Originally posted by oboe
Sure, or what about Harold Rau's "Gentile Annie" of the 20th FG?
According to Osprey, he was flying an OD 38J-15 in April '44, and a nat metal 38J-10 in August of the same year.
Invasion stripes on the OD one might be pretty striking.
Did you notice in the Osprey book, the profile lists it as August 44? We know Scat II went down in July 44 and Scat III in early August 44 leaving Scat IV as his last 38 which according to the 479th history was a NMF bird.
No question on OD/Gray birds being around well into 45 and I've seen images of 55th FG NMF P38s being oversprayed in England in OD/Gray, but the images are dated April 44 so the 38s were arriving NMF at that point.
With the pace of ops in the summer of 44, I'd be surprised if they'd taken the time to paint the newly arriving 38s as the norm was becoming NMF before D-Day outside of a few groups like the 56th, and 357th that used RAF paints to camo their birds. No evidence of this with the 479th though.
There are B&W images of D-Day OD/Gray birds in the 479th history if you'd like to take a crack at one based on those photos? The scanner is always turned on around here
Dan/CorkyJr
