Pacific Theater Warriors, Part 2: Don’t Look Up

Our second chapter looking at the new Pacific Theater Warriors set from Johnny Lightning will focus on the airplanes. Four incredible war birds are included: two silver and two blue. Each one comes with its own display stand, and these planes are also limited to just 2000 pieces.

F4U-1A Corsair – “The Mad Cossack”

Our first airplane is one that served in combat while patrolling the skies over the Okinawa Prefecture. The F4U Corsair was powered by a massive, 2000hp, 18 cylinder radial engine, making it a faster plane than the German Grumman F6F Hellcats. US Navy only used these planes from land bases, however, due to its massive nose and low visibility from the cockpit. The F4U-1A varient that we have here was considered the “Mark II” Corsair thanks to various improvements. The pilot’s seat was raised seven inches, and the canopy was both widened and lifted. These planes were also fitted with better performing struts, which helped reduce bouncing, enabling the plane to actually be utilized on aircraft carriers.

This model is number 2 in the set, Version A, and Release 1. It wears striking blue paint with white stripes and a bar and star. This one is dubbed “The Mad Cossack”, but Google proved to be very difficult to find its backstory. The stand is marked with the insignia of Marine Fighting Squadron VFM-512. These Marines supported operations in the Battle of Okinawa and the Battle of Balikpapan. Check out the heavy duty bomb strapped to the bottom of this thing too!

F4U-1A Corsair – “The Checkboards”

Version B of the F4U-1A Corsair is from the “Checkerboards” squadron. VMF-312 actually only received 1 Corsair, which was paired with ten other SNJ-4 Texans. This group was also nicknamed “The Day’s Knights”, who’s seal is displayed on this model’s stand. Marine Lieutenant R. R. Klingman of the Checkerboards got an incredible victory in one dogfight in an insane fashion. His plane’s guns malfuntioned, and his only weapon left was his plane itself. Klingman flew up close to his Japanese enemy, so close that his propeller chopped off their tial. The Japanese aircraft went down, and Klingman only lost five inches off his propeller blades.

While it wears the same shade of blue as Version A, Version B is adorned with white checkerboard decor. This one also has a bomb strapped to the front, so it is very similar, visually.

P-51 Mustang – “Stinger VII”

It wouldn’t be a WWII airplane collection without a Mustang! After US forces captured Iwo Jima, the island was used as an air base for P51 Mustangs to escort bombers on missions. Mustangs were mainly utilized in the European campaign of the war, but were sent to the Pacific in 1944. The “Stinger VII” was piloted by Major Robert Wilson “Todd” Moore, which became an Ace with over 12 confirmed victories.

This plane is absolutely gorgeous! The only downside with the Stinger (and the other silver plane in this set, actually) is that it doesn’t sit well on its stand. You might notice that I had to borrow some of the other planes’ stands to take pics of the silver planes. I would guess there is too much silver paint in the mounting holes. That silver paint job is great though, and I love how well it works with the green accents. Triple black stripes look like tiger claw marks on each black wing. The rear tail wing on the right side became detached as well while handing the plane, which of course made me sad.

P-51 Mustang – “Anything Goes”

The second silver Mustang in this set is “Anything Goes”, piloted by Capt. Pete Nowick of the 458th Fighter Squadron. On a mission escorting B-29s to Tokyo, the 458th ran into approximately forty Japanese enemies. The 458th fought them off, taking out ten enemy aircraft. Nowick himself was credited with downing two Japanese planes.

This plane also did not get along with its display stand. The tail wings held up on this model a bit better than the “Stingers”, too. Somehow, Johnny Lightning managed to get all of those diagonal blue lines on the tail to tampo perfectly.

In closing, I’m not much of an aviation enthusiast, but these models left me impressed. If I were to keep them, I would fiddle around a bit to get the display stands to seat perfectly. That isn’t the plan though; these planes will be boxed up with their counterparts you saw in Part 1 and shipped over to Lance for him to enjoy too!