As the USAAF entered the war in Europe, they brought with them a group of young pilots who were raw, but well trained and keen to make their mark on an air war, which was growing more savage by the day. They also brought with them the industrial prowess of the United States and the very latest aviation technology this mighty nation could muster. As British and US pilots mixed and shared their combat experiences, some of these new aircraft did not quite receive the welcome that you may have imagined. Many brave US pilots had already entered the war in Europe, flying with the famous Eagle Squadrons, gaining valuable combat experience whilst flying British Spitfires over occupied Europe and they were one of the first units to receive the mighty Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. Compared with the sleek and diminutive Spitfire, the Thunderbolt was something of a monster and even the American pilots must have had some trepidation at the though of taking this huge aeroplane into combat. As the American pilots were working up to operational status with the Thunderbolt, their RAF colleagues would tease them by telling them that when they were attacked by the Luftwaffe, they could take evasive action by unbuckling their harnesses and running around the fuselage, dodging the bullets – there was no doubting that the Thunderbolt was a big old bird.
The European combat introduction of the P-47 Thunderbolt was a little disappointing, as this heavy aircraft was initially thought to be too big and heavy for air combat – once the US pilots became familiar with its characteristics and embraced its many strengths, it became a fearsome adversary for the Luftwaffe, who for the very first time were falling to the guns of Allied aircraft in large numbers. Able to withstand significant punishment in combat, the Thunderbolt was a magnificent gun platform and its eight .50 inch machine guns would literally shred any Luftwaffe aircraft unfortunate enough to be caught in its gun-sights. It was to become the scourge of the Luftwaffe and the mount of many a USAAF ace – indeed, the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt had the distinction of being the most heavily produced US fighter aircraft of WWII. It was also the mount of the famous USAAF 56th Fighter Group ‘Wolfpack’, which was to end the war with the most air-to-air kills in the Eighth Air Force – one of their most successful pilots was David C Schilling.
The 56th Fighter Group ‘Zemke’s Wolfpack’
When the new USAAF 56th Fighter Group arrived at the former RAF base at Horsham Saint Faith, they included pilots with names like Zemke, Schilling, Goldstein, Shiltz and Altschuler, many of which would go on to become air aces. On seeing these names, the RAF station commander who was handing over the airfield, grinned and cheekily said ‘it sounds like I am handing over to the Luftwaffe!’. In actual fact, this development was extremely bad news for the Luftwaffe, as Zemke and his Wolfpack would account for no less than 665 German fighters in the air and hundreds more on the ground. Their philosophy was to attack the enemy with fury and tenacity and the group was to earn a fearsome reputation in the skies above occupied Europe, earning the respect of the Luftwaffe from very early on in their engagements. Using their P-47 Thunderbolts to maximum effectiveness, they would destroy nearly as many Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground as they did with their record breaking total in the air – the P-47 was equally well suited at discharging both of these duties. This would also result in the unit producing more than its fair share of ‘Ace’ pilots, with many of their machines becoming familiar to both historians and modellers alike – one of these personalities was Dave Schilling.
David C. Schilling – Fighter Ace
It goes without saying that effective fighter units tend to benefit from excellent leadership and David C. Schilling was one of the best that the USAAF had to offer. An accomplished leader of men, Schilling believed very much in leading from the front and in a unit full of ace pilots, he was amongst the best of them – from a total of 132 combat sorties, Schilling amassed an impressive 22.5 aerial victories, with a further 10.5 victories against ground targets. He flew the mighty Republic P-47 Thunderbolt against the Luftwaffe over occupied Europe and was thankful for the rugged reliability of the machine on a number of occasions. His distinctive aircraft was presented in a sinister looking Tiger Shark striped design, with a bright red cowling band and unique nose artwork on the port side of his Thunderbolt. His club toting ‘Hairless Joe’ nose art was taken from a Dogpatch cartoon character of the day and even though this rather light-hearted decoration on his aircraft was a strange thing to take into battle, his Thunderbolt certainly handed out something of a clubbing to the Luftwaffe. Schilling’s victory tally made him the third ranking ace of the 56th Fighter Group, scoring most of his victories against single engined fighters.
