The first of my 75VE Day Airfix builds is complete.
This is the North American P-51 Mustang flown by 1Lt Spurgeon Ellington, 'Tuskegee Airmen' 100th Fighter Squadron, Ramitelli, Italy December 1944. LOLLIPOOP II was named for Ellington's wife and American Jazz singer, Marie. Spurgeon was subsequently killed in a flying accident in October 1945, and his widow later went on to marry singer Nat King Cole! Marie met Nat King Cole while they were both singing at the Zanzibar club and also sang with Duke Ellington, though, I can not so far find any relationship between Duke and Spurgeon.
The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African-American pilots who were brought together to form the racially segregated 332nd Fighter Group. Their story is a fascinating one, not just because of their successful fight for racial equality, but also because of their combat honours and backstory. They painted their aircraft's tails red to let everyone, the bombers they supported and the enemy they fought, know who they were. They never lost a bomber to air attack, something almost previously unheard of. They received the Presidential Unit Citation for its longest bomber escort mission to Berlin and they were reportedly the first shoot down a Messerschmitt Me 262, Germany's and the world's first production jet fighter.
There are 2 good films about the Tuskegee Airmen: the 1995 film of the same name, a historical piece which follows the airmen from the early days through to the war and George Lucas's more recent 2012 film "Red Tails" which is a CGI and cliché packed dogfight fest .. you've been warned!
The next aircraft in the lockdown model factory is the famed Messerschmitt Me 262. Keep tuned
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