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P-47D-27-RE Thunderbolt #605, "OH JOHNNIE".526 viewsThis P-47D was assigned to pilot Lt. Raymond Knight, 346th Fighter Squadron, 350th Fighter Group, 12th Air Force in April 1945. The aircraft was named after his wife. They were from Houston, TX.
This P-47D was originally with the Brazilian Air Force operating in Italy with the US 12th Air Force as were many of these aircraft flown by the 350th Fighter Group. The Brazilian Air Force usually assigned letters and numbers on their cowlings. The USAAF added a number just aft of the cowling. Often, our numbers were converted Brazilian style letters. Hence, our zeros looked like the letter D, eights looked like the letter B and so on. The irregular placement and style of these numbers was typical fo the 350th Fighter Group.
In April of 1945, Lt. Knight led several low level strafing attacks against airfields in northern Italy. During the attack on Ghedi airfield, he went in alone to find the location of the enemy aircraft, drawing heavy fire in the process. He then led his flight in the attack, destroying five aircraft. He returned to base to lead another attack against Bergamo airfield. As before, he went in alone to locate the enemy aircraft, drawing heavy fire. He then led his flight destroying eight aircraft. During this attack, his aircraft was heavily damaged. The next day, he led another attack against Bergamo to destroy the remaining aircraft and again his aircraft was severly damaged. Lt. Knight was killed trying to bring his damaged aircraft home when it crashed in the mountains. For these actions he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Lt. Knight flew 84 missions destroying 24 enemy aircraft before his death.
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P-47D-28-RE Thunderbolt, serial number 229336, FT-O514 viewsP-47D-28-RE, FT-O was assigned to pilot Capt. Kenneth H. Dahlberg of the 353rd Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Group, 9th Airforce, Rosleres en Haye, France, February 1945.
Capt. Dahlberg destroyed 14 enemy aircraft.
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P-47D-30-RE, serial number 228901, G8-N, "The Eyes of Texas"496 viewsThis P47D was assigned to pilot Capt. Joseph Z. Matte, 378th Fighter Squadron, 362nd Fighter Group, Ninth Air Force, Rennes, France, August 1944.
Capt. Matte finished the war with 7 kills, 1 probable, 1 damaged (all air).He destroyed numerous on the ground with gun-fire and bombs. He flew 99 missions.
Capt. Matte was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross with one oak leaf cluster, and Air Medal with 18 oak leaf clusters.
He was from Port Arthur, TX.
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P-47M Thunderbolt547 viewsP-47M, serial number 4-21116, HV-J was in the 61st Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group, Boxted England 1945.
It was assigned to pilot Lt. Russell S. Kyler, and it was named 'Lorene' after the pilot's sweetheart.
Russell Kyler currently lives south of Austin, Tx. He has been to King's Hobby and visited with their staff.
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P-47M-1-RE435 viewsP-47M-1-RE, serial number 4-21175, 63rd Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group was given this special marking for the Paris Air Show in May of 1945.
The port side of the aircraft had Hub Zemke's kill marks below the canopy although Zemke never did pilot this particular aircraft. Lt. Paul C. Dawson was the aircraft's pilot.
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P-51-15-NA, serial number 415271, OC-E, Starduster693 viewsP-51D-15, OC-E, serial number 44-15271 was assigned to pilot Lt. Col. William Kennedy of the 359th Fighter Squadron, 356th Fighter Group. It was lost on February 25, 1945 with Maj. Richard A. Rann the pilot. He became a POW.
The aircraft was named Starduster. It was one of the most colorful of all the ETO Mustangs during 1944/45. It was unique as well as colorful because of the reverse set of "D-Day bands" which covered the lower fuselage.
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P-51B QP-L532 viewsP-51B, serial number 2106924, QP-L was assigned to pilot Lt. Ralph "Kidd" Hofer, 334th Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Group, Debden, England in February 1944. It was named "Salem Representative". Lt. Hofer was born in Salem, Missouri.
