P-47D Color Question - "Little Bunny / Norma"

John1 · March 16, 2021

Hi Folks, I'm planning on building a P-47D "Little Bunny / Norma" assigned to the 57th FG in Corsica, late 44. From all I have read, this aircraft was previously flown by a Brazilian unit and apparently they painted all their Jugs RAF Dark Green over light grey When this aircraft was transferred to the USAF, the 57th FG used standard US Olive Drab to paint out some large markings on both sides of the middle fuselage. I've only found a few B&W pictures of the real thing. They are all heavily exposed and you can't really see any difference in tone, aside from this one:

So first off - does anyone have any better (ideally color) pictures of this aircraft? Secondly, can anyone confirm that Brazilian P-47's were painted RAF Dark Green? If so, any thoughts on what the lower color was? US Neutral Grey, NMF or an RAF color? Any info is greatly appreciated.

TAG · March 17, 2021

Hey again, John

Brazilian Jugs were definitely not painted in RAF Dark Green, as they were delivered by Republic in OD 41 over Neutral Gray 43, as per Brazilian Air Force specs. As time went on, the 1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron started receiving NMF birds as replacements for downed planes, but all the painted ones came in 41 over 43. There was in fact, only one Brazilian fighter squadron, known as "Senta a Pua" (1o Grupo de Aviação de Caça in Portuguese) which was attached to the 350th FG and whose emblem is my avatar. This unit is near and dear to my heart, as I have Brazilian heritage. Here's some period color pics of Brazilian Jugs to confirm the OD/Neutral Gray combo:

Some fresh OD touch-ups around the cockpit area on these next two Jugs.

Here's some NMF Brazilian Air Force Jugs, just because:

Jambock (squadron call sign) line up in Pisa, note the napalm canisters on the wing pylons.

Finally, looking at this photo of Little Bunny/Norma, I'd venture that what we're looking at is a very faded and chalky OD 41 base coat with a large patch of fresh OD under the Norma. Just spitballing here, but it looks a lot like the huge touch-up area around the cockpit of Senta a Pua C5 up top, just some really dark, fresh 41 over a large part of the airframe. But who knows, maybe the 57th FG did overpaint their Jugs with RAF dark green, although I'm guessing it'd probably be pretty hard to find any RAF paint stock on Corsica at a USAAF base. In any case, there's always an exception to every hard and fast "rule", amirite? Oh, and the only color shots I've ever seen of Little Bunny/Norma are of the restoration at NEAM in Connecticut, so unfortunately cannot help you there.

Voilà, my $0.02! Or maybe even like $0.20, at this point.

Cheers

T

TAG · March 17, 2021

Here's William Wyler's 57th FG documentary, "Thunderbolt!"

MikeMaben · March 17, 2021

Just a couple John, the color one is obviously a restoration.

Good luck.

John1 · March 17, 2021

19 hours ago, TAG said:

Finally, looking at this photo of Little Bunny/Norma, I'd venture that what we're looking at is a very faded and chalky OD 41 base coat with a large patch of fresh OD under the Norma. Just spitballing here, but it looks a lot like the huge touch-up area around the cockpit of Senta a Pua C5 up top, just some really dark, fresh 41 over a large part of the airframe. But who knows, maybe the 57th FG did overpaint their Jugs with RAF dark green, although I'm guessing it'd probably be pretty hard to find any RAF paint stock on Corsica at a USAAF base. In any case, there's always an exception to every hard and fast "rule", amirite? Oh, and the only color shots I've ever seen of Little Bunny/Norma are of the restoration at NEAM in Connecticut, so unfortunately cannot help you there.

Voilà, my $0.02! Or maybe even like $0.20, at this point.

Cheers

T

Thank you very, very much for all the great info. Those color shots of the Brazilian P-47's really are a great guide for weathering. I've been scouring the net for a week trying to find a decent picture of "54", this one is perfect. Based on your info, I'm now pretty much sold on this aircraft just being very weathered OD with large touch-ups of fresh paint. So studying the pic above, it looks like it has a large square of fresh paint on the upper starboard wing. Did the FAB have national insignia on both wings? Also, what's your take on the rudder? Seems much darker, with even darker blotches added. Last observation - It's got a pretty unique fuselage national insignia that is higher and further aft than most (all other?) P-47's. I think I'm going to have some real fun weathering this beast. Now to figure out who has the most accurate shades of OD and Neutral Grey.

Thanks again for the help!

TAG · March 18, 2021

4 hours ago, John1 said:

Thank you very, very much for all the great info. Those color shots of the Brazilian P-47's really are a great guide for weathering. I've been scouring the net for a week trying to find a decent picture of "54", this one is perfect. Based on your info, I'm now pretty much sold on this aircraft just being very weathered OD with large touch-ups of fresh paint. So studying the pic above, it looks like it has a large square of fresh paint on the upper starboard wing. Did the FAB have national insignia on both wings? Also, what's your take on the rudder? Seems much darker, with even darker blotches added. Last observation - It's got a pretty unique fuselage national insignia that is higher and further aft than most (all other?) P-47's. I think I'm going to have some real fun weathering this beast. Now to figure out who has the most accurate shades of OD and Neutral Grey.

Thanks again for the help!

Glad to help, I find all this stuff fascinating! So, re: the dark patch on the wing, FAB Jugs had national insignia in the same places as USAAF counterparts, top port & bottom starboard wings (with a few exceptions, naturally). But in all honesty I think that's just foot traffic, boot stains from the ground crew servicing the .50's. Like this:

As for the rudder, my guess would be replacement, with some fresh patches already. Tail planes got pretty beat up in low level attacks as most AA gunners wouldn't lead their targets enough. There's plenty of photos of giant holes poked into elevators and rudders, so a replacement part which has already been hit again would be my bet.

And finally, the placement of the stars and bars on the fuselage, this was actually the norm for 12th AF Jugs. In fact, it was pretty common in the PTO as well. Again, there's plenty of pics of Med and Pacific-based Jugs with this placement, here's a few:

MTO

This next photo looks a lot like I'd expect Little Bunny/Norma would look like in period color. Note the darker rudder and port elevator, also probably replacements.