B-24H-20-FO Liberator 42-94948

Grandpa was the tail gunner of Crew #26 in the 489th BS / 845th BG, and while neither the National Archives, National Air and Space Museum, nor the Air Force Historical Research Agency have documentation about which aircraft he flew on during his tour, they did have documentation showing that his deployment flight from the US to Europe happened on Liberator 42-94948. This was before 948 was interned in Sweden in 1944, naturally.

948 never had a "name" but it did sport nose art of a pinup on its starboard side. All photos are quite grainy, however it's possible to see that it bears some resemblance to Gerald Johnson's P-47D-1 "In The Mood" / "Jackson County Michigan Fighter". Given that both aircraft were stationed at Halesworth, it's conceivable that the artist for "In The Mood" also worked on 948. There are a number of decal options for this, but I will be taking the pinup decal from the Hasegawa P-47 kit for this project.

Lots of complaints have been written about the Hobby Boss B-24J and they're all valid, but the thing I'm taking away from all of them is that the HB kit is *actually* a B-24H, which is perfect for my needs!