P-51D-15-NA, s/n 44-14651
"PIN UP GIRL" - L2*V
Lt. John C. Donnell, Jr.
479th Fighter Group, 434th Fighter Squadron
Wattisham, November 1944
This is P-51D "Pin Up Girl" of the 434th Fighter Squadron, 479th Fighter Group, flown by Lieutenant John C. Donnell, Jr. Originally painted for then-Lieutenant Berkley E. Hollister (four victories) by Sergeant Fred Hayner, the nose art initially included only the name. Hollister scored two victories with this airplane in August 1944. After Lt. Hollister's tour ended the aircraft was assigned to Lt. John C. Donnell, Jr. at which time the female figure was added to the nose art on the left cowling along with "Muriel of Troy" on the right (in honor of his wife and home town in New York). Lt. Donnell was shot down and killed by flak near Dreiskau on 14th February 1945. Captain Hollister died in December 2015 at the age of 95.
This skin was originally created by MachNix. I preserved his radiator scoop (slightly modified) and some nose art lettering as a hat tip to his work, though I had to change the colors on some letters to reflect those of the actual aircraft. The game compresses it, hence the slightly pixelated look to it. I don't know how to work around that other than making the letters larger (inaccurate) The female figure is taken from a close-up color photo and is thus Sgt. Heyer's "original work" in a sense.
