I built the Tamiya P-51D in Estralita III marking and sent it to Virginia to be presented to Lt. Col. Curtis Smart a few months ago. Tonight he called me to thank me for the model. We just spent an hour on the phone - wow, what a cool guy.
One of the things he explained was the name of the aircraft. Seems Estralita is a Mexican song that was popular in those days and translates to “Little Star”. Just before being assigned to England Col. Smart’s wife gave birth to a little girl who was named Estralita. The three comes from the planes he went through. The nose art on the aircraft was never completed as the lower part of the E was supposed to be a shooting star which is why it has that odd shape.
He talked about how it brought a tear to his eye when the model was presented to him and that nearly brought a tear to mine. It’s been a great evening.
Nice story. There are so few WW ll vets still around. That was a fine thing you did for him. Things like that mean more to a vet than anything. I know. I presented to my Uncle a model of the P-51 he flew in WW ll and the F-86 he flew in Korea. That is the only time I ever saw that man cry.
Wow.
Very nice story. The sad thing is, there is not many WW2 vets still alive under the age of 80.
Awesome story Matt.
Thanks for sharing that with us.
Mike
Treasure those moments my friend, for opportunities like that will soon be a thing of the past… you were blessed! [:)]
Regards,
Frank
PS: Oh yeah, that’s a beautiful model too!! The history behind it makes it all the more special! [;)]
Now doenst that make everything worth it now Swanny [^]
swanny sounds to me like he made your week. that is outstanding.
joe
Very nice story Swanny thanks for passing it along.
Thad
Kinda sheds a new light on building models eh Swanny?
The two models pictured below were presented to vets. I needed a box of cleanex both times. They don’t know how to react, the thought that someone would take so much time to make something that respresented a very important part of their lives. A time that may be forgotten. To give that era back to them so they can share memories within themselves and with their family.
The wife of the man whom I had built the B-25 for says that he has spent hours just staring at it. Sometimes he smiles, sometimes he just has a blank expression on his face, and sometimes he is crying.
When someone asks why I build these “dust collectors”, I think of those models who I had given to vets, and then reply, "Just because ".
Scott
Always a great experience talking to one of the guys who was actually there. Two of the guys in my Seniors Golf League turned out to be B-24 pilots late in the war. One of them was the co-pilot on “Strawberry Bitch” before he got his own ship. Real interesting stories they can tell, but like most Vets, you kinda have to drag it out of them.
Regards, Rick
Matt,
What a great story! You should feel very proud.
While researching what unit my granddad flew in the 15th airforce, a gentlemen that was in his bomb squadron gave me all the info I needed. He is the historian for the 99th bomb group. Even wrote a book on it, which I have just pruchased. anyway… I called him after he sent me all this wonderful info and we spoke for about an hour. There was a story he told that really let me know how dangerous it was to fly those birds. He had been transferred to the 8th after his service in the 15th. He was flying over somewhere, Ger. and the plan took a lot of flak. There was an O2 and hydraulic oil fire that knocked out all the hydraulics, including the breaks. They had to crank the landing gear down by hand. The pilot had the a waist gunner and the tail gunner (B-17 BTW) go to the rear of the plane, toss the tail canopy and have 2 chutes ready. One was to be shot once the wheels touched the runway, the second 10 seconds later. It worked, and they all made it home safely. And a week later the tail gunner was informed that he owed the US army for 1 tail canopy. The old guy told him to get bent and that he could have left the whole bird in Germany. Needless to say, he didn’t have to pay.
Pretty cool. He had about 100 of them. All captivating.
Listen to the wisdom of your elders now, because everyone’s days are numbered.
Ted
You did a very nice thing, I’m proud that I can talk to a person like you!
What an awesome opportunity to connect with history that you had. Your story reminded me of a similar opportunity I had.
My neighbor has two Grandfathers that served during WW II. His maternal grandad flew a Halifax bomber for the RCAF, and I got the chance to build a model of his aircraft for him. He was very pleased to have received it, and he tells me it always has a place of honour in his home and at the local legion hall on remeberance day. Very cool!
His paternal grandfather also flew bombers during WW II. Only he flew for the luftwaffe and was shot down in his Hienkel 111 over Russia, were he spent the rest of his war in a POW camp before being repatriated to Austria, and eventually moving to Canada with his family. I also made him a model of the aircraft he flew, and while he doesn’t like to be very public about his service, I’m told it is proudly kept under a glass display case in his home. In both cases, I felt honoured and proud to have been able to build these models, and it was a unique chance to talk with two of a vanishing breed. That’s payment enough for me. Thanks for reminding me about it. Cheers
Glenn
Yup-- this is the part of modeling I enjoy the most. I built a GMC truck for my wife’s uncle who was a Red Ball Express driver, and last summer built a Mustang for a local Tuskegee Airman. Currently, I am working on a B-17F for a local ball turret gunner who flew on a 94th BG, 332nd BS Fortress called “Idiot’s Delight”.
WOW i have never realized on how important were those drawings for those guys back in the WW2, a simple name, a simple line would mean a lot for them, for example this little Estrellita, was his bird, was his little girl, was his whole life… its just amazing to me, congratulations Swanny, i am sure that man is complete now, his little girl, his bird and his life…
…just a thought…thought