The 56th FG was the only European based P-47 unit that stayed with the aircraft in the escort role until the end of the war. As such, they were the only unit to be issued the very fast, but very temperamental P-47M. These were, for the most part, camouflaged in some rather unique schemes involving Black and various Blues on the upper surfaces. The undersurfaces and leading edges of the wings and horizontal stabs were left unpainted. This sheet has the new Tamiya 1/48 P-47M as the recommended kit. I do not recall if Hasegawa does one of these, but there are enough differences between the M and earlier variants to make a dedicated kit the one you want.

First up is a 63rd FS aircraft from the Free Polish Air Force flight, thus the nice nose artwork. Upper surfaces are either very dark blue or black with red rudder and forward cowling.

Next is from the 63rd FS as well with a red cowling and blue rudder. 'Mrs. K' has a two color camouflage on the upper surface consisting of a dark blue and a medium blue with the camouflage wrapping under the rear fuselage.

Next is another 63rd FS plane, 'The Brat'. It has a similar set of markings to the previous plane, but with a blue serial. The color of the name is unknown so both yellow and white options are provided.

Finally, from the 612 FS is 'Lorene'. This one has a Black or Midnight Blue upper surface with red rudder and forward cowling.

From the look of things, you can do two planes with the provided insignia as long as one of the two has the light blue surround insignia. The instructions provide all sorts of neat snippets of information so is quite helpful. You will also note that this sheet includes some of those high quality nose art markings as well as the white backgrounds for them. 

March 2006

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