OK, it's the wrong section, but rather than have you chasing around looking for it, here's the info on Capt. Don Gentile's P51B 'Shangri La'. BTW, his name is pronounced 'Jen Tilly'.
The Tamiya painting guide shows this aircraft with a white forward part to the spinner, and the decals include two of the 'scrolls' which show his victories, with different numbers of crosses on each. The attached profile is from the Osprey 'Mustang Aces of the 8th Air Force', and I believe it to beslightly incorrect, as it shows 22 victories. Don Gentile was officially credited with 21.83 aerial victories and, at that stage in the war, ground victories were not officially counted, or displayed on aircraft, so his ground'strafing 'kills' would not be shown. The total number of crosses painted on hsi aircraft was 21.
The colour pics show the Mustang with an all red spinner, and it is very possible that these pictures, taken by the USO/USAAF PRO, and from the USAF, were taken on the day the Press etc visted Debden, on 13th April 1944. They are certainly posed! But there's some useful detail in them you can maybe use.
The black and white shot of his crashed aircraft was taken the same day, after he had hit a low rise in the field, whilst doing a low, fast pass, in front of the Press, after his final mission before returning to the 'States.
The other black and white pic, of 'Shangri La' about to taxy from dispersal at Debden, (from USO) is dated 8th April, 1944, and again, this shows 21 victory markings, and the white-fronted spinner. It's possible that the white spinner was a temporary replacement, as it seems unusual to paint only the rear section and the nose band, along with the wheel rims. Before the red noses were adopted, the P51's wore the white I.D. nose bands and spinners, and it maybe that this was a spare, or was left off when the rest of the nose was painted. The colour pics show the paint to be new-looking, and other aircraft of the group also had all-red spinners, so it's anybody's guess, unless someone has a definite answer?
I've got a couple more colour shots, from different angles, but can't seem to locate the darned things!
Anyway, Capt. Gentile was originally a member of a RAF 'Eagle' Squadron, where he scored his first two victories on Spitfires, and the nose arton his Mustang is reputed to be the original design for an Eagle Sqaudron motif, designed by the Walt Disney studios.
I hope this helps, and the decals will be in the mail tomorrow (Friday).
Terry.
