1/48 Tamiya P47D Bubbletop "Tommy Gunner" 405th FG

4 responses

1. 

   Craig Abrahamson said on February 17, 2013

   A fine-lookin' contingency of Jugs today, Darren. The P-47 ranks among my top 5 favorites of the era. Your builds are outstanding. Can't have too many Thunderbolts, IMO. Nice work all-around. Tens for all of 'em.

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2. 

   c. Wayne Sharp said on February 17, 2013

   Darren, enjoyed your nice Jugs today for a lot of reasons besides just being well done.. a little story you may know or not, about one of the pilots in the 405th FG. his name was Major Chester Van Etten who flew most all his WWII missions in the P-47 with that group. years later, circa 1958, he was my 1st Wing Commander where was asigned as a young airman out of school. He was the wing commander of the 401st TFB Wing located at England AFB La. he was Bird Col. (06).. call sign was "John Black". really good commander that everyone liked, Then he flew our Wing F-100D air craft. In later years, he talked about WWII and flying the P-47 " LOOK NO HANDS" bird. I have an decal sheet to do one of his aircraft in 1/32 scale. not mentioned a lot of times in these events, people don't no realize all those pilots flew a lot of different airplanes and most all retained the same name if they could. Van Etten's case, ( have letters on this he wrote) he flew 5 different aircraft, all P-47s, he got shot down 2 times, lucky ( his words) both hit in the engine but flew on for about 30 min or so before freeze up and crash landed close to allied lines but retrived the Nose Art panel from the plane and carried it back and put on anoher. He did that because he paid for the art work and wanted it back. Interesting man for sure, one thing really caught my eye in the bginning, he stated that his first P-47D was the Razor back and he led a flight of 4 of theml over the beaches on D-day for a mission at Saint loe France.. he was at bout 4 K feet but could still see the water tinge on the beaches were red, when he got back to his base in England, the plane was so shot up they pushed it in to the scrap pile. enough for now.. thanks for the look .WS

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   • said on February 18, 2013

     Hi Wayne

     I have some info somewhere about Van Etten, the name "Look No Hands" apparently came from his habit of flying his P47 upside down with no hands over the airfield and calling "Look No Hands" on the radio to his fellow pilots.
     Thanks
     Darren

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3. 

   bob mack said on February 18, 2013

   a lot to like there

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