King of the Strafers by Iain Wyllie Col. James A (Goody) Goodson's P47 Mustang
Dallas Doll by Philip West American designed and built, British inspired and later powered,
the Mustang turned into arguably the finest WWII long-range fighter ever
constructed. The Mustang, developed from the Prototype NA73X, was
manufactured in large quantities with an impressive final total of
15,586 aircraft. Of these, 13,600 were powered by the British Rolls
Royce designed Merlin engine. Reichsmarschall Herman Goering is reported to have said: "When I
saw those Mustangs over Berlin, I knew that the war was lost.";
testimony indeed to the mighty Mustang and those who flew and fought in
them.
Escort Service by Keith Woodcock In the early morning sun, two North American P51D Mustangs of the 359
FS, 356 FG, take off from their base at Martlesham Heath to escort 8th Air
force bombers on another daylight raid
Deadly Duo by Harley Copic Captain Don Gentile and Lt John Godfrey, 4th Fighter Group, team up to
form one of the most successful Leader-Wingman duos in the 8th
Air Force, scoring a combined total of 36 victories.
Head for Home by Anthony Saunders When a fighter escort with a bomber's range first appeared over Berlin,
Goering knew the end of the war was only a matter of time. when that
particular fighter escort turned out to be the Mustang, perhaps the most
outstanding of all WWII fighters, the time was all too short. Unlike the
RAF's Spitfire and Hurricane, that had succeeded in the Battle of Britain,
Goering's Luftwaffe failed to protect it's own air space, leaving allied
air forces unhampered to bomb Germany by both day and night. Two battle weary Mustangs of 357th Fighter Group, with ammunition spent
and fuel low, have broken away from the main bomber force to head across
the Channel for home.
Vintage Mustangs by Stan Stokes. The P-51B and
the Ford Mustang make quite a pair in Stans depiction. The P-51 Mustang
was arguably the most effective
American
fighter
aircraft of WW II.
North American proposed this design in response to the RAFs
desire to find a second production source for the P-40. Early
models were equipped with an Allison engine and had marginal
performance. With the addition of the Packard-built Merlin engine
beginning with the B variant, the Mustang had the power to earn its
place in history. One of the top scoring Mustang aces of the War was
USAAF Col. Henry Brown. Browns P-51B, The
Hun Hunter from Texas, is
depicted in Stans painting.
A Pistol Whipping by Stan Stokes.
There
were tens of thousands of aerial combat encounters during World War II.
One of the most unusual was a dogfight that took place between Captain
Arthur C. Fiedler, Jr. and an unidentified German Bf-109 pilot on June
28, 1944. Fiedler was an Illinois native who received his wings in July
1943. He was assigned as a flight instructor in Dover, Delaware, but in
May 1944 he was assigned to the 317th Fighter Squadron of the
325th Fighter Group. Flying P-51B Mustangs the 317th
was based in Lesina, Italy. Fiedler named his Mustang after his wife
Helen. On a combat mission on June 24th Fiedler claimed a
probable. Four days later the eventual ace was flying near Polesti,
Rumania when a Bf-109 crossed directly in front of his aircraft.
Slamming his P-51 into a near vertical bank he trailed the 109 for a few
seconds attaining several hits before his guns jammed. As Fiedler rolled
out of his bank he found himself flying in formation parallel to the
109, and headed towards Russia. Fiedler was not willing to make himself
a target for the 109, and with his Mustang low on fuel and with jammed
guns, Fiedler reactively drew his service revolver. As he drew his .45
pistol, the German pilot unexpectedly jettisoned his canopy and bailed
out. Fiedler was given the nickname Svengali for this incident. Fiedler
continued his combat tour into 1945, and by January he had attained 8
confirmed aerial victories. Fiedler remained in the Air Force following
the War. Flying in both Korea and Vietnam, he was promoted to Colonel in
1969, and retired from the Air Force in 1975. The P-51 Mustang and the
Messerschmitt Bf-109 were two of the most important aircraft of WW II.
More than 15,000 P-51s were produced, the most of any American-built
fighter, while the Bf-109 was the most produced fighter aircraft of the
war with 35,000 produced. The P-51 was designed by Raymond Rice and
Edgar Schmued of North American Aviation, because the President of the
company thought he could do better than merely produce Curtiss P-40s
under license for the RAF.
