The Little World

Maybe they know something I don’t. In my relentless pursuit of knowledge – also known as surfing the net – I discovered that there were quite a few RNZAF Douglas SBD-4 and SBD-5 aircraft used in the South Pacific. There are a number of period photos of them in flight and on the ground in the islands.

Some are marked with early-war roundels and some had the white bar extensions to make them more visible. There were thin fin flashes and modest aircraft numbers. No squadron codes were displayed as they probably had very few squadrons of them operating at any one time. The camouflage schemes were very similar to US Navy aircraft and I’m prepared to bet they didn’t repaint them when they were received from the US – just re-badged them.

There’s even a period shot from under the starboard wing of a plane that shows it fully bombed up with 500 lb bomb in the center cradle and two smaller bombs on the wing mounts. It’s exactly like the kit’s stores.

So there’s another tempting choice to make at decal time…