So,

I will kick things off with my contribution to this group build.

I will be doing Button Nose/ Stalag Luft III I Wanted Wings flown by Lt. Albert Knafelz. Knafelz flew with the 62nd Fighter Squadron. Based on the serial number of the aircraft Knafelz flew a P-47D-22-RE

I have the P-47D resin seat from Ultracast but no other upgrades at the moment. Probably will add some ultracast wheels though. Hard to improve on a great kit.
.

David.


The Kit:


The Decals: Oh Noooooo more invasion stripes..

References, courtesy of Little Friends site and associated photographers.

Knafelz with his P-47D



A nice colour pic of the nose of the aircraft.

Great intro Dave, I'm really looking forward to watching this one come together.

I just took a peek at your website, it looks really good. Super work on the Hien scheme, that must have been an epic airbrush session!

Cheers, D

Thanks Damian,

Much appreciated. Glad you like the new site.

Here are a few other references pulled from the web. Note that in one of the pics the hub is missing from the starboard wheel. Not sure of the tread pattern on the aircraft.

hi dave. i am looking forward to your build especially the paint. i think this scheme is a favorite of all the allied European theater paint jobs.
i have always been curious if there was any interesting story behind lt. knafelz's choice of nose art. do you know how he came to have stalag luft III on the nose?

joe

Hi Joe,

Thanks for having a look at my preliminary info for this build log.

I do not know for certain why the Stalag Luft III nose art appeared on Knafelz's P-47D in the summer of 1944 but it could have been related to the publicity that came about as a result of the large escape of allied prisoners that took place at Stalag Luft III in May 1944. This escape was famously portrayed in the well known movie The Great Escape.

David.

According to the stats, Knafelz scored 1 kill and 1 probable during his time with the 56th. No Robert S. Johnson by any means but he was typical of the overwhelming majority of fighter pilots in the ETO who scored less than 5 kills, most none at all.

Hi Dave.

I went to the new 56th book and found this info on page 136, which explains the "I Wanted Wings"



Cheers, D

That's great Damian,

So that explains the "I wanted Wings" comment on the aircraft.

Neat.

According to my Osprey reference on the 56th FG in Europe. This P-47 arrived at the 56th in an NMF finish and was repainted in RAF Dark Green with Ocean Grey overspray. The underside was left in its NMF finish. I have seen a few models of this P-47D but they have grey undersides which was typical for camouflaged aircraft received from the factory. Barring any other research to the contrary I am going to do a NMF finish on the underside. As further evidence of this take a look at the colour picture above. The landing gear cover is clearly NMF.

Just checking the spares box and I still have the Eduard PE fret from my P-47D-25 which is mostly intact including the harness so I will use that. I ordered a set of masks from Eduard for the cockpit and lights on the aircraft and I am looking into ordering a set of wheels from Ultracast. Looks like this aircraft had a set of tires with the block tread with hubs so I will probably get those.

Nice to see such heavy research and pictures going into this build. I will follow with interest.

Brian

Thanks Brian,

Much appreciated.

Dave.

I couldn't have explained that better myself,, oh wait,, lol

Dave, I hope we haven't lost you here as well mate, I was looking forward to following this build!

Cheers, D