I wanted an objective terrain piece for Bolt Action. I was inspired by Ian Gardner's and Roger Day's excellent book, Tonight We Die as Men, which tells the story of the somewhat overlooked Third Battalion, 506 PIR. Specifically, the following excerpts:
Seconds later a P-47 Thunderbolt, with its throttle wide open, crashed near us and made a terrific noise as its bomb load exploded. The Germans paid little attention and seemed more focus on processing us! (p172)
Second LT Pete Madden was looking at the men around him when suddenly a damaged P-47 came screeching overhead and crashed in flames 1 1/4 miles due north at Les Rats Farms. (p188)
A patrol was sent out to Les Rats where the P-47 had crashed. "I was sent along with a few others to try and recover the machine guns from the plane" recalls Pvt Miles Allen (G Co.). "Unfortunately the weapons were twisted and bent beyond use" (p199)
At around this time, a damaged and burning P-47 aircraft came in from the south, passed low overhead, and crashed about 1 1/4 miles from the bridge… a small patrol [was sent] to the crash site to see if anything could be done for the pilot. The men returned with the dead airman's dog tags. (p204)
My attempt to emulate this photo uses a 1:48 model kit I picked up for $9 USD at Michaels using a 50% coupon. I added some Flak damage, which I fully admit, I have no idea if it would be enough to bring down a P-47. I also added some blood splatter to the inside of the burned cockpit, leaving the fate of our brave pilot to your imagination.
This is one of the pictures that inspired me
More pictures of this and other projects at my blog link