Strana 83
Aleutian Tiger - Adak 1942, 11th Fighter Squadron
343rd Fighter Group, under the command of John “Jack” Stephen Chennault
The Aleutian Tigers represent some of the most
attractively colored P-40s, thanks to the tiger
head that adorned the nose of most aircraft of
this type. The 343rd FG was founded on September
3, 1942, at Alaskan base Elmendorf Field. Initially,
the group consisted of the 11th FS and 18th FS,
both armed with P-40s, and the 54th FS, which
used P-38s and operated out of Adak. The pilots of
the 11th FS went operational almost immediately
after moving to Umnak Island in the Aleutian
Islands. In October 1942, the 344th FS joined the
group, also with P-40s. The group provided air
defense of the Aleutian Islands and also bombed
or strafed Japanese targets on Kiska Island itself.
Its pilots flew their last combat mission in October
1943, and subsequently conducted patrol and
reconnaissance flights until the end of the war,
with the exception of high-altitude flights in early
1945, during which the pilots engaged Japanese
balloons with incendiary charges. All units
were already using P-38s for this purpose, but
the P-40s remained in service alongside them.
The Tiger Heads were a reminiscence of the AVG,
the Flying Tigers of Claire Chennault, since the
343rd FG was initially led by his son Lt Col John
S. Chenault. The aircraft depicted here received
a name, in this case Flossie, as one of the few
Aleutian P-40s. The insignias had short-lived red
lining.
Attention to details is a nice way to learn about the
real operational use of equipment. If the pilots were
stepping in their cockpit with muddy shoes, then,
you can reasonably expect the cockpit floor to be
dirty. If the fuel lines were crossing this area
too, then perhaps, some maintenance works
had to be undertaken not excluding some
small fuel leaks in the cockpit...
Scale modeling is also a great part of
story telling. Your model on its own
can tell a lot of things.
cockpit
building
video
P-40E LööK
text from the manual for the P-40E Royal Class
BUILT