I thought I'd write a little about Col. Scott. I'm doing this from memory having read, "God is my Co-Pilot" three or four times, most recently a couple of years ago, so forgive me if someone finds some errors, but I believe it to be accurate.
Robert Lee Scott grew up in the South (Georgia I believe, but I could be incorrect here) wanting to fly more than anything else, and managed to wrangle his way into Westpoint, and after that the Air Corps and flight training. In his mid 30s at the time of Pearl Harbor, he was considered too old for combat and assigned to be a flight instructor. He heard of a call for volunteers with 4-engine experience for a combat mission. Although he had no multi engine time, he said he did and was part of a plan to fly B-17s to China by way of South America, Africa and India, to bomb Japan at around the same time as the Doolittle raid. By the time the flight of B-17s reached India the whole thing had been called off and the aircraft reassigned and Scott found himself flying DC-3s across the Himalayan mountains to supply Gen. Chennault's Flying Tigers.
He got to Know Chennault and many of the AVG pilots. He asked Chennault if he could "borrow" a P-40 to protect his transports and was "leant" a new P-40E. Scott did more than just escort his transports. He made up combat missions on his own searching out enemy aircraft and strafing Japanese columns on the Burma Road. He would fly multiple sorties a day having his crew chief repaint the color of his prop spinner between flights. The Japanese thought a new P-40 unit had moved into the area. On July 4, 1942, the AVG contract with the Chinese government ended and most of the Flying Tigers went home. Gen Chennault was taken back into the USAAF and asked Scott to take command of the 23rd Fighter Group which took over from the Tigers. A few of AVG pilots stuck around and helped out with the training.
Scott had become attached to the P-40E Chennault had 'lent' him which he had named "Old Exterminator" and was determined to keep it. This involved some sleight of hand as it technically belonged to the Chinese government and was now flown in the USAAF. This problem was solved by taking a newly arrived P-40 and swapping tail numbers with his, so it is rather sketchy exactly what tail numbers his plane had and has lead to several numbers showing up in profiles. Scott flew Old Exterminator until it was shot up during a mission beyond repair and used for spare parts. Scott's next plane was the P-40K that I am modeling.
His book details many missions and incidents including the "One-Zero" one I mentioned in a previous post, and a real interesting one of him flying a P-43 over Mt Everest and taking pictures. I've always wanted to see what those pictures looked like. The book ends with him still in command of the 23rd fighter group before the big push by the Japanese that pushed the allied forces back out of the bases at Kunming and other areas. I have always wondered about his involvement at this time but have never seen information on it. If anyone has any info, feel free to post it here.