Initially introduced with an Allison liquid-cooled V-12, the P-51
performed poorly despite its superior airframe. As early Mustangs
arrived the British were anxious to see how this aircraft would perform
with the powerful Rolls Royce Merlin engine. The aircraft was about 13
percent faster and could climb to combat altitude in 45 percent less
time than the Allison-equipped aircraft. Going into production as the
P-51B the Brits received about 1000 aircraft while the USAAF took an
additional 1000. The first P-51B models were in service with the Eighth
Air Force in December 1943. The excellent performance of these aircraft
and their excellent range when equipped with external wing tanks, made
the P-51 a tremendous asset when accompanying American daylight bombers
on their raids into Germany. The 109 was arguably the most advanced
fighter aircraft from 1935 until 1940. The 109 was designed by Willy
Messerschmitt and Walter Rethel with the goal of packing the most
powerful engine available into the smallest possible aircraft structure.
During the Spanish Civil War the 109 proved its superiority. Despite
numerous technical enhancements as the war progressed, by the end of the
War the 109 was both outclassed and outnumbered by its rivals.
A Big Victory by Stan Stokes.
On
September 18, 1944 P-51 pilots of the 375th Fighter Squadron
of the 361st Fighter Group, based at Little Walden in Essex,
were assigned the mission of escorting B-17s on a shuttle mission to
Russia. The Mustangs would accompany the bombers to the south of Sweden
where they would be picked up by an escort of Russian fighters. Urban
Drew, flying
a 51-D named Detroit Miss,
was one of the USAAF pilots on this mission. Just before breaking off
the escort Drew spotted a twin-engine German aircraft flying very low to
the water. He broke off with two wingman and went down after the German
plane. It turned out to be an He-111, most likely a courier plane from
Scandinavia. He opened fire hitting the top gun position, circled
around, and with his second burst set the aircraft afire. It tumbled
into the Baltic. As Drew and his two wingman climbed back to altitude to
rejoin their flight, he looked off to the right and spotted an enormous
flying boat moored at a sea plane base on a lake. Drew called to his
wingman and said, get lined astern immediately, and we will make one
pass, and one pass only... lets see if we can burn and sink this mother.
The three Mustangs commenced their attack with the element of surprise
to their advantage. The three Mustangs poured about 1200 rounds of 50
caliber ammo into the behemoth, and as the third aircraft pulled up
black smoke and flames were pouring from the target. It was not until
that moment that anti-aircraft batteries opened fire, but the P-51s were
quickly out of range. During the debriefing it was determined that their
target was probably a Blohm and Voss BV-222. Years later, in 1974, while
Drew was living in London, he was contacted by the British Broadcasting
Company (BBC) which wanted to do a documentary. It was only then that
Drew found out that the aircraft he destroyed at the Bug Seaplane Base
on Lake Schaal was actually the BV-238, the largest aircraft to see
service in WW II. Development work on the Blohm and Voss BV-238 began in
1940. This was planned to be a very large overseas transport aircraft,
and was powered by six 1900-HP Daimler-Benz inverted V-12 engines. It
would be considerably larger than the BV-222 with a wingspan of nearly
200 feet, a height of nearly 44 feet, and an empty weight of more than
110,000 pounds. Although two other aircraft, the Douglas B-19 and the
Soviet ANT.20, had longer wingspans, the BV-238 was the heaviest and
most powerful aircraft developed during WW II. It was during the testing
phase of this aircraft at Lake Schall in 1944 that the BV-238 was
strafed and destroyed by a flight of three P-51s lead by Eighth Air
Force ace Urban Drew.
The First Mustang Ace by Stan Stokes.
