I was thinking back when Steve Joyce was building carriers seemingly left and right and he was building them with specific carrier wings. Steve, or anyone else for that matter, what did you use to verify the make-up of aircraft for your given wing? I'd like to do the Sara in her 80s period with CVW-3. Any suggestions? I checked CVW -3s homepage and came up with only her current configuration. Nothing from Sara's or the DoN's pages.

Thank you guys for your time.
Steve

Steve,

My quick search didn't yield very much. the only reference to CVW-3 during the 80's was when they were on the JFK. But it was quick. I'd do a Saratoga search and maybe check NavSource for some decent photos.

Gator

Hi Steve,
Saratoga deployed to the Med in March 1980 with CVW 3 aboard. Squadrons included VF-31, Vf-103, VA-37, VA-105, VA-75, VAW-123, VS-22 and HS-7. I found the info here: http://www.gonavy.jp/CVW-ACf.html
http://www.gonavy.jp/CVW-ACf.html
Hope this helps
Rob

Rob and Ken, thank you both!
Rob, that was exactly what I needed. It's kinda strange, the kit came with every aircraft with the exception that the SA-3s were substituted with F-14s. I chose 1980 or the 80s in general because it was the period I was in uniform. I'm trying to amass all these models that would have been in operation during my service period.

By the way CoB, it's nice to hear from you again. Been a long time.

Good iuck with that collection Steve. The 80's was the period the USN was building a 600 ship navy so you have a lot of work ahead of you
v/r,
Rob

Well, I should rephrase that a little, I meant samples from each service during that period....heavy on the Army side of course.

This site is absolutely terrific! Not only does it show which squadrons deployed with which wings on each carrier and the dates and location of the cruise, but if you drill down in the "BU Number" section, it will tell you exactly how many planes were deployed in each squadron, the "side number" (or Modex) for each one and the "Bureau" (or serial) number for each plane.

Really great info!

Tom

No it's not. Had I bothered to look at the rest of the page CoB posted I would have discovered that the addition of the F14s were so you could model Sara either before or after her SLEP refit from Oct 1980 -Feb 1983. It's only short the S-3s.

While I'm on the subject and if I haven't already mentioned it already, this is an Italeri kit and I am very pleased with the clean and crisp molding and the fit of this kit. She dry fits nice and will require minimal clean-up and or any filling. And for the price, it's well worth the look. It's nice to see that you can still pick up a very nice kit without having to pay a fortune or sell a kidney.

Thank you again Rob


Tom, nice to see you again as well! Almost like old home week!

Thanks, Steve. I've actually been lurking, but for most of the last year I've been back doing some 1/35th stuff which has taken quite a bit of time. I'm finishing up a modified M35 from my first unit which was converted into a mobile field kitchen, which I hope to have finished by the end of the year so I can start doing a Fletcher class for the Forgotten Sisters Campaign.

Tom