For those of you still waiting to get your hands on the Italeri Elco PT Boat a little something to tide you over.

Artist Jimmy Dean.
PT-109

From the site http://www.lyricsdepot.com/jimmy-dean/pt-109.html

In '43 they Set to sea
13 men and Kennedy
Aboard the PT 109
To fight the Brazen enemy
On the isle of ol lusana
in the strait beyond nehru
A Jap destroyer in the night
Cut the '109 in two.

CHORUS:
Smokin fire upon the sea
Everywhere they looked was the enemy
the heathen gods of old Japan
Yeah, the thought they had the best of a mighty good man

On the coast, commanderos, lookin thru this periscope
Australian niven saw the battle
For the crew had little hope
two were dead, some were wounded, all were clinging to the bow
Fightin fire, fightin water, trying to save their lives somehow.

CHORUS:
Smokin fire upon the sea
Everywhere they looked was the enemy
the heathen Gods of old Japan
Yeah, the thought they had the best of a mighty good man
Mac Me hun, the irishman, was burned so badly he couldn't swim
leave me here, go on he said, cause if you don't we'll all be dead
the PT's skipper wouldn't leave him, a man to die alone at sea
with his strap, between his teeth, he towed the irishman to the sea.

CHORUS:
Smokin fire upon the sea
everywhere they looked was the enemy
the heathen gods of old Japan
they thought they had the best of a mighty good man

He led his men thru water's Dark
rocky reefs and hungry skarks
braved the enemy's bayonets
a .38 around his neck
4 more days, 4 more nights,
a recue boat pulled into sight
the PT 109 was gone,
but Kennedy and his crew lived on

So who could Guess, and who could possibly know
that this same man named Kennedy, would,
be the leader of a nation,
be the one to take command,
the PT 109 was gone but Kennedy lived to fight again,

Smokin fire upon the sea,
Everywhere they looked was the enemy,
but JFK and his crew lived on,
which proves it's hard to get get the best of a man named John
Big John
Big John
Big John


For those of you who have never heard the song the last lines, Big John etc, are sung exactly like the chorus from Big Bad John.

That's cool, Rodge!
Thanks for sharing!!
This could be our "Campaign Anthem" for the upcoming Military Small Craft/PT-Boat campaign, mate!
~Gunny

!And for those of us that KNOW how to drive boats there is a very important lesson - always open your exhaust manifolds before you slam the throttles full ahead! As an assault box coxswain I have had the privilege to drive a lot of Navy boats - Sadly no PT's after reading after action reports I have to question a few things -
1. Why did the lookouts not see/hear the Destroyer
2. Why was a PT unable to avoid the collision?
3. Based on the crew of the Destroyer they were not trying to ram the PT- so there was no aggressive maneuvering used.

Note - I by no means wish to tarnish the reputation of Jack Kennedy, however I feel the story of his courage starts after the sinking - it a lesson that all young naval officers need to learn - to be a great leader you need to care more about your men than you do about yourselves. I was a Petty Officer 2nd class and I know that there were times I probably damaged my advancement opportunities because I would not throw my guys under the bus- I have no problems reconciling that. I had a Chief that was a poor BM but a real good a**- kisser - we went through an Inserv (inspection) and the port hueneme inspectors told the captain at the de-briefing that the only shortcoming that deck force had was a piss-poor chief.
- end ramble -
The Elco PT is one of the most exciting models out there - I for one can't wait for the kit - it will save so many hours from converting that Lindberg beast into a decent boat

As a huge fan of the PT109 Story, I have always wondered the same thing John. I can only surmise that it may have been like proceeding through a busy and crowded intersection in your Mini when a suburban housewife piloting her gigantic Suburban and merrily chatting up her friend on a mobile phone fails to see the red light in front of her! You can impagine the rest. I have seen this situation many times and where the similarities lay, I believe we are at war with cell phone chatting suburban housewives in large American land yacht utility vehicles! Oh the humanity!?

My 2 cents! Gary :-) :-)

I totally agree, except to the degree that he showed some guts just being there, when no doubt his Daddy could have gotten him some cushy behind the lines job. I vaguely recall some ex Navy friend of my Dad's complaining about JFK, and I don't recall if it was before after his death, that he was "some skipper, lost his command." (I think my Democratic Dad might have been arguing with his Republican friend.)

BTW, in case you guys missed it there is a review of the Italeri boat on Perth, http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/italeri/it5602.htm

I wonder why they chose a late war Elco as opposed to a early-mid war? I like the clean lines of the early war elcos with the tubes instead of the roll off racks. I smell aftermarket parts !

I would submit my theory as to why he got rammed. Noise and battlefield fog. That Elco made a lot of noise going full throttle. Think how loud a car is with no muffler. The destroyer as big as it was. well the motor end is several hundred feet behind it so all you would hear is the rush of water from the bow....kind of like a sailing ship. So they didn't hear it coming. A moonless night, smoke from battle, and driving to fast for conditions. I would figure that all weighed in for the accident. I mean how could a modern day sub with all that sophisticated sonar/ detection gear ram a 1000 foot plus super tanker?

From the Pitroad website, from their 16th Annual Contest, the Copper prize:



It's in 1/700 scale
Skipper

Very nice Skip. I especially like the fact it's historically accurate, with the 109 being at such a sharp angle to the bow, no like the movie that had her just about perpendicular.

I understood that 109 was idleing in the straights - nt under ull power and as the throttles were advanced it stalled due to the exhausts still being rigged for quiet running - A pt at full speed bypasses the mufflers

And I especially like the fact that this is a littel bigger than a cigarette pack
Very good, packed with action in such a small space

Skipper