The ubiquitous North American P-51 Mustang, which many
consider to be the best all-around fighter of WW II, owes its origins to
the British Air Ministry. Following Britains entry into WW II in 1939,
the RAF was interested in purchasing additional fighter aircraft from
American sources, particularly the Curtiss P-40. Curtiss, which was
busy, was unable to guarantee timely delivery so the British approached
North American Aviation as a possible second source for the P-40. North
American chose to propose its own fighter design which would use the
same Allison engine as the P-40. Utilizing new laminar flow wings, the
North American fighter was expected to have performance better than the
P-40. Developed in record time the new aircraft was designated as a
Mustang I by the Brits, whereas the USAAF ordered two for evaluation
which were designated XP-51 Apaches. Intrigued with the possibility of
using this aircraft also as a dive bomber, North American proposed this
to the USAAF which decided to order 500 of the P-51 aircraft to be
modified for dive bombing use. Designated as the A-36 Invader, this
version of the Mustang utilized dive
flaps, and bomb racks under each wing. Some reinforcing of the
structural members was also required because of the G-forces to be
encountered in dive bombing. A-36s entered combat service with the USAAF
prior to any P-51s. In early 1943 the 86th and 27th
Fighter Bomber Groups of the 12th Air Force began flying
A-36s out of Northern Africa. Despite some early problems with
instability caused by the dive flaps, the A-36 was effective in light
bombing and strafing roles. It was not, however, capable of dog fighting
with German fighters, especially at higher altitudes. Despite these
drawbacks one USAAF pilot, Captain Michael T. Russo, who served with the
16th Bomb Squadron of the 27th Fighter Bomber
Group, was credited with five confirmed aerial victories in the A-36,
thereby becoming the first mustang ace. In Stan Stokes painting, Russos
third victory is depicted over a JU-52 at the Aversano Airfield in
Italy. The early USAAF fighter versions of the Mustang were designated
as P-51As. About 650 were delivered to the RAF and 350 to the USAAF.
With its Allison engine the early P-51s were no match for German Bf-109s
or FW-190s. The performance drawbacks of the Mustang were especially
apparent at higher altitudes. The RAF equipped some Mustangs with the
more powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. This dramatically enhanced the
Mustangs high altitude performance. This new engine was utilized in the
P-51B, the first effective fighter version of this aircraft. Also
developed were inexpensive wing mounted drop tanks which extended the
Mustangs range into the heart of Germany, so it could accompany American
bombers on daylight raids. Late in 1943, North American redesigned the
top of the rear fuselage of the Mustang, and added a bubble canopy. This
variant became the P-51D and proved to be an effective dog fighting
aircraft against any of the Luftwaffes propeller driven fighters.
Top Cover by Stan Stokes. The painting depicts a P-51D Mustang (flown by William
Bailey of the 353rd Fighter Group) flying escort for B-17 Flying
Fortresses of the U.S. Armys Eighth Air Force. The scene is over the
French countryside during late 1944, and several more hours of high
altitude flying lies ahead of these pilots before the days work is over.
Bombing played a major role in the Allies victory in Europe. The RAF
relied primarily on night bombing which was also called strategic
bombing. Day time bombing was a necessity for hitting specific targets
such as munition plants, dams, and submarine pens. The Mighty Eighth
took on responsibility for most of the day time bombing missions. The
hazards and discomforts of high altitude flying, the perils of enemy
flak batteries, and the threat of enemy fighters made these missions
exceedingly dangerous until only very late in the war. Fighter escort
was critically important in improving the odds of a successful mission,
and the P-51 became arguably the premier aircraft for providing that
cover. The P-51 is generally acknowledged as Americas top fighter plane
of World War II. The first Mustangs were ordered by the British
Government in 1940. The USAAF was initially reluctant to order the
Mustang, having already committed itself to the P-38 Lightning, the P-47
Thunderbolt, the P-40 Warhawk, and the P-39 Airacobra. In 1944 an
improved version of the Mustang, the D, came off North American
Aviations assembly line in California. It was dramatically altered from
earlier versions, as major changes in fuselage design were incorporated
to improve pilot visibility. The P-51D was powered by a Packard-built,
Rolls Royce-designed, liquid cooled V-12 engine which generated 1,612
HP. The Mustang had a top speed of 436 MPH, a range of 949 miles, and an
operational ceiling in excess of 42,000 feet. Nearly 8,000 P-51Ds were
produced. In service with the USAAF Mustangs flew in excess of 200,000
missions, and were credited with destroying nearly 5,000 enemy aircraft.
The Mustang was unique in its ability to provide long range fighter
escort, and this greatly enhanced the effectiveness of Allied bombing
missions. On returning from their escort missions Mustangs would
generally split into squadrons and take varying routes home looking for
targets of opportunity.
Triple Dates With Destiny by Stan Stokes.
Lt. Col. Chuck Older was one of the first AVG aces. He
rejoined the USAAF and eventually returned to China where he served as
Deputy Commander of the 23rd FG. Older ended the War with
18.25 confirmed aerial victories. Stans painting depicts a mission
during which Older bagged a Betty, a Tess, and a Sonia (depicted) near
the outskirts of Shanghai in January of 1945. Following the War Older
earned a Law Degree. He was the presiding judge on the highly publicized
Charles Manson murder case.
