Recent content by drgondog

Hi Dana - what was the rationale for making the pathfinder markings so distinctive?

There were consequences when the LW managed a huge win, absent US escort. Additionally, there is confusion regarding US fighter tactics when chasing LW. Far more frequent was a squadron commander dispatching a flight or section to intercept a larger force of LW fighters. Even during rare...

You have to view escort as P-47C/D only through October 1943 during which only limited escort was provided during Penetration so say Bremen, and Withdrawal support from say Bremen to the Belgium/Netherlands coast. For targets deeper than 300 miles, the bombers were on their own and the fighters...

The strafing attacks were both random and planned. When escort fighters broke escort (like at limit of range for a Penetration escort, one or more flights might drop to the deck and attack a sighted airfield on the way home. A pair of fighters chasing a 109 might spot an airfield and shoot it...

No. But complicated. First, the doctrine of changing the role of escort to 'pursue and destroy' was encapsulated at AAF HQ with the release of FM-1-15 "Tactics and Techniques of Air Fighting" in late 1942. Led by MG Muir Fairchild, the foundation doctrinal change from convoy to pursuit was that...

The P-47M and N weren't on the horizon until after D-Day and the conversion decision to convert to Mustangs was made on or about Big Week, probably early February when the value of the 85-gal fuselage tank doubling the P-47D escort range with belly tank was a major factor. It was duly noted that...

According to Zemke, it was that simple. After that all the other group COs agreed to conversion and 56th was placed at the end of the line after the 78th, 353rd and 356th P-47 conversions. Notice that Zemke did not resist conversion from P-38 to P-51 when he commanded the 479th FG,

Yes I do. Kepner offered the 56th FG first chance at converting from P-47. Zemke was in the US on a bond tour with LeMay and due back in March. Landy, Gp Exec and Schilling decided they preferred to stay with the P-47. Zemke was furious when he got back but decided not to appeal to Kepner to...

First, the relay strategy was implemented as the longer range P-38, then P-51B were introduced to join the shorter range P-47. Many forget that RAF provided Spitfire escort through 1943 and well into 1943 as AAF fighter group strength grew from 4, 56, 78 FG in January 1943 to add 353rd in August...

Those were the initial transition training Mustangs in early November 1943 for the 354thFG as the P-51B-1 were rolling out of the Depot.

Hi Dana. 9th AF re-activated16 October just as the first P-51B-1s were arriving in ETO and immediately assigned to 354FG. The first B-5s arrived as Mustang III beginning early November (all B-5s) and Arnold requested of Portal that they be assigned to AAF. Portal complied in late December 1943...

General Gordon Saville was CG and Chief, Air Defense on Arnold's staff at Hq. He was also the near ultimate authority on which role each fighter would play and where to send them. He was Not a fan of the Mustang and tried to give the P-51A to the French Air Force in MTO. He was over ruled by...

I had both the V35 and A-36 in the 80's - great airplanes. The V-35 had a slight dutch roll but also slightly more maneuverable.

Geoffrey, I would add two P-51D/-D1 from the NA-104 line at 42-106539/540, two XP-78/51B from P-51-NA. I saw your note about pre-production above, but the first two D's were intended to bifurcate the P-51B-10 line at 42-106538 and had all the approved production changes separating P-51B-10 from...

The A-36 was contracted and delivered with dive bombing capability per funding guidelines. In fact it was designed to fulfill 'Low Altitude Attack' role then envisioned by Plans/CAS Division. The AAF was in process of changing CAS from dive bombing to 'battlefield air superiority' with...