P-51B/C/D skinpack by Emel, June 2010.

Blue Nosers From Bodney - 352nd FG, Better known as the "Blue Nosed Bastards From Bodney", is the third part out of four of similar P-51 skin packs trying to depict and breath new life in a virtual form to some of the most famous US Army Air Force P-51 Mustang fighter units serving in Europe and the Mediterranean in World War II.

In 1942 the Eighth Air Force was still in the process of building up its strength. One of the new fighter units activated in the autumn of 1942 was the 352nd Fighter Group. The unit first saw light on 1 October 1942 when activated at Bradley Field, Connecticut. At that time no one yet knew it was to become one of the most outstanding Fighter Groups in the Eighth Air forces. 

On 26th November 1943 the unit achieved its first victory. Then on it would destroy German aircraft in record numbers. The 352nd FG flew its last mission on 3 May 1945. Between September 1943 and May 1945 the unit flew 420 combat missions and was credited with 792.5 enemy aircraft destroyed. Of these 505.5 were aerial victories. Twenty eight pilots qualified as aces. When strafing kills are combined with aerial victories the number of aces will climb to 52. With this record the 352nd Fighter Group earned its place as the fourth most succesful Fighter Groups among the Eighth Air Force fighter units. 70 pilots and 118 aircraft were lost during the campaign in Europe.

