313 FS 50 FG Nov-Dec '44

[silence]

Hi all:

My grandmother had a brother who flew with this squadron in late '44 (sadly, he was killed Jan 1 '45).

I'm looking for paint schemes and markings of the squadron at the end of '44 because I'd like to build a model of his plane or at least of a plane from his squadron.

I know he flew a P-47-D-25 (or -28)specializing in ground attack. The squadron code was "W3".

Can anyone help me?

 

[Wurger]

313th Fighter Squadron, 50th Fighter Group P-47 Thunderbolt landing at Toul/Ochey Airfield (A-96), southwest of Nancy, France in December 1944. The red nose was the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) recognition marking carried by aircraft of the 1st Tactical Air Force, to which the 50th FG was assigned during the last seven months of the European Campaign.

P-47D crashed near Nancy on 8 Oct. 1944 - Pilot Herman O. Parsons 50FG, 313FS

 

[silence]

Wow! I'm not sure where my great uncle was in France, but I know he was killed 1-1-45 while attacking a train. He was tired and hung over from New Year's Eve and didn't get out of the blast radius in time. IIRC, they found his body finally in March.

So it looks like we're looking at an unpainted body with a red nose, eh? And no invasion stripes. Excellent.

 

[Wurger]

Not exactly... if you have a close-up look at the W3-V Jug you can notice the invasion strips at the bottom of the fuselage.

Here you are a part of an instruction for decals of Republic P-47D Thunderbolt Wingmen 313FS/50FG 489750 W3-Z Little Rosie Lt. S. Moaak and 228229 W3-M Juicy Lucy Lt. Phil Savides This time no invasion strips there...

 

[silence]

Moak was the one who wrote the after-action report about my uncle's death.

 

[Wurger]

I see.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Great info!