325th FG "Checkertails" over North Africa - Part 1. Sixteen paintschemes to download. (link in first post)

May 13

Having always been a follower of all things "Checkertail Clan", it was great to see the Kittyhawk template become available for Cliffs of Dover.

The first thing to say is that Cliffs of Dover does not yet have the correct model of p-40 for the Checkertail era, but there is no timeline for one coming to the Sim, so I decided to make a selection of 325th FG skins for the game, so at least the Checkertails can fly over the Mediterranean, should any mission builders wish to take them to the skies.

My intentions are to complete around 20 more P-40 skins of the 325th, probably a larger selection will be 'generic', so won't have specific noseart or marking, just fuselage numbers and the famous "Checkertail".

These skins have been created using Major Setback's Kittyhawk template, however the tail (elevator and rudder) have all been modified for the Checkertail markings, including the underside of the elevator which weren't available in the template.

I only do this for fun, so if you see a small issue...feel free to edit it yourself 🙂

One skin of note is "Lone Tiger" which isn't fully historic, this being down to the shark mouth which, if you check the skin out, you can see the nightmare scenario it is getting it to all mesh up. Major Setback did an incredible job solving that puzzle, but it was beyond me. Maybe I'll return to it another day.
The text for "Lone Tiger" should be below the exhaust and the shark mouth stretched further along the side. Please take it for what it is...a close approximation of history.

With that said, here are the first batch of skins. Hope you enjoy them, cheers, Neil "Mysticpuma" Pugh.

Skins included:

325th FG - 317th FS - Duchess of Durham - Captain Ralph 'Zack' Taylor.
325th FG - 317th FS - Lone Tiger - Pilot Major William Reed
325th FG - 317th FS - Sawtooth Apache - Pilot Cecil O Dean
325th FG - 317th FS- HHG - Group Commander Herschel H Green
325th FG - 317th FS - Generic #22
325th FG - 317th FS - Generic #26

325th FG - 318th FS - Lighthouse Louie - Pilot Group Commander Gordon.H Austin
325th FG - 318th FS - LOTT-O - Pilot William M Lott
325th FG - 318th FS - Sweet Laurie I - Pilot Bill Slattery
325th FG - 318th FS - Trixie - Pilot Joe Bloomer
325th FG - 318th FS - Generic #47
325th FG - 318th FS - Generic #67

325th FG - 319th FS - Stardust - Pilot John Rauth
325th FG - 319th FS - STUD - Pilot Group Commander Robert Baseler
325th FG - 319th FS - Generic #86
325th FG - 319th FS - Generic #98

Download, install here (or wherever your skins folder is located):
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover Blitz\PaintSchemes\Skins\tobruk_KittyhawkMkIA-trop

DOWNLOAD HERE:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/x3qe1os8s4k1ynw/Checkertails_over_North_Africa_-_Skins_by_Mysticpuma.rar/file

Lighthouse Louie - 318th FS - 325th FG flown by Group Commander Gordon H Austin - Ports side has been edited with the kill makings blurred as they feature the Hakenkreuz. These will be visible in the available skin.

Edited June 7 by Mysticpuma

May 14

Second skin, "LOTT-O" flown by William M. Lott of the 318th FS, 325th FG. (Kill marking blurred but will visible in available skin).

May 15

"Trixie" - 318thFS - 325th FG - Pilot Joe Bloomer. I only noticed today that the Checkertail elevator had no markings underneath....so I've amended the 3 skins, and now they have the correct tail markings

May 15

On 5/14/2025 at 4:58 PM, Mysticpuma said:

Second skin, "LOTT-O" flown by William M. Lott of the 318th FS, 325th FG. (Kill marking blurred but will visible in available skin).

Very nice!

May 15

I see you altered the camouflage pattern. Well done for going the extra mile! I might be the only one who would notice it - as I made the original skins, but it adds a nice touch of variation so that the planes all don't look identical; which enhances the game.

May 16

13 hours ago, major_setback said:

I see you altered the camouflage pattern. Well done for going the extra mile! I might be the only one who would notice it - as I made the original skins, but it adds a nice touch of variation so that the planes all don't look identical; which enhances the game.

Thanks, appreciate that. Changed them for exactly the reasons you mentioned.

"Duchess of Durham IV" of the 317th FS, 325th FG, flown by Captain Ralph 'Zack' Taylor. (Victory markings blurred but available in the downloadable skin)

May 16

Herschel H. Green's P-40 in which he scored 3 victories, before finally becoming the highest scoring Ace of the fighter Group flying in his P-51.

May 16

"Sawtooth Apache" - 325th FG, 317th FS - Pilot Cecil O Dean.

May 17

"Lone Tiger" - 325th FG, 317th FS - Pilot Major. William Reed.

This is mostly historical, but I have to give lots of credit to @major_setback because the shark teeth are all his work from the template he created. The actual aircraft in WW2 had a longer mouth and the "Lone Tiger" text below the exhaust. I spent about two-hours moving the shark teeth around but could never get them to line up accurately with the cowling (which when you see the skin, it's a marvel of science Setback pulled off what he did!), with a random line out of place, or a tooth just'wrong'.

So, in order to actually have Reed's aircraft skinned, I used the template teeth, added the white lines as per the original paint scheme, and placed the text above the exhausts rather than below.