2 This week, of "Caroline" 359th FG.


Regards Duggy

Oh Duggy, What a beautiful photo. I say this, as I have seen many,many Mustang pics but not this pretty girl.
Thanks a lot for posting.
It seems that you have an endless collection of great historical photos,many that have never been seen unless someone has
poached them from you. Ha!!
You guys that have dropped in here should let him know. He is doing this on his own time like all of us.
Thanks Mate,
Christopher

I've seen the 2nd photo, but I don't recall seeing the first one. Beauty of a plane, the Mustang!

Anyone else catch how the name art looks reddish in the first photo and yellow in the second? It shows how much the lighting angles can change things, especially since it looks like these photos were taken at the same time judging by the shadow on the tail.

Also worthy of skinning note is that this plane had it's anti-glare panel repainted matte black. From everything I've learned, all panels were painted OD at the factories until sometime late in the production of the -30 series. This particular plane is a P-51D-5-NA.

I've seen the 2nd photo, but I don't recall seeing the first one. Beauty of a plane, the Mustang!

Anyone else catch how the name art looks reddish in the first photo and yellow in the second? It shows how much the lighting angles can change things, especially since it looks like these photos were taken at the same time judging by the shadow on the tail.

Also worthy of skinning note is that this plane had it's anti-glare panel repainted matte black. From everything I've learned, all panels were painted OD at the factories until sometime late in the production of the -30 series. This particular plane is a P-51D-5-NA.

Jarink

I agree Jarink, good observation of the shadow. The slight variation could also be due to post-processing or the condition of the original shots. Who knows where they languished, and for how long, before being digitised?

Thanks Duggy, much appreciated.

In the first shot it also looks like the outer wings and elevators tips are blue also along with the rudder, but the second shot does seem to support that. You can see where the black stripes are painted; on the outboard side of the stripe the skin appears blue and inboard of it, the skin looks silver. Could that indeed be the case or is it another result of the photo film quality? Would be interesting to know.

Staying with P-51,s, three this week taken from a B-17.
503rd FS
From rear to foreground: P-51B 43-24800 D7-O "Miss Max" of Lt. Ethelbert H Graham Jr. P-51D 44-14065 D7-M "Sally II" of Lt. John R Byers P-51D 44-13980 D7-Z "Shy Ann" of Lt. Jerry P Bush Jr and P-51D 44-13629 D7-F "Dee" of Capt. Clarence W Knott

Taken from port waist gunners position

Nice! Don't see that many photos of this group.

Staying with P-51's.
Two factory shots.


Spot the difference ?

Yeah, the fillet on the tail and a wire antenna coming out of the canopy.

One's flying left and the other right? Wait! I know. The serial number is different.

Look closely, they both have the HF wire antenna coming out of the canopy. The presence of this antenna was not a production change, it depended on what radios were mounted at the time. All P-51s could be fitted with them. They weren't very common in the ETO, but widely used everywhere else.