George Preddy final paintscheme, is there any reference photo to confirm this image please?

[Mysticpuma]

Hi, thanks for reading my question.
I have found images of various paint schemes for George Preddy's P51's but an image anywhere similar to this I am finding hard to track down.
I see various drawn/painted pictures depicting it like this but is there an actual reference image they were created from?

Thanks for any help, cheers, Neil

[MW Giles]

Nearest is

https://wingstracksguns.com/p-51d-mu...george-preddy/


Not sure about the gun fairing and trim tab markings

[John Beaman]

Yes, we have photos to verify all those markings including the barber pole on the right side of the nose cowling. His crew chief was barber for the 328th FS.

[Peter Randall]

There are no known photos of this P-51 showing its complete final paint scheme. The markings depicted on your model are as described by George's crew chief Art "Snoots" Snyder.
Known photos show the code letters immediately below the kill markings without the huge gap that you have. Also Snyder states that the name 'Cripes A' Mighty' was in white with small concentric yellow letters inside and all outlined in black.
Nick King's profile on my web site gives a decent picture of what it looked like as per Snyder. See:
http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/wp-co...pe-pbarpro.jpg

[Buckeye30]

Joe Noah and Sam Sox described the markings fully in their book "George Preddy top Mustang ace" including the tabs, gun muzzles and exhaust tags (not all visible on the profile); as Peter says the codes reach up to the swastikas. They agree with Peter that there's no known photo of the whole aircraft.
I had a lot of correspondence with the 352nd when I was doing Peter's pictures and one ground crew from the 328th (not Preddy's) sent me a drawing of the tail markings (maybe Bob Powell's ?). Snyder was fond of decorating the rudder balances and trim tabs (like white stars on red on 44-13553).


Nick

[Mark Proulx]

In 2007, I published a booklet on Preddy's Mustangs with the able assistance of Sam Sox Jr. Complete with decals in 3 scales, the offering was released by Eagle Editions.

The booklet covers each of his P-51's, to the extent possible at the time. Included in the booklet are photos of his Mustangs, with supporting color profiles by Tom Tullis and appropriate blue color chips. A map was also provided detailing the action surrounding his final, fateful flight.

As pointed out here, there are no known photos of his final Cripes A Mighty capturing the entire aircraft in a single image. However, I did supply all that was available (4) revealing some elusive details. There are also comparisons drawn to Chub A Luk, another Mustang with similar markings maintained by Art Snyder.

HTH

Mark Proulx

[Peter Randall]

Neil, I have added two photos to my 352FG gallery. They are at the bottom of page 6 if you go to http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/352nd-fighter-group/
The captions are self-explanatory and note the proximity of the code letters as well as the detail of the "Cripes" lettering as Snyder stated.

[Peter Randall]

Also added two more photos of "Chub A Luk" showing Art Snyder's embellishments.

[Mysticpuma]

Originally Posted by Peter Randall

Neil, I have added two photos to my 352FG gallery. They are at the bottom of page 6 if you go to http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/352nd-fighter-group/
The captions are self-explanatory and note the proximity of the code letters as well as the detail of the "Cripes" lettering as Snyder stated.

Thank you, these are great and very much appreciated.

[Mysticpuma]

Originally Posted by Mark Proulx

In 2007, I published a booklet on Preddy's Mustangs with the able assistance of Sam Sox Jr. Complete with decals in 3 scales, the offering was released by Eagle Editions.

The booklet covers each of his P-51's, to the extent possible at the time. Included in the booklet are photos of his Mustangs, with supporting color profiles by Tom Tullis and appropriate blue color chips. A map was also provided detailing the action surrounding his final, fateful flight.

As pointed out here, there are no known photos of his final Cripes A Mighty capturing the entire aircraft in a single image. However, I did supply all that was available (4) revealing some elusive details. There are also comparisons drawn to Chub A Luk, another Mustang with similar markings maintained by Art Snyder.

HTH

Mark Proulx

Mark, thanks. Do you have a link to where it can be bought/viewed please?