Lt. Hofer was credited with 15 aerial victories and 14 strafing which gave him 29 confirmed victories. He was KIA on July 2, 1944 on a bomber escort in Hungary.
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P-51B-10-NA, VF-P, Reggie's Reply576 viewsThis was the assigned aircraft of Capt. John T. Godfrey, 336th Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Group in April 1944.
This new aircraft was presented to him on his return from leave. Twenty black swastikas under the cockpit showed Godfrey's tally at the time. The aircraft was named after Godrey's brother Reggie who was lost in the Atlantic when his ship was torpedoed by a German submarine, hence Reggie's Reply.
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P-51D QP-B "Julie"468 viewsP-51D QP-B "Julie" was assigned to pilot Capt. Joe M. Randerson of the 2nd Fighter Squadron, 52nd Fighter Group, 306 Fighter Wing, 15th Air Force in Madna, Italy, December 1944.
The aircraft was named after the Crew Chief's sweetheart Miss Julie Curtis who happened to also be the daughter of Major Bob Curtis, the CO of same 2nd Fighter Squadron.
Prior to receiving this assigned aircraft, Capt. Randerson had been shot down in a P-51B Mustang on September 3, 1944. The P-51B was downed by ground fire while he was straffing a locomotive.
Capt. Randerson crashed in a river bed and was severely burned on the arms, legs, and face. He was rescued by two Serbian farmers. He had his burns tended to for two weeks while he was hidden in a barn, and he was eventually smuggled back to Italy and a hospital where he continued his recovery. He continued to fly and completed forty-nine combat missions when the war ended in Europe. He arrived back in Austin on June 19, 1945.
Special thanks to Milton Bell for creating the custom decals for this aircraft.
Bob King presented the model to Capt. Randerson. Joe Dale Morris, Capt. Randerson's nephew and namesake, also attended the presentation at King's Hobby.
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P-51D QP-B "Julie"526 viewsP-51D QP-B "Julie" was assigned to pilot Capt. Joe M. Randerson of the 2nd Fighter Squadron, 52nd Fighter Group, 306 Fighter Wing, 15th Air Force in Madna, Italy, December 1944.
The aircraft was named after the Crew Chief's sweetheart Miss Julie Curtis who happened to also be the daughter of Major Bob Curtis, the CO of same 2nd Fighter Squadron.
Prior to receiving this assigned aircraft, Capt. Randerson had been shot down in a P-51B Mustang on September 3, 1944. The P-51B was downed by ground fire while he was straffing a locomotive.
Capt. Randerson crashed in a river bed and was severely burned on the arms, legs, and face. He was rescued by two Serbian farmers. He had his burns tended to for two weeks while he was hidden in a barn, and he was eventually smuggled back to Italy and a hospital where he continued his recovery. He continued to fly and completed forty-nine combat missions when the war ended in Europe. He arrived back in Austin on June 19, 1945.
Special thanks to Milton Bell for creating the custom decals for this aircraft.
Bob King presented the model to Capt. Randerson. Joe Dale Morris, Capt. Randerson's nephew and namesake, also attended the presentation at King's Hobby.
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P-51D (early).408 viewsThis early model P-51D, serial number 413597, HO-F, is called "The Moose" of the 352nd Fighter Group
This model is a combination of kits. The tail of the aircraft is from a P-51B. The remainder is a P-51D. I discovered that one cannot simply remove the vertical stabilizer fin strake and have an accurate early model P-51D. You would also need to rescribe most of the fuselage panel lines aft of the strake. The P-51B tail assembly panel lines match right up. I would really love for Tamiya to create an accurate early P-51D model. There are many excellent early P-51Ds to model. It would fill a very much needed gap for this aircraft.
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P-51D CL-M "Katydid"545 viewsP-51D, serial number 414223, was assigned to Lt. Col. Elwyn Righetti, 338th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group.
Righetti was the top straffer ace who had 27 aircraft destroyed on the ground as well as 7.5 in the air.
RiP-51D CL-M "Katydid" was one the most weathered aircraft one will see photographs of. The spinner stripes were even crooked. This model represents the aircraft in December 1944.
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