a photo and some info.

http://www.svguide.com/s04/s04_wwiiwarbirds.htm

Jerry

[Mr Widgeon]

They are painted over all GSB, the anti glare area was painted non-specular Sea Blue.
The deletion of the Insignia Blue in the national insignia was mostly a Grumman practice but some late war Corsairs started going to the fleet that way too.

[Taigh Ramey]

I agree with 51fixer that the dots are water transfer circular decals used upon final inspection on most all WWII aircraft. Just as he said these decals were put on inspection covers, cowling, junction boxes and even Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) when they had received their final inspection for government acceptance. The decals typically had the personal stamp of the inspector, sometimes several inspectors, and the date of the inspection.

If you look closely you can see remnants of these decals still left on original aircraft usually only found in unrestored or original aircraft. Here are several shots of the ones that still remaining on the Fleet Air Arm Museums Corsair:

This one is on a junction box inside the rear fuselage.





I was amazed to see remnants still visible on the outside of the fuselage. This example was on an engine cowl panel and it covered a Dzus fastener. If the cover or panel was removed or tampered with the decal would be broken and I assume it would require further inspection prior to acceptance.



Here was one over a CamLoc



One of the more visible examples is on Flak Bait at the NASM. You can see them clearly on the BC-366 interphone box in the nose section at the museum on the mall. I am sorry that I don't have a shot of it but here are some from the fuselage of Flak Bait in storage at Garber:

These QA decals cover the switch box for the A-2 bomb release on the back of one of Flak bait's bomb racks. It is interesting that the decals on Flak Bait are considerably larger than all the other ones I have seen from different aircraft manufacturers. All the others are about the same size but they are nearly twice as big on this Martin aircraft.



You can see the outline of where they used to be on the generator control panel of Flak Bait. Don't get too close...its oozing with radium!



I firmly believe that there was a Joint Army Navy directive of some kind that covered this practice. If anyone uncovers such a document please let me know as I would like to learn more about this subject. I also welcome any photos of examples that you may have come across especially details of the inspector’s stamps and other information on the face of the decals.

So far the only folks who have tried to replicate this on a current restoration, that I am aware of anyway, are the guys over at Warhawks Unlimited on the P-38G Ruff Stuff.







They used paper stickers and I believe that they were a bit undersized but who cares as they were the first to add this little bit of detail that I think is awesome and important. It is this eye for detail that the guys at Warhawks Unlimited, Midwest Aero and especially Westpac Restorations have that keeps raising the level of quality and authenticity in today's restorations. I love it and they should be applauded for their efforts to continually improve and strive for more authenticity.

[A36pilot]

I know of a Kimball Stearman with the inspection stickers that was restored about 10 years ago. I have to agree, it is a nice touch.

[Curtis Block]

I was talking with a guy working at Aero Trader in Chino, that was working on the Paul Allen B-25. He was telling me what a pain the restoration was. He said he was putting inspection stamps on stuff that was getting closed up, and would "never be seen again."

Just this year I went back and talked to another guy working there . I asked how the restoration was. He told me, "It's perfect, absolutely perfect." Apparently everything is per original blueprints.

I can't wait.

Does anyone know when it's set to fly?

[gregv]

wow, very cool info, thanks. I had never heard about the inspection decals before; you'd think one of the model guys would have picked up on it by now...

So did the Lane restored Corsair have the non-specular sea blue anti-glare panel? I don't recall seeing it in any photos. Was this particular to Corsairs from just one manufacturer, or common across the board?

again, great pic.

cheers

greg v.

[Tillerman]

That's a nice photo, the close-up of the supercharger..... Thanks.

Tillerman.

[51fixer]

I agree with 51fixer that the dots are water transfer circular decals used upon final inspection on most all WWII aircraft. Just as he said these decals were put on inspection covers, cowling, junction boxes and even Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) when they had received their final inspection for government acceptance. The decals typically had the personal stamp of the inspector, sometimes several inspectors, and the date of the inspection.

It is interesting that the decals on Flak Bait are considerably larger than all the other ones I have seen from different aircraft manufacturers. All the others are about the same size but they are nearly twice as big on this Martin aircraft.

I firmly believe that there was a Joint Army Navy directive of some kind that covered this practice. If anyone uncovers such a document please let me know as I would like to learn more about this subject. I also welcome any photos of examples that you may have come across especially details of the inspector’s stamps and other information on the face of the decals.

They used paper stickers and I believe that they were a bit undersized but who cares as they were the first to add this little bit of detail that I think is awesome and important.

I believe there are a ton of regs that were built into contracts just as there are today. I know from NAA prints they had their own sprcs for heat treat, cad plating, ect, but the were there to make the parts meet the customer specs.
There must have been a directive to mark an insp sign off but the method and size was up to the mfg. I have not seen these stickers in any North American Aviation product but I have seen ink stamps of the same info directly on parts rather than a sticker.
Most Mustangs I have worked on have been civilian forever, but I did do a little disassembly on the NACA P-51 when it was delivered to Pacific Fighters. It was stock Military inside but I don't recall seeing any stamps on stickers.
Rich
Rich

[Jerry O'Neill]

Here's a short story about "inspection stickers" being used at Vought....
Don Richardson, an engineer in the Insturment Flight Test section at Chance Vought, related to me that shortly after the F6F's were flying, one happened to land at the Vought Plant due to mechanical or weather related problems.

No one at Vought had seen anything but photos of the Hellcat, so the chief engineer told a couple of the other test pilots to take the F6F Test Pilot out and show him a good time, get him real drunk, and don't bring him back until morning.

Since there were still "secrets" on the Hellcat, un-authorized people were not allowed to get a close look at the aircraft. Before they left for town, the Grumman pilot made the Vought ground crews place inspection stickers on everything that could be opened so he would be able to tell if it was tampered with.

Once the guys left with their "unsuspecting victim", the Vought team started to examine the F6F by removing all the stickers and measuring everything they could get to including the air foil design! Later that night when they had finished their "Inspection" of Grumman's latest, they simply replaced all the inspection stickers with new ones. I guess the Grumman pilot didn't think to initial them in ink!

The conclusion by the Vought team was that the Corsair was a far better design, but more difficult to build.

It's an interesting piece of "Corporate Espionage".

I've got the story on audio tape somewhere and maybe I should make a video out of it and put it on YouTube!
Jerry