Lt. Timothy J. Cronin - P-51B "43-24762" (QP*K) - 4th FG, 334th FS

[Vraciu]

Lots of thanks to Guppy35 and Lyric1 for digging up the goods on this one.  It's legit.  We have movie footage to show it.   

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675034696_P-51-aircraft_insignia-on-jacket_officer-dividing-money_pilot-in-cockpit-of-plane

P-51B-15-NA, s/n 43-24762
Unnamed - QP*K
Lt. Timothy J. Cronin
4th Fighter Group, 334th Fighter Squadron
England, 1945


This was the last P-51B flown by the 4th Fighter Group.  One of the final 150 of nearly 2000 B models built, it is a rarity among its type having the large red "swoop" paint on the nose.

On Christmas Day 1944 while flying his P-51D "Sprutz" Lieutenant Cronin dove to the rescue of 335th FS CO and ace Pierce McKennon, shooting down a Focke-Wulf 190D (he gave McKennon half credit in the spirit of the season).   He ended the war with 1.5 victories and went on to serve in Korea (F-94s) and Vietnam (C-130s) retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel.  His decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross.  He passed away in 2015.

MachNix skinned it originally as QP*L.    http://www.wildandfreed.com/ah/v204/qp_1.jpg  Our excellent sleuths found it should be QP*K.  I've completely redone it though I tried to keep with the spirit of the original.  It is compatible with ENABLED REFLECTIONS which forces some minor tradeoffs for those of us who prefer them disabled.   

[Devil 505]

Great improvement.

[Vraciu]

Thank you, sir. 

[lyric1]

 

[Greebo]

Excellent skin Vraciu.

[FTJR]

Nice one V   

[Vraciu]

Thanks, all. 

[GhostCDB]

Great work

[Vraciu]

Great work

Thank you, sir.  Much appreciated.   I'm learning as I go.   <S>

[Vraciu]

This is a quick and dirty update to this skin.  I'll eventually redo it completely to be more like my latest B.   

https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,400552.msg5308873.html#msg5308873

If the red needs to be further desaturated I'll do it on the NEXT update if you don't catch me on it before I submit it.  As usual, it looks a lot lighter in the game than it does here...   

EDIT IN: I was working on the desaturation and one of the nose panels started pixelating which caused it to not match the others.   I'll have to experiement with it further to figure out why that's happening.   This is as far as I could take it for the moment.   While I admit it probably needs some more work on the red paint, it's a lot better than my original attempt which was a bit garish.   







Offsite Gallery:

https://postimg.cc/gallery/rxB9znB

[lyric1]

 

[Vraciu]

Another fast update to this skin as there are some scenarios coming up.   I need to do a full redraw but this will do for now.

[lyric1]

 

[Vraciu]

Watching the film link above in beginning to wonder if the wrong steps are actually red instead of black.....   

[Devil 505]

Nice improvement.

Watching the film link above in beginning to wonder if the wrong steps are actually red instead of black.....   

I assume you mean "Wing Stripes" and you might be on to something there. The stripes on the tail look lighter than the Insignia Blue. The stripes on the main wings are more debatable, as they could be black and worn/faded from being stepped on - just look at all the other grime on the wings.