After the recent news of the Evansville P-47 Foundation acquiring Tarheel Hal from the Lonestar Flight Museum and going against the mission of any credible museum, covering the authentically painted Thunderbolt in “Spirit of Evansville” vinyl graphics, it really made me sad. I will always remember a time when I was on the phone with the late Gary Austin, and he cuts me off and says “Hey, listen to this!” shoving his arm out the window so I could hear roar of Tarheel Hal taxiing up on the ramp in Midland. Not surprisingly, the internet backlash against Evansville was swift and unforgiving. Having worked with aviation museums all across the US and the UK, I understand their wish to honor the men and women of Evansville who built P-47s during the war, but their methods fall short of the mark.
I had to do something! I hadn’t worked on a P-47 project in many years, because in the warbird world, they are few and far between. To honor the memory of the modern Tarheel Hal, I created this art to represent Lt Ike Davis of the 366th Fighter Squadron of the 358th Fighter Group. I wanted to commemorate this particular P-47’s combat career by illustrating it making an attack on a German train deep inside Germany in the final days of WWII.
I hope you like it! Long live Tarheel Hal! Click here to buy this shirt.
