Photo Help - James Goodson's P-51B VF*B

[Vraciu]

Any other photos of this airplane?   I'm considering removing the invasion stripes to hide the wing pixel bend from the cockpit.

Also, is the rudder silver?   It looks pretty dark.  Thanks in advance.

[Devil 505]

Looks like the usual silver dope painted rudder.

Donald Duck looks the same.

[Vraciu]

Thanks.  So I should darken the silver on the rudder I take it.

[Devil 505]

Maybe a little, but making it that stark on the skin will look "off".

[Vraciu]

Maybe a little, but making it that stark on the skin will look "off".

No problem.

Now, can I get away with dumping the invasion stripes since we know they were not there at one point or am I beholden to that photo?   If the 3D model did a better job with the upper wing I would be more willing to do it, but we already have MAN O'WAR with invasion stripes from the 4FG so I can do this one with just the standard black ones and I think it would look better.

[Devil 505]

No problem.

Now, can I get away with dumping the invasion stripes since we know they were not there at one point or am I beholden to that photo?   If the 3D model did a better job with the upper wing I would be more willing to do it, but we already have MAN O'WAR with invasion stripes from the 4FG so I can do this one with just the standard black ones and I think it would look better.

I have this better photo of Donald Duck. It clearly has the invasion stripes too.



Also, I'd stick with the reference photo you have for VF*B as you know what it looked like. Only speculate when you have to, not because you want to.

[Devil 505]

Also, Man O War does not have invasion stripes. It has camouflage stripes.

[Vraciu]

The problem is that there are so many variations of the 4th FG airplanes.   Goodson scored the bulk of his victories well before that photo was snapped.   His last score was on 25 May 1944 (unless we count one on that June mission in which he was downed--still researching all that), so he would have flown this airplane without invasion stripes until just before the time he was shot down and taken prisoner, assuming they were still on it that day.

I see a lot of Mustangs with only the white belly stripes remaining, the other white ones having been removed.   What would Goodson's have looked like before then?  Would it have had no belly stripes at all but retained the black theater bands?







Colonel Donald Blakeslee in his P-51D Mustang, WD-C, Serial No. 44-13779, which was received by the 4th Fighter Group on 8 July 1944.
By mid-July that year, the Invasion Stripes were removed from the upper surfaces on the Group's aircraft.

Goodson was downed 20 June 1944.

Also, Man O War does not have invasion stripes. It has camouflage stripes.

Going from memory on that one...

I'll have to look at it again obviously.

[Devil 505]

Are we sure that SN 44-13303 was actually marked VF*B?
Perhaps it was VF*B ?

I ask because Donald Duck is also VF*B but SN 44-13317.

Also, I have to reiterate this point: the reference you have for SN 44-13303 has full invasion stripes. Your skin should as well.

[Vraciu]

Are we sure that SN 44-13303 was actually marked VF*B?
Perhaps it was VF*B ?

I ask because Donald Duck is also VF*B but SN 44-13317.

This is what all the references show.

Also, I have to reiterate this point: the reference you have for SN 44-13303 has full invasion stripes. Your skin should as well.

Which is why I want a photo of it prior to the addition of the invasion stripes.  They look bad on the P-51 wing upper surface from the game cockpit.  If I could find a photo of the airplane without them I'd probably skin it that way.   

[Devil 505]

This is what all the references show.

interesting. Donald Duck must have been taken the "B" after 44-13303 was lost. Unless the 4th FG did not worry about duplicate ID letters.

[Vraciu]

interesting. Donald Duck must have been taken the "B" after 44-13303 was lost. Unless the 4th FG did not worry about duplicate ID letters.

I will do some checking...

[Vraciu]

Emerson was downed in December of 1944 (in VF*D, an airplane he took over from another POW pilot apparently).   Goodson had been a POW for six months by then.   So I guess Emerson took on the VF*B code after Goodson was gone then switched to VF*D.

[lyric1]

http://www.markstyling.com/p51s/p51dcu.07.jpg

http://www.markstyling.com/p51s_1.htm

[Vraciu]

Thanks Lyric, but that is Emerson's VF-B and I am trying to track down Goodson's VF-B (unnamed).