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| P-51 Mustang One of the Most Beautiful Aircraft of All Time |
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| Major George E. Preddy, Jr. USAAF 26.83 Aerial Victories 1919 - 1944 |
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| Mustang in D-Day Livery |
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| General John C. Meyer, USAF 24 Aerial Victories 1919 - 1975 |
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| The Flying Dutchman |
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| Major Dominic Salvatore "Don" Gentile, USAAF 21.83 Aerial Victories 1920 - 1951 |
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| P-47D Thunderbolt, aka "The Jug" "It better dive, because it sure as Hell can't climb." - Don Blakeslee |
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| Colonel Francis Stanley "Gabby" Gabreski, USAF 28 Aerial Victories 1919 - 2002 |
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| Three Jugs Are Better'n One More Bang for Your Buck |
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| Lieutenant Colonel Robert S. Johnson, USAAF 27 Aerial Victories 1920 - 1998 |
"Razorback" Jug
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| Now there's a sight! |
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| Colonel Walker Melville "Bud" Mahurin, USAF 20.75 Aerial Victories 1918 - 2010 |
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| Colonel Donald James Matthew Blakeslee, USAF 15.5 Aerial Victories Started with the Royal Canadian Air Force Claimed his first kill on November 22, 1941! 1917 - 2008 |
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| Colonel Hubert A. "Hub" Zemke, USAF 17.75 Aerial Victories Jimmy Doolittle praised Zemke as his "greatest fighter group commander". He commanded the 56th Fighter Group in England, which came to be known as "Zemke's Wolf Pack". 1914 - 1994 |
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| Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF 16 Aerial Victories (World War II and Vietnam!) 1922 - 2007 |
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| Brigadier General Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager 11.5 Aerial Victories First Man to Break the Sound Barrier Born 1923 |
So there you have it, quite a collection of pilots and aircraft. Next week maybe we'll wander out to the Pacific theater, maybe we'll introduce you to the Aces of Imperial Japan. Or maybe we'll do the American Aces of the Pacific. Or maybe, we'll introduce the Brits and the Russkie Aces. And no. I haven't forgotten the Italians. Though their armed forces performed somewhat abysmally in World War II, there were lots of Italian fighting men who did their nation proud.
No, not sure what I'll do next week. Guess you'll just need to stay tuned!
But I'll leave you with this...
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| Why yes, I do like the P-51... Why do you ask? |
The P-51 is hands down one of the most beautiful planes ever to fly.
ReplyDeleteYou'll get no argument from me.
DeleteWhat a wonderful war machine. I recently read some information about the oil cooler on the belly. North American Aviation spent countless hours in the Cal Tech wind tunnel tweaking the shape of the P-51 'Dog House' in order to get the maximum benefit of the Meredith effect. The design at least negated the drag created and may even have provided some thrust. Great reading.
ReplyDeleteI did not know that. All that design work done in the days before computers. Back then we had practical engineers!
DeleteVery nice, and some real heroes there!!!
ReplyDeleteThere were so many to choose from. But there will be more when we get to the Pacific.
DeleteNice work, yet again. You got yer Amen!
ReplyDeleteApropos o' not much... I sat with an old guy when I went to the recent AFA chapter meeting in Clovis, and I mean OLD, like late 80s or mebbe more. He casually dropped the fact that he flew with Colonel Gabreski in Korea, and in the US before they deployed... I casually dropped my jaw. This old colonel said Gabreski was the "Best damned fighter pilot I ever knew," which was the understatement of the evening.
An understatement indeed!
DeleteThanks Buck.
How about the other side sometime?
ReplyDeleteCheck out last week's Flyby, it was about the Luftwaffe.
DeleteVery cool...Thx
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it!
Delete