Airwar over Austria...1/48 North American P-51D Mustang, 301stFS/332ndFG "Red Tails" 15th AF

Reini78 · August 28, 2021

#19/2021

Hasegawa limited edition kit, stars and bars decals taken from the sparesbox because the kit ones were typical Hasegawa cream coloured and not white. The "Creamer´s Dream" decals are slightly undersized compared to the original aircraft. Seatbelts were already molded onto the seat. EZ Line for the antenna wire. Painted with MRP White Aluminium and Tamiya Flat Red. As you may know the P-51 wing panel lines were filled for better speed. So my dad also filled the panel lines, partially the filler got slightly loose again but gives it a worn look.

Build thread here

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235095923-airwar-over-austria148-north-american-p-51d-mustang-301stfs332ndfg-red-tails-15th-af/

Model shows the aircraft of Lt. (later field promoted to Captain) Charles L. White serving with the 301st FS in Italy 1944/45. His decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with seven oak clusters for meritorious achievement and seven Bronze Stars. After returning to the States following WWII, Charles worked for 42 years in the St. Louis Public School System. He died on 25 February 2007.

The Eduard Info June 2021 gave my dad the idea of a dual build. There´s an interesting article about theTuskegee Airmen who escorted B-17 and B-24 from Italy over the Alps to southern Germany, Austria, Hungary and Romania. One of the them was 2nd Lt Walter P. Manning. On April 1st 1945 he flew alongside Charles White and other Tuskegees escorting bombers to St.Pölten/Lower-Austria, where they encountered 109s and 190s of KG(J)27. Manning was shot down, parachuted and later imprisoned by Luftwaffe soldiers at Linz-Hörsching Airbase. On April 3rd an angry mob, led by local Nazi officials forced the soldiers to hand out Manning to them. Afterwards he was beaten up and lynched by hanging him on a lamp post and his remains were buried at the airbase. Right after the war he was exhumed by US troops and reburied at the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial in France. Manning’s family received the standard World War II Compensation of $500.00 in the aftermath of his death.
In April 2018, a memorial was erected at the same airbase he was imprisoned and killed.

Eduard Info

https://www.eduard.com/out/media/InfoEduard/archive/2021/info-eduard-2021-06-en-v1.pdf

2nd Lt. Walter Peyton Manning

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/walter-peyton-manning-1920-1945/

commemorative ceremony

https://blog.theveteranssite.greatergood.com/walter-manning/

DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

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