Invasion Stripes: Commemorating D-Day with 'Flight 19'
With the 80th Anniversary of the Normandy landings and the campaign that followed upon us, a small group of iModelers who now stay in regular contact outside of the site set up a group build to depict ‘Invasion Stripes’. This pays homage to the various meticulously planned activities of the Allied air forces in 1944 as France was liberated. The strategic and varied combat operations in Normandy, both before and after the 6th of June 1944 are represented by the group (we often refer to ourselves as Flt-19 as our first private group build was carried out as a memorial to those lost Avengers).
This purpose of this post is a photo summary to show our builds together. When I came to put this together it struck me that we had covered a wide variety of the roles of those air forces in preparation for, and execution of the first steps in the liberation of mainland Europe. We have ground attack planes; troop support; bomber escort; reconnaissance; an anti-submarine operator flown off a carrier; anti-shipping; and a glider used in the transport of troops inland.
Please visit the individual posts, which include some high-quality modelling, stories and research by (as my kids say) ‘my plane mad American friends’!
Here are the summary photographs of the builds!
Louis Gardner, P-47 Thunderbolt
Louis Gardner, P-51B Mustang
Louis Gardner, Beaufighter TF Mk X
Louis Gardner, Hawker Typhoon
Gary Sausmikat, Grumman Hellcat Mk I F6F
Gary Sausmikat, Thunderbolt P-47
Chuck Villanueva, Hawker Tempest Mk V
Chuck Villanueva, De Havilland Mosquito Mk IV
Paul Barber, P51-D Mustang
Paul Barber, Airspeed AS.51 Horsa
