Captured P-47 - Beetle

[Clare]

Thought that I would post this here also.

Clare

This airplane is covered in several books and a couple of decal sheets but I seem to get more confused everytime I look at photos.

My first question relates to wing tips. As best I can tell from the photos on page 85 of "Special Missions", it looks like the undersurface of the wing tips are painted. I would expect the color to be Gelb. Also, it looks like the ailerons were not painted Gelb but left Neutral Gray.

The drawings in "Strangers" do not show this nor does the Cutting Edge decal sheet. The Three Guys sheet shows the entire wing tip painted if you get into their fine details.

The other area covers the nose markings. I am inclined to paint the nose ring and the lower and upper cowl panel Gelb. Cutting Edge show the top panel as remaining OD and the book "Strangers..." has these areas painted red.

The final area is the stripes on the tail when the airplane was captured. The photo and drawing in "Special Missions" shows the normal white stripes on the fin and rudder and above and below the horizontal stabilizers and elevators. The book "Strangers" seems to believe that these features were added at a later date when the airplane was repainted for a propaganda film.

Comments please and thank you very much.

Clare