The PT Boat Forum
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ť Forum Category: PT Boats of WWII
http://www.ptboatforum.com/cgi-bin/MB2/netboard.cgi?cid=101&fct=showf

ť Forum Name: PT Boats - General
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ť Topic: Just getting started gathering info on Ron 33
http://www.ptboatforum.com/cgi-bin/MB2/netboardr.cgi?cid=101&fid=102&tid=734

I have been frequenting this site for the past few years(mostly lurking) & have thrown out a posting, or 2 looking for info on my Grandfather's brother who served on PTs. I've had very little to go on & so the blanks to this point have been rather large. Recently though some info has surfaced through his daughter & a fire at her house. She lives near by & so last week my dad & I had a chance to visit with her & she loaned me what she has found so far of her dad's pictures. Like a lot of WWII vets she said he never talked about his service& only remembers him saying anything about it a few times when he was really drunk & ticked at the world. I'm an aviation nut by birth & so that's where my interests lie, but I've also always been interested in PT boats. I built a small model of one back in the early 70's when I was a kid & when I found out my grandpa's brother served on them, have been trying to piece together details of his service ever since. I used to go fishing with my dad, my grandpa& him when I was a kid & only remember him talking about PTs once(the story had to do with sharks & so was relevant to our fishing that day). I was young enough to not have any idea of, or interest in his time in the service. I only became interested in his service after he died & I attended his funeral(of course). I have found out that he served with Ron 33 & his daughter said maybe late '42 through the end of the war. The pictures she loaned me definitely show boats with mid/late war armament & radar, so I'm assuming she's fairly accurate with her time frame. Most of the pictures are small & have suffered some fire damage, but I work in graphic arts & high end scanning, color correction & retouching, so I hope to be able to resurrect some of the photos in the coming days. I'd love to share them with everyone on this forum first for the forum's enjoyment & secondly to see if any one can help us fill in some of the information gaps. Lastly, I'm a hobby modeler & although I model almost exclusively aircraft, I have built a few PT boats in the past. Once I fill in some of the gaps in his service history though I'm going to be building Italari's new 1/35 scale ELCO as one of the boats he served on. I'm sure I'll wear out my welcome on this forum with thousands of seemingly useless questions, but I'm looking forward to learning what I can about his service, his friends, his squadron & the boats they used to defend my freedom & then to share what I've learned with his daughter & my dad & like I said to eventually build an accurate model of one of Ron 33's boats. Thanks for taking the time to give this a read & I appreciate any & all information that I'm sure I'll learn in the future because of the folks on this forum.
What I know so far is this:
Howard Earl Herling
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
served with Ron 33
service period 1942-1945
Leyte gulf
I have pictures of him on & around boat #s 488-491-492-494-497, names Blind Date- Marge- Little Joe- Little Butch & Mucho Pesos(not in that order). & a name or 2 of places& people , but I don't have them with me right now.

Is this forum the best place to post pictures(when I get them restored to a viewable degree)?
And lastly (for now) can any one direct me to a site where I can see Ron 33s squadron insignia? I've looked in the ship's store, but don't see it specifically. I just want to see what it looks like.
Again, thanks for reading this very-long initial post & I hope to post some pictures & talk with some of you soon.
Sincerely E. Blake Herling

B-

Posted By: Blake | Posted on: Apr 22, 2008 - 4:15pm
Total Posts: 61 | Joined: Apr 18, 2008 - 2:44pm

[IMaGe]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Gary%20Szot/RON33.jpg[/IMaGe]

Posted By: Gary Szot | Posted on: Apr 22, 2008 - 4:54pm
Total Posts: 193 | Joined: Feb 12, 2007 - 1:00pm

Blake: Welcome to the forum. Can't wait to see your Ron 33 pictures. A good first reference book detailing some of the ron's actions would be Cdr. Robert Bulkley's AT CLOSE QUARTERS, the "bilble" of PT ops. It is availabe at the Ship's Store on this site.

Will

Posted By: Will Day | Posted on: Apr 22, 2008 - 6:22pm
Total Posts: 1955 | Joined: Oct 8, 2006 - 4:19pm

Blake

Here's a different coloring of RON 33 emblem ...[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/RON33Emblem.jpg[/image]

Here's a link for instructions on how to add photos to a message on this board....[url]http://www.ptboats.org/photo-posting.html[/url]

Posted By: Ed B | Posted on: Apr 23, 2008 - 8:26am
Total Posts: 91 | Joined: Oct 26, 2006 - 5:31am

Here is a link to some Ron 33 photos i've collected:
[url]http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1840703[/url]

This is a link to photos of a Ron 33 boat I built:
[url]http://www.modelshipwrights.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=1578[/url]

Would love to see your photos.
Ed

Posted By: ducati650 | Posted on: Apr 24, 2008 - 4:07am
Total Posts: 450 | Joined: Feb 19, 2007 - 10:01am

Ducati Buddy

I think you should donate that wonderful model to The Mosquito Fleet Exhibit. What do you think LOL...............

Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Apr 24, 2008 - 7:17am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am

Frank,
I actually told my wife that if anything 'un-timely' happens to me, that is exactly what her to do with it.

Posted By: ducati650 | Posted on: Apr 24, 2008 - 7:43am
Total Posts: 450 | Joined: Feb 19, 2007 - 10:01am

Gee Ed, I thought I was going to get it!

Ray

Posted By: Ray Wilbur | Posted on: Apr 24, 2008 - 9:11am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered

Sorry Frank. you loose. How's that Ray?

Posted By: ducati650 | Posted on: Apr 24, 2008 - 9:17am
Total Posts: 450 | Joined: Feb 19, 2007 - 10:01am

Just great! Sorry Frank.

Ray

Posted By: Ray Wilbur | Posted on: Apr 24, 2008 - 9:23am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered

Oh Sure kick me when I am down. I don't want anything to happen to you, so maybe I will get it in another 50 years. No forget that, I'll be 102............

Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Apr 24, 2008 - 11:55am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am

Cheer up, Frank. I'm still gonna send you that 6' Elco in my garage for your 100th BD...

Will

Posted By: Will Day | Posted on: Apr 24, 2008 - 2:05pm
Total Posts: 1955 | Joined: Oct 8, 2006 - 4:19pm

Your all heart Will. Just for that, Iam gonna hold you to it. I'll expect delivery on March 16, 2057. Of course I will be too old to pick it up, maybe the grandkids.............

Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Apr 24, 2008 - 2:24pm
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am

Blake,
Welcome to the forum. There are a number of modelers here who have worked on model PT's. Ed, a.k.a. ducati650, is your best source for the Italeri kit since he's completed one and it's a beauty. We can help you spend your money. :-)

There are a number of after market sets coming out or have been out. The best and most expensive so far is the one produced by Lion Roar. U-Models and Royal Models, both from Europe, are producing after market sets that should be on the market soon. Each offers something a little different. Eduard makes a set but it's not that special compared to the others.

This is an excellent place to post pictures. They quality is excellent and the people here really appreciate it.

Take care and best of luck with your project.
Dave

David Waples

Posted By: David Waples | Posted on: Apr 25, 2008 - 9:52pm
Total Posts: 1679 | Joined: Jan 2, 2007 - 9:55pm