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This set depicts the PBY-5A Catalina fire bomber used in the 1989 Steven Spielberg movie Always. The real aircraft was owned by Salfco, Inc. of Ephrata, WA. -
"Bardahl Miss", N335J (Race 49) raced for many years during the 1960s in a number of guises. In 1968 it wore this black and yellow checked scheme. -
23-year old Chuck Lyford flew this all-white P-51D-25 in the 1964 Harold's Club Transcontinental Trophy Dash from St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Florida to Reno Nevada. After leading the entire race, a serious of events at the end of the race conspired to have Chuck finish 2nd out of the eight P-51s that started the race. The "Bardahl Special" was unique in this race as Chuck used 150 gallon Skyraider drop tanks to extend his range. Chuck's "Bardahl Special" also pylon raced at Reno, of course without the drop tanks used in the transcon race. -
In 1967 Chuck Lyford’s N2869D “Bardahl Special” returned to Reno with clipped wings and stabs along with a new engine. "Bardahl Special" qualified second for Sunday’s unlimited gold race. After pulling out to a short lead over Darryl Greenamyer for the first three pylons, Lyford’s Merlin let loose on the back stretch and his Reno dreams were drenched in oil and smoke for the second year in a row. -
Chuck Lyford’s original N2869D “Bardahl Special” N2869D was returned to its original white race paint scheme and was raced in the Unlimited Class by Steven Coutches at the 2022 Stihl National Air Races in Reno. -
After competing in the 1964 Harold's Club Transcontinental Trophy Dash and at the Reno Air Races, Chuck Lyford continued to race his all-white P-51D-25 at Reno placing second in the Gold Race in 1965 and dropping out of the Gold Race in 1966. This version of the "Bardahl Special" was the second version used with the black and orange reversed for better visibility.
About Draw Decal
Offering High Quality and Unique Aircraft Decals Since 1999!
How did we get our Name?
My father is a US Army-trained draftsman, and he always signed his drawings with the initials “DRAW.” Since we have to DRAW our decals, and DRAW is also the first four letters of my last name, it seemed to be a natural name for our company.
What is the idea behind DRAW Decal?
I produce airline decals that normally would not be popular enough to justify mass producing. Each decal is printed as demand warrants, one page at a time by a professional print house. This makes for slow production, but it allows us to individually inspect each decal and to also update the decal sets as the need arises. While these production sets are all currently available, they are only produced (i.e. printed) as they are ordered. I have no large pile of unsold, unpopular decals to contend with this way. Our decals are as close to custom-made as possible.
Who creates your art?
The art work for our decals is created by a group of artists, with each one contributing sets of their own unique design and preference. Currently, DRAW Decal offers decals designed by: Tim Bradley, Mike Egan, Norm Filer, Mike Jernfors, Jeff Thomsen and yours truly, Greg Drawbaugh. Each set is identified by whom designed it unless I was the one who designed it.
How do I do that?
Our decals are printed in our exclusive Next Generation DIGITAL Silk process using a large format digital printer that prints white ink. We do NOT sell ANY laser-printed decals. Laser printers are for printing instruction sheets, not printing decals.
We are made the switch to our latest Next Generation DIGITAL Silk process to provide what we believe to be among the highest quality decals in the industry. We also want to be able to provide subjects that just would not print well using any other process. Quality and value have always been our driving force, and we continue to push the limits of what our printer and artwork is capable of producing. We operate under a continual improvement process for all of our decals.
Do you run out of stock?
No, as I print decals only as they are ordered. This ensures that the decals are fresh and never out of stock. This also allows me to make corrections and additions to each set as they occur.
Once applied, these decals will look just like they were painted on, rather than just “stickers” applied over a paint job. Remember, the art of decaling is making it look like you did not use any decals!
Thanks for stopping by, and come back often to see what we have added.