I'm happy to see this rare Kittyhawk getting some TLC and emerging in great mechanical condition.
As to the paint, of course anyone can do what they want with their aircraft.
The paint colors are interesting. They tend to contradict the current conventional wisdom regarding the precise shades applied to AVG aircraft. Indeed, by strange coincidence, they look a lot like some of the most uneducated and wildly incorrect guesswork about camouflage colors that was applied to the first generation of military-painted warbirds back in the 1970s. (That, too, relied heavily on vets' recollections.) It could be that the CAF now has the most accurately painted AVG P-40, that the 1970s restorers had it right all along, and that a lot of dedicated research into AVG colors and markings needs to be reexamined based on these paint chips. Or it could be that the CAF botched it.
I'll be interested to hear how other colors-and-markings buffs react and to learn more about the research that went into it.
As for the propriety of AVG markings on a P-40N in the first place, I guess I'm solidly in the camp that will be outvoted by the majority who favor tribute over accuracy.
mustangdriver wrote:
That is what made the P-40 famous. Without the Flying Tigers the average person wouldn't know what a P-40 was.
News flash. The average person DOESN'T know what a P-40 is, never has, never will, never should. The P-40 is NOT famous in that sense. This is strictly an issue among buffs.
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Now I wish Cavanaugh would do something similar.
