Military-themed guitars

[Thunderface]

The April guitar in the 2011 Fender Custom Shop Calendar, which hangs just to the left of my monitor, was the Flying Tiger Esquire guitar & amp set, which I thought was cool because I love aviation history, particularly WWII aviation.

So I went looking to see if I could find a Flying Tigers Esquire and found that Schecter also made a Flying Tigers guitar, part of their discontinued Aviation series. You can still find a few of these around (from left, the Spitfire, Bomber Girl, Midway and Flying Tiger models).

If I were buying, I'd go with the Midway, although I think the headstock graphics would have been better with the Jolly Rogers flag or Big Hog from VF-17.

 

[CA-35]

Sweet themes......nice guitars. Great post.

Thunderface you are a man after my own heart. I go more for the ships than the aircraft. However, when it comes to aircraft of that time I love the carrier-based aircraft at the Battle of Midway; the Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat, the Douglas TBD-1 Devastator, and my favorite the Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless.
The star ship-destroying role at Midway was filled by the Dauntless; flying from all three American carriers as scouts and dive-bombers and sinking or mortally wounding all four IJN carriers and a heavy cruiser.

 

[Thunderface]

I do the ships, too. There's a shop in St. Augustine called the Ancient Mariner Nautical Gift Shop that sells all the Navy ship caps. The first time I went there, I got a USS Arizona cap. The second time, I tracked down a USS Bunker Hill carrier hat, because VF-17 originally flew off of Bunker Hill before being detached to one of the Islands.

Shipping must run in my blood a little. My grandfather was a ore boat captain on the Great Lakes, and my older brother recently bought the retired Coast Guard Cutter Sundew, which he operates out of Duluth, Minn. on Lake Superior.

 

[fronobulax]

There's a shop in St. Augustine called the Ancient Mariner Nautical Gift Shop that sells all the Navy ship caps.

The Ships Hatch is another source for caps and other themed items. Local and I used to work in the same building as the shop.

 

[CA-35]

Thunderface wrote:
There's a shop in St. Augustine called the Ancient Mariner Nautical Gift Shop that sells all the Navy ship caps.

Thanks but that's what I don't need is another hat supplier. I have hats from every damaged or sunk vessel at Pearl, of course the USS Indianapolis hat, all the hats from every ship sunk at Guadalcanal, need I continue?

Good stuff guys thanx.

 

[CA-35]

Thunderface I must admit not knowing a lot about VF-17 "The Jolly Rogers" so I found this on the net about Lt. Cmdr. Blackburn. I thought you, as I did, would love it. If you have seen it sorry to be redundant......now maybe others, like me, will be enlightened. He trained in my neck of the woods strangely. A little town called Opa Locka. I took flight lessons there as a young teenager myself, that's when soon after I decided the air was not for me.
Blackburn is 4th from the left.

Here is his complete bio.
http://www.acepilots.com/usn_blackburn.html

Thanks and enjoy

 

[Default]

His autobiography is entitled "The Jolly Rodgers". Interesting book!

 

[kakerlak]

I'll add one to the mix: Normandy Guitars

Big faux rivets and aluminum body in polished or olive drab powdercoat. Kinda neat... Less "nose art" more "nose cone"

BTW, my dad's father was an aeronautical engineer during (and after) WWII and my mom's father was an Army Air Corps* mechanic during WWII.

*people forget that the "Air Force" didn't exist until after WWII

 

[Thunderface]

I'll add one to the mix: Normandy Guitars

Big faux rivets and aluminum body in polished or olive drab powdercoat. Kinda neat... Less "nose art" more "nose cone"

BTW, my dad's father was an aeronautical engineer during (and after) WWII and my mom's father was an Army Air Corps* mechanic during WWII.

*people forget that the "Air Force" didn't exist until after WWII

Indeed. Good point, Kakerlak. The Army Air Forces was in place until after WWII. And as for the Blackburn book "The Jolly Rogers," I've had it in paperback and hardcover for years, and have read and re-read it so many times I practically have sections memorized. One of my favorite parts is when Blackburn goes up to Floyd Bennett Field to pick up a new Corsair and as he's flying back to the base the LaGuardia Tower asks him to do a fly-by so they can "have a lot at that thing." He obliges, passing the tower at nearly 400 mph. Couldn't do that now.

The other book I've given similar treatment to is "To Fly and Flight" by Clarence (Bud) Anderson, who flew the Old Crow P-51 in the Army Air Forces for the 357th Fighter Group. Bud is still around and still occasionally flies a P-51 that someone painted like Old Crow (I believe it is Jack Roush) at airshows.

A few years ago, I had a diecast model of Old Crow and I contacted Anderson's son to ask if I could get his father to autograph it for me. First thing I ever wanted autographed in my life. He said his dad would be glad to sign it, so I boxed it up with a note and a Sharpie and return postage for Col. Anderson to sign. About a week later, I get it back with a note from Anderson saying that he used a finer-tip Sharpie then the one I provided because that one would smudge, and that I should perhaps glue one of the plastic bombs under the wings because it had come loose. His autograph was neatly written on the underside of the wing.

So now I'm thinking that perhaps along with the Schecter Midway guitar, I would think about a Normandy olive green guitar and have Old Crow painted on it.