• There seems to be an uptick in Political comments in recent months. Those of us who are long time members of the site know that Political and Religious content has been banned for years. Nothing has changed. Please leave all political and religious comments out of the forums.

    If you recently joined the forums you were not presented with this restriction in the terms of service. This was due to a conversion error when we went from vBulletin to Xenforo. We have updated our terms of service to reflect these corrections.

    Please note any post refering to a politician will be considered political even if it is intended to be humor. Our experience is these topics have a way of dividing the forums and causing deep resentment among members. It is a poison to the community. We appreciate compliance with the rules.

    The Staff of SOH

  • Server side Maintenance is done. We still have an update to the forum software to run but that one will have to wait for a better time.

New P-51D Mustang - Little Friends

Bruce, awesome photograph, and very well captured in your repaint! The markings are quite varied, aren't they!? The lack of 55th FG checkers on two of the cowl panels, is a bit curious. And it looks like there is a stripe/band of color, that flows with the anti-glare shield, but stops at the end of the engine cowling (that is chipping away) - I would suspect that this stripe/band may be red, as on the 55th FG Mustangs 'Millie G', 'Miss Marilyn II', and others - as there may have been some bits added from another, older 55th FG Mustang (back from the days of the 'Millie G' style paint scheme), that was in disposal/parted-out - those being the top cowling panels, and forward lower cowling panel. This would have provided enough of the groups checkers, as shown, without breaking-out the paint buckets, and at the same time keeping the nose art panels intact. The 'smile' chin scoop, the small cast-part in front of the lower cowling panel, may have remained red, from the aircraft's 4th FG days. It is hard to judge the color on the spinner though, which looks like it could have been over-all red, or over-all green - if there was a yellow band painted on the nose, it would show up as clearly as the yellow checkers.

It is interesting to note, that those red/yellow/red occupation stripes, were applied very precisely, as there was of course no wartime rush. They varied extremely little from one Mustang to the next, and were always very straight and precise to proper widths and placement (unlike invasion stripes).
 
Can't wait to get my hands on this one, especially the paint kit!!! Trouble is, I bought it a week and more ago but still got no d/l email. Been away so only just emailed Albert earlier today to ask for help.

Soon be painting with any luck!!

PS Great schemes from Jankees, Bruce and SkyhawkA4 BTW

PPS Helluva shame about the Duxford crashes

Regards

DaveQ
 
DaveQ said:
Can't wait to get my hands on this one, especially the paint kit!!! Trouble is, I bought it a week and more ago but still got no d/l email. Been away so only just emailed Albert earlier today to ask for help.

Soon be painting with any luck!!

PS Great schemes from Jankees, Bruce and SkyhawkA4 BTW

PPS Helluva shame about the Duxford crashes

Regards

DaveQ
Click to expand...

Dave, I sent you a PM. ; )

If anyone has any questions per the purchase/download system, I hope to clear some things up. The system has been working superbly well for quite some time now. It all functions automatically, and almost instantly - when you purchase the product, you should expect to see an e-mail/download link in a matter of minutes, or less. Unfortunately, despite this, when the e-mails are sent out, some select e-mail clients put them in the spam folder - and 99% of the time that you don't find the e-mail/download link within your inbox in just a short period of time following purchase, it will be in the spam folder. If for some reason a purchase goes through, and you don't receive an e-mail right away, either in your inbox or in your spam folder, we hope to have it resolved, and a new link/e-mail sent to you, within 2-7 days (though it often requires us being informed of the matter first) - accounting for how soon it can be addressed. That is the reason why when you purchase, it provides a 'cautionary' amount of time that it 'may' take, in order to get you up and running, just in-case if something goes sour with the purchase. Otherwise you should be good to go within just minutes, or less, following your purchase. ; )
 
bruce448 said:
This any better John?
Click to expand...

Bruce, very nice! I enjoy seeing schemes from WWII B&W photos, come back to life in color for the first time, having never been reproduced before. This one in particular is quite unique.

Another thing I thought might be worth mentioning, due to how dark the green checkers/nose shows up in the photo, is that I was never able to conclude for sure, as to if the green as I used on "The Millie G" was the actual green (as portrayed on so many other Millie G depictions as well), or if it was like this, a darker, more 'forest' green, as seen on these late-war 55th FG Mustangs (note again the red stripe that follows the anti-glare shield ; ) ):

55thfg.jpg
 
Bomber_12th said:
Dave, I sent you a PM. ; )

If anyone has any questions per the purchase/download system, I hope to clear some things up. The system has been working superbly well for quite some time now. It all functions automatically, and almost instantly - when you purchase the product, you should expect to see an e-mail/download link in a matter of minutes, or less. Unfortunately, despite this, when the e-mails are sent out, some select e-mail clients put them in the spam folder - and 99% of the time that you don't find the e-mail/download link within your inbox in just a short period of time following purchase, it will be in the spam folder. If for some reason a purchase goes through, and you don't receive an e-mail right away, either in your inbox or in your spam folder, we hope to have it resolved, and a new link/e-mail sent to you, within 2-7 days (though it often requires us being informed of the matter first) - accounting for how soon it can be addressed. That is the reason why when you purchase, it provides a 'cautionary' amount of time that it 'may' take, in order to get you up and running, just in-case if something goes sour with the purchase. Otherwise you should be good to go within just minutes, or less, following your purchase. ; )
Click to expand...

