Visitors to the Hampton Roads Naval Museum might not realize what looks like giant almost six feet long plastic-looking models of an A-6 Intruder and an F-14 Tomcat, are made out of Sugar-Pine wood (with a fiberglass coating), like the old fashioned way model kits used to be made.
This will end up being an A-6 Intruder.
The man who made them, not so way back in 1993, is William Corbell.
This will end up being an F-14 Tomcat.
Corbell was lucky enough to go to work at the the now decommissioned Naval Aviation Depot Norfolk (NADEP), as a wood crafter in 1980. He was commissioned to build the model A-6 and F-14, but continued helping to repair real aircraft at the same time: “Basically, if it was something that couldn’t be fixed at the squadron; they sent it to us.”
Told you!
When Corbell visited his models in January 2019, he revealed he had placed a time capsule inside the F-14. It contains a leave request that he hopes someone in the distant future would humorously approve. The models were transferred to different locations before finally finding a home at the Naval Museum in 2008.
The photos come from William Corbell’s collection.
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