P-47D Thunderbolt 'Razorback'

While I wait for a new canopy for the Me410 commission, I thought I’d make a start on one of the Academy P-47D Thunderbolts, I picked up at the Bovington show last weekend. 

Oh my, how lovely it is to have a kit on my bench which goes together so beautifully. I’ve made a few Academy kits over the years and they’ve never let me down. Interestingly Airfix used Academy for some of their early 1:35 scale AFVs … may be they can also learn something from their 1:72 scale aircraft too!

Did a quick bit of Olive Drab painting today. This is now going to be a 9th Airforce fighter bomber, inspired by an 8th Airforce project I have in plan but now steering towards an 80th D-Day anniversary theme! 

I’m just debating now as to what D-Day striping to do as Academy would have me finished with these having been removed at the end of 1944 but I’d really like some reminder of the event, even if just the later half stripe finish

That’s one side of decals applied. These are so thin it’s a real challenge sliding them into place! 

I’m going to paint the tail fin white stripe as I never find these decals work.

Academy’s 1/72 scale P-47D "Razorback" is a fabulous kit. Everything fits seamlessly with beautiful detail. You can tell, I loved building it! 

I was drawn to the P-47 after reading Donald L Miller’s 2006 book “Masters of the Air” in which B-17 Flying Fortress relied their P-47 “little friends” prior to the arrival of the long range P-51 Mustang. Academy include decals for the 9th Air Force’s 325514:A8-P ‘Anna Lousie’ as flown by Lt. Rainbow of 391 Fighter Squadron, 366 Fighter Group, when based at Laon, France, in late 1944. 

I love the research that accompanies all my builds and this one was no exception. In the first half of 1944 the P-47 units spent much of their time on bomber escort duties, in support of the 8th Air Force. In the run-up to D-Day they turned increasingly to their intended ground attack role, carrying two 1000 lb bombs to destroy the coastal batteries, leaving the Mustang to perform the bomber escort role. On D-Day the P-47s of the 9th Air Force were concentrated along the south coast, from where they flew regular patrols over the Normandy beaches, attacking German defensive positions. With this year being the 80th Anniversary of D-Day, I decided that this would now be the focus of my P-47 build.

The day prior to D-Day invasion stripes were added to the wing and fuselage surfaces. Two to three weeks after D-Day the stripes were removed on all upper surfaces, retaining those on the undersurfaces of the wings and fuselage. As operations continued through 1944 and into 1945 these stripes were gradually eliminated, and many new, replacement aircraft were put into service without them. The stripes did not completely disappear, however, and 366th Fighter Group was one that retained the recognition stripes on the undersurfaces of the fuselage, on almost all of its planes, until the end of the war. Although Academy did not include these in their decals or instructions, I thought I’d at least add them in recognition of the event. This certainly took some careful masking around the national markings and letters!