What if the Windsor treaty had been invoked? Part 1 - "Operation Viriathus"

[DogfighterZen]

 In 1939, Spain and Portugal signed a pact of mutual assistance in defending any invader of their territories. This was one of the things that would keep the Iberian Peninsula out of the war at first, but when Hitler created "Operation Isabella" in 1941, British spies found out about these plans and, as soon as Winston Churchill was informed, the Allied Command started to devise a plan to counter this move.
The result was a secret meeting between Churchill and Salazar, just a week after learning of Hitler's plan, and after much discussion and consideration, Churchill's plan was accepted by Salazar and, "Operation Viriathus" was put in motion.
While in the Azores islands there were going to be Allied bases for the Battle of the Atlantic, secretly disembarking at night, American, Canadian, British and French troops, would land on the north and south of the country on deserted beaches along the coast on the mainland.
From early September to November, thousands of troops and materials start landing and making their way through the country side, away from the biggest population centers, to dig in along the Spanish border.
The PoAF comes into the story when Operation Isabella is put on hold because Hitler decides that the Soviets are first. Meanwhile, in the spring of 1943, a shortage of pilots with enough flight training hours to take up fighter escorts for bombing raids over Germany, pushes the allied command to call in more reserves from smaller air forces, that are more experienced and readily available than new pilots coming in from the U.S..
Fighter Squadron Nº1, "Cães Selvagens" or "Wild Dogs" from Tancos Nº3 airbase, which was the most experienced group of pilots in the PoAF, is one of the first to be called. They first fly in P-40s and P-47s and fight the Luftwaffe over italian, French and German skies but their experience wasn't enough to prevent 4 casualties in the first week of operations. Although beaten up, the Wild Dogs manage to do a good job in protecting the bombers and lose only 3 bombers in 57 missions flown. One year later, around March 1944, while stationed in Sicily, Sqd. Nº1 is in bad shape, beat up aircraft with no replacements but after a wait of nearly six months, a promise is fulfilled and new planes are delivered, the P-51D Mustangs.









All pics taken flying over LeMat, my house...



Here's a close up of the squadron's symbol, the Wild Dog! The 2 kill markings were scored earlier on a P-47 during a bomber escort mission... And also my big thumb print for picking up the model to soon after painting... 



This is another one pulled of the stalled builds pile, it was put aside after i found this forum, what i saw around here gave me motivation to whif it into my country's air force... Only problem was that i didn't have any FoAP decals at all!
Brush painted with Tamiya acrylics, i first had the tail and nose in flat black but when i was finishing my F-5PM, i was on vacation from work, so i had the time and painted it in a more traditional scheme, inspired by the Tuskegee airmen's Red Tails and the colors that were later used on PoAF F-86s.
The colors and scheme are not totally correct but that's how i like it. Hope you guys like it too.

[Captain Canada]

Nice story and that would have been a big surprise for Hitler ! The model looks excellent in those colours and markings.

[DogfighterZen]

Thank you, Captain!
I guess it would be a surprise, but i believe that he probably wasn't counting on Salazar's allegiance anyway. When Portugal refused the Italian's offer to join the Axis, Salazar was probably put on their "watch list".

[comrade harps]

Neat! A nice design and choice of colours.

[zenrat]

Very good.
Pilot looks good.

[Dizzyfugu]

Neat! A nice design and choice of colours.

Second that. 

[NARSES2]

Come out well 

I like the idea behind it as well. After all Portugal is England's oldest ally (and England is correct usage in this case for once  ) Always wondered if England was Portugal's first ally though ?

[Army of One]

Great story and lovely model......any other types to come...?

[DogfighterZen]

Thanks for the support with your kind words, gentlemen. Glad y'all like it!

About the colors, when i bought this kit, i wanted to do one of the "Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney" but when i saw what you guys were doing, i remembered that i used to draw F-16s and Tomcats with Portuguese markings when i was in school, and at the time, i did no modeling at all. You guys made me think: "why not revive that idea and materialize it into 3d? I do have the means now and, if these guys are doing it, it will not be taken as profanity or blasphemy by the modeling community..."
The layout of the colors is the same as the Red Tails, the blue is a bit darker than the tone used by the 352nd but that's fine, why should it be the same? I like it like that, it's close to the blue used on F-86 Sabres of the PoAF. The anti-glare panel is Tamiya's Nato Black cause i really don't like the Olive Drab with the rest of the colors used. The pilot was not my best effort but i do like the face, i mixed a bit of Tamiya's gloss red and flat white to try to get a flesh type tone and i think it kinda looks like skin but i think that the pics probably caught at his best angle...  
I've been googling around and seems that England really was Portugal's first official ally, it makes sense, both Monarchic and colonialist nations, i guess both profited from that alliance.
There will definitely be others to continue this story, i've been throwing my mental dumps about that in here: http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,40830.15.html

[zenrat]

... I've been googling around and seems that England really was Portugal's first official ally...

It was important to maintain the Port supply...

[NARSES2]

I've been googling around and seems that England really was Portugal's first official ally, it makes sense, both Monarchic and colonialist nations, i guess both profited from that alliance.

Goes way back before colonies. Anglo-Portuguese Treaty 1373 and then the Treaty of Windsor (used in this scenario) 1386. Oldest treaty still in force.

... I've been googling around and seems that England really was Portugal's first official ally...

It was important to maintain the Port supply...

It probably did have something to do with it

[DogfighterZen]

Yep, indeed it does, really old alliance between Brtis and Tugas for many different reasons...  
Because of that, i've been thinking about aircraft design and construction by cooperation of both countries since the end of the 2nd ww...