Vic Balshaw
Major General
Lovely choice Igor with well researched detail and good to see a Polish Sqn represented
**** DONE: Mustang Mk III of No. 315 (Polish) Squadron RAF, Sqn Ldr E.Horbaczewski
- Thread starter imalko
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Vic Balshaw
Major General
Igor, thought you might like these for reference.
Pic 1. I know you have already pics of PK-G, but this is yet another serial number 'FB387' with this Sqn code.
I also thought the cockpit detail and cutaway could be useful.
Pic 1. I know you have already pics of PK-G, but this is yet another serial number 'FB387' with this Sqn code.
I also thought the cockpit detail and cutaway could be useful.
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Good one Igor, looks like great lttle build...
That is not FB166 it is FB382. I do not have much time tonight to go into details. I will try later in the week. For decades photographs of FB382 have been captioned as FB166. It true identity was not discovered until a few years ago when film footage shot at same time as the photographs was examined. The second video clip features PK*K. NO idea where the nonesense that it was bare metal comes from. None of the Wing's Mustangs were at this time.
FB166, 42-103060, P-51C-1-NT- (NA-1-3).
The only known photograph of FB166 (far left) taken 4th May 1944. The aircraft was ferried from Aston Down by Sgt Tamowicz on 13th April 1944 and became Horbaczewski's personal mount. On 12th June he flew it fresh from an inspection at 411 RSU and claimed a Fw 190 destroyed. It was ht by flak and returned directly to 411 RSU for repair. It was later to serve again in a Polish unit as SZ*B with 316 squadron from early June 1946 until it disbanded in December 1946.
The only known photograph of FB166 (far left) taken 4th May 1944. The aircraft was ferried from Aston Down by Sgt Tamowicz on 13th April 1944 and became Horbaczewski's personal mount. On 12th June he flew it fresh from an inspection at 411 RSU and claimed a Fw 190 destroyed. It was ht by flak and returned directly to 411 RSU for repair. It was later to serve again in a Polish unit as SZ*B with 316 squadron from early June 1946 until it disbanded in December 1946.
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Some additional info on Horbaczewski's Mustangs. He used three of them coded PK_G. The first one FB166 was delivered to the 315th Squadron on the 13rd April and was used untill 11th June when she was damaged in an accident.On the 15th June the aircraft was sent to the 411th Repair and Salvage Unit for being repaired. On the same day the FB382 appered in the 315th Squadron. The machine was using by the unit for more than two months untill the 23rd August.Then she was sent to the 3501st Service Unit for repairing ( the reason for that is quite unclear.). On the 28th July the FB387 was supplied.
Mustang III FB166 - probably it was 42-103060 P-51C-1-NT
Mustang III FB382 - probably it was 42-103532 P-51C-10-NT
Mustang III FB387 - probably it was 42-103537 P-51C-10-NT
Taking the period of time for using of the FB166 into consideration. The Mustang wore the invasion strips almost for sure. But there has been no evidency in pictures so far.
Mustang III FB166 - probably it was 42-103060 P-51C-1-NT
Mustang III FB382 - probably it was 42-103532 P-51C-10-NT
Mustang III FB387 - probably it was 42-103537 P-51C-10-NT
Taking the period of time for using of the FB166 into consideration. The Mustang wore the invasion strips almost for sure. But there has been no evidency in pictures so far.
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- Thread starter
- #29
imalko
Chief Master Sergeant
Cheers fellas!
Vic, thanks for posting those materials, they could come in handy during this build.
Also, thanks to Antoni and Wojtek for clarifying details regarding Horbaczewski's Mustang Mk IIIs. Must admit that I haven't researched details on his death nor the particular aircraft he flew on that occasion, but my own research regarding Mustangs FB166, FB382 and FB387 concur with stuff posted above. Here's one picture from book "2nd Tactical Air Force, Volume one, Spartan to Normandy, June 1943 to June 1944" addressing this very issue:
Vic, thanks for posting those materials, they could come in handy during this build.
Also, thanks to Antoni and Wojtek for clarifying details regarding Horbaczewski's Mustang Mk IIIs. Must admit that I haven't researched details on his death nor the particular aircraft he flew on that occasion, but my own research regarding Mustangs FB166, FB382 and FB387 concur with stuff posted above. Here's one picture from book "2nd Tactical Air Force, Volume one, Spartan to Normandy, June 1943 to June 1944" addressing this very issue:
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Heinz
Captain
Great information guys
109ROAMING
2nd Lieutenant
Lovin the photos guys 8)
B-17engineer
Colonel
- Thread starter
- #34
imalko
Chief Master Sergeant
Nice pictures Harry. The one with Horbaczewski in front of his plane was already posted here before, but never mind. Thanks for sharing anyway.
B-17engineer
Colonel
Sorry
Noticed that after I posted and the forum stopped loading this page so I forgot
Noticed that after I posted and the forum stopped loading this page so I forgot
Here's what I've found..Not exactly yours but, maybe could help for camo
The small shot of a man is P/O. Jozef Donecik
The top photo is Andrzej Czerwinski, lost 7/12/44 on a Beaufighter escort to Norway. The identity of the aircraft is not known.
The one below is FB357 PK*E 'Denise'. It belonged to P/O Elgin Scott RAF. Scott's father was a British diplomat and he was brought up in Lwow. Apparently he spoke better Polish than English. He joined the RAF and asked to be assigned to a Polish unit.
B-17engineer
Colonel
Thanks for the info!
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Good background info Antoni.
FB382, 42-103532, P-51C-10-NT- (NA-103).
