USAAF F-15A Reporter - Flying Undertaker - Shomo

[Logan Hartke]

As always, click on the image below to see the picture at 100% or view it at my DeviantArt page.



The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR to

MAJOR WILLIAM A. SHOMO
UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCE

for service as set forth in the following CITATION:

  Maj. Shomo was lead pilot of a flight of 2 fighter planes charged with an armed photographic and strafing mission against the Aparri and Laoag airdromes. While en route to the objective, he observed an enemy twin engine bomber, protected by 12 fighters, flying about 2,500 feet above him and in the opposite direction Although the odds were 13 to 2, Maj. Shomo immediately ordered an attack. Accompanied by his wingman he closed on the enemy formation in a climbing turn and scored hits on the leading plane of the third element, which exploded in midair. Maj. Shomo then attacked the second element from the left side of the formation and shot another fighter down in flames. When the enemy formed for Counterattack, Maj. Shomo moved to the other side of the formation and hit a third fighter which exploded and fell. Diving below the bomber he put a burst into its underside and it crashed and burned. Pulling up from this pass he encountered a fifth plane firing head on and destroyed it. He next dived upon the first element and shot down the lead plane; then diving to 300 feet in pursuit of another fighter he caught it with his initial burst and it crashed in flames. During this action his wingman had shot down 3 planes, while the 3 remaining enemy fighters had fled into a cloudbank and escaped. Maj. Shomo's extraordinary gallantry and intrepidity in attacking such a far superior force and destroying 7 enemy aircraft in one action is unparalleled in the southwest Pacific area.

After Major William Shomo achieved his stunning success on 11 January 1945, the 71st Reconnaissance Group re-equipped with Northrop F-15A Reporters. Unlike the earlier North American F-6A Mustang that retained its six .50 cals, the F-15A Reporter was unarmed as built, the 20mm cannon ports being covered. Based on experiences such as Shomo's, the Fifth Air Force refused to fly the F-15A on combat missions until they had 20mm cannons installed, just as the Black Widow had. Northrop shipped kits out to equip the rest of the aircraft, while future F-15As produced by Northrop were armed. On his previous aircraft, Shomo had "The Flying Undertaker" painted on the left side and "Snooks" painted on the right. Given the greater real estate of the F-15 Reporter, Shomo's crew chief decided to paint "The Flying Undertaker" on both sides of the fuselage and "Snooks 7th" on both engine cowlings.

Cheers,

Logan

[Logan Hartke]

And here's a closeup of some of the noseart that I made for this profile.



Cheers,

Logan

[GTX_Admin]

Mmmm.....

[Volkodav]

 

And again, superb

[Logan Hartke]

Thanks, guys!

Cheers,

Logan

[Alvis 3.1]

Awesomely awesome, covered in awesome sauce!

Alvis 3.1

[Volkodav]

Seriously I don't even have the patience let alone the skill to produce anything, not even a single profile, like the profiles you seem to mass produce, how you and the others do it is beyond me.

[Logan Hartke]

Thanks, guys!  As I've said before, the profiles that I do aren't magic.  It really is something that almost anyone can do, it just takes a long time and a lot of work!  That's one reason why I show the "in progress" images for most of my more involved profiles.  I want to show all the steps for how I got there.

As for the quality over a number of profiles, it is really just a lot of work up front.  If I do things right, it can take weeks to do all the lighting, shading, and detailing for a profile from the line art, but after that, a profile with no structural modifications can take just a few hours.  That's why Talos and I average only about 3 new aircraft types every 2 years.  They take a while to do.

That level of detail also complicates structural modifications, obviously, which is another problem.  Putting R-4360s on the Black Widow, for example, would take Talos and I a good week of work at least.  The British B-51 with Avons and the new cockpit, for instance?  It's basically a new airplane.  It's now a totally separate line from the B-51B.  I can no longer use elements of one aircraft on the fuselage of the other.  They're completely different.

Cheers,

Logan

[GTX_Admin]

it just takes a long time and a lot of work! 

For me, having the time would be magic!

[Brian da Basher]

That's some excellent work and the Flying Undertaker moniker looks aces!

Brian da Basher

[Logan Hartke]

Thanks, Brian! Here's the original aircraft that I was using as a reference so you can see what the nose art looks like and how mine compares.





Shomo had "The Flying Undertaker" painted on the left side of the nose and "Snooks

• " painted on the right side of the nose of his aircraft.

Cheers,

Logan