When Romania surrendered in August of 1944, they left a vast quantity of Allied POWs in their wake. To expedite repatriation, Lt.-Col. James Gunn rode as Captain Constantine Cantacuzino’s passenger to the US 15th Air Force headquarters in Italy. Captain Cantacuzino’s Bf-109G was quickly painted with American markings as not to be mistaken for the enemy. Within twelve hours of Lt.-Col Gunn’s trek to freedom, relief aircraft were arriving in Romania to provide assistance to the remaining Allied POWs.
When I saw this scheme, I was instantly on board. Upon hearing the provenance of the aircraft, I was forever hooked.
It was nice to build a Bf-109 again. They are deceivingly small airplanes. The build was your typical Academy kit. No major issues to be bothered with. Obviously, I used a set of aftermarket decals from Blue Rider. There were a total of eight decals to apply so this wasn’t a project. They were, however, quite scary to work with. The few decals needed seemed fragile and had trouble releasing from the backing. Needless to say, I took my time. I did not want to repaint this one due to bad decals. As you can see, it worked out.
I’m not sure which is more out of place, a Bf-109 in US markings or a P-51 in German markings? Either way, it’s odd to see.
Thats a fascinating story
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I agree. I thought it was very interesting.
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I have been researching the story of how a Yak-9 got in to RAF markings
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I’ve been wanting to build a Yak. I’ll have to check that out too.
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This is where I first discovered the story
http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww3/a/15/9/0
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Awesome. Thanks.
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Reblogged this on Crash Course.
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It actually (in my eyes) resembles a P-51 especially with those markings. I’ve never seen the ‘Stars and Stripes’ placed on the fuselage of an aircraft totally new to me!
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It’s a nice variation from the original. I had fun with this one.
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A classic!
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I would have to agree with you on that!
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Cool story and build.. 🙂
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Thank you!
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I didn’t get notified you had new posts so I got worried…
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I’ve been losing a lot of blogs that I follow lately. I have been having to refollow them. Must be a WordPress glitch.
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I knew that story. Great to read it again.
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