Hobby Master Archive

“Gloria Lyons” adorned four different New Zealand Air Force aircraft. The first three were P-40 Kittyhawks and the fourth was an F4U-1A. Gloria Lyons was a nineteen year old New Zealand girl with tuberculosis and pen pals with members of the No. 4 Servicing Unit in the Solomon Islands. The unit decided to make her their mascot and added her name to the engine cowling. The first two P-40s as well as the F4U-1A were destroyed but the third P-40N, NZ3220 survived the war. The real Gloria Lyons overcame her tuberculosis.