maj atlee manthos bio and ww2 photo collection

[manthos]

my name is dan manthos and my father flew mustangs over germany in ww2. last summer i put together a photo biography of him that may be found here:

LT COL ATLEE G MANTHOS

he took several beautiful color slides of aircraft during the 40's that have been sitting in the bottom of a footlocker for the better part of 70 years. i scanned them and put them online as well, in a separate site:

ATLEE MANTHOS PHOTO ARCHIVE

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff, thanks for sharing.

 

[GregP]

A really good read and I thank you for sharing your father's service and life. It's not every day you can see a reconstruction of a war veteran's story from the perspective of the family.

 

[fubar57]

Some great stuff there. Thanks for sharing this.

Geo

 

[vikingBerserker]

Welcome aboard Dan, and thank you!

 

[nuuumannn]

Superbly done and beautifully presented. I learned a huge amount from reading through this and the slides - fantastic! Some real beauts in there. Thank you for doing this; you've done your father and his history proud. Just one minor snip - the New Zealand pilot's name was Cleland, with only one 'A'.

 

[manthos]

Cleland, with only one 'A'.

nuuumannn, thanks! i'll add that to my list of tweaks. for instance all of the pics identified as from duxford were taken someplace else

as for cleland, my position that he and my father flew the same aircraft is under fire. peter randall at littlefriends and nathan howland at the imperial war museum in duxford are confident that the b6-f mary alice that atlee manthos used from oct - dec 1944 was the same b6-f airframe 44-13681 flown previously by capt/maj don bochkay before he went stateside on leave the previous july. they offer very well-reasoned arguments to support this claim but i am attempting to obviate the need for speculation altogether with some photographic evidence i've attached two comparisons below, feel free to weigh in on mary alice' identity.

 

[Njaco]

Top notch sir!!! Really REALLY crisp pics on your site. Loved the story and I'm sure he would be immensely proud of your effort. Loved reading the story and then about the research.

Oh and welcome to the site!

 

[bobbysocks]

welcome Dan. My father also flew with the 357th...he was in the 364th Sq as well. there is SPOKT site run by members and family of the group. i cannot pull it up presently but will try to get it to you soon.

 

[Maxrobot1]

Well, ya learn something every day! Did anyone else notice that at least two of the photos show P-51s with the squadron letters and a/c letter painted on the underside of the left wing? (G4 A and BG Y)
Funny, but I've never heard of that before and never seen that in artwork or on model decal sheets.

 

[bobbysocks]

i do believe that was done after the fighter groups occupied former LW bases....boys will be boys and buzz things they shouldnt. so ID numbers were put on the bottom of the wings so that someone could be held accountable....

and that was probably a B6 Y,,,,,yeagers old ID

 

[Maxrobot1]

I know the Buzz numbers that were finalized but didn't know or read anything about buzz numbers before 1946 or 1947.

 

[bobbysocks]

there is a color photo of a 357th plane taking off with buzz numbers...so it would have had to be after they occupied neubiberg in 7/45 and before deactivated 8/46. i have yet to find the photo again as it may show something in it that could "date" the time the photo was taken

 

[fubar57]

Found a photo of an 8thAF P-51 that has the markings 5Y-L (384th FS) under the left wing, caption says ".....after V-J day...."

Geo

 

[Airframes]

Certainly in the UK and ETO in general, after 'VE' Day, 'Buzz' numbers or, in the RAF, Serial Numbers, were applied to wing undersides, in order to identify (unauthorised) low-flying aircraft.
What had been a 'Service necessity' on operations, was now considered a nuisance by the civilian population and, after numerous complaints, the 'Authorities' decided to regulate such actions, and 'charged' individuals found guilty of low-flying, when identified by the 'Buzz'/Serial numbers, newly applied.
Some possibly 'got away with it' by flying inverted ................. boys will be boys !!!

 

[bobbysocks]

we had this conversation before. i asked two pilots from the 357th about this picture. it clearly shows the B6Y under the wing. both pilots believed this photo was taken as the was group deploying from leiston to neubiberg, german. both said it looked like leiston and not like germany.

 

[Airframes]

It's almost certain to be Leiston, or at least a UK base. The tree line, and the 'blister' hangar in the background are definitely 'British', and correspond to other, B&W, photos showing aircraft landing at Leiston.

 

[mhuxt]

Wonderful pics, thanks for posting the links.

Couple of Mosquitos with underwing markings:

UPL 6944 | American Air Museum in Britain

http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib/rfc/FRE_003079.jpg

That American Air Museum link is well worth checking out. Over 5,000 pics of USAAF aircraft in Britain from Roger Freeman's collection. Some real gems.

Both the above aircraft appear to have survived the war; by my reckoning RG146 wasn't even produced until early- / mid-March 1945, though NS739 would have been about mid-October '44, so possibly a post-war scheme for the reasons stated.