Thanks John - see my PM.

This was entirely my own fault; I'd looked in the spam folder in Outlook, but there was another one only visible by going to my Sky.com email site direct. The activation email was there. Apologies to all.:redface:

Now flying. What a wonderful job!!

When the paint kit arrives first up is the signature - Lt. Col. John McGinn's 'Da Quake' of the 55th FG. This poses an interesting puzzle. This aircraft was lost in a belly landing in August 1944 but carried the 'half-and-half' scheme of the 343rd FS, the only 338th FS P-51 to do so. According to a source I now can't find (!!) McGinn was so taken with the 343rd's paint job he adopted it himself. So how come it wasn't dreamt up by Ed Gillers till the bad weather of late '44, although some photos suggest (by the clothing or lack of it) that the scheme was in use earlier than that. As you've said elsewhere, by the end of hostilities the half-and-half scheme had been abandonned though the Prancing Horse was retained on the fin at least on 343rd FS machines (see post #166). An interesting debate.

Now back to some serious playing with my lovely new toy.....!!

DaveQ

PS - There was a suggestion some years back that the remains of 'Da Quake' had been dug up from Cap Ferrat in France where it bellied in and had been dispayed for some years at Le Bourget I think. This was disputed though, since two 338th FS P-51's ran out of gas and were forced down together. It was then brought to the UK for restoration but I can't find anything more about it. Anyone here know anything? DQ
 
Bomber_12th said:
As Jan Kees has noted, there isn't to be any repaints of current-day warbirds - I don't believe Never Miss is a historical scheme, and Glamorous Gal is definitely not. This isn't to say that you might not see these in the future! ; )
Click to expand...
Just curious as to why not?
 
DaveQ said:
PS - There was a suggestion some years back that the remains of 'Da Quake' had been dug up from Cap Ferrat in France where it bellied in and had been dispayed for some years at Le Bourget I think. This was disputed though, since two 338th FS P-51's ran out of gas and were forced down together. It was then brought to the UK for restoration but I can't find anything more about it. Anyone here know anything? DQ
Click to expand...

Here's a link I found on 'Da Quake'. http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/p51survivors/pages/44-13954.php
 
From all of the evidence I recall seeing, and from what I remember the owner fairly much admitting to based on the evidence presented, is that the airframe is actually 44-13663, which was piloted by Lt. John Kester. Both 13663 and "Da Quake" ended up crash-landing very close to one another. If I recall correctly, both airframes were known about, but only one was recovered, being the best option of the two, at the time of the recovery, and that was 44-13663.

It is curious about the scheme - something that I had not thought of before, because the information I shared here about "The Millie G" was taken directly from an interview with Edward Giller. In the interview he states that he worked to come up with the 'half & half' paint scheme, in "late fall". Perhaps it really took place earlier than he remembered.
 
"Da Quake" continued...

Most current information I have found, is that it is no longer owned by David Kingshot, having switched hands as far back as '06, but as far as the information tells, it is still in the UK.

This is a quote written by an individual who was associated with the wreck, and posted back in 2004:

"It must be noted that Da Quake was one of two Mustangs to crash-land on that beach that day of August 1944. At the time of the recovery in May 1981, some locals had passed along photographs taken during the summer and the fall of 1944, and they also stated that the location of the newly found wreck was that of the "silver" plane (44-13663) [they referred to the other wreck as the "green" plane - note the scheme differences between '633 and Da Quake that lead to those name-sakes]. Moreover, a recovery attempt was made in October of 1944, during which '663 had its tail broken off, as the plane was already half buried in the sand. Da Quake was put back on its landing gear, but while trying to avoid a mine field (which the two unaware flyers had crossed a couple of months before...), the plane sank in softer sand, and because of limited equipment, nothing could be done to recover it, and it soon disappeared too. The recovered wreck was tail less, and the landing gear was up, that's one of the few clues regarding its true identity, once you know most of the story ( and before someone asks, there was no manufacturer's plate in the cockpit).

So you may ask why the plane became Da Quake, if the real identity was known at the time of the recovery? Well, there was some research done to find relatives of the two pilots, and the only one that was found was the sister of Sam Gevorkian, who was flying Da Quake that day, so the wreck became Da Quake. Moreover, the fact that Da Quake had quite a fancy paint scheme, and that it was the most photographied of the two Mustangs might have played somehow.
Pilot of '663 was John Kester (KIA 14 Jan 45). Sam Gevorkian was killed in a flying accident in Germany in August 45.

Whatever the identity will be given to that plane, very few parts of the original will be used in a flying restoration, as the plane spent 37 years buried in sand, and 16 years of outdoor display. It was really in a sorry state when it left France in August 1997.

The real Da Quake could have been recovered in the spring of 1989, as a violent storm unearthed part of the wreckage, but before something could be organized, another storm burried it back. A very unlucky plane."
 
Da Quake

Thanks for the info John/Shift_E. That about sums up as far as I'd got with regard this bird, though I didn't know it had actually changed hands. And a 'restoration' would effectively be a replica.

I guess Edward Giller was about 4 months out... According to the 55th FG website (www.55th.org) several half-and-half Mustangs appear with D-Day invasion stripes (usually gone by autumn '44) and many are early D-5's. Also 'Millie' originally had stripes and no yellow/Prancing Horse rudder.

Is this age or obsessive compulsive disorder??:kilroy:

DaveQ
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top