Intruder in the Phillipines

[NARSES2]

The 39th* had flown P38 Lightnings throughout the Pacific war but in late 1945 became one of the first squadrons to convert onto the new McDonnel P67 Moonbat. The squadron arrived in the Philippine in March 1946 and began to carry out intruder operations over Japanese held territory both at dawn and dusk.

In June a couple of the squadrons aircraft were equipped with newly developed low light magnification equipment to aid in these operations. Unfortunately whilst working fine in laboratory conditions the new equipment failed to deal with operational conditions and was abandoned after only about 5 ops. Indeed it took almost 4 more years before this type of equipment became standard issue for intruder operations and even then the maintenance hours required meant it was only issued to some very specialised users.

The model is the old MPM resin kit which comes basically in 2 parts. Fuselage and combined "blended" wing and the tail plane area. Took some blending in with Miliput but nothing to drastic. I had to fit the "low light gear" to hide a fracture which occurred in the old vacform canopy when I cut it out. It's simply the front end of a drop tank and some plastic tube. (more details in my blog)

Paints are mainly Xtracrylic and the markings are from the spares box. All together an enjoyable project.

* I'm not sure it is 39th, but I can't remember who the JT codes actually belong to and I can't find them on Google 

[comrade harps]

An exotic type and a good match for the mission. 

[Captain Canada]

I have a new appreciation for this bird.....does she ever look good in those colours ! ( somehow ) faster and sleeker ! Nice one.