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PRB
May 7th, 2015, 15:00
It's morning, 8 May, right now in the Coral Sea. A moment of silence to all the brave souls who would not see the dusk, on both sides of the climactic carnage about to unfold this day. :australia: :unitedstates: :japan: :unitedkingdom:
clmooring
May 7th, 2015, 17:35
Well said! And great shot
expat
May 8th, 2015, 01:09
Nice shot. What is the cruiser/escort ship in the background?
PRB
May 8th, 2015, 06:48
Thanks! The cruiser is a New Orleans class heavy cruiser, part of the Yanco Coral Sea collection. Very nicely done ships too, and free.
T6flyer
May 8th, 2015, 06:52
And it is VE Day today.

Martin
Rami
May 8th, 2015, 15:01
PRB,

You are 100% right to honor those men. You may not know this, but I tip my hat to Stanley "Swede" Vejtasa! Unfortunately, he passed away in 2013, but he made his mark on this day.

In memoriam: http://navalaviationnews.navylive.dodlive.mil/2013/05/09/swede-vejtasa-in-memoriam/

Dogfights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eDPyvyt-MQ
PRB
May 8th, 2015, 15:09
I remember that episode of "Dogfights". That was good stuff. I knew of Vejtasa's exploits in the Coral Sea from many books over the years. One of the best is "The First Team", by John Lundstrom. Didn't he transition to fighters after that bit of excitement in the SBD? I would have put him in fighters too, after that performance!
Rami
May 8th, 2015, 15:30
Didn't he transition to fighters after that bit of excitement in the SBD? I would have put him in fighters too, after that performance!

PRB,

One of the best lines from that clip is "his talents for dogfighting now obvious..." duh!

He later shot down seven Japanese planes in a single day. He flew F4F Wildcats off the Enterprise following his transfer.
PRB
May 8th, 2015, 16:22
Just watched the whole show on U-Toobe. Unbelievable. Can you imagine the back set gunner during this fight? It's one thing taking 9 Gs when you know it's coming, as the pilot would, but that poor back seat guy could only hold on for dear life, never knowing exactly when the next crushing weight was going to stuff his head back down between his knees. Tried to "compose" a screen shot using FS Recorder, the Just Flight A6M2 and the Vertigo Studios SBD. I suck at ACM! I guess that's why I keep getting shot down in CFS2! This is the best I could get...