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Old 07-21-2016, 12:10 PM
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airdave airdave is offline
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1/33 P51B Mustang Eisenhower's Hack!

Haven't put out a B/C model Mustang in quite some time!
So, its about time.

This aircraft was a special request from a modeller friend...
and it turned out to be an interesting subject for me.

One of very few "hack" B/C Mustangs...2 seat transports/trainers
...this airplane is well known by scale modellers and has been represented many times in miniature.
It is famous for its one time use as a two seat transport, carrying the General in Chief, Dwight D Eisenhower,
on a recon mission over French battlefields.

The aircraft had a long and storied career during WW2...
in fact it is believed to be the longest serving B model Mustang of the War.
And it went through a number of versions and appearances during that career.
After a crash landing, it was rebuilt and converted to be used as a Trainer with the 354th FS.
A rear seat was added in place of the rear Fuel tank, and a removeable canopy section was devised.

Unfortunately it is often represented by modellers in its later appearance (long after the Eisenhower flight)
with different aircraft codes GQ-(Pi), fresh paint, a newer modified rear cockpit canopy ...
and sporting new nose art, with the name "The Stars Look Down".

The aircraft did not look this way when it flew with Eisenhower and I decided to model the aircraft
in a more accurate manner...based mostly on what you can see in a video of the actual Eisenhower recon flight.
I created a number of screen clips and referred to those for markings, overall paint scheme, and visual details.

The model is in the store now....
at www.papermodelshop.com
and here, at ecardmodels.com

I'll post some pics of the finished model when I see them.





Below, is how most scale modellers choose to represent this aircraft.
In a much later configuration, that is inaccurate if representing the "Eisenhower Hack".
And, most modelers also seem to keep adding the upper wing D-Day striping...odd.

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Old 07-21-2016, 05:07 PM
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Cool Dave, looks great.....Rich
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Old 07-21-2016, 08:09 PM
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Don Boose Don Boose is offline
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Another well-researched historic aircraft!

Thanks, Dave.

Worth mentioning that then-Major General Elwood Quesada was the commander of the Ninth Air Force (Eighth Air Force's tactical counterpart) and later would be the first commander of the Tactical Air Command. He was a great advocate for close air support and thus dear to the heart of any Infantryman.

Don
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Old 07-22-2016, 01:34 AM
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Great model I will build one also and there is available the figures of Quesada and Eisenhower fully customizable.

Quesada-Eisenhower

Paúl
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Old 07-22-2016, 06:21 AM
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For those interested in the story of this aircraft,
here is my short historical that I am using in the store listing,
followed by the full film covering the Eisenhower flight.

The North American "razorback" P-51B Mustang appeared in 1943.
The B model Mustang differed greatly from the A model with
increased load capacity and more power from the new Rolls Royce Merlin engines.
The P51B Mustang also received a number of Cooling System upgrades.

The P51B-5 (-5 Block) was modified further with the addition of alternate Air Intake doors
just behind the Engine Exhausts (for cold weather operations),
and the final run of B models (the-10 block) getting Engine upgrades with a 50 Horsepower boost.

43-6877 was one of almost 2000 Mustangs produced at the Inglewood California plant in 1943
and was one of the first aircraft shipped to the 354th Fighter group.
Aptly named the "Pioneer Mustang Group", the 354th was the first operational unit to receive the new B model Mustangs.

Coded GQ-Z, and named "Short Snorter", 43-6877 was originally flown by Lt John D Carpenter of the 354th.

Due to a ground looping incident on May 27, 1944 at RAF Lashenden, Kent, England, the aircraft was damaged
and grounded, and subsequently rebuilt...and converted...to a two seater reconnaissance aircraft.
A cramped seat was added, behind the Pilot`s seat, in place of the fuselage Fuel tank,
and the aircraft was used by the 354th for training purposes and to give aerial tours.

On July 4th, 1944, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied invasion forces, General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived at the 354th
accompanied by General Elwood R. Quesada. They planned to fly a personal reconnaissance in the twin-seated Mustang.
Supported by three other Mustang Fighter aircraft, 43-6877 secretly flew a survey mission with the Commander-In-Chief onboard,
of the St. Lo (France) area subsequent to the D-Day invasion.

