USS Sable & Wolverine SNJ's ...

[lucky52]

Is the tail hook broke on that T-6 (N14) standing on it's nose? The end of the hook appears to be missing.

[Steve Nelson]

Not exactly what one would call a detailed photo...

And yes, it is of a model: Part of Bill Waldorf's amazing 1/72 scale model of the USS Wolverine.

I'm actually the one who built the SNJs on Bill Waldorf's magnificent Wolverine model (I did the SBD as well.) Bill was a master when it came to ships, but recruited several of us from the local model club to do the airplanes and figures. These were built in 2005, before internet resources were as vast as they are today. I contacted the Naval Aviation Museum for information regarding the markings, and mostly was only able to find the photos posted earlier in this thread. The markings are based somewhat on the photos, and somewhat on guesswork..sort of "well, the could have been painted like that..." I found several photos of NAS Great Lakes SNJs with yellow wing bands and the "J" fuselage code (J indicating Trainer in Navy parlance..fighters had an "F" number, and bombers like the SBD a "B" number.) The red-border insignias were my idea, simply because it's my favorite iteration of the US aircraft insignia. I couldn't find any photos of SNJs on the Wolverine with them, but it seemed plausible that there could have been in the summer of '43. Bill wanted the model to have representative examples of all the different types that flew off the ship during her career, so the aircraft and markings are from different eras. The SBD is 100% accurate though, as it's the same one that's now restored and on display at the Air Zoo. I carefully documented the markings before it was restored. Here are some photos of the models before they were put on the ship.

SN

[ZRX61]

One of my former neighbors was an instructor on those ships. Ermne Naumann (sp?). Also flew Corsairs.

[Dan K]

Not exactly what one would call a detailed photo...

And yes, it is of a model: Part of Bill Waldorf's amazing 1/72 scale model of the USS Wolverine.

I'm actually the one who built the SNJs on Bill Waldorf's magnificent Wolverine model (I did the SBD as well.) Bill was a master when it came to ships, but recruited several of us from the local model club to do the airplanes and figures. These were built in 2005, before internet resources were as vast as they are today. I contacted the Naval Aviation Museum for information regarding the markings, and mostly was only able to find the photos posted earlier in this thread. The markings are based somewhat on the photos, and somewhat on guesswork..sort of "well, the could have been painted like that..." I found several photos of NAS Great Lakes SNJs with yellow wing bands and the "J" fuselage code (J indicating Trainer in Navy parlance..fighters had an "F" number, and bombers like the SBD a "B" number.) The red-border insignias were my idea, simply because it's my favorite iteration of the US aircraft insignia. I couldn't find any photos of SNJs on the Wolverine with them, but it seemed plausible that there could have been in the summer of '43. Bill wanted the model to have representative examples of all the different types that flew off the ship during her career, so the aircraft and markings are from different eras. The SBD is 100% accurate though, as it's the same one that's now restored and on display at the Air Zoo. I carefully documented the markings before it was restored. Here are some photos of the models before they were put on the ship.

SN

Thanks for clarifying, Steve!

And even if J-14 might be "what if" markings, they're pretty enough that I'd gladly put them on the family SNJ...if the family had an SNJ.

[Tulio]

Golden Wings 1941-1945 by Jim Sullivan and Dave Lucabaugh / Squadron / signal publications , page 14.

Still, no color photo yet.


Saludos,


Tulio

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[lucky52]

Have any of those SNJs been recovered from Lake Michigan?

[bdk]

I wonder what color specification the green wing stripes might have been and if the anti-glare shield was black or dark green?

What a sexy aeroplane!

Golden Wings 1941-1945 by Jim Sullivan and Dave Lucabaugh / Squadron / signal publications , page 14.

Still, no color photo yet.


Saludos,


Tulio

[Steve Nelson]

The green wing bands were likely Willow Green. I used black for the anti-glare on the models above, but it could have been dark green.

SN

[Tulio]

This is so far, the only color photo of a Navy SNJ that I have found.

Not what you are looking for, but I will keep searching my books.

Saludos,


Tulio

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[Tulio]

Not illustrative of the requested markings, I found these images while looking through some of my books.


Saludos,


Tulio

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[Tulio]

The rest of the images so far.


Tulio

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[Malo 1]

CPO NAP pilot.

[JohnTerrell]

Some SNJ photos in color I collected off the internet some years ago. I do not claim to have ownership/rights to any of them. The last one is clearly from the Jeffrey Ethell collection. The dark green (bronze green?) glare shields show up fairly well as such in some photos, and in other photos the green tint isn't as easy to see. I don't think there was any precedent among the Navy or USAAF for black glare shields during WWII, unless repainted as such in the field - they always would be green from the factory, no doubt.

[bdk]

These are great! Please keep them coming.

[M Moore]

I wonder what color specification the green wing stripes might have been and if the anti-glare shield was black or dark green?

What a sexy aeroplane!

I believe the green is actually "light green." The specifications for that color are in the back of "The Official Monogram US Navy & Marine Corps Aircraft Color Guide, Vol 2." The green was only used for planes used for instrument training, therefore would not be applicable to the carrier based SNJ's.

A friend has a copy of the NAA blueprints for the SNJ. The color listed for the glare shield is simply zinc chromate. Paint colors would vary slightly during the War and from different vendors. I believe this is why some of the color pictures show slight variations of the glare shield color, i.e. glossy, matte, etc.

While it would be way cool to find a color picture of one of the carrier based SNJ's, the colors used are known and I believe using the pictures above one could produce an extremely accurate representation of one of those airplanes.

Those are excellent models, BTW. Thanks for sharing.