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
Awesome team work Paul!
All superb models that do a good tribute to the allied air power during that faithful June 44.
Thumbs up to everyone
Thanks Pedro
Yes indeed, great work guys. Really cool stuff here. 🙂
Paul Barber (@yellow10)
It was a pleasure working with you guys. These photos you posted here of everyone's builds look extremely realistic. Thank you for putting it all together. 🙂
Thanks, Louis. Thanks to everyone for sending me the snaps. It’s been a great 3 months!
A great project, and a beautiful collection of models.
Excellent group build containing wonderful builds, Paul @yellow10
A great tribute to all men that flew those aircraft.
Thanks again John, great to see Chuck, Gary and Louis at work. Legends!
Nice work by all concerned. A first-rate collection.
Thanks so much, Tom. Appreciate that.
Great collection, Paul. I really like that P-47 Button Nose.
Thank you, John. Gary’s work is excellent.
Fantastic jobs on all! Excellent results!
Louis is going to open up a WW1 build in July to run through the 110th anniversary of the great war. Be great to see you there!
An excellent group effort from everyone, Good job!
Always a pleasure with this little group, Chuck.
An honor to be part of a great team! Well done, All
Absolutely, Gary!