Been a good while since ive been on here, some browser/site glitch.
Something a little left field.
Inspired by the artwork by Graham Turner in the Osprey British Paratrooper book.
The hull is from the Italeri C47 kit. Suprised me by not having rivets, tried several methods of adding them but non of them looked right.
And if anyone is thinking that paint job on the fusulage is a bit rough thats deliberate.
The orders to add the D Day stripes was isued less than 48 hours before so they were rushed and the quality dependant on the skill of the erks.
And of course the Transport aircraft were in almost constant use during the race across France and Belgium bringing up supplies of petrol and ammo.
Figure and dog scratchbuilt.
Very nice work! One technical aspect I would critique are the invasion stripes. They were ordered removed from the upper surfaces of aircraft approximately one month after D-Day, and were gone from those areas by the time of Market Garden. At the very least the white areas were overpainted or scrubbed off.
Well I’m certainly no expert on aircraft but I seem to remember I took the colour scheme off the decal sheet and it was definately MG. Fairly sure Ive seen pics of C47 in stripes to the end of the war up to the end of the war, again I could be mistaken. Away from references atm.
I’ve yet to come across photos of C-47s at Market Garden with upper surface stripes. They were present on some of the RAF bomber glider tugs and gliders, but that’s all I have come across in photos. And then this is an interesting bit of info… the Paras at Arnhem were dropped by USAAF Troop Carrier Groups. RAF handled the Gliders… at least according to this website. You’ll have to scroll way down on the page for the airlift information.
Removal of the wing stripes was apparently to make aircraft less visible at forward airfields but fuselage stripes were kept becuse of the risk of friendly fire.
I suspect its one of those questions which as so often has no definitive answer.
I’m away from home with all my reference library currently, but I’m pretty sure on the directives and timelines. Mind you all of the directives would not be implemented immediately, but they were followed as a general rule. Stripes applied upper and lower surfaces in the immediate preparation for D-Day, with the only exception being the four engined heavies of Bomber Command and US 8th Air Force. Approximately one month after the landings, stripes are ordered removed from wing and fuselage upper surfaces, but remaining on lower surfaces. This was done over the course of the summer, but as photos show from Market Garden, gliders and four engine glider tugs still had upper surface stripes. Post Market Garden in fall of ‘44, under wing stripes were directed to be removed, but not fuselage lower stripes. Photos of aircraft during the Ardennes operations show this configuration. In early 1945, all invasion underside stripes were directed to be removed. But some US fighter units still kept the underside fuselage stripes and adopted them as an additional unit marking up through VE Day.
