This skin is an update to "TINY GAY BABA" to correct a side number error. It is commonly depicted as #231 but this is incorrect. As Waltz41 pointed out the proper side number is 234. Since search results often point to our work I felt it appropriate to create a new thread with the side number in the title. To the best of my knowledge this is the only correct depiction of this airplane on the internet so far. I have also tweaked the metal effects.
The original thread:
https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,400632.0.html_____
Thanks to Lyric1 for finding the info on the fate of this Mustang and the name of its pilot to go along with a very-high resolution photo of the airplane in question (and other images used in drawing the nose art) that he tracked down, and to Devil505 for his input on the color of the markings on the aircraft.
Lt. Harold H. Marx
P-51D-25-NA "Tiny ‘Gay Baba’" (234)
S/N 44-63955
21st FG, 46th FS
Central Field, Iwo Jima - Summer 1945
This is the P-51D-25-NA "Tiny 'Gay Baba'"* (s/n 44-63955), side number 234, of the 46th Ftr Sq, 21st FG out of Iwo Jima's Central Field. The aircraft itself was lost in a midair collision on 21 September 1945, 40 miles southeast of Iwo Jima, with LT Harold H. Marx at the controls.
The 21st FG was one of the VLR (Very-Long Range) P-51 Groups stationed on Iwo Jima beginning with its deployment by ship to the island in February 1945.
The 21st began flying patrols that same month with the final group echelon arriving on 25 March. The next morning, elements of the 21st were attacked in their encampment by Japanese commandos. With the assistance of American Marines, 21st personnel counterattacked and in the tent-by-tent fighting killed 250 of the enemy. Fourteen Group personnel were killed and fifty, including 21 FG commander Colonel Kenneth R. Powell, were wounded.
The first escort mission to Japan was flown on April 7th and this mission marked the first time fighters had escorted bombers over Japan. This particular raid on the Nakajima aircraft factory near Tokyo was the longest over-water mission flown up to that point in the war and would earn the group the Distinguished Unit Citation. The 21st flew its last mission on 14 August 1945, about two weeks before the official Japanese capitulation on 2 September.
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* Spelled and punctuated: Tiny “Gay Baba”
This skin is the second in my series of VLR Mustangs used in the Pacific Theater. The others 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* 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* Maj. Robert W. Moore's "Stinger VII" #67 of the 15th FG, 45th FS
https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,401293.0.html* Capt. Eurich L. Bright's "Moonbeam McSwine" #176 of the 15th FG, 47th FS
https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,401388.0.html
