Every once in awhile I read something that inspires me to try to recreate something historical. Yesterday I read about the SBD-2's newly received by the Marine pilots at Midway:
VMSB-241 received 19 SBD-2 dive bombers on 26 May, 1942, which had originally been assigned to VB-2 (USS Lexington, CV-2). The planes retained their Intermediate Blue over Light Gray finish, while the red-and-white rudder markings, along with the red "meatballs" in the center of the star insignia were hastily painted over just days before the battle. Photos reveal that there is a fresh spot of paint over the former Navy markings, in this case "B-."
The prop carried the original pre-war tri-color tips (red/yellow/blue).
Because of the harsh conditions on the island, the upper surfaces were heavily faded and chipped, undersides were most likely very dirty.
A
photograph of one of the planes taken immediately after its attack on the Japanese carriers shows that the pre-war rudder markings are still slightly visible despite the overpaint. So that's what I was going for and, with massive aid from templates by Jesters_ink and TonyT, here's what I came up with:
So whatch'all think? Am I close?
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Re: VMSB-241 at Midway
Nice.
Linear Mode
