Warbird Information Exchange

8th picture from the top, what's up with the dorsal fin, anyone know?

Sorry to have to post a link . . . I'd post the pic itself but it's copyright protected, and all my right-clicks merely bounce off the armor. Please see:

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/ ... index.html

(At least there are lotsa seriously cool airplane pictures to look at, LOVE that Devil Dog shot!)

Edit: Just saw this on another thread - - a clue perhaps? Hmmm...

That's the retractable turtle deck that is retracted to allow the rear gunner to do his thing.

I don't have any quick links to pictures, but if you look down in the Modeller's forum, there's a thread about "chukw" and his Helldiver build. He details the structure with some pictures of the real thing and his pictures of the model shows it very nicely.

Here, maybe this will explain:


That's called the turtle deck and it folds down like an accordian(via hydraulics) so the gunner can pull out his guns and have a better arc of fire.

Wow, that was quick, thanks, y'all! Learn something new every day.

I did a double take on that feature the first time I saw it too. Not like the 1/72 scale I built back in the stone age! Most pics you see have it all closed up and "Slick"! They did a great job with her!!

Could someone post a link to the model? I looked for it, but no joy. Thanks!

Here is a link to one model with the turtleback open(or whatever they call it)

http://www.modelingmadness.com/reviews/ ... ersb2c.htm

and a link to a crazy build
http://cs.finescale.com/forums/26/997239/ShowPost.aspx

I love the title of the thread
Don't worry the big decals will hold it together

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Don't touch my junk!!

I always wondered how they got the guns out until it was demonstrated to me at Wings a few years ago.
My dad told me of a Helldiver that came from air gunnery practice with the back seat guns sticking out of a big tear in the sheet metal. He was told that if you didn't stow them correctly, a real aggressive pilot could make the guns flop around. Talk about making a crew chief go postal!

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"I love the smell of 100LL in the morning."

I got my first up and close look at this HellDiver (well any HellDiver for that matter) at the airshow in Punta Gorda FL on March 28th. Impressive airplane. Unfortunately I can't contribute any photos of the cockpit and gunner station. Unlike the crew of Panchito next to them, the Helldiver's crew was nowhere to be seen and the cockpit cover stayed firmly attached until show time, and by then I was settled in at the flight line. I went back after the Blue's wrapped up at 4pm, and low and behold the cover was back on, and no crew hanging around. All the big CAF decals in the world won't do much good if there is no one there to talk to the public about the plane and the organization. But the pilot flew some very nice passes during the warbird set, and I'll be posting the video soon.

Oh, and it was a suprise to see the boys from American Chopper taking an interest in the warbirds!



Maybe a warbird bike is in the works?

Pete

Radial engined chopper? It has been done!!

Uhmm I hope you are joking about the people in the picture being Paul Jr and Paul Sr from OCC?

When I was focusing on the SB2C and they walked thru my viewfinder, that was my initial impression. I guess it wouldn't be too far fetched to see the boys from OCC at an airshow. After all they've done bikes in support of the military and veterans orgs. Panchito and crew fly in support of DAV, so you see how my brain made the connection.

Kind of uncanny resemblence though......