Sword (
http://swordmodels.cz/en/) has released its 1/72nd scale F3D Skyknight for a third time with a new set of decals.
Each of the decal options is of interest but one, VMF(N)-513's with a side number of 12 7/8, is extra special, being a superstition-inspired replacement for a side number 13 that came to grief.
Paul Boyer's Fine Scale Modeler review of a previous edition:
http://www.finescale.com/reviews/kit-reviews/2014/02/sword-f3d-2-skyknight
My notes:
http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-f3ds-of-flying-nightmares-in-korea.html
The description of the very colorful VF-11 F3D states that it flew from
FDR. I can't find any record of that. According to Paul Bless, my F3D go-to guy, there were only four F3D deployments, all by VC-4 detachments:
FDR (not
Coral Sea) in 1952
Midway from December 1952 to May 1953
Lake Champlain in 1953 (its F3Ds were left behind with the Marines in Korea)
Antietam in 1953 (this was more of an exercise of the first angled deck rather than a deployment, per se, since the Air Group only consisted of Grumman F9F-5s and AFs in addition to the F3Ds).
Note that on all the F3D deployments except the one aboard
Midway, the Skyknights retained VC-4's tail code of NA. Changing to C when aboard
Midway was a very early example of a detachment adopting the tail code of the air group it was assigned to. (Decals for a VC-4 F3D with the NA tail code were provided in SW 72074.)
There were other F3D trips aboard of course. In addition to the original at-sea trials, VX-4 participated in Project Steam aboard
Hancock; VF-14 qualified from
Intrepid in October/November 1954 but did not deploy with it: and VF-14 F3Ds were used to ferry high-level defense department executives to
Forrestal in February 1956.
