"A Pair of Yellow Jackets"

[Bomber_12th]

I hope some enjoy these screenshots! I had some fun the other night getting these two together, for a little formation flying/screenshot-work. Both aircraft are repaints for Warbirdsim's "Little Friends", that can be found here in the SOH addon library.

Here we have "My Mac" and "Big Beautiful Doll", with engines ticking-over, externals fitted, just waiting to depart (note how "My Mac" has the addition of a P-38 mirror mounted to the canopy, while "Big Beautiful Doll" does not - they also each sport two different external tank configurations).

Taxiing out...

...and blasting off, with coolant doors full open.

Keeping tight through the climb...

...up to altitude and getting above the cloud deck.

A little solo shot of "My Mac" in a close-in turn.

Circling around later, back to the airport.

And here is a short 2-image landing sequence of "My Mac", coming back into the airport.

 

[MenendezDiego]

Man I have GOT to get this!

 

[Shylock]

Wow they look beautiful. I think I'm going to buy these as I have been eyeing them for some time now just never got around to doing it already. Great screen shots.

 

[Phantom88]

Gorgeous detail!!!! Really Beautiful work!!

 

[Warrant]

Excellent work there!

 

[olderndirt]

The yellow nose models are my favorites - yours and the repaints. That third shot is a cut above.

 

[Bomber_12th]

Thank you all for the feedback, and I'm glad you liked the screenshots!! With at least two more yellow-noser repaints out there as well, I'll have to put together a larger formation soon!

When you take a lot of screenshots on a sortie like this, many are bound to be cut from those you want to post, or you go back and review some you thought weren't so great, only to find that your mind has changed on some of them. Here are a couple that didn't make it the first time round, but thought would be worth adding:

 

[Bomber_12th]

And if those don't get you inspired to do some formation work in the Mustang, perhaps these will... ; )

 

[Cag40Navy]

Thanks for doing big beautiful doll. Sad we lost her, but she will always live on!

 

[falcon409]

John, the detail in your Mustangs is the best I've ever seen. Absolutely stunning work.:salute::salute:

 

[jp]

I'm not 100 percent sure, but I believe there is another big beautiful doll.... These 'stangs look awesome. Do you use fsrecorder to stage your multi-ship flights, or is there somthing else. Heres the link to an interesting page, if you guys haven't checked it out before, with many of the named Mustang survivors, as well as recovered airframes. Also has many other warbird types as well. Here: http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p51registry/p51registry_named_mustangs.html

 

[Bomber_12th]

Thank you all very much!

Cag40Navy, yes, the European restored example of "Big Beautiful Doll" is no more, at least for several years to come, but don't forget that another restored example of "Big Beautiful Doll" continues to operate here in the U.S. It should be at Oshkosh this week, as it is a regular participant, thanks to its owner: http://mustangsmustangs.net/p-51/p51survivors/pages/44-63634.php

This example also has the most accurate reproduction of the markings than you will see on other depictions.

 

[Bomber_12th]

JP,

That is correct. There were two different P-51D's assigned to Landers, and between those two, there were four different unique paint schemes applied to them, due to the various Groups that Landers was assigned. His first P-51D, a D-5-NA, came to him while he was assigned to the 55th FG, and thus painted in those markings. He later was switched to the 357th FG, and that Mustang came with him, changing in Group colors and identifier markings to that of the 357th. When he was transferred to the 78th FG, he got a new Mustang, and it became the most famous of them all, with the classic BBD colors/artwork. Eventually he was tansferred yet again to the 361st FG, and he kept the same P-51D that he had in the 78th, with the Group markings changing to that of the 361st.

In the not so distant future, there will be a proper model to depict the first "Big Beautiful Doll" that Landers had in both the 55th and 357th.

Here they all are, as illustrated.

The first installment of "Big Beautiful Doll", in the form of P-51D-5-NA 44-13923, with the 55th FG (green/yellow checker nose - note the gun sight installed is that of an example from a P-38 - the 55th transitioned straight from the P-38 to the P-51, so various P-38 gun sights and external mirrors found their way onto P-51's in the Group).

Here is the same 44-13923 again, this time after Landers was transferred to the 357th FG (yellow/red checker nose)

When he was transferred to the 78th FG, he was assigned the P-51D-20-NA 44-72218, which became the 'classic' and most recognized of all of the "BBD" schemes, and as seen in the base "Little Friends" product.

After Landers' transfer to the 361st FG, 44-72218 stayed with him, and the Group markings were changed, as seen depicted in my screenshots in this thread, and as shown here.

 

[Bomber_12th]

Also, JP, the formation shots are done with the recorder module as you mention. Once I conduct both recorded flights, or how ever many there are, I then play them back in order to take the screenshots.

 

[Bomber_12th]

And if interested in another reference to B&W photos, this is the original "My Mac/Sweet Genevieve".