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It's no surprise you noticed them
Ed Linfante, a 506 Mustang driver who flew "Shanghai Lil" said they were were supposed to be used as an aid for dive-bombing. Your height and distance aside of the target before you dived dictated which line to use, higher altitude meant using a stripe further out from the fuselage.
Every 506th Mustang had those stripes and I don't think any other Mustang units in the Pacific used them, only the 506th.
We need a "COOL" icon in the "LIKES" bar for stuff like this!I had a feeling it was for some form of ground attack as their point of origin seemed to be the cockpit / pilots cranium. In the two planes I flew that dropped ordinance we had reference points (unmarked) that we used for certain attacks.
Cheers,
Biff
In the last few reports I've noticed the use of "Fiteron" when mentioning fighter squadrons. I've only read European Theatre combat reports up until this thread and have never seen this word mentioned so is this a Pacific Theatre only use?
Agreed, the Iwo Mustangs are a bit overlooked in the grand scheme of WWII. Here is a pretty decent site for some of them though: 506th Fighter Group Home: 506th Fighter Group, 457 Fighter Squadron, 458 Fighter Squadron, 462 Fighter Squadron Iwo To Japan
I would say that if nothing else, that was one well guarded Superfort, I can't imagine any harassment by Japanese aircraft against him.Escort B-29s to Nagoya. Mission Report 26 June 1945, 45th Fighter Squadron, 15th Fighter Group.
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45th Fighter Squadron:
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Interesting that the pilots could mistake a George for a Mary
Regarding the poor recognition skills of of USAAF fighter pilots. This was NOT a case of mistaken Aircraft ID but rather mistaken AC with undercarriage lowered.
What you guys don't know is that with the N1K1-J Shiden (aka George) the pilots used a technique to not only tighten the turn radius but slow the AC almost to stalling speed. The George had a unique design feature - wing flaps called combat flaps which operated automatically to increase "lift" during tight turns. Here's the thing, one brave pilot learned that lowering the landing gear to slow the aircraft (probably dangerously) during the time the combat flaps activated would slow it dramatically while the combat flaps maintained lift. With high engine RPM the 4 blade paddle prop would literally hang the big fighter in the air and the Allied fighter would overshoot and so Japanese pilot retracts the UC and latches onto his tail. Seconds later and the P-51 is pumped full of 20mm cannon shells. Combat over.
I would bet this Allied pilot saw a George with its UC lowered performing the manouever just described and thought it looked the Ki-32 Mary when describing it to the AF Intel Officer who would have confirmed it with reference to his Japanese Aircraft Recognition Manual. This use of combat flaps and UC lowering is recorded in Henry Sakaida's book "Genda's Blade".
James
Interesting that the pilots could mistake a George for a Mary
When I was at "A" school in 1970 there was, among the historical photos (sans captions) decorating the walls, a photo of an Avenger with a huge radar dome protruding from its bomb bay that looked a lot like the belly dome on an EC121 Constellation. I think the Connie used an APS22 radar. No idea about the Avenger. I remember hearing that the Avenger's successor, the Guardian, used that set alsoI have heard of airborne early warning radar sets carried by Avengers which had a detection range of up to 100 miles, but I know little about it's actual wartime application. This was basically the beginning of the AWACS concept.
On the West coast, training in the TBM-3W for pilots and crewmen was undertaken by the Fleet Airborne Electronics Training Unit (FAETU) in preparation for deployment. While the crews were in training, the USS Ranger (CV-4), recently returned from delivering aircraft to allied forces in Casablanca, entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard 17 May 1945 for a six-week overhaul, during which a CIC and the Cadillac shipboard equipment were installed. Underway again in July, she arrived at North Island on July 25th where she loaded aboard her airwing. This airwing was different from the conventional wing in that it included several developmental concepts; among these were the Cadillac configured TBM-3Ws and the Night Air Combat Training Unit from Barber's Point. By August 1945 she was in Hawaiian waters conducting final CQ prior to leaving for Japanese waters when the war ended.
Mike,
The key question is do we take the ID literally as a "Ki-32 Mary" which has fixed undercarriage or do we take it as Ki-32 Mary "center section" plus Ki-44 Tojo tail only?
Of course the N1K1-J Shiden (George) does not even vaguely resemble a Ki-32 Mary.
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If we say it looked like Ki-32 Mary "center section" only then here are some of the profiles of the many Japanese AC that description might refer to:
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The big problem with J-Aircraft Recognition is the limited description given by the Intel Officer who interviews the pilots. And of course it goes without saying the P-51 pilots saw the Japanese aircraft for all of a second or two and who can really focus on the fine points of recognition given it is just a fleeting glimpse?
Because of all the factors affecting recognition accuracy I would say the chance of a correct ID of the aircraft is 50:50 or even money at best.
James
Fair point, I was distracted by the P-39 thread but was going to mention this type of issue, a fairly green Mustang driver on his first Empire mission and only got a few seconds look at the E/A so I can totally believe he could mix the two up.Mike,
The key question is do we take the ID literally as a "Ki-32 Mary" which has fixed undercarriage or do we take it as Ki-32 Mary "center section" plus Ki-44 Tojo tail only?
Of course the N1K1-J Shiden (George) does not even vaguely resemble a Ki-32 Mary.
View attachment 600121
View attachment 600116
View attachment 600117
If we say it looked like Ki-32 Mary "center section" only then here are some of the profiles of the many Japanese AC that description might refer to:
View attachment 600118
View attachment 600119
View attachment 600120
The big problem with J-Aircraft Recognition is the limited description given by the Intel Officer who interviews the pilots. And of course it goes without saying the P-51 pilots saw the Japanese aircraft for all of a second or two and who can really focus on the fine points of recognition given it is just a fleeting glimpse?
Because of all the factors affecting recognition accuracy I would say the chance of a correct ID of the aircraft is 50:50 or even money at best.
James
Mike, no problem on my end. That's one of the articles I'm happiest to have written because mid-late 70s there were still plenty of vets, and Gen. Mickey Moore was especially helpful. It's been reprinted a coupla times including in AF Magazine and at one time it was on the 506th FG site.Please share the balance if that's ok? I've seen a similar article in (Flight Journal, Ridgefield CT, Summer 2002) by Barrett Tillman, Mustangs of Iwo Jima
Thanks for the links to Project Cadillac! Fascinating stuff. When I got out of "A" School I got assigned to a FAETULANT det, but by that time the FAETUs were not doing any airborne training or operating any aircraft, just ground based Operational Flight Trainers and Weapons System Trainers. This was soon reflected in an organizational name change to Fleet Aviation Specialized Operational Training Group detachments. FASOTRAGRULANT Det Boca Chica, for short.The TBM-3W Avenger had the AN/APS-20 radar in a belly-mounted dome - the same radar was placed into the Grumman Guardian, the Douglas Skyraider, and the Boeing B-17 (PB-1W, which was used operationally in the Korean Conflict).