‘Ace in a Day’
Dave Schilling’s most productive day from a combat perspective came on 23rd December 1944, as the 56th Fighter Group conducted operations against the Luftwaffe during the Battle of the Bulge. On this day, Schilling and his comrades were engaged in a huge dogfight with over 100 Luftwaffe aircraft trying to cover the German offensive – in the ensuing engagement, Schilling accounted for 3 Bf-109’s and a further two Focke Wulf FW-190’s bringing him the coveted title of ‘Ace in a Day’ – a feat only accomplished by a handful of Allied pilots during WWII. Just as impressive as this result is the fact that all but two of Schilling’s victories came against either Bf-109, or FW-190 single engined fighters – the other two aircraft were both twin engined heavy fighters, or Destroyers – one Messerschmitt Bf 110 and a Bf 410. It is also clear that as the war reached its latter stages in Europe, there simply was not the opportunity to increase your victory tally, as the Luftwaffe were hardly capable of mustering a viable force and any aircraft that did make it into the sky were so outnumbered by Allied fighters that a shared claim was the most likely outcome. Surely had this not been the case, Schilling would have continued to increase his victory tally and push for the coveted title of ‘Top USAAF Ace in Europe’.
1/48th Scale Schilling Thunderbolt.
The pictures to the right of this feature actually show colour wartime pictures of Dave Schilling’s most famous P-47 Thunderbolt – ‘Hairless Joe’. They show the distinctive presentation of his aircraft and the unique artwork which adorned the port side of his Thunderbolt, in genuine reference shots which are fascinating to the aviation historian and of great help to the aircraft modeller. Our header image this week shows the beautiful 1/48th scale model release of this aircraft in the Hobbymaster range, which I think you will agree looks absolutely superb. It has to be regarded as the definitive example of Schilling’s Thunderbolt in die-cast and makes a superb companion model for the earlier Francis ‘Gabby’ Gabresky release, which also flew with the famous 56th Fighter Group and marks the most successful Eighth Air Force fighter unit of the war. HA8407 is the latest release in this successful series, with the extra size of the 1/48th scale perfectly illustrating the generous proportions of the mighty Republic P-47 Thunderbolt – try sitting it next to a 1/48th scale Spitfire to see why the RAF pilots thought that the Americans were mad to take this monster in to combat against the Luftwaffe! With less than a dozen models still available, we are making these last few examples available at our pre-order price of £55.99 each and believe me, you are getting a lot of model for your money at that price. To take a closer look at ‘Hairless Joe’ and to reserve your example of this fine model, simply click on this SCHILLING THUNDERBOLT link to be taken straight there.
Midweek Newsletter Offer
You may have noticed that we sent our Newsletter group an additional e-mail Newsletter during the week, which for the first time offered a number of extremely attractively priced models, as we attempt to free up warehouse space for the impending arrival of the Corgi 1/72nd scale Avro Vulcan. For this reason, we will not be running with an Offer of the Week model this week, as there are already three models to choose from. To add a little variety to this offer, we have a magnificent 1/48th scale Brewster Buffalo from Hobbymaster, which is less than half price and is an absolutely cracking model, a 1/72nd scale Spitfire Mk.IIa from Corgi and for the jet aviation fans, a beautiful, but rather unusual Grumman F-11-F Tiger, again in 1/72nd scale. My intention was to send this offer list out to our readers on Wednesday afternoon, but technology, or my understanding of it, dictated that this could not be achieved until Thursday. Since then, orders have been coming in at a steady rate and we are now down to the last two Buffalo models, with the Tiger close behind – if you have yet to view the models we have on offer, please click on this NEWSLETTER OFFER TRIO link and secure your model, before they all go.
Eurofighter Typhoon Has Landed
We end the latest edition of our Newsletter with an exclusive view of the latest arrival at the Flying Tigers hangar – the magnificent Eurofighter Typhoon from Witty. The Typhoon is one of the most advanced aircraft in the world and although it was conceived as a fighter aircraft, it is very much becoming a multi-role aircraft as it adapts to the modern mission profile. For such a current aircraft, it is surprising that more manufacturers have not produced this modern day Spitfire, but this latest release from Witty is by far and away the most accurate example of this aircraft and we have two new models to tell you about. The model pictured below is perhaps the most colourful RAF example of the Typhoon and features FGR.4 ZJ936 in these special RAF No.3 Squadron ‘Larkhill Centenary’ colours – based at Coningsby, this aircraft is a prized catch amongst aviation enthusiasts and brings an attractive splash of colour to the Typhoon. The second release is a stunning Luftwaffe example, which again features a special anniversary scheme. Typhoon S 31+00 from Luftwaffengeschwader 31 ‘Boelcke’ features different tail designs on either side of the aircraft and is absolutely stunning and I know that I am going to incur the wrath of RAF collectors when I say that I think the Luftwaffe example is absolutely irresistible. You can see both side profiles of the model by clicking on this NEW RELEASES link, where you will be able to secure your example. Unfortunately, I do not know what the future is for these models, following on from the recent news that the Witty factory has closed and the range is now no longer in production. What is absolutely certain is that these models are absolutely stunning and this could be your first and only opportunity of owning one of these extremely handsome models.