SPA Modeler

Great pic. Also noticed a few Wildcats at the front with the extra large roundels

tempestjohnny wrote: ↑Fri Aug 07, 2026 3:56 am Great pic. Also noticed a few Wildcats at the front with the extra large roundels

Yup. And notice that one SBD has the original 4 position stars, while another has the small pre war fuselage star. All sorts of “regulation” markings seen at the same time, and certainly not uniform across the Air Group.

BlackSheep214 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 7:22 pm I knew the SBDS had roundels larger than the other, but never knew they were applied to the P-47s.

Yes they were. At the factory on the assembly line, the national insignia stars were applied in the standard regulations four positions: upper left wing, lower right wing, each side of fuselage rear



And the aircraft were delivered with this configuration



Once assigned in England the white tail bands, cowling, and yellow fuselage star outline border were added



But at some early point in England the over size lower left wing stars were added



But I don’t have hard dates on this. All I know is that it was in Spring 1943 when the P-47s began combat operations.

Interesting. I didn't know any of that. Guess you really do learn something everyday.

Medicman71 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2026 12:18 pm Interesting. I didn't know any of that. Guess you really do learn something everyday.

The internet can be a fun place to get lost when searching for some tidbit of info… and enlightening during those dives down into the rabbit hole.