All:
One of the neat things about the 325th VFG is that we stay in touch with the real remaining pilots from the 325th FG. Many of them aces themselves and have been on the Discovery Channel and alike. A reunion of the 325th FG pilots just finished in Conn. and one of our long time 325th VFG pilots "Swoop73" attended and supported the reunion. Of course I copied and sent everything from this thread on the 47 Skin and see if any of them remembered LT Penny and or this AC without the paint on the nose to cut the glare. Below is the message I received back form Swoop73:
"I showed pictures to Barrie Davis as we sat in hotel lobby this morning. He was about to be interviewed by National Geographic. He knew right away. The guy had the only unpainted P47 in the unit. He is also the one flying the Mustang named "Bad Penny", so named because a bad penny always comes back. Look in the Checkertail book and you'll see the photo. He was dead shortly after that picture was taken after a mid air crash. Also Barrie commented on the detail of the skin that had been created, very life like and great detail". - Swoop73
Barrie Davis is a real ace and flew with the 325th from 43' till the end if I remember correctly and had 6 kill's. From the time of the 47's through the 51's. Barrie would stay in the Air Force and have to transition over to cargo AC as there were to many Fighter pilots and not enough Fighter Planes following the end of WWII and then the transition to Jets of course. He would retire as a Col with more than 25 years of service. It was an honor to meet him once myself and pay for his dinner.
Always great to get a little real world feedback from the real aces of WWII on our little cartoon flying world. Greebo your skin put a smile on a 325th FG ace from WWII. Nicely Done sir <S>
