Markins for 15,000th 1/48

COL A

15.000th Curtiss aircraft delivered to customers worldwide, Buffalo, NY, USA, November 1944

The Curtiss company celebrated its 15,000th fighter aircraft delivered to its customers worldwide by special commemorative marking with all the national insignias of the countries of its customers placed all around the aircraft surface. The serial number of the plane which was used for the commemorative marking is not known.  

COL B

Capt. Philip E. Colman, 26th FS, 5th FG, Ankang, China, 1944

Philipp Eddy Colman enlisted in the USAAC in 1941 after graduation from Jefferson Senior High School and was accepted for flight training. He graduated as Flying Sergeant at Spence Field and his first assignment was towing targets for the gunnery school at Eglin Field, Florida. Later he served as a test pilot, flying not only US types, but also captured German Bf 109 or Japanese Oscar fighters. He survived the sinking of HMT Rohna which was sailing him to his first combat assignment. The hit by German guided flying bomb killed 1,149 out of 2,000 on board. Colman’s next combat assignment was as a pilot with the Chinese-American Composite Wing where he flew 86 combat missions in the P-40 and shot down five Japanese Zero fighters with two probable victories and five damaged enemy planes. After the war he joined the 158th Fighter Squadron, 116th Fighter Group of the Georgia Air National Guard. He was assigned to the 335th FIS in 1952 and added four MiG-15s to his fighter tally during the Korean War. In 1983, he retired as a lieutenant colonel. As there are no known photos of his P-40N, the paint scheme reflects the aircraft displayed in the Museum of Flight, Seattle, Washington.