The Thomas Morse Scout became the standard single-seat fighter trainer used by the U.S. Air Service during World War I and was nicknamed the “Tommy” by the pilots who flew it. The first prototype, the S-4, first flew in June 1917 and attained a speed of 95 m.p.h.. In the same year the army placed an order for 100 units of the production model S-4B, equipped with 100-h.p. french Gnome rotary engines. On 19th January 1918 the War Department ordered 400 units of the improved S-4C version. This model differs from the previous for the adoption of a 80-h.p. Le Rhone rotary engine, a new aileron control system and the provision for one .30 calibre Marlin aircraft machine gun. Tommies were used at almost all the pursuit flying schools in the United States and a small number of both models were sent to Naval and Marine training units for the Naval pilot preparedness programme. US Navy also used six S-5 Floatplanes at Dinner Key Naval Air Station, off Miami, Florida. The last four versions only saw a prototype stage. They were the S-4E, an advanced aerobatic trainer; the S-6 and the S-7, respectively a tandem and a side-by-side two-seat trainers; and the S-9, powered by a 200-h.p. Wright J-3 radial engine. After the war many Tommies were sold as surplus and received modification for private use, races and movies.

Paper Model Details:
76 parts on one page, with 10 construction diagrams. Extra parts for floats and “movie weapons”. Layered struts and prop blades, boxed wheels and prop hub, full cockpit tub, one-piece wing spars. Degree of Difficulty: 3/5.

Markings for:
A: US Army, pre WWI insignia
B: US Army, WWI ingignia
C: US Navy, 1918
D: Fictional Royal Flying Corps from 1930 movie “Dawn Patrol"
E: US Navy Seaplane, Dinner Key 1918