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Air Classics, Nov 2003

DOUGLAS B-66

I recently re-read my copy of Air Classics for March 2003 and noted in the "Album" section on page 60, the photograph from Norm Taylor of a B-45 with a photograph date of 1953 at RAF Sculthorpe. The photo also shows a Douglas B-66B parked to the rear of the B-45.

The first production B-66B had its first flight from Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, California, during 1954. The first B-66B was delivered to the Tactical Air Command, 17th Bomb Wing, at Hurlburt Field, Florida, during February 1956. During 1958, the B-66Bs of the 17th Bomb Wing were transferred to the 47th Bomb Wing, RAF Sculthorpe. I believe the B-45/B-66B photo was taken at RAF Sculthorpe during 1958 at an Open House display.

Clifford A. Patron:

Douglas Aircraft Co. (Ret.)

B66doctor@aol.com

I enjoyed your series on the Lockheed Constellation. I am a great fan of that aircraft and think the L-049 is one (if not the most) of the most beautiful and certainly the most graceful prop aircraft built. I got to around them a bit at Keflavick in 1953 with MATS.

To my surprise, I saw the photo of the B-45A-5-NA on page 60 of the March issue. On examination I saw that it was an early recon conversion with the nose glass skinned over. I served in the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, 91st A&.E Squadron, at Lockbourne AFB in 1952. It was there that I got to meet the RB-45Cs which our KB-29Ps refueled.

This is another aircraft with which I fell in love - the B-45 was sleek, smooth, and pleasing to the eye. We kept two in Korea and although bounced by MiGs many times, we never lost one to the fighters. I would love to know more about their mapping of Europe, China, and Manchuria.

Tomila J.C. Louise

N. Truro, MA

CURTISS P-36

Having read "International Hawk," I have to note that you perpetuate an incorrect version of the order of Hawk 75A-7s for the Netherlands East Indies. The fact is that the 20 H-75A-7s were not the reduced result of an order for 36 originally placed for The Netherlands (in Europe) but were intended from the start for the Dutch East Indies and they were originally ordered in the quantity of 20.

The confusion probably arises from the mixing up of Dutch orders for the Curtiss Wright CW-21B and the Hawk 7.5A-7. The CW-21Bs were originally ordered for Holland but were not completed until after The Netherlands were overrun in May 1940 and these were then diverted to the NEI. This order, however, from the start also was not for 36, nor 35, nor for 20, but for 24 aircraft.

The Japanese landed on Java in the night of 28 February/1 March 1942 (not on 2 March) and the number of troops involved was far less than 85,000. Java surrendered on 9 March 1942.

The French Hawks which were put ashore on Martinique came from the French carrier Beam and the six put ashore at Guadeloupe arrived (crated) on the cruiser Jeanne d'Arc. Research by French Naval aviation expert Lucien Morareau shows that a total of five complete Hawk 75A-1s (not -4s) were transported to Morocco, two in March 1944 and three in December 1944. A final three were shipped to Marseilles, France, in June 1945. This total of eight Hawks was still in decent shape because they had been left crated since arrival in the Caribbean. The rest had been stored outside and had suffered badly from corrosion. However, certain components of these were still considered salvageable and, thus, in addition to the eight complete Hawks, several quantities of Cyclone engines and major airframe components were shipped out.

All of these aircraft (Hawks as well as Curtiss SBC Helldivers and Belgian Buffaloes) on the French Caribbean islands had their armament and engine ignition systems removed and shipped to Morocco fairly soon following their arrival in the Antilles. This was done to assure the Americans that the planes could not possibly be used for hostile purposes. Nevertheless, a lot of political and military noise was made about the "threat against the Panama Canal from pro-Nazi Vichy forces in the Caribbean, aided by secretly-landed German pilots," etc. This was all a bunch of war propaganda fiction which, of course, sold well to the public.

In reality, the so-called "Vichy-Nazi" governor of the French Antilles, Admiral Robert, jumped through hoops to ensure to the Americans that his forces remained completely neutral. There was a US Consulate and a Naval Attache based on Martinique who had complete access to all French military installations so the threat was 100% fictitious. The one thing insisted upon by the US, hut which Admiral Robert could not do, was to turn over his ships and planes to the US/Britain. This was prohibited under the rules of the French-German Armistice agreement which barred France from aiding any belligerent. Robert feared that the turning over of ships and planes to the USA would cause the Germans to impose heavy punishment on non-occupied Vichy France. When the Anglo-US landing in French North Africa took place in 1942, the Germans occupied the rest of France anyway and then Robert resigned and turned the Antilles over to the Free French of de Gaulle.