In the autumn of 1943, Major Gregory Boyington took command of a scratch squadron of replacement and cast-off pilots in the Solomons and turned them into VMF-214 — the "Black Sheep." Flying the gull-winged F4U Corsair against Japanese fighters over Rabaul and Bougainville, Boyington ran his personal tally toward the Marine record. On 3 January 1944 he was shot down over Rabaul and given up for dead, and the Medal of Honor was awarded in his memory. In fact he had been pulled from the water by a Japanese submarine and spent twenty months as a prisoner, emerging at war's end to receive the medal in person.

W. Britain sculpts Boyington on the ground between sorties, hands on his hips in a cocky stance, leather flight helmet and goggles pushed up, the yellow "Mae West" life vest over his flight suit and a parachute harness cinched at the legs. He is the air war over the Pacific islands, and he bridges to the ground Marines his Corsairs covered: the WWII Marine Rifleman, the Marine Raider, and Eugene Sledge of the Old Breed, fighting on the islands below his dogfights.

W. Britain model 13039. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), solid metal hand-painted in a matte finish. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Supplied in original W. Britain packaging.