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| P-47 of the 493rd Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter-Bomber Group |
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| F-15 Eagles of RAF Lakenheath's Heritage Flight (l to r) 492nd Fighter Squadron, 494th Fighter Squadron, 493rd Fighter Squadron One of these birds is not like the others... |
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.2d Lt Kingsley's actions epitomize that Bible verse, he removed his own parachute harness and gave it to a wounded man who's own parachute harness had been misplaced when his wounds were being treated, by 2d Lt Kingsley I might add. He must have known what the outcome could be, probably would be. It is right and proper that the memory of such a hero should be honored in the fashion which the 173rd chose. Okay, they got the name of the bird wrong, so what?
To atone for this, here are a couple of videos of F-15s from the 48th Fighter Wing out of RAF Lakenheath painted to look like their forebears from WWII, the mighty Jugs of the 492nd "The Mad Hatters*," the 493rd "The Grim Reapers," and the 494th "Panthers," Fighter Squadrons.
Or as a buddy of mine put it, "The 48th Fighter Wing gave 3 F-15s badass D-Day commemorative schemes."
Badass indeed.
Enjoy.
Get some!
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| Not the 48th, but a cool painting nonetheless. (Source) |
* AKA the "Bolars" - While stationed at Chaumont Air Base, France, the Madhatters were seen wearing berets. Upon being relocated to England the squadron adopted the bowler hat, a traditional English hat with a rounded crown. The tradition of wearing the bowler hat has continued to present day despite the lack of official uniform regulations authorizing such wear. Despite the usual spelling of the "bowler" hat, the squadron uses the flight callsign "Bolars."
The practice of adopting the headgear indicative of the various geographic regions the Bowlers are sent to has been continued. In Turkey, each deployed Madhatter had a blue fez hat. (Source)
In a paperback I read perhaps as much as 30 years ago about the Vietnam War, they mentioned an Air Force unit (fighter planes, as I recall) that called itself the Grimy Rapers (an interesting take-off on Grim Reapers!). Their base was somewhere in the northern part of South Vietnam . Maybe you've heard of the unit, Sarge?
ReplyDeleteNever heard of them and the Grim Reapers weren't assigned to SE Asia. Can't find any reference to them on the Webz.
DeleteCouple of nice vids there and wait.....wut..... good choice there on Nicholas Trudgian, have his print of the Battle of Kursk. Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI've seen that print! He does very nice work.
DeleteThat verse was running through my mind as I read the citation. There was a crew chief that flew his B17 back to base with wounded on board. Attempted a landing and crashed. That verse is on his memorial.
ReplyDeleteThere were a lot of them that put it all on the line for their buddies.
I don't think it's whinging when salient FACTS are not addressed. Some of us internet autists have real issues with a pfactual pfailure that appears to be from a desire to protect the real whingers from historical pfacts that may do violence to their pfrail pfaux reality.
Yeah, factual errors annoy my inner historian.
DeleteI believe that story would be about Lt Truemper and SSgt Mathies. Both received the Medal of Honor for their actions.
DeleteYou've had a number of great posts over the years to help us remember those brave men. It is well that we remember them, they gave the last full measure.
DeleteYes sir, SSgt Mathies. I remember his name when I see it.
DeleteAnd those Jugs are lovely as all Jugs are... Especially the razorbacks...
The razorbacks have a certain brutish charm, deadly looking, yet somehow elegant.
DeleteYou could see our village from up there!
ReplyDeleteI always marvel at the sheer beauty of the English countryside.
DeleteI really enjoy seeing the historical call-backs on these birds. The Navy did the same for our CONA- Centennial of Naval Aviation. You can see many of them here: https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS739US739&sxsrf=ACYBGNT51xfuJWwifp7bZ0CWQudtemn91w:1580482593617&q=CONA+Paint+Schemes&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjytcO8jK7nAhWCna0KHUN-C_gQsAR6BAgJEAE&biw=1351&bih=742
ReplyDeleteI remember those, I especially liked the paint scheme on the Mighty War Hoover, very 1942 it was.
DeleteYes, hearkening back to the TBF Avengers.
DeleteExactly!
DeleteKinda fun to see the fighter hanging out with the bomb trucks. Hearkens back to those courageous daylight missions of yore. In form like that the Charlie (?) looks like he left his big boy pants at home. The Echoes have a look about them that I enjoy. Cold War menacing and nothing artsy-fartsy at all. Fused Ordnance On Target On Time.
ReplyDeleteFun post Sarge, I enjoyed it a lot.
The hat thing is an interesting tradition.
Glad you noticed, yup, she's a Charlie.
