Manufacturer: Frog
Scale: 1/72
Additional parts: none
Model build: Nov - Dec 2012
Luftwaffe Vought F4U
Frog
1/72
1/72
Corsair Kriegsmarine
0:00
Made with Suno
Delphin's Fury: Operation Ostfront
Leutnant Hans Müller gripped the control stick, his knuckles white. Below him, the monstrous form of the Graf Zeppelin sliced through the icy waves of the North Atlantic. A biting wind whipped around the canopy of his captured Vought F4U Corsair, emblazoned with the bold yellow "2" that marked him as part of the elite "Delphin-Staffel" - the Dolphin Squadron.
Müller wasn't supposed to be flying an American plane. He'd trained on the temperamental Me 109T, a poor excuse for a carrier aircraft. But fate, in the form of a crippled American transport captured by the ingenious Michel raider, had delivered eight pristine Corsairs into German hands. They were a revelation - powerful, agile, perfect for the Graf Zeppelin's maiden voyage.
Operation Ostfront was a gamble. The Soviets, emboldened by recent victories, were pushing hard on the Eastern Front. The freshly repaired Scharnhorst and Tirpitz, the pride of the Kriegsmarine, were to be unleashed in a daring raid to disrupt Soviet supply lines. The Graf Zeppelin, still a greenhorn carrier, was tasked with providing air cover.
The tension crackled in the aircrew ready room. Müller glanced at his wingman, the stoic Oberleutnant Schmidt, his black hair slicked back. A curt nod was their only communication. They climbed into their cockpits, the familiar roar of the Corsair's Pratt & Whitney engine a comforting counterpoint to the churning of his stomach.
Suddenly, the shrill shriek of the alarm pierced the air. The bridge blared, "Enemy fighters inbound! Multiple bogies, bearing 020!" Müller's heart hammered. This was it. Their baptism by fire.
Eight Yakovlev Yak-9s, sleek Soviet fighters, materialized from the cloud cover. The Delphin Staffel wasted no time. With a guttural roar, Müller launched himself and his squadron into a swirling ballet of death. The Corsairs, with their superior firepower and agility, danced circles around the surprised Yaks. Müller painted the sky with tracers, his Corsair spitting fire as he sent one Yak spiraling into the icy depths below.
The battle was a blur of adrenaline and fear. Schmidt's plane took a hit, smoke billowing from the engine. With a heavy heart, Müller watched his wingman limp away, heading back to the carrier. He himself was low on ammo, his Corsair riddled with bullet holes. Just as he decided to break off, a glint of metal caught his eye - a lone Pe-2 dive bomber, streaking towards the vulnerable Scharnhorst.
Time seemed to slow down. In a desperate gamble, Müller pushed his Corsair to its limits, chasing after the lumbering bomber. He squeezed off a final burst, a prayer on his lips. The Pe-2 shuddered, then burst into flames, a fiery blossom against the leaden sky.
Exhausted but exhilarated, Müller limped back to the Graf Zeppelin. He landed with a bone-jarring thud, the cheers of the deck crew barely registering in his ears. As he climbed out, his legs wobbled. Eight Soviet planes lay vanquished, a testament to the Delphin Staffel's prowess.
Operation Ostfront wasn't a decisive victory, but it sent a powerful message. The Germans still had teeth, and the captured Corsairs, flown by skilled pilots like Müller, were a game-changer. As the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in fiery hues, Leutnant Müller knew this was only the beginning. The Delphin Staffel, a symbol of Germany's desperate innovation, had tasted victory, and they craved more. The skies of the Eastern Front, once dominated by the Soviets, would soon know the fury of the Dolphins.
Introduction:
The aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin was Germanys only aircraft carrier in WW2 - and it was not completed. Laid down in 1938, the construction of the incomplete ship was stopped in 1940. In 1942, construction was continued with a planned operational date of winter 1943. However, in December 1942, the consturction was stopped again, at this point the ship was completed about 80%. The incomplete ship was taken over by the Russians at the end of the war and sunk during weapons tests in 1947. Some years ago, the wreck was found in the Baltic Sea.
Alternate History:
Lets assume that the construction of Graf Zeppelin was not stopped in 1940. Instead, the carrier was put into service in late 1942 with its original planned aircraft, the Me 109T as a fighter, the Ju87 as dive bomber and the Fi167 as torpedo bomber.
The Plane:
In 1943, the German Auxiliary Cruiser Michel (HSK-9) was operating in the Pacific. It was one of the last active German merchant raiders. In Feb 1943, the Michel surprised the American transport ship "Iron Can" which had to stop because of an engine failure. Approaching without being detected as a warship, the Michel was able to send a boarding crew on board of the "Iron Can" which could prevent a scuttling of the American ship. The cargo of the "Iron Can" consited of 16 Chance Vought F4U, packed in boxes under and on the deck. The commander of the Michel, KzS von Ruckteschell, decided to send the "Iron Can" to Germany with a German crew on board after the engine failure was repaired. It took three monthes until the ship arrived in France and the Corsiars were transported to the Luftwaffe-Erprobungsstelle in Rechlin.
As the Me 109T were a very difficult aircraft to be used on the Graf Zeppelin, it was decided to replace them with eight of the Corsair fighters. On Oct 22, the aircraft arrived on the ship which was directly send to Norway. The Corsairs formed the so called "Delphin-Staffel". There, the Graf Zeppelin operated together with Scharnhorst and Tirpitz. The Corsairs were very successful in providing air cover for the battelships during their few operations. In May 1944, all three ships were returned to the Baltic Sea where they operated until the end of the war in 1945.
The model shows the "Yellow 2", flown by Leutnant Müller during the Operation "Ostfront" in December 1943.
As I want to build all the aircraft to be used on the Graf Zeppelin, I still struggle a big with the camo pattern. Therefore I wanted to try the different alternatives on test models first. So I took the old and simple Frog Corsair to use the first camo scheme - two different grays fo the upper cammo, the lower part of the fuselage and wings in light gray.
The model itself was quite simple and consits of only few pars, but for a test model, its ok. No additional parts were used.
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