Horbaczewski's 'D-Day' Pony (Revell 1/32 Mustang III)

[thorfinn]

This is Revell's '60s-vintage 1/32 P-51B Mustang in a 1993 boxing, with the RAF-style Malcolm hood as the included canopy option. The faults and deficiencies of the kit have been well-covered elsewhere; this build was undertaken simply to enjoy revisiting a favorite old kit, 'dressing it up' a bit with a few chosen details. These included plumbing the kit's somewhat anemic Packard Merlin engine with lead wire and assorted tubing and etch left-overs, substituting the gorgeous Aires resin cockpit (designed for the Trumpeter kit) for the kit's rather-lower-relief parts, and adding the True Details resin 'Napalm' set...modified back to their original 75-gallon drop tanks. Paints are Tamiya acrylics; the excellent decals are from Techmod's extensive 'Polish Mustangs' sheet.

 

[BTW, the rough-edges and uneven spacing of the invasion stripes are actually 'toned down' from what photos show for the real aircraft. There's a short clip on YouTube of Horbaczewski 'rolling out' for takeoff, showing parts of the fuselage stripes on both sides of the a/c...and they look like they were painted by a blind man. (Or an aircrewman in a hurry, who had better things to attend to!)]

 

Biggest challenge was the kit's pretty awful clear parts; big square 'hinge holders' (for the original greenhouse-style canopy) had to be carefully chiseled from both windscreen and quarter-lights, and those areas made smooth and clear again. The Malcolm hood part was too short length-wise to be displayed closed, and too short in height to fit in an open position. I ended up adding on extensions in the way of the 'sliding' portion of the bubble to stretch the height a bit, but it's still a very near thing.

 

[WIP for those who are interested may be found here.]

 

The aircraft depicted is the second of three Mustang Mk. III's flown by renowned Polish ace Eugeniusz 'Dziubek' Horbaczewski, C/O of No. 315 (Polish) Squadron. FB382, decorated in full D-Day invasion stripes, was flown through much of June-July 1944, until 'traded in' for the more-frequently-depicted FB387--the aircraft bearing the well-known victory tally for his four V-1 kills. [It is possible that FB382 was marked for one or more V-1 victories as well, though no photographic evidence seems to exist to show them.] The drop tanks are suited to what seems to have been the last combat mission flown in this particular aircraft before it was exchanged, a long-range Beaufighter-escort mission to Norway during which Horbaczewski was credited with (1) Bf109 shot down 'solo,' and another shared with his wing man.

 

The third-highest-scoring Polish fighter ace was KIA on 18 August 1944 during a 'Rodeo' mission over France; he was credited with 3 Fw190s during that flight before he himself was shot down, for a final total of 16.5 aircraft confirmed (and one probable) with 4 V-1 missiles destroyed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Alpha Delta 210]

Incredible finish from such a vintage kit.

[303sqn]

It isn't the Mustang he flew on D-Day.

 

FB166, built as P51C-1-NT (NA-103) 42-103060, was ferried from Ashton Down on 13th April 1944 by Sgt Tamowicz and was adopted by S Ldr Horbaczewski as his personal aircraft. The only known photograph was taken on 4th May. On 12th June he flew FB166 fresh from an inspection at 411 RSU claiming a Fw 190 destroyed. FB166 was hit by flak and returned to 411 RSU for repair. After it was repaired it rejoined 315 Squadron in late June and remained there for almost two weeks. A survivor, it joined another Polish unit, 316 Squadron, in early June 1946 coded SZ-B, serving until the unit was disbanded in December the same year.

 

FB382, built as P-51C-10-NT (NA-103) 42-103532, arrived at 315 Squadron on 15th June and appears to have been immediately adopted as the new PK-G. It served with 315 Squadron for over two months before being sent to 3501 Service Unit on 23 August 1944. FB382 was photographed by the Polish Film Unit in June 1944, possibly for publicity purposes after Horbaczewski rescued W/O Tamowicz after he was shot down in no-man's land in Normandy.

 

It is not clear why FB382 was replaced. The squadron had been transferred to ADGB to help combat the V1 threat and as a result they had been 'thrashing' their Mustangs using 150 grade gasoline. In order to gain maximum speed ‘invasion stripes’ were completely removed from their aircraft. It maybe that FB382 was becoming very 'tired'. It was not unusual for a Merlin engine to require replacement after only one or two weeks. The last time that Horbaczewski flew FB382 operationally was the 30th July, on a mission escorting Beaufighters to Norway. During the mission the squadron downed eight German fighters.

 

A few days later the Polish Film Unit returned to 315 Squadron for publicity purposes. However, it was FB387 that was photographed which had not yet had Horbaczewski's personal markings completed.

 

FB387, built as P-51C-10-NT (NA-103) 42-103537, spent some time in storage before being TOC by 315 Squadron on 28th July 1944 and appears to immediately been chosen to replace FB382. It continued to serve with  315 Squadron after Horbaczewski failed to return on 18th August until late October when it and other 315 Mustangs were transferred to 316 Squadron. Its career ended on 9th November 1944 when F/Lt Walawski hit a truck while taxiing at night. It was sent for repair but recategorised as damage beyond repair and SOC.  

 

[Gary Brantley]

I agree!  Very realistic too! 👍

[ForestFan]

Nicely done ✅ 

[thorfinn]

22 minutes ago, 303sqn said:

It isn't the Mustang he flew on D-Day.

That's why 'D-Day' is in parenthetical quotations; it seemed less cumbersome than using 'invasion-striped.'

 

I'm most familiar with the history you cited. Thanks for taking time to post it. 👍

 

[RMCS]

Superb 

[billn53]

Beautifully done!

[Luiz]

Looking very good!...the external fuel piping looks great!

 

Luiz.

Edited August 5, 2019 by Luiz