A Prime Minister's Hellcat - finished!

[comrade harps]

Starting soon...

A F6F-5 Hellcat with RAAF Pacific decals. Carrier based.

Flown by a future Australian Prime Minister.

Pics soon.

[NARSES2]

Sounds interesting

[rickshaw]

Would his name be Gorton or Whitlam?  McMahon with good hearing?   

[comrade harps]

Would his name be Gorton or Whitlam?  McMahon with good hearing?   

Got it in one: John Gorton. 

I'll have to think of something for Gough.

[rickshaw]

Ah, John Gorton.  Our only PM to vote himself out of office.  Bit of a Jack-the-Lad, and one for the ladies.  Smashed his face on the gunsight of his fighter (which I will not name). 

Gough was a Navigator.  Apparently one of the best in RAAF, although how he ever folded that frame of his up sufficiently to fit the nose of a Ventura, I'll never know. 

What used to annoy the Conservatives was that Gough actually had higher gongs than Gorton, when Gough was the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition and Gorton was the PM. 

It was a simple process of elimination.  They and McMahon were the only PMs to see service in WWII but McMahon had bad hearing and was relegated to Army staff duties.  The other two flew operationally.

[comrade harps]

Just found out the cricketer Keith Miller was a RAAF pilot in WW2. Now there's a story...

[rickshaw]

Just found out the cricketer Keith Miller was a RAAF pilot in WW2. Now there's a story...

His most famous quote I know of was when asked by a journalist what he thought of the pressure he'd experienced as a batsman, "Pressure?  You know all about pressure when you've had a Messerschmidt up yer arse!"   

[comrade harps]

Work underway.





It's obvious where this is going.

[comrade harps]

Progress has been slow on this one. Hotter weather, a poetry bombing in Hastings to prepare, a mother-in-law in hospital, indecision over ordnance and decals, not liking the Italeri kit and then getting sidetracked by an Airfix Dauntless, etc.

So, here's we I am now:


And said Dauntless, also Aussie WW2:


And together:


Hoping to finish by Christmas!

[manytanks]

Looking good Harps!

[NARSES2]

They are standout schemes - amongst my favourites

[comrade harps]

Both the Hellcat and the Dauntless are now at decal stage. Should have them done this week.

[comrade harps]

Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat
454, 805 Squadron, HMAS Melbourne
mid-June, 1945, off Labuan, Northern Borneo
pilot: Lieutenant John Gorton



After the British transferred the aging HMS Furious to Australia in 1940, the ship underwent a prolonged period of repair and refit, the work being much delayed due to labour shortages and its low priority. In lmid-1943, Furious emerged from the Williamstown Naval Dockyard as HMAS Melbourne and, after sea trial in home waters, deployed to the USA for training. Here the ship was mated with its American-trained air group, but again there was a prolonged period of training and upgrades before Melbourne and its F6F-3 Hellcats of 805 Sqdn and SBD-5 Dauntless of 808 Sqdn were fully qualified for combat.



From mid-1944, Melbourne and its air group participated in operations against the Japanese in support of Australian and Allied troops throughout the South West Pacific, including campaigns throughout New Guinea, Morotai and the Oboe invasions of North Borneo and Java.

In June 1945, 805 Sqdn F6F-5 numbered 454 was the usual mount of Lieutenant John Gorton, a former RAAF Spitfire pilot who was transferred to the RAN in late 1943. Photographs reveal that the aircraft featured locally designed and fabricated extended exhausts, intended to act as flame dampers. Although an otherwise standard F6F without radar, Gorton and his plane were part of a flight specialising in nocturnal combat. Initially formed to serve as night interceptors operating under ship radar control, the flight gained its battle honours in the night close air support role as Japanese troops increasingly took to night attack. Note that the rocket launcher stubs have been removed, this having occurred during the flight's early tenure in the interceptor role; for CAS, RAN regulations at the time forbid the use of unguided rockets as unreliable and (from experience in New Guinea) prone to causing friendly casualties. 260lb or 500lb bombs (as carried here) were, however, deemed suitable for CAS.



Gorton was active in this plane throughout June, 1945, in support of Australian troops engaged against the Japanese on Labuan and other sites around Brunei Bay. He continued to serve with the RAN until the end of the war and flew in Oboe 2 against targets at Balikpapan  and Oboe 4, the 1946 Allied invasion of Java. This was to be his and HMAS Melbourne's (nee Furious') last campaign, the ship being retired in late 1946 and replaced by a new Melbourne (nee HMS Majestic).

In late 1946, Gorton was discharged from the RAN and in 1949 was elected as a Liberal Party Senator. In 1968, he became  Australia's first and still only Prime Minister with a seat in the Senate; however, he soon took a seat in the lower house. In 1971, after a caucus challenge against him left a tied voted, he resigned, declaring "Well, that is not a vote of confidence, so the party will have to elect a new leader."

In 1973, Gorton successfully moved a motion in Parliament calling for the decriminalisation of homosexual acts between consenting adults in Australia and retired from politics in 1975. He died in 2002.

[NARSES2]

That's a nice pair