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AeroMaster Part 1 of the new Aero Master release of decals for the 361stFG covers 3 P-51Ds. Two P-51s from the 375th FS and one from the 376thFS.
The first on the sheet is the frequently done ‘Detroit Miss’ flown by Lt. Urban Drew and is one of the schemes that fall into the ‘done to death’ category. The noseart is closer to accurate than other releases with the bottom of the letters having an upward slant in ‘Detroit’. Also included are greyed out national insignia which, in the picture of Detroit Miss in the groups history ‘Little Friends’, the P-51 looks to have.
Last on the sheet is Lt. Bill Kemps ‘Betty Lee III’ of the 375thFS. This aircraft had black carburetor filter cover plates, this is not shown on the sheet. A picture showing this is in Roger Freemans ‘ Mighty Eighth in Colour’ in the section on Little Walden. ‘Betty Lee III’ is on a takeoff roll with another P-51 and the black plate is visible. Also missing are the backward swastika kill symbols for the six air victories Kemp had. These would be positioned just under the anti-glare panel near the end of the yellow nose paint. Another gaff with this sheet are the names of the two ground crew given. The names of the crew chief and asst.cc are given as Charles Summers and Carlton James. That is incorrect as the crew chief for Betty Lee III was S/sgt. Ted Coker and the Asst.CC was Sgt. B.J. Redden. The name ‘Marie’ that appeared on the carb plate of Betty Lee II belonged to Joe Reddens wife. All in all a nice sheet and one to buy
if you want a 361st P-51 or two in your collection. I think though
it would have been even more interesting had a P-51 from the 374th
squadron been included in place of the frequently done Detroit Miss.
That way a scheme from each squadron could have rounded out a 361st
‘threesome’ on the shelf. © Craig Quattlebaum 2004 |
Next
up is ‘Jasper Joker II’, a P-51D flown by Lt. Donald Vulgamore
of the 376thFS. A previously unseen set of markings, it represents
some of the groups more colorful artwork.. The artwork and markings
closely match available photos of this aircraft. However the squadron
codes for this aircraft are a couple of scale inches undersize in
both width and heighth. A head scratcher as the codes for the other
two P-51s are the correct size.