The Blue nosers:
----------------

1.  P-51B-5 43-6685 Umbriago of Lt Robert Frascotti, 486th FS, Bodney, May 1944.

2.  P-51B-5 43-6704 HELL-ER-BUST of Lt Edwin Heller, 486th FS, Bodney, May 1944.

3.  P-51B-5 43-7094 GRACIE/Josephine of Lt Malcolm Pickering, 487th FS, Bodney, May 1944.*

4.  P-51B-5 43-7022 Little Rebel of Lt Alton J Wallace, 486th FS, Bodney, May 1944.

5.  P-51B-10 42-106502 Opal LEE of Lt Fred Allison, 487th FS, Bodney, May 1944.

6.  P-51B-10 42-106472 The FLYING SCOTT II/VISCIOUS VIRGIE of Lt Carlton Fuhrman, 486th FS, Bodney, June 1944.

7.  P-51B-10 42-106661 Hot Stuff of Maj Willie O Jackson Jr, CO of the 486th FS, Bodney, May 1944.

8.  P-51B-10 42-106471 Lambie II of Lt Col John C Meyer, CO of the 487th FS, Bodney, May 1944.

9.  P-51B-10 42-106449 Princess ELISABETH of Lt William T Whisner, 487th FS, Bodney, May 1944.

10. P-51B-15 42-106844 Flossie II of Maj Earl Abbot, 328th FS, Bodney, July 1944.

11. P-51B-15 42-106914 The West "By Gawd" Virginian of Lt Robert H 'Punchy' Powell Jr, 328th FS, Bodney, June 1944.

12. P-51B-15 43-24807 Starck MAD/Even Stevens of Capt Walter 'Wally' Starck, 487th FS, Bodney, June 1944.*

13. P-51B-15 42-106872 PATTY ANN II of Lt John F Thornell, 328th FS, Bodney, July 1944.

14. P-51B-15 42-106832 WE THREE of Lt Edmond Zellner, 328th FS, Bodney, May 1944.

15. P-51C-5 42-103758 The FOX of Lt James N Wood, 487th FS, Bodney, June 1944.

16. P-51C-10 42-103789 STRAW BOSS of Lt Col James Mayden, HQ 352nd FG, Bodney, Summer 1944.

17. P-51D-5 44-13878 of Capt John 'Muscles' Bennett, 487th FS, Bodney, August 1944.

18. P-51D-5 44-13737 Little Rebel of Lt Charles C 'Buck' Pattillo, 486th FS, Bodney, April 1945.

19. P-51D-5 44-13401 Diann Ruth II of Capt Charles Cesky, 328th FS, Asch (Y-29), Belgium, December 1944.

20. P-51D-5 44-13406 Barbara M 4th of Lt Col John 'Curly' Edwards, CO of the 328th FS, Bodney, September 1944.

21. P-51D-5 44-11330 E Pluribus Unum of Lt Raymond Littge, 487th FS, Bodney, November 1944.

22. P-51D-5 44-13806 KENTUCKY BABE of Lt Steve Price, 328th FS, Bodney, April 1945.

23. P-51D-5 44-13530 Dutchess of Capt Duerr Schuch, 487th FS, Chivres (Y-84), Belgium, March 1945.

24. P-51D-10 44-14061 Little One III of Capt Donald S Bryan, 328th FS, Bodney, November 1944.

25. P-51D-10 44-14397 EX-LAX...SHHT "n" GIT! of Flt Off Cyril B Doleac, 487th FS, Bodney, August 1944.

26. P-51D-10 44-14812 Slender Tender & TALL of Maj William T Halton, CO of the 487th FS, Bodney, April 1945.

27. P-51D-10 44-14696 HELL-ER-BUST of Capt Edwin L Heller, 486th FS, Bodney, April 1945.
  
28. P-51D-10 44-14151 PETIE 2nd of Lt Col John C Meyer, CO of the 487th FS, Bodney, August 1944.

29. P-51D-10 44-14815 Stinky 2 of Capt William Stangel, 328th FS, Asch (Y-29), Belgium, January 1945.'

30. P-51D-10 44-14237 Moonbeam McSWINE of Capt William T Whisner, 487th FS, Asch (Y-29), Belgium, January 1945.

31. P-51D-15 44-15611 Cile VI/LUCK of the IRISH of Capt Chester V Harker, 486th FS, Chivres (Y-84), Belgium, April 1945.

32. P-51D-15 44-14877 Pennie's Earl of Lt Earl Lazear, 486th FS, Bodney, November 1944.

33. P-51D-15 44-15041 PETIE 3rd of Lt Col John C Meyer, Deputy CO of the 352nd FG, Asch (Y-29), Belgium, December 1944.

34. P-51D-15 44-14906 CRIPES A'MIGHTY of Maj George E Preddy, CO of the 328th FS, Asch (Y-29), Belgium, December 1944.

35. P-51D-15 44-141501 RICKY of Lt James N Wood, 487th FS, Asch (Y-29), Belgium, January 1945.

36. P-51D 44-13321 CRIPES A'MIGHTY 3RD of Maj George E Preddy, 487th FS, Bodney, August 1944.**

37. P-51K-5 44-11556 Sweet AND Lovely of Lt Cuthbert A "Bill" Pattillo, 487th FS, Bodney, April 1945.

38. P-51K-5 44-11626 "It's SUPERMOUSE"/Sweet Sue of Lt Robert W "Bobby" Dodd, 328th FS, Bodney, April 1945.

39. P-51K-5 44-11828 GERALDINE II of Lt James F "Duke" Lambright, 328th FS, Bodney, April 1945.


*Individual markings remain incomplete.
** This version of Maj Preddy's famous CRIPES-Mustang was a last minute addition to supplement the aircraft flown by Preddy. I Don't know what series this D model was, but dating back to August 1944, assumingly a D-5 or D-10.  

Preddy

The higest scoring of all 352nd FGs aces was George E Preddy with 26.833 (includes the four shared victories) aerial, 5 ground victories. Preddy was the most succesful Mustang pilot of the Eighth Air Force. He also scored three kills while flying P-47s. Preddy claimed five aircraft shot down and two shared destroyed while flying his first assigned P-51B 42-106451 HO-P Cripes A'Mighty. A further 15 and two shared claimed where then made in replacement P-51D 44-13321 HO-P Cripes A'Mighty 3rd, including a record six Bf 109s on the mission of 6 August 1944.

In October 1944 Preddy moved from the 487th to the 328th FS as CO, taking P-51D 44-14906 (Which was then coded PE-P and named Cripes A'Mighty) with him. He shot down another four enemy fighters with this aircraft prior to meeting his death in it on 25th December 1944. Preddy was shot down in error by a US Army anti-aircraft battery.
 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes on the skins & template:
------------------------------

The mighty project with the Mustang began soon after the Christmas holidays of 2009 and despite of an extended break from skinning in February has continued unabated since late March to this day. On the road there were many mysteries concerning the technical details of the Mustang. While trying to reveal the secrets I received many times help from others who have more experience and knowledge than I could ever hope to have of a specific aircraft. I'd like to thank fellow skinners and members at Mission 4 Today, particularly Jarink, Jorjus, Rudi Jaeger, Duggy, RDDR for their valuable help in showing some of the basic differencies between the Mustang varients and for pointing out some of the "do's and do-not-do's" with the Mustang.

As far as personal emblems, nose art and individual squadron markings of the US fighter units were concerned it was not possible to obtain sufficient information to cover every detail or the original colour of this artform. Many times I would find several different versions of a specific emblem, all claiming to be historical, on other times no adequate information was found at all. The latter problem became especially apparent when trying to solve if an insignia existed on both sides of the fuselage or not. At best any markings, emblems and nose art of these skins should be concidered semi-historical, but at least they are original, complete redrawings and not copied from existing sheets.

When drawing the panel lines and rivets for the P-51D I used alongside the original void-files information based on Robert Peczkowski's North American P-51D Mustang by Mushrom model publications, plus numerous photographs both from books and the internet. Some of the erratic panel lines plaguing the original P-51D void bmp's were thus cleared. When converting the P-51D to the B and C (Malcolm) I relied mostly on the original Void although some considerable corrections to the panel lines - especially on the canopy details on both the Malcolm and the original bird cage version - were made here too. And last, I redesigned a set of new internal/mechanical textures for the P-51 mustang, which I'm glad to introduce with these skins. I hope you enjoy these skins.   

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Important!

All Mustang variants - B, C (Malcolm) and D are present in this pack so please pay attention when installing the skins to ensure that all skins are placed to the correct folders.

This pack includes 67 skins. 39 fully marked, 14 generic, and 14 blank skins. Slip the BMP files into their proper folders in your Il-2 Sturmovik/Paintschemes/Skins folder. The skins should work the next time you start the game. Happy flying!

A poster of the 352nd Fighter Group Insignia is also included.

The template was redrawn from the original P-51B/C and D void files. Also Introducing a new mechanical layer, this time with my own little touch.

All colours, markings, and nose art are redrawn interpretations from what can be seen in the colour profiles of Osprey Aviation Elite Units, 352nd Fighter Group by Thomas G Ivie.  

All written information based on Osprey Aviation Elite Units, 352nd Fighter Group by Thomas G Ivie and Classic Colours, American Eagles, P-51 Mustang units of the Eighth Air Force by Roger Freeman.

These skins are not to be uploaded further without my permission. You are permitted to use and publish the skins in this pack with IL-2 Sturmovik missions & campaigns, also you may rework these skins for your private use. No commercial use in any form is permitted with my Il-2 Sturmovik skins. Please do not remove credits. Thank you for downloading these skins and happy flying.

Emel

Contact me:  emel@elisanet.fi