This was the first time in history that a ground General had personally reconnoitered the terrain of a planned battle operation
from a fighter aircraft in the presence of the enemy. Eisenhower's observations contributed to planning for General Patton's
offensive advances later the same month.

A short time after the historic July flight, 43-6877 was freshly painted and newly named "The Stars Look Down".
Sporting new "nose art" the Mustang also appears to have acquired a checker nose band.
Modifications were made to the second seat compartment, including the replacement of the restrictive access canopy.
The Mustang now sported a larger windowed Perspex cover offering better visiblity for the passenger.
The aircraft identification code was also modified, replacing the Z suffix with a stylized Pi (mathematical) symbol.

Sometime later the camouflage paint was removed, the aircraft identifier changed to "GR-B"
and the airplane handed over to George Bickel, the CO of the 354th Fighter Group, for personal use.
When it was finally scrapped in Germany in early 1946, it was probably one of the longest serving "B" Mustangs.



Please forgive the sound with this video.
I don't believe it contains any original audio.
It appears to be an attempt at foley,
complete with street noises and Ambulance sirens! lol
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Old 07-22-2016, 07:34 AM
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Vermin_King Vermin_King is offline
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Thanks for sharing. You always seem to do outstanding research. Eisenhower's exit looked well practiced, for a ground general. You'd think he'd done this a hundred times. Looks like they had two or three different cameras on this. Seems like they wanted this to be well documented.

It's always interesting with the additional perspective that you add.
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Old 07-22-2016, 07:42 AM
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Interesting information.
So, is the GQ on the side of the aircraft in the video for General Quesada, and the later change to GR-B is for George R. Bickel?
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Old 07-22-2016, 08:07 AM
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airdave airdave is offline
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Quote:
So, is the GQ on the side of the aircraft in the video for General Quesada, and the later change to GR-B is for George R. Bickel?
You can clearly see that the top of the G was cut off when they first cut out the panel to create the rear hatch.
So, I think the coding was in place before the aircraft became a two-seater.

According to what I have read, the aircraft was already coded GQ as Short Snorter
(flown by Lt. John D. Carpenter).
This was before it crash landed and before it was rebuilt as a two seater.

So, I think the GQ-General Quesada is just a massive coincidence.

Sometime after Ike's flight, and when the aircraft was renamed The Stars Look Down,
it acquired the odd code GQ - Pi(symbol).
There must be a story behind this, but I haven't read anything yet.

When the Mustang was basically "retired" and used as personal transport by Bickel,
I'd say it was a good bet that the code was changed to reflect his last name.
But who knows.
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Old 07-22-2016, 02:45 PM
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This is going to be great!
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Old 07-24-2016, 08:14 AM
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airdave airdave is offline
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I'll repost this info in my Mustang thread too!...

A small error in the Instruction pages of this kit has been brought to my attention.
To be honest, this same error may appear in some earlier kits.
Hopefully whomever builds a kit will work their way through the problem.

There is no part 75X on this model!
(This is because I re-used the Instruct pages from an earlier Mustang release.)

Looks like I reversed the location of two small Formers that fit inside the belly scoop of the Mustang.
Formers N and O ...are shown reversed on the first page of the Instructions.
They are correctly positioned on the later page (in the 3D cutaway drawing).

Thanks to Shane for the photo.



To be honest, its a small issue since the formers themselves are almost exactly the same shape and size.
And you must also consider this is not an overly complicated design (of model).
It doesn't have the precision of many high end models and may require a little creative tolerance.
The lower scoop area of this Mustang has always required a bit of patience to get it right.
Depending on how you assemble the lower parts, you might find switching formers around improves things! lol
Sometimes I rush through things, don't fit parts eaxctly right, and end up trimming, bending, squeezing other parts into place.
So, I never expect any kit to be perfectly accurate.

Anyway...I have uploaded a newly edited version of the model with the Instruction page updates.
If you bought it from ecardmodels, just log-in and download it again (from your account).
You will receive the newest version when you re-download.
(...and remember to delete the older version!)

Sorry for the inconvenience.
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