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Yann Bertholet
14 articles

P47-D Thunderbolt ‘Kokomo’ 551st Fighter Squadron. 495th Fighter Group

March 10, 2021 · in Aviation · · 19 · 2.2K

Hi everybody,

I would like to present you my favourite fighter from WWII: the mighty , THE ‘JUG'. I was building the model while reading Tail-End Charley from James. E. Brown, what a kick of motivation! I really recommend this book.

Built 2 years ago, here is the P-47d thunderbolt ‘KOKOMO'. As usual straight from the box, the build is the with some mistakes from my part.

The plane was flown by LT. GEN. William E. Kepner who was commanding the 8th fighter command as from September 1943.

The Tamiya kit was, as usual, not a surprise, well-detailed and well-fitting kit. There is 2 major mistakes on the model, can you find them?

Hope you enjoy and don't hesitate to leave comment and recommendation.

Reader reactions:
11  Awesome

8 additional images. Click to enlarge.


19 responses

  1. Great build, Yann.
    Mistakes or not, it just looks awesome, even in full sunlight.
    Not sure if it was used in reality, but I cannot recall to have seen aircraft with two US markings on the bottom.

  2. Actually two insignia on the undersides of P-47's in the ETO was fairly common. I think it had something to do with avoiding confusion between it and the Fw-190.
    Great work again, and really nice photos. I'm partial to the eye-level shots but I really like the one with the P-51 alongside too.

  3. A nice build - well done!

  4. Nice work, Yann. It's hard not to get a great result with this kit. You've gotten the most out of what was in the box.

  5. Classic kit, classic model, don't know about the two mistakes but definitely liked.

  6. What mistakes ? She looks great!

  7. 🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
    Quite an appealing model Yann.
    Very good clean modeling.

  8. Nice model, Yann!
    Loking froward to see the mistakes revealed!

  9. Good Day All !
    Thanks for the interest!
    1st mistake: the decal on the portside fuselage iwo of the windshield is upside-down.
    2nd mistake: the actual plane was fitted with only 3 guns barrels on each wing.
    Regarding US markings, you will see that the actual plane of Kepner was painted with the US marking on the lower part of both wings.

    2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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