This one goes out my dearly departed friend Ed Malo, and "Wild Bill Crump" both who flew over Europe during WW2.
About a month ago, we were talking on David Leigh-Smith's "Road to Damascus" Tiger build... Somehow we got on the subject of pilots with their dogs... man's best friend.
It reminded me of a story that my friend Ed Malo, (who was a p-47 pilot who flew from Martlesham Heath during the War), told me about a Coyote pup named "Jeep". There was a fellow American pilot there at Martlesham Heath (that my friend Ed knew personally) named John William Crump, who managed to raise the coyote from when it was only two weeks old. He even managed to sneak the pup across the Atlantic in his gas mask bag.
Here's a photo of "Wild Bill" and his beloved Coyote pup "Jeep".
Jeep regularly flew with Lieutenant (later Captain) Crump, and even flew combat missions on occasion !
Sadly Jeep was accidentally killed when he was ran over by a US military Jeep at Martlesham Heath. He received a full military burial and his remains are still there, commemorated with a small plaque.
This is a true story and I'm not making it up ...
There will be more about this whole story when the model is completed during the reveal.
I'll be starting with this kit...
and I was very lucky to find these decals... Thanks go to Jeff Baily for encouraging me to look for some... 🙂
Here's a close up of the decals where you can see the portrait of "Jeep" inside the blue circle...
and the rest of the planes on the sheet.
I will be starting this build when I finish up a few others that are currently on the work bench.
Hopefully it will not be too long... as I have been wanting to build up a Tamiya Mustang. Believe it or not, I have yet to build one. I have several of the Accurate Miniatures Mustangs done, (and a few Monogram kits too), but no Tamiya or "new" Airfix kits as of yet. But that will soon change.
I wanted to get this build journal started since today is Memorial Day here in the US.
