"...I am close to starting work on a Revell Forrestal carrier and need to add more period correct aircraft....I believe the short canopy Skyraider would be the correct one (for)...the time period I am building the Forrestal (, which) is approximately 1961."
And sent the following reference pics:
Click on Image to Enlarge
But the thing about pics of just one or two planes: usually they can't prove the type was actually standard complement aboard ship at the time - and could perhaps have been lone "oddballs", even temporary visitors from other ships or airfields. The way to really nail it down - in addition to your great pics (don't get me wrong) - is to check the Forrestal Air Groups page at GoNavy. From which one can use the evidence of the WF-2 Tracer, in the pic at left, to deduce these date no earlier than Forrestal's Mediterranean cruise of 2/9/61 through 8/25/61 - as indeed the code "AJ" and number "741" ("modex 7xx") peg it to exactly that cruise (and not Forrestal's next, in '62).
Now, for the skinny on SkyRaiders go down the list for that cruise, looking on the right-hand column for "AD-x(x)", and you will find AD-6s - Bubble-Canopy type Spads - of the "Black Falcons" (VA-85), modex numbers 5xx, as well as AD-5Qs - Long-Canopy type 'Raiders - of the "Night Hawks" (VAW-33, Detachment 42), modex 8xx. Ironically, markings on the Long-Canopy SkyRaider in your pics do not match the above, and this and some of its wing pods suggest it is instead a tanker/utility SkyRaider with the "Diamondbacks" (fighter) Squadron! These would be relative "oddballs" - just one or two, if any, on deck at any given moment. In any case - one way and another - your answer is clear: both types of SkyRaiders.
"...I am especially in need of Tracers (also glimpsed, at left, and) Trackers."
No problem, Bob - one of the Tracers we already positively ID'd, above. But of Trackers (S2Fs, later S-2s), GoNavy makes no mention, ever being deployed aboard Forrestal. In the above pic at left, note the "Tracker" with folded wings does not have any large code letters nor modex numbers, but only a large American flag on the tail. This appears in fact to be the ship's - or, perhaps a visiting - "Carrier Onboard Delivery" (COD, later C-1) aircraft: yet another "oddball", as above. So, your choice whether you want to depict one of these on deck, for a bit of variety.
"...also (here are) a couple pics of what I believe to be the S-55 Navy helicopters that I need":
Yes, Bob you are absolutely right - though your "hump at the bottom" on the S-55 (Navy designation "HO4S") was not a hump but an angled keel - a sort of fin - sweeping up and blending into the tail boom. The HSSx SeaBat (Sikorsky commercial designation S-58) was indeed hump-backed - although its nose did retain almost identical features, back as far as the main rotor, to your S-55/HO4S.
"...Any ideas?...let me know what you think..."
Well, I don't know anyone who makes an HO4S in 1:540 scale, but it does look to be pretty simple just to chop a SeaBat off the aft end of its passenger compartment, round that off and add some plastic rod and putty to make/blend in the HO4S tail end, and landing gear.
But, to backtrack a little I'm not even sure the HO4S seen above, was even Forrestal's own chopper anyway, since: 1) the type is not included on the GoNavy list (above), 2) GoNavy does mention the HUP-3 Retrievers seen in your pics, and 3) any other ship's utility choppers would likely not be bright orange but, if anything less flashy than the Retrievers. Also, by 1961 the HO4S was far from a "front-line" machine (already superseded - for years - by the HSS/HUS): if the above was somehow one of Forrestal's own, then surely it was their last surviving "Old Paint" workhorse - another "one-off oddball", as discussed above. But I think it most likely was a visitor from another (smaller, second-line) ship, or shore base.
Anyway, it never hurts to add variety to a flight deck. And I learned the HO4S was designated "HRS" by the Marines and "H-19" by the Army - who further named it the "Chickasaw", and I'm sure the Navy and Marine Corps likewise had their own names for it, though I don't know what those were. (If anyone can enlighten us here, pipe up!)
"...Thanks!...(and) thanks too for (this) Forrestal thread link - it('s) helpful."
That's what we aim for - you're very welcome - and Welcome to Model Fleet, buddy!
Cheers,
-Matty
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