Hey Hans,
Did you specifically mean American or Allied aces, or can it be any nation?
I think it can be anyone, so long as it’s verifiable. Of course it’s not my call. P-40 goodness is definitely welcome though.
Mike
Yeah, Johnson got pretty lucky, Brownie… He’d been in trouble from leaving formation and jumping enemy planes on his own a couple times before this mission. This time he swore he wouldn’t leave the formation. He saw a flight of FWs closing in oon his flight, called them out to the rest of the flight ,but no one answered or reacted and then all of a sudden his Jug was getting hammered by cannon and machine gun fire… His aircraft went into a spin, out of control and fell right through the box of bombers they were escorting. On fire and partially blind from hydraulic fluid, he lost gobs of altitude before regaining control and started to limp back to England alone… He’d actually tried to bail out before that encounter with the final FW, but as you can see from the photo, the canopy was jammed shut and, alive or dead, Johnson was gonna be in that cockpit until the end… Once on the ground, they counted 21 holes in his Thunderbolt from the 20mm cannons and quit counting machine gun holes after 200…
I first read that story in a book called “Great American Fighter Pilots of WW2”… If you ever find it, it’s worth a read… I first read it back about 1969 or so… Come to think of it, Neel Kearby’s in that book as well… Also, Johnson’s own book, “Thunderbolt!” is a great one too…
As for the Ace’s planes, Yeah, any nation, any conflict…
Yes, you are correct that there were previous Fiery Gingers. I was thinking of modeling his first, primarily because I have the Tamiya kit available and I’ve been wanting to build it. But if that’s not what you want for this GB, that’s fine with me. I’ll do some more digging and see what else interests me that may be a better fit.
Don
I think I’m up for a Hurricane I flown by Albert Lewis coded AK A. He scored his 3rd thru 7th victories in this airplane, so I’ll have to do it at the start of the day, is that OK, Hans? I don’t know if I can find an actual photo of AK A, so I’ll have to give it a May 10, 1940 scheme with 85 Squadron in France. Still OK?
What was he flying for kills 1 & 2?
Nothin’ wrong with the first, Don…
Here is a nice link for Lewis:
http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol016dt.html
VY D and VY E are documented there as airplanes flown before AK A. So far I don’t know the s/n’s on any of these a/c, still looking.
More 85 Squadron s/n’s:
L1604; L1632; L1634; L1637; L1639; L1644; L1648; L1651; L1653; L1656; L1765; L1773; L1775; L1778; L1779; L1833; L1834
It may be unlikely to be able to tie the s/n to the codes, since not many records came back from France. Who knows.
Here’s an online version of the Johnson encounter with the FW.
http://home.att.net/~historyzone/Seversky-Republic5.html
According to this, it took three passes at Johnson’s P-47 before running out of ammo. And Johnson actually got a few rounds off himself at the FW.
Don
Alright then. Sign me up for Neel Kearby’s original Fiery Ginger, to be modeled after his first successful encounter with a Betty and escorting zekes, downing 2.
Don
Great link Don! One of the better acounts of that incident I have read.
Hans, am I in this GB with the Lewis Hurricane I? I think I will do VY E, as AK A was not in 85 Squadron markings.
Thanks,
Hans von Hammer I want in this build pleazzzeeeee. I have a 1/48 Tamiya P-51B to offer built as Lt. Arval J. Roberson of the 8th Airforce, 357th FG, 362nd FS. mount. He had 3 kills with his P-51B Passion Wagon, then transisioned to a P-51D, also called Passion Wagon, after having an accident in the B model, gaining his next 3 kills in the P-51D. The P-51B was converted to a 2 seater after the accident and called 469th Baby. I do have a picture of Lt. Roberson in his P-51B showing three kills on the side, however this picture is a closeup of him only showing the cockpit and kill markings. I cant seem to find pictures of the plane itself. There are a bunch of pictures of his P-51D on the net I have found. With that said, I found he did not have the nose art on his B model but did have the name on it. It does seem the other markings other than the D-day stripes where the same, those markings being G4-A with tail number 436688. Would this be an acceptable build for the group if I cant find a picture of his P-51B Passion Wagon ? So if anyone has one maybe they would be willing to share it with me and us ?
Now for a comment. What a great idea Hans ! In researching this build I came across a lot in very interesting things that took me in very differand directions. I did find after Lt. Roberson finished his tour the Passion Wagon went to Capt. Charles Weaver, he kept the name but changed the nose art. Then it seems Passion Wagon went to a Lt. Arsel Robinson ( interesting thing same last name as mine) and he changed the name to Gypsy, and flew it to the end of the war. After leaving service he kind of dropped off the planet, cant find out anymore than that about him.
Vette, have you seen this website. They do have lots of stuff that may be helpful to you.
Sure… Kit & Scale?
Done, Vetteman…
1/48 Classic Airframes.
Stikpusher I did see that website, in fact I have a picture of Arval Roberson from 2001 I got from there. Thanks for posting it though
Hans Thank you sir [:)] I am really going to enjoy this build and the group I think will be a bunch of fun. Were you going to set up a page for referances ?? I did find some interesting ones I will be more than happy to share. Mustang encounter reports, 8th Army Airforce roster and such.
Probably not a bad idea… It’d would beat having to scroll through pages and pages of text, wouldn’t it…
JUST FYI men… It’s now 24 0617 DEC 09… I’m leaving the net at 24 1300 DEC 09 through 26 0600 DEC 09 Central for Christmas. Merry Christmas to all y’all!
Alright,
I’m leaning towards doing the Bf-110E flown by Martin Drewes out of Mosul Air Base, Iraq in May of '41. Drewes earned a kill over Fallujah on 20 May when he shot down a British Gloster Gladiator.
He would go on to become an ace flying Bf-110s in a night fighter role. He finished the war with 52 victories, mostly over British four engine bombers. After the war, he emigrated to Brazil, where he still lives (at age 91). (Sourece: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Drewes).
Pretty interesting guy…
Ummm, I’ve got the Eduard kit for this bird, which is why I am trending towards that. However, I still want to check out some more on the AVGs P-40s (specifically Pappy Boyington’s) before I make a final decision…