Comments for Propsicle

Propsicle

2007-06-30T07:23:35Z

I didn't get the chance to wander through the official museums at Bragg, but the unofficial ones kept the trusty digicam busy.

Stuff like this.

For the grognards with dialup, shoot me an e-mail and I'll send you the hi-res (they're a tad large). For everybody else, the profile ("Ooooh! *Rivets*...") and a fairly unusual nose-on shot.

Oh, for the good ol' days of authorized personal markings...

Comment from Neffi on 2007-06-30

2007-06-30T20:06:57Z

The insigna on that P-40 appear to be a tribute- AVG personnel were contract employees of the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company and had resigned their commissions in the US Army or Navy... considerable effort was made to disassociate the unit from any connection to the US gummint since we were not at war with Japan at the time the AVG began operations. The Chinese sunburst insigna was standard for these planes. When the AVG was disbanded and pilots transferred into the USAAC in the spring of '42 they took the shark-mouth and Flying Tiger logo with them... Of interest is the fact that the AVG never referred to themselves as the 'Flying Tigers'; that title was invented by the American press which bestowed heroic status on them back home despite Chennault's attempts to keep things under the radar, as it were. The winged tiger was designed by Disney studios and began to be applied to AVG machines only just before they disbanded. The shark-mouth was copied from a RAF unit flying in North Africa but will ever be *owned* by the P-40Bs of the AVG... OK, I need a beer.

Comment from J.M. Heinrichs on 2007-06-30

2007-06-30T19:09:18Z

Nationalist China. Question is did someone mix the markings or did the AVG fly with USAAC and China markings? Cheers

Comment from kat-missouri on 2007-06-30

2007-06-30T17:14:54Z

Is that a "sun" under the other wing? As in, flying tigers type air plane? Or am I confusing some other insignia?

Comment from Casey Tompkins on 2007-06-30

2007-06-30T06:33:17Z

I gotta say, although the Hawk series weren't always up to Varsity standards, they sure were pretty planes... :) Hmmm. Maybe it's time to pull out that old Revell P-40E 1/32 and put it together...