The beginning…
P-47 D
Final answer – P-47 D?
My tribute to Ed Poscavage
Ed Poscavage’s story had to be told. This is why Joe Palladino wrote it, and then shared it with me. How Joe and I met is through a comment he made on my blog Our Ancestors. His wife and I were related.
Genealogy is another of my passion.
There is no information about how Ed Poscavage’s P-47 D looked like. It might have been a P-47 M. I have no way to tell.
I decided to paint it using this photo which I colorized.
Ed Poscavage joined the Air Force in July 1944 according to his RCAF discharge papers. I have no further information about his transition from a Hawker Hurricane and the P-47 D, and when he was posted with 366 Fighter Squadron which sported orange tails!
P-47 M
P-47 M
Intermission – From the Hurricane to the P-47 D
This was in the draft section of the blog I had created in 2016 for Ed Poscavage. My interest was rekindled during the last Memorial Day which remembers the Fallen in the United States. Ed Poscavage was an American who enlisted in the RCAF after being washed out as a cadet in the US.
R.C.A.F.
RECORD OF SERVICE
POSCAVAGE, Edmund William (J26132)
Place & Date of Enlistment:
Windsor, Ontario – 21 January 1942
Postings:
No. 1 Service Flying Training School, Camp Borden, Ontario – on Appointment
Eastern Air Command, Halifax, Nova Scotia – 14 May 1943
No. 126 Squadron, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia – 17 May 1943
R.C.A.F. Station, Goose Bay, Labrador -27 July 1943
No. 129 Squadron, Bagotville, Quebec – 15 October 1943
No. 129 Squadron, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia – 31 December 1943
Rank – Reclassifications Appointments & Promotions:
AC2 21 January 1942 (Aircraftman Second Class)
LAC 17 July 1942 (Leading Aircraftman)
T/Sgt. (Pd) 30 April 1942 (Temporary Sergeant (Pending)
P/O 30 April 1943 (Pilot Officer)
T/F/O (Pd) 30 0ctober 1943 (Temporary Flying Officer (Pending)
Pay-Remustering & Classification:
P or O “S” 21 Januany 1942 (Pilot or Observer)
Aircrew I.T.S. 26 June 1942 (I.T.S. = Initial Training School)
Airman Pilot “S” 17 July 1942
Airman Pilot “SG” 30 April 1943
(SR) G.L. Pilot 30 April 1943
Service Courses:
Initial Training Course no. 54 at Toronto, Ontario,
from 25 May 1942 to 17 July 1942 Passed 79%
Elementary Flying Training course no. 63 at Oshawa, Ontario,
from 31 August 1942 to 23 October 1942
Passed 72.3%
Service Flying Training Course no. 70 at Camp Borden, Ontario,
from 7 December 1942 to 30 April 1943
Passed 72.17%
Mentions and & Awards:
Pilot’s Flving Badge, 30 April 1943
C.V.S.M 15 July 1944 (C.V.S.M = Canadian Volunteer Service Medal)
Punishments:
nil
Date 3 June 1944
CERTIFIED TRUE EXTRACT
(T.K. McDougall ) Group Captain
R.C.A.F. RECORD DIVISION
Ed Poscavage probably crossed the U.S. borders in Detroit on January 21, 1942, thinking about his training days at Maxwell Field. Ed enlisted on September 5th, 1941, and was sent to Maxwell Field, in Alabama. Very little is known about the time he spent there and the type of plane he had flown.
Little is also known about his mishap when he crashed his plane at Maxwell Field. He most probably flew this type of trainer.
Vultee BT-13
And had this kind of accident…
Or this kind…
I guess we will never find out unless someone leave a comment on this post.
This is what Maxwell Field looked like in 1937.
Jake Gaudaur tells us how it was like when he met Ed for the first time in his life.
In January 1942, I reported to a temporary RCAF locale that was called Manning Depot No 1 that was located on the CNE grounds in Toronto. It had been the building where cows were berthed during the annual, Royal Winter Fair. Dubbed “the cow palace” by the time I reported. I would learn that the name was well earned. On the same day I checked in, I was assigned a bunk next to an American named Ed Poscavage who had arrived the same day.
Jake and Ed became what you call AC2s.
I have a little booklet given to AC2s that a veteran shared with me.
Being both athletes and football players Jake and Ed had no problems with this first part of training and went to No. 1 Initial Training School, the Eglinton Hunt Club, in Toronto, Ontario. Both were in Course no. 54 according to Jake Gaudaur’s memoirs.
That’s our next stop. He earned his wings.
Ed Poscavage was testing Hurricane 5407.
Source: http://rwrwalker.ca/RCAF_5400_5449.html
5407
Hawker Hurricane Mk. XIICanada Car & Foundry, Fort William
BW832
first date: 20 July 1942 – Taken on strength
Delivered to No. 4 Training Command for No. 135 (F) Squadron at Mossbank, Saskatchewan on 20 July 1942. Still with this unit when it transferred to Western Air Command, and moved to RCAF Station Patricia Bay, BC on 1 October 1942. To stored reserve with No. 3 Training Command 4 August to 20 November 1944. Transferred from No. 3 TC to No. 1 Air Command on 15 January 1945. To stored reserve with Eastern Air Command on 27 June 1945. Available for disposal at Mount Pleasant, PEI from 27 November 1945, when it had 476:45 airframe time.
last date: 30 June 1947 – Struck off, to War Assets Corporation for sale.
We can only imagine Ed in the cockpit of 5405…
Work in progress – P-47 D and Ed Poscavage
Feel free to comment on the colors I have used.
Work in Progress – P-47 D
All my hobby supplies have arrived yesterday, and I just can’t wait to use my 1/4 oz cup instead of the paint jar.
I know how important cleaning my airbrush is. This is why I bought this and paint strainers.
I have watched a few YouTube videos, and I am confident I can master my 30 year-old airbrush.
I have hand-painted the red nose as well as the canopy frames.
I still have a few touch-ups to do before applying the decals.
Experimenting with my wife’s manucure file
Modelers will try everything to achieve a more realistic model kit. Last night I said to myself…
Why not try to polish my silver acrylic coat?
See any difference?
Hard to resist… Yellow nose and orange tail
The temptation was there to use my Badger 350 airbrush once again for the nose and a paint brush for the tail. First I used the airbrush to paint the nose and the tail yellow.
I then mixed the yellow paint with some orange paint and I used a paint brush for the tail.
I then sent an email to Joe Palladino with those photos.
I think I should calm down a little and wait for this…
Hard to wait… for my 1/4 oz cup
I know it will be much easier to work with my airbrush using this.
I have seen lots of videos.
I had tested my Badger 350 airbrush before when I put a black primer coat. The results were very good, but I then added a coat of silver with a paint brush with mixed results.
This morning I have received my braided airbrush hose from Amazon. I decided to test my airbrush again over my Monogram P-47 D even if my 1/4 oz cup had not arrived.
I used the jar adapter.
It worked fine enough.
I am still thinking if I should paint different shades of silver, but I am not there yet. Sometimes you need to step back a little and let the experience sink in.
Next step I will be painting the yellow and red nose, and the orange tail.
Reference
This is the only reference I have to paint my P-47 D in homage to Ed Poscavage.
His log book is nowhere to be found, and any reference on the Internet is what I wrote about him with Joe Palladino’s help.
I believe this is how close I can get using this black and white photo and information gathered on the Internet…
Imperial War Museum
Red spinner, red and yellow nose, and orange tail.
I will tell this to Joe when I send him my P-47 D as a gift.
Intermission – Colorizing photos
Imperial War Museum
My Forgotten Hobby II 