Today is the 70th anniversary of Operation Overlord, better known as D-Day. Many aircraft were painted in black-and-white zebra stripes for the operations over Northern France in June 1944, including this one: P-51D-5-NA 44-13316 G4-C “MILDRED” of the 357th Fighter Group’s 362nd Fighter Squadron, based at Leiston in the UK. This aircraft didn’t actually fly on D-Day as it arrived at Leiston a few days too late. It was soon renamed “Nooky Booky II”, one of four such named aircraft flown by famous ace pilot “Kit” Carson.
A potential replacement for the “Nick”, the Manshu Ki-98, which was never flown due to the war’s end. It had a 37 mm Ho-204 cannon in the nose:
Close-up of the armament, which also included a pair of Ho-5 12.7mm machine guns (based on the famous Browning M2 .50cal mg).
Digital artwork by yours truly.
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