Maj. Robert W. Moore - P-51D "Stinger VII" (67) - 15FG, 45FS

[Vraciu]

This is a for-the-record post.   I will get better screenshots from my computer at home, but that may take awhile, so these are at least respectable enough to not insult the memory of the pilots associated.

Thanks to Lyric1 for his outstanding sleuthing for photos and to Waltz41 for background info on this one...   Also, to Devil505 for the usual good feedback and Mister Fork for the help on the markings.   (The actual airplane was much duller due to the effects of Pacific weather and humidity, but it appears popular consensus isn’t a fan of this, so forgive a touch of artistic license to shine it up some.)


Maj. Robert W. "Todd" Moore
P-51D-20-NA "Stinger VII" (67)
S/N 44-63483
15th FG, 45th FS
Iwo Jima, June 1945


This is Maj. Robert "Todd" Moore's P-51D-20-NA (s/n 44-3483) named "Stinger VII" and coded number 67 of the 15th Fighter Group's 45th Fighter Squadron on Iwo Jima.  Moore was the leading Very-Long Range (VLR) Mustang ace of the war with eleven of his twelve kills achieved on these missions.   Orginally flown by Major Gilmer "Buck" Snipes, who not only scored the 45th's first victory (an H8K "Emily" flying boat in a P-40N on 23 October 1943) but also scored a victory on the first VLR mission in this aircraft, which was named "TOM KAT" at the time.   Moore renamed it "Stinger VII" after assignment to the aircraft following Snipes' rotation back to the United States.   It is depicted as it would have appeared following his 10th victory on 7 June 1945.   Notably, the large diagonal squadron markings would soon give way to a simpler version where only the tips of each surface were painted.

Maj. Moore scored his first victory, a Mitsubishi Zero, on 26 January 1944 flying a P-40N during a mission escorting B-25s of the 41st Bomb Group tasked with raiding Japanese airfields in the Marshall Islands.  After reassignment to the 78th FS flying P-51 Mustangs on VLR fighter escort missions for B-29 raids on Japan, Moore scored a victory on the first VLR mission of 7 April 1945 and had a total of five with that squadron.   He returned to the 45th and scored six more victories, the last one on 10 August.   He participated in the final VLR mission of the war on 14 August and thus had the distinction of having flown on both the first and the last of these.

Over thirty-seven months of deployment, Moore flew 150 combat missions, and, in addition to being the top scoring VLR pilot with eleven victories, became the VIIth Fighter Command's highest scoring ace with twelve confirmed, one probable, and three damaged. He also destroyed an additional three enemy planes on the ground and for his efforts was awarded the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross with four Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Air Medal with nine OLCs.

While VLR Mustang pilots did not have the chance to rack up the large scores of their European Theater counterparts, they nonetheless established decisive air superiority over the Japanese home islands in the final months of the war.















This is the fifth in my series of VLR Mustangs.   The other four can be found here:

* Pete Nowick's #599 of the 506th FG, 458th FS
https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,400576.0.html

* Harold Marx's "Tiny Gay Baba" #234 of the 21st FG, 46th FS
https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,400632.0.html

* Capt. Stanley C. Zagorsky's / Lt. Charles Frank Seale's "Shawnee Princess" / "Empire Commuter" #640 of the 506th FG, 462nd FS
https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,400847.0.html

* Lt. Charles G. Pfost's "The Deacon #300 of the 21st FG, 531st FS
https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,401118.0.html


Screen Test and Research threads for this skin are here:

Screen Test - https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,401217.0.html

Research - https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,401200.0.html

[lyric1]

 

[Mister Fork]

Good lookin bird there V.

[Devil 505]

Very nice.

[Vraciu]

Thanks again, guys.

Sorry to spam the boards but I wanted to get something presentable up.

[Devil 505]

Thanks again, guys.

Sorry to spam the boards but I wanted to get something presentable up.

Well you could limit all your posts about one plane to a single thread.

[Vraciu]

Well you could limit all your posts about one plane to a single thread.

Yes, but in this case the threads all had different purposes, so that would not be appropriate.

1) Research Requested

2) WIP Help With Colors / Laptop Graphics Testing

3) Final Product

And I've tried to be very consistent with how I post my skins in order to credit the pilots involved (as well as so they can be found via multiple search terms).

So...

On to the next one.

[Devil 505]

Honestly you could easily combine the WIP with any reference or color help thread and then just post the final product as it's own thread.

[Vraciu]

Honestly you could easily combine the WIP with any reference or color help thread and then just post the final product as it's own thread.

True.   But a bit of a nitpick.   This forum isn’t exactly the barn burner on the board. 

[Mister Fork]

True.   But a bit of a nitpick.   This forum isn’t exactly the barn burner on the board. 

[Palace Cobra]

Bad bellybutton looking skin. Hope you’ll post updated screenshots sometime. 

[Vraciu]

I forgot to do this.  I'll see about posting some later.