Tamiya P-51Ds of the 357th FG
Here's Old Crow in the later scheme after the camouflage paint was removed. Also John B. England's "Missouri Armada" (with individual ID letter wrong - never trust decal instructions!) and Clarence Weaver's well-known "Passion Wagon."
Again, True Details cockpits and Falcon canopies.
The 357th FG arrived in the UK in January 1944, scheduled to go to the tactical Ninth Air Force (because the USAAF considered Mustangs "tactical fighters" because the RAF had used them in the tactical role). by that time the 354th, on temporary assignment to the 8th AF had proven the airplane's worth as an escort, so Doolittle prevailed on Ninth Air Force to take the P-47-equipped 368th FG in trade for the P-51-equipped 357th, which flew their first escort the last Big Week mission at the en of February 1944. They were the top-scoring only-Mustang group in 8th AF and also top-scoring for only air-to-air kills, quite an achievement up against the 56th and 4th FGs that had been there a year longer. The fact they adopted the "no missum" K-14 lead-computing sight in June 1944, several months before any other group, may have had a role in that achievement.
What...? No "Glamorous Glennis"...? Oh yeah - that's right too...those decals are hard to find any more. 🙁
I used to consider Chuck Yeager my childhood hero, and I thought I was the luckiest guy in the universe that my first Big Hollywood job was taking care of him on The Right Stuff and getting the chance to go flying with him in his Bonanza, and then being introduced to all my other childhood heroes at the 1984 AFAA convention - best weekend of my life.
And then, in 2006, his inner A$$wipe (which was apparent to anyone around him privately, and I knew it existed) led him to destroy his family and wipe out his kids, who had gone the extra 1,000 miles to put that relationship back together, and he threw it away for a Hollywood neverwas/neverwouldbe psycho-witch (spell that last word with a "b"), who proceeded to destroy his relationship with Bud Anderson when Bud tried to warn him after having her investigated, who destroyed most of his other relationships over her. She tried to copyright the P-51 because he'd flown it, and there's a whole lot more I could say but I won't. To me, he's the greatest aviation disappointment I ever met, and anyone who thinks of him as other than a "good stick", who thinks of him as a "hero" is sadly amiss in their definition of that word. The truth is, he was always an A$$hole.
If you want to whole sordid story, these articles have it.
http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Chuck-Yeager-is-in-love-Three-of-his-kids-doubt-2821681.php
http://articles.latimes.com/2006/apr/21/local/me-yeager21
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/u-s-judge-says-chuck-yeager-incompetent-to-represent-himself/article_38245d3c-c3cd-5356-9543-925cba5a8eb1.html
https://www.theunion.com/news/local-news/yeager-wife-revving-up-for-legal-fight/
When I read his books a few years back, I always thought his writing came across with an arrogant "I'm better than anybody" attitude. But, like yourself, I'd always sorta looked up to him as a pilot's pilot and I'd also thought that fighter pilots were SUPPOSED to have that 'attitude', so I dismissed my negative interpretation and simply tried to enjoy his biographies without any bias. I still have a couple of autographed photos of him on my man-cave wall (and the books) and not really knowing the man, shall probably continue to think of him as one of the great fighter pilots. I may change my thinking after checking out the links you provided. We'll see.
Very nice
Great Mustangs!
Nice builds Tom, Very nice.
Nice builds Tom. Thanks for the links. Interesting that these larger than life figures that we so idolize are just mere mortals. Reminds me of Randy Cunningham's fall from grace as Vietnam war hero, albeit not over a woman!
Facts just finally caught up with Cunningham. In the USN, if you do something like he did as a Junior officer, if you keep your nose clean, you are on the Admiral track. He never made it past Commander. And if he hadn't had that 3-victory day back in 1972, he wouldn't have made it past Lieutenant, since his CO was preparing charges against him. One thing I have learned being around aces is that the good ones really are good (and it has nothing to do with their "ace" status), and the others are... well, just say that the ability to shoot down 5 airplanes is not necessarily a major indicator in life of anything past good eyesight and the ability to withstand the G.
Well said Tom!
All very interesting, and, the models look great, but, is there any special reason for this weekend's stampede of Mustangs?
discovered a forgotten stash of old photos and "perked them up" in PS. 🙂
Hello Tom,
My compliments. Well build and I appreciated the little story to go along with the models. Regards, Dirk / The Netherlands.
A very nice trio of Mustangs.
And then more nice Mustangs to add to the corral! Better late than never!