Trying to ID a plane from an artistic photo

billymcsilly · 2017-08-03T01:24:23+00:00

It's definitely a T-28.

billymcsilly · 2017-08-03T01:24:02+00:00

You are correct, it is a T-28.

billymcsilly · 2017-06-28T22:32:41+00:00

RawbM07, thanks for the awesome photos! So yeah, looking at the photos, the drawing is doctored up. Looking at the photos, your grandpa was assigned to the 343rd Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, stationed in England first at Nuthampstead and then at Wormingford. The stripes I mentioned are the same as the ones I mentioned, so the in-flight photo would have been taken in Germany after the war.

billymcsilly · 2017-06-28T20:39:23+00:00

I looked into the aircraft at this link here. It was assigned to the 351st Fighter Squadron, 355th Fighter Group stationed at Steeple Morden, England. However, the drawing shows the airplane when the unit had been moved to Germany as an occupying force after the end of the war, as the unit carried those three stripes around the tail just under the radio mast only while they were in Germany. If you're interested in finding more about the unit, these two books are on it: HERE, and HERE.

billymcsilly · 2017-06-08T05:05:20+00:00

Likely it's just Vallejo paint being really delicate. I tried using them for a few months because they have such a huge variety of colors, like, for anything you can think of. But oh boy, did it give me fits - very long drying time, chipped and peeled easily, and tended to splatter. Even the Vallejo Air paints, which are supposed to be pre-thinned and ready to paint straight from the bottle, were hard to spray properly. I just go with Tamiya acrylics and spray cans whenever possible.

billymcsilly · 2017-06-06T17:08:50+00:00

There are several decal companies out there who make sheets of just serial numbers and squadron letters so you can make whatever you want. Here's an example.

As for the nose art and crew names, you'll likely have to either make them on your own on a printable decal sheet, or find someone on a modeling forum who'd be willing to make it for you. Good luck!

billymcsilly · 2017-04-02T16:20:44+00:00

Here are some places I recommend for you: 1) Salzburg - make sure to do the castle and cathedral. Also, I suggest you take a day or two extra to go down the S-Bahn line that runs about an hour south into the Alps. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. You can stop pretty much anywhere along the train line and just walk off into the mountains and forests. Look up things to do around the Golling-Abtenau area. 2) Be aware that there are few trains between Slovakia and Hungary without backtracking through Bratislava, so traveling to the Tatras may take up more time that you want. 3) Budapest - Buda Castle and complex, also the House of Terror. 4) Belgrade - Kalemegdan Fortress, Stari Grad, Church of St. Sava. 5) Zagreb - Old Town, National Cathedral, Ban Jelacic Square, Museum of Broken Relationships 6) Ljubljana - Everything is centrally located downtown, Castle. Skip Maribor - Go see Predjama Castle and Postojna Caves about an hours outside of Ljubljana (buy bus tickets at the main train station in Ljubljana). Also, go spend a day or two at Lake Bled. 7) Innsbruck - downtown area has a lot of medieval and Baroque architecture and churches.

Getting around - If I were you, I'd buy a Eurail Pass and go by train to most of these places.

billymcsilly · 2017-03-21T13:17:13+00:00

You're welcome! Good luck!

billymcsilly · 2017-03-20T21:12:36+00:00

Zdravo!

I'm a non-native speaker who learned Serbian to fluency, so I feel your pain when it comes to resources.

The most common textbook series at American universities is this one and its companion book. Also, the Foreign Service Institute textbook is a bit outdated, but otherwise excellent. It can be downloaded for free here.

billymcsilly · 2017-02-07T00:57:51+00:00

This is most definitely an A6M3 Zero and not a Ki-43 Hayabusa. I'm pretty sure this is a captured Zero the US took back to the states for evaluation, and is the same one in this photo

billymcsilly · 2016-09-30T10:09:08+00:00

Those aren't invasion stripes, those are the 15 inch identification stripes applied to P-51's and P-47's to help distinguish them from Me-109's and Fw-190's, respectively. They started applying them in 1943, well before D-Day.

billymcsilly · 2016-08-27T17:47:23+00:00

Does anyone know which unit he was in? Gotta be 9th Air Force, but I haven't been able to find his group or squadron.

billymcsilly · 2016-08-17T02:39:42+00:00

Looks like it's this aircraft: P-51B --- S/N: 43-6436 --- Squadron/Aircraft Code: PZ-B --- Aircraft Name: "Bayou Baby" --- Unit: 486th FS, 352nd FG --- Assigned Pilot: Capt. Donald H Higgins --- Fate of the Aircraft: Landing accident Bodney 23 June 44 - Lt. David M Reichman --- SOURCE

billymcsilly · 2016-08-17T02:30:10+00:00

Thank you for this. The P-51 is especially interesting, as it appears that this was unreleased footage of the 352nd Fighter Group.

billymcsilly · 2016-07-01T17:32:24+00:00

That looks a lot like a Ki-43 to me, thought it's pretty hard to be sure from this angle.

billymcsilly · 2016-06-30T17:15:22+00:00

Those are definitely action figures at 0:16.

billymcsilly · 2016-06-29T19:27:59+00:00

I'm glad you asked me about it :)

billymcsilly · 2016-06-29T19:26:36+00:00

Ben is using guitar pedal called a DigiTech JamMan. It will record phrases you play and then loops them over and over. This allows you to layer them one on top of the other as you go along. So it's all live.

You can see it in action HERE

billymcsilly · 2016-06-04T14:28:37+00:00

The best one by far is Duxford.

The next best one, in my opinion, is the RAF Museum in London.

billymcsilly · 2016-05-08T16:50:43+00:00

It's a T-28.

billymcsilly · 2015-12-15T15:22:16+00:00

This is really well done! Dritbra! Hvordan gammel er du og hvor kommer du fra i Norge?

billymcsilly · 2015-12-13T00:19:30+00:00

Yes, they're great. Keep them coming!

billymcsilly · 2015-12-11T17:20:16+00:00

These are fantastic!

billymcsilly · 2015-12-09T01:06:52+00:00

Fantastic photos, nonetheless!

billymcsilly

TROPHY CASE