Gabreski T-Bolt Questions

[fsbofk]

Intriguing question. The distinctive swirls of the camo gray on the fuselage immediately behind the cowling matches that visible on Gabreski's P-47 - I've never seen photos of other 56 FG T-bolts with this same scheme, though other planes (Schilling's for one) had camo with broad areas of gray and od. One thing I noticed is that in close-up color and b/w photos of Gabreski sitting in the cockpit (the scoreboard is visible), the canopy framing is noticeably natural metal, whereas it appears to be painted in the photo you posted - if Gabreski was shot down in another P-47, mayabe the frame was painted when the scoreboard was painted over ??