Anyone know of this Mustang?

re: 1. On page 110 of ‘The Mighty Eighth Warpaint & Heraldry’ there is a comprehensive descirption of the 55th’s P-51 paint schemes for all the squadrons and has an accompanying photo showing red stripes on all the squadron airplanes.
2. On page 210 of ‘The Mighty Eighth – The Colour Record’ there is another photo of 338th P-51s with red stripe”

If you look here:
http://www.lf.czu.cz/museum119/55/55fg_cs5m.pdf

you will see that there is a red stripe around the top of the cowling and fuselage on both 343, 388 machines (and maybe 38th if the row at the back is their aircraft) but not on the side of the cowling towards the wing..

There appears to be a red stripe on the side of the machine which is just visible in the second colour picture of the rear 38th Squadron machine

BTW there is a colour plate in the Mighty Eighth War Diary (admittedly not of a 388th machine) but of a 55th FG machine with the stripe in yellow!

Russ,

Thanks for the reply. I guess that is enough evidence in favor of a red stripe!

Cheers,

Tom.

“No doubt I missed something so please point it out if so”!

Shouldn’t they have the serial on the fin????

Not all Mustangs had the serials showing. In this case they were painted over.

Keith-It’s a combination of Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop that I use to do the profiles. Illustrator for the template and basics, and photoshop for the shading, weathering, etc.

Dan

Dan Johnson’s profiles

Dan,
What software do you use for your excellent profiles ?
🙂
Keith

Also see:

http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/55thfg.jsp?offset=400

44-13663 was “Pink” when with 38 Sqn coded CG-

and

http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/55thfg.jsp

She then moved to 338th Sqn – The site has her as ‘N’ but she may have been re-coded would she have kept her nickname??

BTW the 38th Sqn had aircraft coded “O”

“No doubt I missed something so please point it out if so”!

Shouldn’t they have the serial on the fin????

Tom,

You have a convincing argument..however I believe the original suggestion of red for the stripe was the correct one, because:

1. On page 110 of ‘The Mighty Eighth Warpaint & Heraldry’ there is a comprehensive descirption of the 55th’s P-51 paint schemes for all the squadrons and has an accompanying photo showing red stripes on all the squadron airplanes.
2. On page 210 of ‘The Mighty Eighth – The Colour Record’ there is another photo of 338th P-51s with red stripe
3. Shuck’s comments regarding green band I believe refer to the border next to the checkboard nose markings and was introduced later than Aug 1944 to 338th FS P-51s
4. Most convincingly…I have spoken to 55th pilots and they remember it being a red stripe!

Therefore I believe Dan has got it spot on.

Do I get first prize as geek of the day…?

Russ

I’m not convinced its green either :rolleyes:

Look at the photo below. The stripe, to my eyes, appears to be the exact same colour as the lighter checks on the nose band and the stripe on the spinner.

So, I took a sample from both areas, the nose check is on the left, the stripe on the right:

Now I am by no means any sort of expert, but I believe the two colours to be the same!

Tom.

The 338th FS used a 2 inch wide green band as a border between the OD and natural metal finish. HTH

Ugh! Now I’ve had folks tell me two different things. One definitive “its red” and now this one 🙂

Someone make up their mind!

Dan
Did this bird just for fun since I like the paint scheme

That red stripe, can anyone confirm it was defiantly red? The more I look at the photos, the more I believe it is the same colour as the lighter checks on the nose, i.e. yellow. :confused:

The 338th FS used a 2 inch wide green band as a border between the OD and natural metal finish. HTH

OK Guys,

I guess I do some research into the other 51, question MRC do you have any wartime photos of the second plane and roughtly how far away was it from DA Quake.

Cheers Crazymainer

That red stripe, can anyone confirm it was defiantly red? The more I look at the photos, the more I believe it is the same colour as the lighter checks on the nose, i.e. yellow. :confused:

Cheers,

Tom.

Small correction regarding Da Quake:

The red line separating the green color from the natural metal is not a straight curve, but is a little bit wavy under the windscreen.

Beside this, they are perfect IMHO 🙂

OK one more try with a more wavy line. Hows this? 🙂

Dan

Small correction regarding Da Quake:

The red line separating the green color from the natural metal is not a straight curve, but is a little bit wavy under the windscreen.

Beside this, they are perfect IMHO 🙂

Very nice Dan.

If I may once again, the bomb rack under the wing would be a nice addition. Also worth of note, the early Ds did not have an handle on each side of the canopy, but just a small square, like on this picture:

Thanks for sharing your artwork 😉

OK, here are the two Mustangs, after the latest refinements based on folks observations. Added the bomb racks. Changed Da Quake’s artwork color and the rudder color. I added the little scoop over the flare gun hole beneath the canopy of Da Quake too. I’ve been staring at these off and on now for a couple days. No doubt I missed something so please point it out if so.

Shabby Abby, I’ve been doing these for fun along with lots of others. It took over for model building as a hobby. No glue on the canopy this way 🙂 Not sure what you need, but I’ll help if I can. I’m learning as I go

Dan

Indeed. Thanks to everyone for the input. Another interesting thread…

Right in front of me and I missed it! 🙂 Thanks for pointing out the no fillet part of that 51. Here’s the redo again. Is this closer to the truth?

Very nice Dan.

If I may once again, the bomb rack under the wing would be a nice addition. Also worth of note, the early Ds did not have an handle on each side of the canopy, but just a small square, like on this picture:

Thanks for sharing your artwork 😉

Nice Profiles Dan! I ought to employ you for my website…seriously, do you take commissions?

To answer your question re: Sam Gevorkian seemingly flying another coded 55th Mustang…he was flying McGinn’s a/c on 26th August, when he ran out of fuel. McGinn didn’t have much luck with his a/c being piloted by other 55th pilots…Pete Dempsey also was downed in Da Quake (44-14291), to be made POW.

Just a mention – in Barry and Ann Money’s recent publication, The Warlords, Vol. 1, the profile for Da Quake 44-13954 shows the Olive Drab on Rudder and Da Quake nose art in Yellow, bordered with Green.

Look forward to the website Dave.

Russ

The recovery operation did not take place up the beach, but near the waterline, closely look at the first picture.

Nice profile Dan. May I suggest that you remove the dorsal fin, ‘663 had not yet be fitted with one. Also, the rudder was a silver replacement.

Right in front of me and I missed it! 🙂 Thanks for pointing out the no fillet part of that 51. Here’s the redo again. Is this closer to the truth?

Dan

As I had said previously, the two upper blades rotated after they had been tied with ropes, and the wreck was pulled up with great difficulty. Why the two other blades did not rotate? I guess that the mechanism inside was kind of corroded after 37 years in salted water, as the hub covering the mechanism has been eaten away. One thing for sure, those two blades were turned backward before the “heavy works”

and forward at the end of the day.

For instance P-51D Mustang 44-13663 landed on the beach near the water line where Da’ Quake 44-13954 landed further up the beach. From the photographs which where taken on the day the aircraft landed on the beach, and photographs given to me by Ailes Anciennes it can be seen that the aircraft sank under the sand and was recovered in nearly (within feet) the same position it landed in 1944.

The recovery operation did not take place up the beach, but near the waterline, closely look at the first picture.

Nice profile Dan. May I suggest that you remove the dorsal fin, ‘663 had not yet be fitted with one. Also, the rudder was a silver replacement.