A hearty congrats to Rodney Anderton and Reamon Keener, winners of the Tamiya and Monogram Razorbacks respectively!

I’m building both right now, and can say without hesitation that they’re both great kits in their own ways. The Tamiya is among the best 1/48 kits ever boxed, and the Monogram is pretty much the epitome of the simplicity, solid fit, and overall accuracy that makes the old Monogram kits great.

To mark their wins, here are their entries for their favorite Jug drivers:

Rodney Anderton:

I have to go with Capt Gerald W. Johnson

1. Gerald flew wing for the commander, Colonel Hub Zemke on the 56th’s first mission
2. First Ace of the 56th. 16+ kills
3. Flew 88 missions before being shot down while strafing a train. Which he crash landed in a field.
4. Spent 13 months as a POW
5. Gotta have some love for his plane “In the Mood” inspired by one of my favorite Glenn Miller songs. Just the nose art alone puts it at the top of the list for 1/48 scale Razorbacks!

Reamon Keener:

It’s gotta be John W. ( Wild Bill ) Crump for me!

I Love the story of his pet coyote “Jeep”, the only coyote to fly on 5 mission in WWII! Wild Bill was a heck of a guy, he flew 47′s and later P-51′s, and racked up 311 combat hours and helped save the life of fellow pilot Huie Lamb who went into the drink over the North Sea. Wild Bill remained active as a pilot and as a community leader, even carrying the Olympic Torch in Atlanta in ’96.