When the war got underway, the Navy was looking for a long range patrol bomber. While it had the Catalina, something with a larger bomb load was sought. The B-24 was the perfect aircraft. It had great range and a healthy bomb load. Downside was that it needed a land base to operate from. Not a problem, as once the war got underway, those bases were built as quickly as possible by the Seabees. The USAAF B-24s were modified with an ERCO turret to replace the one that came with the aircraft. These turrets had greater armor protection and held more ammo.

As operations were underway using the PB4Y-1, as the Navy called the B-24, a modified version was being developed. This one did a way with the twin tails and had some major changes to the aft fuselage as well. There was an additional upper turret installed, the lower turret removed and twin side blisters were added. Since the PB4Y-2, called Privateer, was to be mostly a low level aircraft, the turbocharged engines were also replaced with ones optimized for lower levels. The type entered service in 1944 and served through the end of the way and beyond.

White Dog's decal sheet is for three aircraft of VPB-121. These aircraft partook in the last encounter between a multi-engined Naval aircraft and the Japanese on 11 August, 1945. The full story of the event is in an addendum included in the sheet.

There are three aircraft portrayed on the sheet, of which two have nose art. All are in the tri-color scheme and quite faded. The instructions show any repainted areas. There are markings for all three planes included on the sheet. Probably the biggest hurdle will be finding the Matchbox Privateer kit. This kit is not exactly easy to come by. Hopefully, Revell of Germany will reissue this sometime in the near future.

The first aircraft if 'Tail Chaser'. It has a female figure in a headdress running toward the rear of the plane.

'Ol Blunderbuss' is the next Privateer, This art is  rather large and is on the right side of the plane, the opposite of the above markings.

The final bird has no nose art , but was the aircraft shot down on that mission that is in the leaflet included with the sheet. 

All in all a really nice decal sheet, especially the nose art. There are sections of white decal to use as a backing to prevent any problems with the slight transparency of the art decals. Now, all you have to do is find the PB4Y-2 kit!

Some modification may be required to the recommended kits. White Dog provides a listing of what is needed as well as a full reference section.

These sheets are only available by mail from White Dog. You can contact them at:

Don Fenton
11629 James Grant Dr.
El Paso, TX  79936

You can e-mail Don at dpfenton@earthlink.net for more information.

Review copy courtesy of White Dog Decals. Thanks for your support. 

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