1:32 P-51D Mustang

Chattanooga Choo Choo and Sneebo

The names on the noses of American fighters were a small chronicle of home: songs from the radio, girls' names, lines from the barracks. Both machines on this sheet are an example of that. The aircraft with serial number 44-13535 and the code MC-R borrowed the title of a swing hit about the train to Chattanooga; the second, number 44-13667 with the code MC-T, carried the short name Sneebo.

Both Mustangs flew with the 79th Fighter Squadron of the 20th Fighter Group, that is with a unit of the Eighth Air Force whose machines were recognized by the strongly contrasting color of the cowling and by the letters MC on the fuselage. The group carried out long range escort of bomber formations and attacks on ground targets, in which its pilots earned a reputation as merciless hunters of railroad trains.

Large codes and fine lettering

The sheet in 1:32 scale combines two very different kinds of motif. The large fuselage letters call for a steady hand and plenty of water under the film so that they can still be moved, whereas the small names on the nose are settled almost dry and worked with the tip of a damp brush. Starting with the large ones, while the surface is clean and nothing is in the way, proves itself.

Modelers who build several machines of one unit will appreciate that the two aircraft differ only in the last letter of the code and in the name, so a pair of models brings out how uniform the finish of the whole squadron was and how the machines differed only in detail. For a collector it is an undemanding way to turn one display case into a small illustration of the markings of a single unit.