The Little World

This post is somewhat different from my normal practise…You get to see it built without seeing it a’building. This is because it is very nearly the same as the wheeled version made by the same maker – AZ. I built one last year in that configuration with a full report. Refer to it if you want to see the guts of it all.

This version is the more common float plane that was mounted on warships as scout and artillery spotter. In the livery you see, it was a trainer at the naval air stations on the east coast of the US early in the war. The yellow wing was combined with the intermediate blue and grey scheme but no wing chevrons are evident in photos. Nor are there any squadron codes carried.

The power for the ship is just the same as for the wheeled version, so I suspect it had a little poorer performance. The floats are quite large compared to wheels. I am grateful to AZ for the beaching gear to attach on the aides of the float.

Oddly enough, it carried as much defensive firepower as the larger dive bombers – a single .50 or twin .30’s. In its fleet deployment I suspect that the pilots tried to be as discreet as possible around Japanese aircraft carriers, rather than rile them up.

Ask me in a few month’s time about my plans for a seaplane base.