"Twilight Tear, Then & Now" (WIP)

[Bomber_12th]

Besides the drop tank lever guard panels that the Swiss AF added into their Mustangs, another item I like is the landing gear handle placards that they designed for their use, which actually replaces one of the cover panels altogether, on side of the trim column. They also replaced all of the limit/restrictions placards with their own, but kept all of the placards relating to the serial number/production model. In another set of photos from the cockpit of another Swiss AF/former USAAF P-51D, they actually added metal stirrups to the rudder pedals. The Swiss AF also didn't use drop tanks, so the drop tank selections on the fuel selector placards have been blacked out.

Speaking of the landing gear lever placard, I would love to know how many out there have noticed that it is secured via staples in the Warbirdsim Mustangs? Despite the fact that the placards were produced even with the cross-hairs for placements of rivets to secure the placard (like the others), they seemed to have almost always been secured instead through use of brass staples. - Just a unique little detail (like the safety-wired lock-nuts that can also be found accurately used in specific areas of the cockpits of the Warbirdsim D-models).

The main thing I want to do with a wartime example like 'Tear, is show them exactly as they were, during WWII, which has never been done before for a flight simulator platform. Most efforts always try and depict examples that were manufactured too late and didn't serve in WWII, or end up mixing things together, from one variant or another, or adding something that they've seen in a photo from a restored example, which was never there except for on that one restored aircraft, etc. I also want to illustrate why it is a certain way that it is - how the cockpits are configured for one purpose or another. I enjoy these types of projects where you can also see how the cockpit on one of these aircraft looked, almost "straight out of the box", or in-service early on, and what changes were made, and how they were done, in the field, to upgrade them to more advanced standards later in the war. It also helps to show just how authentic warbird restorations are getting these days, and providing that option to not only re-live what it was like to fly the aircraft during a specific time in WWII, but what it would be like to jump in the aircraft that actually exists today, in its real-life form.

[MartinM]

Do you think that you could be doing the Swiss Air Force textures for me too? This would be highly appreciated.

Cheers
Martin

[Bomber_12th]

Martin, I'll definitely make sure to do that! They won't be able to be included in the product, but I will make them available for download.

[Smashing Time]

I shot the 'Tear' with Ed Shipley at the controls before her redo at GML 2007. Ed Shipley and Jim Beasley put on a nice performance in the early stages of the Horsemen act.

[Bomber_12th]

Thank you for posting that, Rick! I still make a point now and then to pop-in your DVD from the GML event. It's too bad that Jim is no longer part of the Horsemen routine, having dropped out after 2010.

That 'Tear' is of course the airframe which has now been properly identified as "Fragile But Agile" and registered and painted as such. When the aircraft was owned by The Fighter Collection and painted as "Twilight Tear", there weren't any photos known to exist of the left-side of the aircraft, or any real clear views of the nose either, so the checker board markings, nose art, and kill markings on the canopy were all produced from best guesses and a little imagination, based on photos of other aircraft in the squadron. By the time of the paint application, around this time last year, when the restoration work on the airframe that was proven to be the actual "Twilight Tear" was completed, that terrific photo showing the left side of the aircraft, as I posted on the first page of this thread, had been found, and a real effort was made to copy the markings exactly. That's why there are some distinct differences in the way the markings look on one compared to the other.

[Smashing Time]

Well I as always I'm behind the times. So the The Fighter Collection's 'Tear' is now "Fragile But Agile" ?
What was the present 'Tear' flying as?

[Bomber_12th]