DeleteI thought the hat thing was awesome.
"The Echoes have a look about them that I enjoy. Cold War menacing and nothing artsy-fartsy at all."
DeleteLike this one, perhaps?
That's a beautiful picture juvat. Is he landing or taking off? Those Charlies and Deltas are first and foremost flying machines. Bolt on the conformals and all the knobby bomb racks and the Echoes are something else entirely. The flying heart is still there, but it's not the same thing at all. It's a little bit P-51 vs P-47 in a way.
Deletejuvat - Hunter of the skies right there.
DeleteShaun - I think your analogy is spot on.
DeletePA given the position of the horizontal stab and the closed position of the nozzles, I'd say he's about a second away from rotation. The site I got the picture from said it was an incentive ride, so probably an enlisted in the back seat who'd done good at something and got a ride as a result. Did quite a few of them myself. Always prefaced them with we can do this two ways, one will be a stunning view of the local area or two I can make an E-Ticket Disney ride look like a walk in the park. Your choice.
DeleteAs to your analogy...In my day, (I don't know about now) there was a quite capable bombing computer built into the radar system. We (Kadena) even had practice bomb dispensers left over from the F-4 Days. Got permission to take a four ship to the range. All four of us had been air to mudders before and might, just might have rolled in on ships at sea with the A/G mode switched on. However, McPeak got wind of it and we got cancelled in the arming area. If the Fat Boy had rolled south, and much like the Iraqi Air Force, his ceased to exist, I'm pretty sure we might have been using it.
McPeak was truly a world class idiot, wasn't he? Um, with all due respect, etc., etc....
DeleteThat's what I thought, a little pitch in stab, just a touch of squat on the mains, getting light on the nose. Time to go flying. Regarding the GIB in the image, and to paraphrase the Great American Hero Buford T. Justice, he sounded, uh, taller on the radio.
DeleteThat's very interesting regarding the bombing system. The Tomcat had one as well, but everyone had to agree that it wasn't really there. I just had a cool image pop into my head of A-10's flying top cover as Albinos plink nork tanks far below. One of those days I guess. Regarding McPeak, It's ironic how some folks can lose complete sight of the mission when they overwhelm themselves with their vision of the mission. Maybe now we can staff the spacey force with all those richardheads and get back to doing stuff right.
With all dude respect. https://youtu.be/QsogswrH6ck
Great clip. 😂
DeleteSarge, Thanks for resurrecting the Friday Flyby. It was, now is, something I always looked forward to.
ReplyDeleteIt's a joy to put these together.
DeleteWhat he said. Yes, indeed!
DeleteWell, looks like I better keep at it! 😁
DeleteThat last painting. Ahhhh... Two of my favorite fighters. Love them, love them both. Both were very feared by our enemies, and for good reason.
ReplyDeleteAs to the throwback paint scheme, it's nice to see someone in .mil trying to remember and honor their roots.
As to the opening topic, we should always honor and reward selfless behavior, wherever we see it. (And stonk on selfish, self-centered behavior as hard as possible with really good prison sentences and even a Danny Deever if necessary (reference to some intel twit that the previous administration pardoned...))
I also agree with juvat. Nice to see the planes again.
That painting was featured in one of the Panzer 413 tales, Death from Above. A favorite of mine.
DeleteThe last administration was an utter disaster.
Love the posts here, thoughtful and entertaining. Seeing the photo of the P-47 Thunderbolt brought to mind the following Youtube video, "How to assemble a P-47 Thunderbolt in a field with unpowered handtools". Black and white 1944 technical film and pretty impressive. A crew chief, a large crate, a few hand tools, and 50 of your closest friends (wings are heavy) can assemble your very own P-47 in your yard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Noqms4AhTJA Enjoy! - Barry
ReplyDeleteNow that right there is a great video, I love that kind of stuff! Thanks Barry!
DeleteBarry! Bravo Zulu!!!! I thought about that when I was looking at the first picture!
DeleteGreat minds!
DeleteI’ve got a yard! Anybody got a P-47 kit?
DeleteHahaha!
DeleteI would be remiss if I did not post this. Again.
Deletehttps://www.cradleofaviation.org/history/history/aircraft/p-47_thunderbolt_aviation_darwinism.html
Nice.
DeleteAgain.
Loved the videos, especially the cross under. But I hated flying on the left wing. ;^)
ReplyDeleteI've heard that that can be "exciting."
DeleteJust the pilots had fezes, or everybody?
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing just the pilots.
DeleteI Like the P2V!
ReplyDeleteUsed to see them fly over when I was a kid. Loves me some Neptune.
Delete