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Women Warriors 213
ICM Sd.Kfz. 222 / 223 Scout Car Builds in 1/72 Scale
Mobeus USS Skipjack (SSN-585) in 1/72 Scale
USS Skipjack (SSN-585) was the lead ship of a class of six “fast attack” submarines built for the United States Navy. She was commissioned on 15 April 1959. With an Albacore streamlined hull and S5W nuclear reactor, she established what was to become the standard configuration for submarine designs which followed. The class were the fastest submarines in the U.S. Navy until the introduction of the Los Angeles class. The Skipjack design was modified to become the USS George Washington (SSBN-598) class ballistic missile submarine by lengthening the hull by 130 feet in order to carry 16 Polaris missiles. The Royal Navy used the design for the after hull and propulsion section in their first nuclear submarine, the HMS Dreadnaught.
The third ship in the class, USS Scorpion (SSN 589) was lost with all hands in the North Atlantic on 22 May 1968. The cause of her loss has never been officially determined.
There are relatively few parts to this kit, but it definitely has “shelf presence”. Length is just under 42 inches (106.5 cm). I added crew figures to the sail to give the viewer a sense of scale.
Scratchbuilt Los Angeles Class submarine here: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2019/05/21/uss-indianapolis-ssn-697-fast-attack-submarine-in-1-72-scale/
North Africa Color Photographs Part IV – Panzer Graveyard at Beja, Tunisia
Several interesting color photos of knocked out German tanks near Beja, Tunisia. The area was known as “Hunt’s Gap”. On 28FEB43 Panzers of Kampfgruppe Lang were engaged by British Churchills, one being credited with knocking out a Tiger. Several of the German tanks maneuvered off the road where they encountered mines and soft ground, subsequently being subjected to a prolonged artillery barrage. Over the next few days additional vehicles were lost in the same area, including at least one more Tiger, two American halftracks, and an American tank destroyer. Both the British and the Germans reportedly set demolition charges in some of the abandoned tanks before these photographs were taken.
Hasegawa Nakajima Ki-49 Donryu Helen in 1/72 Scale
This is one of a series of Japanese twins released by Hasegawa in the late 1990’s, the Ki-49 Helen from 1998. Fit is excellent as you would expect from Hasegawa, and the design hides the minimal interior detail well. A good set of canopy masks is a must as there is an incredible amount of individual transparent panels in many of the clear pieces. The markings are of the 62nd Sentai in Japan during 1945.
Operation Mincemeat Audio Book Review
Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory
Authored by Ben Macintire, Narrated by John Lee
Audiobook, 11 hours and 18 minutes
Published by Random House Audio, May 2010
Language: English
ASIN: B003KQMFOA
“All warfare is based on deception.” – Sun Tzu
As the North African campaign was winding down the Allies faced a problem. Sicily was the to be the next objective for the Allied advance, and it was the obvious choice. So obvious that the Germans (or anyone else with a map) were sure to anticipate the invasion and reinforce the area. If the Germans could be convinced that the landings would occur elsewhere, they might redeploy their forces, thus saving countless lives.
Operation Mincemeat was part of a deception plan designed to make the Germans think the main Allied landings would occur in Greece and Sardina, the landings in Sicily were to only be a feint. The idea was one of many proposed by Naval Intelligence CDR Ian Flemming (yes, that Ian Fleming) in what was known as the “Trout memo” because of analogies to fly fishing. The idea was a plot device in a spy novel Fleming had read, and was titled “A Suggestion (not a very nice one)”. A corpse was to be dressed as a Major in the Royal Marines and dropped in the ocean near the Spanish coast where it would be sure to be recovered and turned over to German intelligence agents. Handcuffed to its wrist would be a briefcase which included various papers, including sealed letters between British General Officers detailing Allied preparations for the Greek and Sardinian landings.
Macintire’s books are examples of how exhaustive research can be woven into a compelling story. While the general story of Mincemeat has been told before as “The Man Who Never Was”, there are several details which were long classified and are only now being revealed in this book. The attention to detail involved in creating a complete back story for the deceased Major is incredible. The difficulties in obtaining and transporting what would appear to be a recent victim of an air accident and placing it in a plausible position to fall into German hands was a complex undertaking in itself. This is a brilliant insight into the intricacies of intelligence operations and the dark world of covert operations. Highly recommended.
Panavia Tornado GR1 Walk Around
Photographs taken at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (NMUSAF) at Dayton, Ohio.
Women Warriors 212
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Fine Molds Messerschmitt Bf 109 Batch Build in 1/72 Scale Part III
Part I here: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2023/03/10/fine-molds-messerschmitt-bf-109-batch-build-in-1-72-scale-part-i/
Hasegawa Nakajima Ki-27 Nate of the 246th Sentai in 1/72 scale
This Nate is one of the earliest examples of an aircraft wearing home defense bands that I know of, it was assigned to defend the Osaka area in mid-1942. It is seen depicted both with and without the yellow identification stripes on the leading edges of the wings, given the time frame both versions may be accurate as they were made official on 12SEP42. This is a Hasegawa boxing of the Mania kit.
Inch High Guy 