WD74W2

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and stamped them with the 1940s version of mill markings. We had a real
good match of the original yellow-green primer in a PPG topcoat. We shot
a light coat over the primered skins to emulate the original where the mill
markings would have shown through the primer.”
As the airplane was coming together, the original plan for a typical
yellow SNJ changed in a more interesting direction. As Denest describes, “As
we were putting together the plan to put all the rare military equipment in the
airplane, Evan Fagen sent me a picture of an SNJ over Espiritu Santo, in the
New Hebrides out in the South Pacific. It had the upper blue-gray and lower
dull gray scheme, with just the star and bar, and the number eleven on the
side. He told me that he would like to do something like that paint scheme,
because the caption said it was used by the Marines as a forward spotter, and
that Marine Air Group Eleven (MAG-11) had used a couple SNJs for this
purpose. I thought ‘Oh man, that’s neat. It looks just like an SBD.’”
Denest showed the pictures to Jones, who he describes as a historian
and a purist when it comes to restoration, and his wife is a professional
researcher. They developed a plan to visit the National Archives, to
determine what other information could be found on MAG-11, and their
SNJs. According to the War Diary of the Headquarters Squadron of MAG-
4 The photo that started MD Aero on the path to
recreating the Turtle Bay Texan. A MAG-11 SNJ-4 over
over Fighter Strip #1 on Espiritu Santo, better known
as Turtle Bay. Photo: USN
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