Nothing symbolizes US Naval Aviation during the latter half of the Cold War more than an F-14 Tomcat, at least among fighters. Birthed from the abortive US Navy’s involvement in the F-111B it was kept from its full potential during most of its service with finicky engines and being limited to the interceptor/fighter role. It wasn’t until the last decade of its carrier that it had a chance to show all it could do with the Air-Ground role restored and GE engines. The last of the Grumman “cat” lineage to leave the flight deck, it was the pinnacle of brute force, performance, and power projection all wrapped up in a sexy package that could do over Mach 2.

Although I am a former carrier sailor, I have had a long-standing appreciation for submarines and underwater warfare, from the pioneers and early craft to the latest technology afforded to the submariners of today. It takes something special in a person to go out to sea in a vessel designed to sink, and built by the lowest bidder (I had to get that one in), but those who have answered the call in the past, and those will do so in the future, are nothing less than courageous. The submarine has been in existence in one form or another for centuries, and similar to any other weapon of war, has developed into something that would astound the early inventors.

Lifelike Decals has produced a 1/48^thscale Mustang sheet for four aircraft that I have not seen before, except “American Beauty, possibly. I’m certainly no expert on every decal sheet that has been previously released, but they all look new to me. The instruction sheet says they are designed for the Tamiya kit. All four aircraft are natural metal, with three of them from the European Theater and one from Okinawa.

The first aircraft is P-51D-15-NA flown by Captain John Voll of the 308^thFS in Italy in 1944. These markings are for his aircraft after his 21^stkill in November of 1944.

Captain Raymond Wetmore’s P-51D-10-NA, “Daddy’s Girl” at the time when the aircraft was being repainted, and the kill markings were being moved from the canopy frame to the fuselage.