quang

I warned you guys about Charlton Heston.

I warned you guys about Charlton Heston.

I warned you guys about Charlton Heston.

I warned you guys about Charlton Heston.

Hello Jack, I know how you feel. Sometimes you just need a snooze and come back when skies are clearer. Nothing lasts forever. 

None needed. I just eyeball them from photos of cockpit interiors. It’s modelling, remember? 

This IS what I meant by ‘eyeballing’ in my answer to the initial poster.
You don’t even have to be in situ to measure the item. You’d just compare it to other objects included in your reference photos to guess-timate the size. We’re modellers, let’s get bold 

This IS what I meant by ‘eyeballing’ in my answer to the initial poster.
You don’t even have to be in situ to measure the item. You’d just compare it to other objects included in your reference photos to guess-timate the size. We’re modellers, let’s get bold 

At long last.
Here’s the MiniArt 1/48 P-47D-30 depicted as 1st Lieutenant James McWhorter’s “Haul’in Ass II”.
Thank you all for your assistance in building up this model.
Cheers,
Quang
 

 

None needed. I just eyeball them from photos of cockpit interiors. It’s modelling, remember? 

At long last.
Here’s the MiniArt 1/48 P-47D-30 depicted as 1st Lieutenant James McWhorter’s “Haul’in Ass II”.
Thank you all for your assistance in building up this model.
Cheers,
Quang
 

 

I found James McWhorter’s daughter on Facebook. I’d take my chance and ask her about her father plane’s serial. Who knows?
Watch the superbly-restored video about the 365th fighter group and their Thunderbolts 
HERE.
Still searching for the lost serial…

It’s just the natural coward in me.

I didn’t loiter long enough to know… 

There were also the scorpions  And I don’t mean the Northrop variety!

Don’t forget the diamondback rattlesnake dozing in shade of the wheel wells  
True story. I nearly stumbled on one under a McDonnell F3H Demon during my visit in the Planes of Fame museum in Pima, Ariz. .
It was in 1981. Apparently I survived! 

It was a fine drama. First rule about drama though is they are not where historical research is discovered, but more of “what was it like” from a human point of view and I believe it did it very well. How scary! How sinister the cold, the lack of navigational confidence, the robotic  and deadly Luftwaffe fighters, the horrors of injury and imprisonment. I did find myself scrambling for more data on all this and even opening an old seventies wargame from Avalon Hill called Luftwaffe which simulates bombing strategy and supporting fighter missions very well. Personally I’ve been to a b-17 crash site in Maine where the crew just got lost ferrying their plane to Europe, hit a mountain and perished. It was great to understand that event in context because although they never saw combat, it was a HUGE effort to pull off the logistics of the allied bombing campaign and if you died just doing a part, it was still heroic. 
 

I'm gonna have to check that FB group out. I keep my FB account mostly for things like this. I am also a member of the 474th FG group, as my friend Lee (who just turned 100!!) was in the 428th FS unit during WW2. Learn some pretty cool stuff that way!!
 
T

No merit here Tim as I trod the same paths as yours during my pre-build ramblings .
 
It was then I stumbled on a Facebook group about the Hell Hawks 365th FS and also this publication:

Mary McWhorter Albright, the pilot’s daughter, contacted me via FB as well as Don Barnes, one of the book’s authors and illustrator with the needed info. They set the game afoot. What else do I need?
Thank you anyway Tim for your input.
Cheers,
Quang
 

At long last.
Here’s the MiniArt 1/48 P-47D-30 depicted as 1st Lieutenant James McWhorter’s “Haul’in Ass II”.
Thank you all for your assistance in building up this model.
Cheers,
Quang
 

 

At long last.
Here’s the MiniArt 1/48 P-47D-30 depicted as 1st Lieutenant James McWhorter’s “Haul’in Ass II”.
Thank you all for your assistance in building up this model.
Cheers,
Quang
 

 

At long last.
Here’s the MiniArt 1/48 P-47D-30 depicted as 1st Lieutenant James McWhorter’s “Haul’in Ass II”.
Thank you all for your assistance in building up this model.
Cheers,
Quang
 

 

Very nice Quang!

At long last.
Here’s the MiniArt 1/48 P-47D-30 depicted as 1st Lieutenant James McWhorter’s “Haul’in Ass II”.
Thank you all for your assistance in building up this model.
Cheers,
Quang