Picture of the day.

[Gnomey]

Good shots!
,

 

[syscom3]

Convair PB4Y-2 Privateer (BU. no. 59351) parked at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.

 

[syscom3]

Bell XP-39 Airacobra 38-326 in the NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory Full-Scale Wind Tunnel, Langley Field, Virginia, 9 August 1939.

The fuselage has had all protrusions removed.

 

[Elvis]

Move those intakes forward, towards the nose area, and you've got a pretty fair approximation to a P-80...

 

[Glider]

At a Royal Air Force air station west of London, pilots rush out to their machines during a practice for the great exercises which began on August 8, 1939.

View attachment 792216

The last one gets the Gladiator.

 

[syscom3]

A P39 somewhere in the PTO.

 

[Frog]

A P39 somewhere in the PTO.

View attachment 793462

35th Fighter Squadron.

 

[Wurger]

 

[syscom3]

Japanese tank Type 95 Ha-Go captured by Soviet troops after the battle of Khalkhin Gol, late August 1939.

 

[Wurger]

 

[syscom3]

Vought SB2U-2 "Vindicator" (BuNo. 1352) from VB-2, in experimental McClelland Barclay camouflage design No. 5, on 22 August 1940, at Naval Air Station (NAS) North Island, California. Note markings (2-B-?) and "U.S. Navy" showing through beneath the heavily weathered paint.

 

[syscom3]

Douglas A-20 Havoc medium bombers, at the assembly plant at Long Beach, California. 1943

 

[syscom3]

Ground crewmen lift out the unconscious pilot of a P-47 after his flak riddled plane crashed on a
forward airstrip in Normandy, France, 16 June 1944. P-47 367th FS 358th FG 9th AF.

 

[Snautzer01]

Ground crewmen lift out the unconscious pilot of a P-47 after his flak riddled plane crashed on a
forward airstrip in Normandy, France, 16 June 1944. P-47 367th FS 358th FG 9th AF.

View attachment 794121

Republic P-47D-20-RE 42-76436 code CP-D, D-Day stripes 367th FS, 358th FG, 9th AF) in landing accident at Cardonville airfield A-3, Basse-Normandie, France Jun 17, 1944. Pilot Jacob C Blazicek. A/C Written Off, DBR.survived, but aircraft was destroyed. 17-06-1944 Saturday

eBay: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt

Republic P-47D-20-RE 42-76436 code CP-D, D-Day stripes 367th FS, 358th FG, 9th AF) in landing accident at Cardonville airfield A-3, Basse-Normandie, France Jun 17, 1944. Pilot Jacob C Blazicek. A/C Written Off, DBR.survived, but aircraft was destroyed. 17-06-1944 Saturday...

ww2aircraft.net

 

[Frog]

The airfield at Cardonville (ALG A-03) was landscaped by the 816th Engineer Aviation Bataillon from june 10 to 14 juin1944. The airfield was operational up to september 1st 1944.
It was used by the 368th and 370th Fighter Group.
Anti aircraft defence was provided by Battery B, 115th Anti-Aircraft Gun Battalion.

 

[MIflyer]

 

[Airframes]

Great subject for a weathering exercise on a model !

 

[MIflyer]

Great subject for a weathering exercise on a model !

Yeah, look at that pattern along the upper rear fuselage. I assume that is associated with paint that has flaked off along the panel lines. And that "W" does not look very straight, either.

And look at those drop tanks. They are not the paper tanks and rather than bare metal they seem to be painted OD or something like it. I do NOT recall seeing that before.

I wonder what percentage of the B and C models had Malcom Hoods fitted? It makes sense that the CO would be the first to have one, but in that famous shot of Lov IV leading the Bottiesham Four of the 375th, taken on 26 Jul 1944, the No. 4 man is flying a P-51B and it does not have the Malcom Hood, while the others have early D models.

Bud Anderson came back from one mission and told his ground crew they were going to have to think about removing the camo paint, since there was now snow on the ground over on the continent and bare metal showed up less well against snow than did camo paint. The next morning he found his airplane had the camo paint stripped. The ground crew had stayed up that night, stripping the paint by using Avgas. Their hands were raw!

 

[Airframes]

The tanks are the original metal version, and would be Neutral Gray.

The "Malcolm" hoods were supplied in kit form, as and when they could be supplied. Originally fitted by teams from the factory, and eventually supplied to units in the field to be fitted by the FG ground crews.
Not at home at the moment, so can't check the approximate percentage, but I think it was around 50 to 60 %.

 

[Lucky13]

Ground crewmen lift out the unconscious pilot of a P-47 after his flak riddled plane crashed on a
forward airstrip in Normandy, France, 16 June 1944. P-47 367th FS 358th FG 9th AF.

View attachment 794121

Now, there's a diorama!