A Perfect Record by Stan Stokes.
At
the time of World War II there was still a great deal of prejudice in
America, and this extended to all the branches of the military. Although
black soldiers and seaman fought with dignity and bravery during WW I,
many thought that blacks were incapable of handling difficult
assignments. It was therefore with great uncertainty and trepidation
that the Army Air Corps authorized the training of black pilots in 1941.
The Air Corps proposed that a segregated training program be
established. Judge William Hastie, Dean of the Howard University Law
School, who was serving as a Civilian Assistant for Negro Affairs to the
Secretary of War, protested about the segregated training, but his
complaints were ignored. Hastie also proposed that the Army consider
affiliating with the Tuskegee Institute which had already established a
pilot training program. The Army allocated $1 million for the
construction of the Tuskegee Army Air Field. The men sent to Tuskegee
had to pass rigorous physical tests and pass nine weeks of ground
school. They then received their basic flight instruction from
instructors with the Civilian Instructor Corps. Those who passed moved
on to more sophisticated military training for another seventy hours of
flight time. A third phase of advanced training followed after which
pilot cadets received their wings and were appointed to an initial rank
of either 2nd Lieutenant or Flight Officer. Only about 60%
of the cadets made it through the program, and many were killed or
injured in flying accidents during training. Captain Noel Parish who
oversaw much of the training at Tuskegee was a vocal supporter of the
men under his command. Despite their ability to successfully handle the
Air Corps training program, considerable hostility was still evident and
the Army was reluctant to assign Tuskegee graduates to combat units.
This created a difficult morale problem for those who had earned their
wings and were now anxious to see combat. Finally, in the spring of
1943, the 99th
Fighter Squadron headed for North Africa. In June of 1943 the 99th
finally saw combat flying P-40s. On July 2 Lt. Charles Hall became the
first black aviator to record an aerial victory in WW II. The 99th
played an important role in preparing for the invasion of Sicily. The
332nd Fighter Group (under the command of then Lt. Col.
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.) consisting of the 100th, 301st,
and 302nd fighter squadrons entered combat in Italy flying
P-39s in early 1944. By mid-1944 the Group was receiving P-47s, but in
another about face the Air Corps quickly substituted P-51s. At this time
the 99th FS was folded into the 332nd FG. From
mid-1944 until the end of the War in Europe the Tuskegee Airmen of the
332nd FG flew an incredible number of missions. They
generally escorted Fifteenth Air Force bombers on their attacks into
Germany from bases in Italy. The red-tailed fighters of the 332nd
FG had the distinction of having a perfect record – losing no escorted
bombers to enemy fighter attack during the entire War. In Stan Stokes
painting, the P-51 piloted by Charles E. McGee, who would also go on to
fly combat missions in both Korea and Vietnam, is depicted over a Czech
airfield on August 24, 1944. On this mission McGee would down an Fw-190.
Winter of 45 by Philip West.
American built, British inspired and once re-engined with the Merlin,
the mighty Mustang became a supreme long-range escort fighter and close
air support platform. Old Crow was the mount of Clarence E. Anderson
based at Leiston, England, with the 357th FG, 363rd FS. Andersons
personal victory score during WWII was 16.25 in air combat.
Homeward Bound by Philip West A combat damaged B-17 of the 91st Bomb Group heads home to Bassingbourn
shadowed by P51Ds of the 352nd Fighter Squadron (353rd FG).
Top Cover by Gerald Coulson Big Brother and Little Friends - the enduring bond between the
bomber crews and fighter pilots of the USAAF Eighth Air Force in their
prolonged and hotly contested air war against Hitler's Nazi Germany, 1942
- 1945.
Mustangs Over The Reich by Stephen Brown P51 Mustangs of the 336th Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Group range
deep into the Reich in search for targets of opportunity. The 4th played a pivotal role in achieving air supremacy for the Allies
in Europe and by VE-Day had become the top scoring Fighter Group with over
1,000 victories against the Luftwaffe.The 357th Fighter Group was thrown into action soon
after arriving in England in February 1944. Being the first fighter
group equipped with P-51 Mustangs, great things were expected of them, and
they did not disappoint; in the final year of the war they achieved a
faster rate of victories than any other group in the 8th Air Force, and
the record for the highest number of enemy aircraft shot down in a single
mission - in excess of 50 - during a great air battle on 14th January
1945.
