A fellow called him one day saying he had the flight uniform, side arm holster, map case, goggles, flight jacket, flight log, diary, and other gear that he found "in a box on the street". Turns out this all belonged to a fellow named Lt. Don Kerns who flew with the 325th "Checkertails" during 1943-44. He had died in the late 1980's, and his SECOND wife had just passed away (1995). Her kids were from a previous marriage to Don, so his things meant little to them... they just boxed them up and put them on the curb. The fellow who found them knew my friend (Shawn), and called him to see if he wanted the gear.
Shawn did some research, and discovered this fellow had gained four kills in North Africa and Italy before being shipped home on a medical discharge. Kerns came back one kill short of Ace status. He flew a P47 named after his wife during the war - nicknamed the Dallas Blonde. His plane was the only one in the 325th that also featured a CHECKER NOSE, and it is pictured in quite a few reference books - some in color!
Shawn told me he wanted a large dio to go into his private collection. "I want something with Kerns shooting the breeze with other pilots - while showing his plane in the background". I did some research and found that Monogram actually had a "Dallas Blonde" in 1:48th scale, but it was out of production. After much research, I found some artwork and created all the decals from scratch - what a pain... it was such a complex piece! Even the Vargas Girl noseart had to be done from scratch!
I created a scene from a hanger in Italy '1944 which showed Kern's wingmate plane inside a hanger getting a work over, while Kerns plane was on the tarmac getting his latest kill painted onto the side of the plane. This is a VERY large diorama, done in 1:48th scale. Almost everything except the two planes is scratchbuilt. i even had to create window panes (over 300!) one at a time using a special glazing liquid and a toothpick.
In the end, Shawn was quite pleased with his purchase... I don't do aircraft much, but thought this came out quite well. This took over 300 hours to complete, including research. Here is the link and a "bad" photo. Comments welcome! This album can be found in GALLERY--DIORAMAS -- AIRCRAFT if you have problems with the link.
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/modules.php?set_albumName=The-Dallas-Blonde-(P47D)&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php
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