For Wade Pacific Airfields in Color......

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Wed Nov 01, 2006 10:59 am

Always come to the source first...............

Munda Point Airstrip on New Georgia

Ondongo, New Georgia home of Vf-17

bonus shot of a P-38H #93 9th FS at dobodura, New Guinea

Chicoartist · **Posted:** Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:44 pm

Beautiful stuff, Jack!

Hmmm, OK . . . this may be outside your area of interest, but what you got in the way of JG 1 Luftwaffe stuff; specifically 1., 2., or 3. Staffel of I Gruppe, you know, the chaps with the striped and checkerboard power eggs? That's my next major project - an A-6 of 1./JG 1, Sept 43 time-frame.

Thx again (again)!

Wade

Mudge · **Posted:** Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:47 pm

HOLY CRAP

THOSE are airfields?

These guys had bigger cojones than I thought. :shock:

Mudge the amazed

B-29 Super Fort · **Joined:** Wed Sep 01, 2004 11:12 am **Posts:** 871

It would be great to google earth those airfields to see if they are recognizible today.

Ztex · **Posted:** Wed Nov 01, 2006 1:22 pm

I wonder about the trees surrounding the Ondongo strip.
They seem to be in rows.
Was that built in a rubber plantation or some other kind of lumber operation?
Was it an airfield before the war?

Curious...

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Wed Nov 01, 2006 1:29 pm

Quote:

Beautiful stuff, Jack!

These are some of the originals slides willed to be that David Ethell was selling. Now you understand my level of ire! I have the complete of approx. 185 slides taken during a engineering survey misson of airfields in the South, SW & Central Pacific along with report describing each slide.
The Guadalcanal and New Guinea stuff is amazing!!

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Wed Nov 01, 2006 1:31 pm

Quote:

but what you got in the way of JG 1 Luftwaffe stuff;

Weren't they the losers? I've got very little Luftwaffe stuff.

Mudge · **Posted:** Wed Nov 01, 2006 1:34 pm

Found Munda at:
8° 19′ 32.62” S
157° 15’ 49.76” E
There's still an airfield there. And a large one.

Can’t locate Odongo.

Mudge the searcher

(Somehow, that sounds like an idea for a movie.)

B-29 Super Fort · **Joined:** Wed Sep 01, 2004 11:12 am **Posts:** 871

[quote="Mudge"]Found Munda at:
8

blacksheep · **Posted:** Wed Nov 01, 2006 6:31 pm

Nice photos Jack,

Ondonga was not held in very high regard by the pilots of VF-17. There were actually two airfields there, the one on the left being mostly overgrown in the current photo. Colonial plantations were very prevelant in "the slot" area as well as the coastal plains of NG, many of the proprieters becoming coastwatchers during the war.

Anyone notice the external tank in the foreground of the P-38 photo being OD/NG instead of overall NG? Interesting.

Thanks Jack!

Mudge · **Posted:** Wed Nov 01, 2006 7:28 pm

Speaking of the Pacific islands...Just a bit off topic but I gotta' brag on my father a little. During WWII he was stationed in Perth. When he came back in '45, he told us that his sub had only fired 1 torpedo in "anger". We were a bit disappointed to hear that he didn't sink a million tons of Japenese ships. Disappointed until we found out what he was doing all that time. His sub was one of the ones that was "rotating" the coastwatchers in and out of the islands. No wonder they didn't fire but one torpedo. The name of the game was stealth.

Mudge the Navy brat

ps. Don't remember him mentioning whether or not he hit anything.

airmanual · **Joined:** Thu Nov 04, 2004 6:32 am **Posts:** 240

Beautiful stuff indeed Jack,

Would love to see some aerial shots of either Tadji, Tsili Tsili and/or Saidor.

Is there anything you could share with us ?

Laurent

Chris Brame · **Posted:** Fri Nov 03, 2006 4:27 am

Great photos, Jack!
By any chance are there any color shots of Puerto Princesa?

Chicoartist · **Posted:** Sat Nov 04, 2006 12:13 am

Finally found Ondonga (New Georgia Island/Solomons)!

The small "island", basically a coconut-groved peninsula containing the airstrip VF-17 used during it's first tour, is partially covered by clouds on GoogleEarth's current survey, but, using a USMC map I found on the 'net, I combined the two at the same scale to properly locate Ondonga.

As indicated in a post above by Blacksheep, there were two parallel E-W runways (one is mostly hidden/overgrown in Jack's beautiful shot above).

Ah, I can sleep at night now!

Oh, here's a little treat for you - a 4.5 x 6 inch pencil study for my upcoming Fighting 17 -

Wade

Chicoartist · **Posted:** Fri Nov 10, 2006 11:06 am

From the Corsair pencil study above ...

After one aborted attempt, I reset the DG and am now much happier with the "direction" this one is taking.

The background of the first (6-inches wide) color study was in a dominant lower key, to help "pop" the Corsair, but I just didn't like it (I'm trying to be the best Wade Meyers, not the second-best Bill Phillips!), so I grabbed a 9 x 12 canvas panel I had primed a while back, used the 9" side as the width, and cut off the "height" at the same aspect ratio as the final planned 24 x 32 canvas.

This study is 6.75 x 9 inches, oil on panel. I'm counting on the red surrounds to the national insignia (and the red prop hub) to add a bit of color. Notice that the wing insignia is sans red surround. I'm going to let the paint dry a wee bit before I smear some red in there.

The final art will have both canopies OPEN (I think). I hope to get a bit of "driver" in there with his sleeves wind-whipped.

It's tough for me to do, but these smallest of studies are part of the "weeding-out" process - thank goodness I didn't invest much time in the original (aborted) oil study - best to figure things out before I'm too committed . . . thus, the emphasis here is on basic color and value - not detail. The best way to avoid getting too involved with detail is to make them quite small:

Wade

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