Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Custom Skins => Topic started by: Devil 505 on October 29, 2024, 09:18:42 PM
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This is an adoption of Fencer's original skin.
P-39N flown by Alexander Pokryshkin, C.O. of 16 GIAP and later the entirety of 9 GIAD(16, 100, and 104 GIAP). Pokryshkin saw combat since the very start of the war between Nazi German and the Soviet Union. He scored kills in 1941 and 1942 with MiG-3's and Yak-1's before 16 GIAP transitioned to the P-39 Airacobra. His final total for air victories is disputed, both because of lost records in the Soviet retreat in 1941, as well as an accusation of stealing kills from Grigoriy Rechkalov, a rival of Pokryshkin's who commanded 16 GIAP after Pokryshkin's promotion. Either Pokryshkin or Rechkalov achieved the highest score for any pilot flying an American built fighter. Pokryshkin survived the war and retired from the Red Air Force in 1981 with the rank of Marshall of Aviation.
Much like Pokryshkin's total score, the markings of his P-39N-0 SN# 42-9004 are very much in dispute. There is only one poor quality photo of this plane and even then, the use of victory claim stars on the cowl is speculated to have been added after the fact. Although, there is another better photo of Pokryshkin standing on the wing of a P-39 with 30 kill stars in a pattern very close to what is seen in the photo of Pokryshkin's 42-9004 with at least 20 stars, even so far as the first 6 in the top row being bolder than the rest. This later photo with 30 stars definitely does not look retouched - but there is an absolutely retouched version with 31! Pokryshkin always stated that he never had victory marks painted on any of his aircraft, since he felt that the practice would create a divide between himself and the pilots he commanded. Also, he was photographed in front of Rechkalov's plane in 1944 - with it's extensive killboard, for propaganda purposes. No doubt that if his own planes had their own kill boards, he would wouldn't have needed to pose with his arch-rival's plane. That 30 star plane could very well have been one used by Rechkalov in 1943.
The other aspect of debate is the red prop spinner and tail fin cap. These elements were only adopted by 16 GIAP in the summer of 1943, less than a month before 42-9004 was damaged, some time in August, and Pokryshkin switched to another aircraft. It seems likely to me that 42-9004 would have had red markings added before the incident that resulted in it's damage and abandonment. Red marking are also in keeping with Fencer's original skin - even though his skin had the kill markings in the pattern of Rechkalov's 1944 plane.
(https://i.postimg.cc/GpWSDwpc/Pokryshkin-1.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/yJTPqG95)
(https://i.postimg.cc/Y9QDfn4Q/Pokryshkin-2.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/sQDJ3J42)
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:aok
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Nice update Devil.
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Beautiful plane. Nice work.
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Very nice Devil!! :aok
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Pokryshkin Was one of the very few who instinctively knew how to get the most out of whatever he flew.
He also fought to the P39’s strengths.
I’m putting things together for a return and I think it’s time to embrace the cool skins players here have made. I had skins off for my entire time at aces high so now it’s time to rock a sweet looking ride.
That said, do we have any skins in winter camouflage (white red).
Edit: found a discussion but it seems it was a rare early war look.
Now if we had the fastest early war plane in game……