262crew wrote:
This is my vote
Mike V's work (
HJGB, et al) takes a back seat to nobody in his business (you don't need me to tell you that fact), but from what I've read, the
Upupa Epops folks took that plane apart and rebuilt it rivet by rivet
exactly as she would have rolled off the assembly line. Working WWII-era radios, functioning K-14 gunsight, EVERYTHING.
HJGB may indeed have equalled
U/E in every way, but it would be literally impossible to surpass
Upupa in detail/authenticity work.
My vote -
Upupa Epops and
HJGB tie for the Gold Medal, with
Upupa slightly edging out
HJ's because it's 'da real deal' - and the original fighter pilot has his fingerprints on the stick.
Oh - trivia time. FHC's
Upupa Epops was Tordoff's second "Upupa". His first tour Mustang was also so named. From Peter Randall's excellent site:
44-14805 P-51D SX-L Tordoff Capt. Harrison B "Bud"
Upupa Epops. There's a couple of pics in Aces & Wingmen Vol II, and there may be an exclamation point, as in
Upupa Epops! This ship displayed the three rows of yellow/black checks pre-Dec 44 (IIRC, not near my refs). In Dec (IIRC), the 353rd P-51s went to eight rows of checks to further differentiate them from the 55th FG's yellow/green 3-row nose checks, as seen on FHC's bird (2364).
44-72364 P-51D SX-L Tordoff, Capt. Harrison B "Bud"
Upupa Epops. This was his second-tour machine.
Wade