C-47A 43-15137 "Chalk 40" to be a Ron Cole Painting! w/ pics

[Quest Master]

Many of you know the saga of this cockpit. I obtained it from the late Gary Austin about 7 years ago and have done very detailed research on the history of the aircraft.

I have commissioned Ron Cole to do a painting of C-47A 43-15137 "Chalk 40" as she would have been flying on June 6th 1944, for Mission "Boston" over the Merderet sector of the Cotentin Peninsula at approximately 0244 releasing her paratroopers. I absolutely LOVE Ron's work, so he is the one to capture this aircraft in art.
This is the FIRST view of the painting. Very exciting! Ron has NAILED the requested dark deep blue skies with puffy rain filled clouds of the sky over Normandy. Stay tuned for more updates!

For more information on C-47A 43-15137 in the QuestMasters collection, go here:
http://www.questmasters.us/C-47A_43-15137.html
For Ron Cole Aviation Art, go here:
http://coles-aircraft.myshopify.com/

The hard part of the painting will be the nose art. C-47A 43-15137 did have nose art, but it may not have been painted at the time of the Normandy drop on June 6th 1944.
She flew with the 306th Troop Carrier Squadron, 442nd Troop Carrier Group in Normandy, Market Garden and the Rhein drop. This is the only known photograph of this aircraft. The picture is believed to have been taken just prior to June 6th 1944 (no invasion stripes painted yet). On the front of the nose appears to be a white triangle with 137 painted under it, 7H on the side of the nose in white, with radio call letter H on the tail.
There is obviously a name and what looks like several fanned out playing cards painted on the nose. Many aircraft used the radio call letter on the tail as the beginning of the nose are name. I very much need help figuring out what the nose art is. This aircraft was flown by 1st Lt Buckley A. Maynard.
These are two zoomed in images taken from the original National Archives picture of this aircraft:

[Quest Master]

It has been a while, but Ron Cole has done some AMAZING updating to the painting of C-47A 43-15137 "Chalk 40". This is the current progress. I have made a bunch of input and suggestions to get to this point. Still a bunch to do, but I wanted to share. One detail in this version that I want corrected is the invasion stripes should be a little bit "messy". The invasion stripes were done just prior to June 6th. The white and black lines were not completely straight.
I hope you enjoy:

Examples of the invasion stripes being done:
Thick brushes, rollers and even mops were used to apply the stripes. They were done quickly and didn't have completely straight lines:

[Pathfinder]

Van-
Here's a close up color shot of PF Plane 1 showing detail on hinge masking and painted stripes. The people shown are PF CO Joel Crouch and CP Vito Pedone.

Another frequently seen paint detail is what I call the "saw tooth" on leading edge of the vertical stabilizer. Will post a photo of that later.

[Quest Master]

Thanks!
If you look closely in the painting of Chalk 40, one of the details that I already had him include is the tape over the hinges to keep the static line for getting cut. It is a small detail...but I am all about the little details.

[Quest Master]

A little more progress on the C-47A 43-15137 "Chalk 40". Not done yet, but getting there.
Enjoy:

[Quest Master]

The commissioned painting, done by Ron Cole, is finished! This is C-47A 43-15137 "Chalk 40" deploying B Company, 507th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division over Drop Zone T, Normandy France, 02:44 June 6th 1944. This aircraft cockpit is in the Quest Masters Museum collection. It was a lot of work coordinating the history into this painting, but it turned out AWESOME!

If you would like to order a copy of the print through Ron Cole, go here:
http://coles-aircraft.myshopify.com/col ... 0-on-d-day
To read more about this aircraft in the Quest Masters collection, go here:
http://www.questmasters.us/C-47A_43-15137.html
or follow Quest Masters on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/QuestMastersMuseum

[Django]

I've sat in that cockpit! Very cool.

[dirtysidedown430]

Always wondered bout those invasion stripes, bet they did the day before. They drew lines first I figured they would have just winged it and they used brushes I would have used a mop. Life on the front line get her done.

[Quest Master]

I've sat in that cockpit! Very cool.

[Quest Master]

Always wondered bout those invasion stripes, bet they did the day before. They drew lines first I figured they would have just winged it and they used brushes I would have used a mop. Life on the front line get her done.

They did them just days before and through the night. They used mops, brushes...anything. If you look at period pictures, they are super sloppy...but from the ground they served the purpose for Allied aircraft recognition - which was their purpose.

[Pathfinder]

What is amazing is that they were done the day/night before the PLANNED invasion. and with the 24-hour postponement over a thousand aircraft so marked sat around on hardstands all over England without the bad guys catching on...

[Quest Master]

What is amazing is that they were done the day/night before the PLANNED invasion. and with the 24-hour postponement over a thousand aircraft so marked sat around on hardstands all over England without the bad guys catching on...

Right!!! And it wasn't just the troop carrier squadrons...bombers, fighters - both American and British ALL painted the stripes on the wings and fuselage. I can't imagine panting several thousand aircraft in just a day (give or take). Simply amazing that they pulled it off.

[Milmart Militaria]

Always wondered bout those invasion stripes, bet they did the day before. They drew lines first I figured they would have just winged it and they used brushes I would have used a mop. Life on the front line get her done.