On 22nd June Mustang FZ147 PK*J of W/O Tamowicz was damaged by flak and he made a forced landing. US engineers were constructing an advanced landing strip in swampy ground below the crippled aircraft. Seeing Tamowicz crawl from the wreckage onto a dry islet Horbaczewski made a perfect landing on the unfinished strip. Commandeering a jeep he went to fetch the downed pilot. First asking Tamowicz to take off his wet and muddy clothing he crammed him into the cockpit and sitting on his lap he took off successfully and arrived safely back at Coolham. All this earned a single line entry in 133 Wing's records. "S/Ldr Horbaczewski brought back Sgt Tamowicz, naked and rather worn, but still useable."
18 Sector's combat diary recorded: "one pilot returned in working condition, though stark-naked."
A number of photographs of the Mustang Horbaczewski was using were taken soon after at Coolham. These include a sequence of Horbaczewski with his crew chief signing the form 700 and boarding his aircraft. Others show the aircraft tooled up and ready to go.
For a long time it was believed that the Mustang was FB166 until a few years ago examination of film footage of the aircraft revealed its true identity as FB382.
Note the chessboard has a different orientation to that of FB166. In 1944 seems all of 315 Squadron's Mustangs had these 'negative' chessboards apart from FB166 and FB353 which was a transfer from 316 Squadron. This was not so with the other Polish Mustang squadrons. The white overspray on the propeller blades is typical for Mustangs as the spinners were not removed when they were painted white. The white paint has peeled off the spinner in places. It was usual for the aircraft's individual letter to be painted in black underneath the nose, sometimes on the white nose band, sometimes behind it. Also note that the Malcolm had no metal framing and is completely clear. It was designed to split in two if it hit the tail when ejected. The frame either had a frosted appearance of was not polished. Very rarely was it ever painted.
The invasion stripes are typical for those applied to the whole wing, very messy. On the upper surface of the wings they impinged slightly on roundels. On some Mustangs the roundels were painted further back than on others. This left little room to fit in the aircraft's individual letter, especially broad letters such as G or H. On all three of Horbaczewski's PK*Gs the letter G overlapped the roundel slightly. When it came to painting the invasion stripes the Sky band was painted over in white so that the whole set of bands were further back than is normal. Again this is found throughout the wing. Perhaps this was done so that the individual letter had a dark background instead of white and so could be seen more easily. Also typical for the wing the letter the black stripe was painted around the letter and no attempt was made to fill in the centre with black. The serial number is painted forward of the tailplane whereas on FB166 and FB387 it was painted under the tailplane.
There were 12 aerial victory and 20 ground attack mission markings. The squadron badge partly obscures the original data panel applied at NAA. It appears that this was masked when the aircraft was repainted with RAF Dark Green leaving a patch of the original ANA 613 Green.
On 22nd June Mustang FZ147 PK*J of W/O Tamowicz was damaged by flak and he made a forced landing. US engineers were constructing an advanced landing strip in swampy ground below the crippled aircraft. Seeing Tamowicz crawl from the wreckage onto a dry islet Horbaczewski made a perfect landing on the unfinished strip. Commandeering a jeep he went to fetch the downed pilot. First asking Tamowicz to take off his wet and muddy clothing he crammed him into the cockpit and sitting on his lap he took off successfully and arrived safely back at Coolham. All this earned a single line entry in 133 Wing's records. "S/Ldr Horbaczewski brought back Sgt Tamowicz, naked and rather worn, but still useable."
18 Sector's combat diary recorded: "one pilot returned in working condition, though stark-naked."
A number of photographs of the Mustang Horbaczewski was using were taken soon after at Coolham. These include a sequence of Horbaczewski with his crew chief signing the form 700 and boarding his aircraft. Others show the aircraft tooled up and ready to go.
For a long time it was believed that the Mustang was FB166 until a few years ago examination of film footage of the aircraft revealed its true identity as FB382.
Note the chessboard has a different orientation to that of FB166. In 1944 seems all of 315 Squadron's Mustangs had these 'negative' chessboards apart from FB166 and FB353 which was a transfer from 316 Squadron. This was not so with the other Polish Mustang squadrons. The white overspray on the propeller blades is typical for Mustangs as the spinners were not removed when they were painted white. The white paint has peeled off the spinner in places. It was usual for the aircraft's individual letter to be painted in black underneath the nose, sometimes on the white nose band, sometimes behind it. Also note that the Malcolm had no metal framing and is completely clear. It was designed to split in two if it hit the tail when ejected. The frame either had a frosted appearance of was not polished. Very rarely was it ever painted.
The invasion stripes are typical for those applied to the whole wing, very messy. On the upper surface of the wings they impinged slightly on roundels. On some Mustangs the roundels were painted further back than on others. This left little room to fit in the aircraft's individual letter, especially broad letters such as G or H. On all three of Horbaczewski's PK*Gs the letter G overlapped the roundel slightly. When it came to painting the invasion stripes the Sky band was painted over in white so that the whole set of bands were further back than is normal. Again this is found throughout the wing. Perhaps this was done so that the individual letter had a dark background instead of white and so could be seen more easily. Also typical for the wing the letter the black stripe was painted around the letter and no attempt was made to fill in the centre with black. The serial number is painted forward of the tailplane whereas on FB166 and FB387 it was painted under the tailplane.
There were 12 aerial victory and 20 ground attack mission markings. The squadron badge partly obscures the original data panel applied at NAA. It appears that this was masked when the aircraft was repainted with RAF Dark Green leaving a patch of the original ANA 613 Green.
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- #40
imalko
Chief Master Sergeant
This is great stuff Antoni, both detailed info and set of pictures. Could prove very valuable during this build, but regardless of model building its always great to learn more about remarcable pilots of WW2 and aircraft in which they flew and fought.
Thanks very much for sharing.
Thanks very much for sharing.
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