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I propose to enter this Group Build with one of the "Alternative Markings" options - a P-51B in Irish Air Corps colours. This will be the kit I intend to use, together with some markings from Max Decals. This is my little bit of counterfactual history..... Ireland in 1942 After some initial hesitation and some opposition within the Irish parliament, the Irish Government, led by Prime Minister Michael Collins, agreed to cancel its formerly neutral stance and to join the Allied cause in the Spring of 1942. This was at the urging of the United States Government, which had kept strong links with the Irish Free State from the time of Irish Independence in 1922, and the subsequent annexation of Northern Ireland by the Irish forces in 1926. Although suspicions remained between the Irish and the British, despite the Treaty of Boston in 1927 that had led to eventual peace and the withdrawal of British forces from Northern Ireland, the threat of Nazi hegemony overcame these concerns. The war in the Atlantic had become critical, and the US Government had become increasingly concerned that there was a gap in the defences in the North Atlantic, which allowed the U-boat packs free reign against the convoys. Thus pressure was put by the Americans on the Irish, once the US had joined the war after Pearl Harbour. It was hoped that the inclusion of Ireland within the Allied war effort would help to plug this gap, and allow for air forces to be based on the island of Ireland, thereby assisting with efforts to protect the convoys in the crucial area between Iceland and Britain. However, old animosities still ran deep, and the Irish refused to permit the RAF to be based on Irish soil, and it was finally agreed that US forces would be based there, just as they had been based some months earlier in Iceland. In addition to the US aircraft that flew from Irish air bases in Galway, Kerry and Donegal, to cover the western approaches, the US Government agreed to provide some American aircraft to the Irish Air Corps, to assist in Irish defence against the expected bombing actions of the Nazis along Ireland’s East coast, and in particular to protect the capital city of Dublin. These aircraft included two squadrons of P-51B fighters. [in reality, the Irish Air Corps had only a number of Hurricane fighters (both purchased and interned) on stock during the Second World War. It did purchase some Spitfires (de-navalised Seafires and TR9 trainers) in the late 1940's. As a neutral country during the war, Ireland did not have much in the way of an air force....] Also, in my counterfactual world, I have assumed that de Valera (the actual Prime Minister in 1942) had been shot by firing squad in 1916, along with the other leaders of the rebellion, and so Michael Collins was not assassinated in 1922 during the Irish Civil War, but went on to lead the Irish Free State from 1925. Collins was known to have intended to invade Northern Ireland, and it is quite possible that he would have done so, had he lived, at the time of the UK General Strike in 1926. But he was much less doctrinaire and more flexible than de Valera, and it is conceivable that he would have realised the advantage of joining the allied cause during the war, if convinced by the US, where there was a considerable Irish-American lobby. I will make a start next week. Thanks for looking, Philip