It's a bit of a long story. Both airframes came out of the Israeli AF, of which all of the IAF Mustangs had their identies swapped and paperwork mixed while in the Israeli AF, all essentially in an effort to erase the previous traceable histories of the aircraft. There was no identity with the airframe that TFC owned, other than a Swedish data plate mounted on the tail, which the serial number, through paper work, tied it to being 44-63864. When this was established, the belief was therefore that the aircraft was the actual wartime "Twilight Tear". A strange oddity was found, however, when the aircraft was stripped of paint to be painted in the markings of 'Tear'. The name Lt. Bert Lee was found scribed into the original metal, just below the canopy of the aircraft, on the left side, and near to it were two Japanese flag "kill-markings" also scribed into the metal. This was cause for some question and curiosity, but the plans went forth and the aircraft was promoted as the original "Twilight Tear", as that was the best they knew about it. However, some real questions began to be asked shortly there after, as the wreckage of a former IAF Mustang, that had crashed en-route to the U.S. in 1963, had been recovered and was under restoration. The identity on this one, through a good number of sources of evidence found in the aircraft wreckage, was 44-63864, and this simply couldn't be argued. By 2007, even before the TFC machine came to the U.S. for the GML event, there was an effort to find out who Lt. Bert Lee was, and find out the true identity of the airframe. Lt. Bert Lee was tracked down, and although he had passed away, his family was contacted. A photo of the Mustang that Bert Lee flew in the Pacific, clearly showed the exact same name and kill markings scribed into the metal, just as could be seen, clear as day, on the TFC Mustang. It was also found, that while the aircraft was used by another pilot, later on, the aircraft was given the name "Fragile But Agile". In 2007, when the aircraft came over for the GML event, it went to Fighter Rebuilders immediately after, for a full restoration. At the time, it was said that it was being restored for The Fighter Collection, but as it was sold soon after the restoration was initiated, I think the plan all along was to provide the best opportunity to correct the identity of the aircraft, which couldn't come at a better time than during the process of rebuilding it. Both parties ended up having to prove the identities for each airframe, to both be registered under the FAA, with the now known true 44-63864 being registered as such, and the former TFC machine provided the serial number 44-12016, believed to be correct to it. By late 2010, the restoration of the former TFC machine was complete in its new identity, believed to be its original, as "Fragile But Agile" (a combination of the markings that were on it when Bert Lee flew it, as well as a later pilot), a P-51K, so it is also configured now as a P-51K, with the proper prop blades and nose cone (the only one of its kind). It is based in Texas, as part of the large flying warbird collection owned by Tom and Dan Friedkin. 44-63864, the actual original "Twilight Tear", owned by Ron Fagen here in Minnesota, completed restoration early last year, and that is the one I have depicted for this product.

As I've mentioned before, there is an interesting detail that supports all of this even further, that hasn't ever been talked about. The original "Fragile But Agile" was a P-51K-10-NT, which is quite an early variant, and had fabric elevators. The former TFC Mustang, now restored as "Fragile But Agile", as it is believed to have originally been, had farbric elevators all the up until its recent restoration. The original "Twilight Tear" was a P-51D-20-NA, that had metal elevators, and that was what the wrecked example from Iceland, proven to be the original "TT", had.

[Bomber_12th]

This, a section of a larger photo, shows the scribed name of Lt. Bert Lee in the original wartime metal on the former TFC "Tear", photographed while it was at GML2007. As mentioned in my previous post, there was already research being done on Bert Lee and the true identity of the aircraft, even then (though it was kept quiet). I had also seen another image that showed the two Japanese flags also scribed in the metal, but I have since lost it.



And for comparison, here is an original wartime photo of Lt. Bert Lee's Mustang - between this photo and the scribed letters and flags on the former TFC Mustang, there was not the smallest difference between them.



Unfortunately, all of the wartime photos of the aircraft only show the left side, and none exist of the right. In all of the photos, the tail number on the rudder ends with an 8, however the best they could figure, since everything pointed to this aircraft being 44-12016, was that when that section of the tail number was re-applied after the stripes were painted on the rudder, was that it was mistakenly painted as an 8. Within the markings on the restored example, they have it duplicated with 44-12018 on the left side, and since that last section of the tail number wouldn't have been removed/re-painted on the right side, it reads 44-12016.





The end results of the extensive research and restoration efforts from both parties, are two absolutely stunning P-51's.

[rgatkinson]

Absolutely stunning John. Your dedication and attention to detail is to be applauded

I note that the "Tear" like a lot of other ETO Mustangs have reversed swastika kill markings. I was wondering, is there any special significance to this? Is it human error on behalf of the orginal artist(s) or is it a very early example of censorship and/or political correctness?

Taff.

[MartinM]

Martin, I'll definitely make sure to do that! They won't be able to be included in the product, but I will make them available for download.

Thank you. Much appreciated!

[Bomber_12th]

Thank you Taff!

Regarding the application of the swastikas as kill markings, I wouldn't know if there really was some intention for applying them backwards when done, or not.

[Bomber_12th]

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