P-47D Thunderbolt – “Donnie Boy” – 1/72 scale

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IMG_1396Before America's entry into World War II a number of pilots, either already prepared to fight Nazi Germany, or unable to enter the USAAF because of lack of college education, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and flew Spitfires with one of the three "Eagle Squadrons".  One of these pilots was Dominic Salvatore "Don" Gentile, who eventually surpassed Eddie Rickenbacker's World War I record of 26 downed aircraft.  When America entered the war, the Eagle Squadrons became the 4th Fighter Group, and in 1943 replaced their Spitfires with the American-made P-47, with Gentile's known as "Donnie Boy". Media-21359At the end of February, 1944, Gentile transitioned to the new P-51B and flew that plane until returning to the U.S. for war bond tours.
 
My P-47 is an ancient Matchbox kit that I picked up in Dallas since Parker had been talking about flying one in War Thunder.  The decals were hopelessly deteriorated, so I ordered a set of AeroMaster "Debden Jugs" decals, which ended up including Gentile's aircraft.  Unfortunately, the decals insisted that his plane didn't have bomb racks, so I wasn't able to mount the bombs the P-47 carried when acting in a ground attack role.

About Post Author

Michael C. Smith

Marshall, Texas lawyer. I post on things that attract my interest while puttering in my study. Mostly family, books, home, history, World War II and scale modeling.
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