I am building AMtech's P-40F/L and decals are provided for the aitcraft of Herman Lawson, Tuskegee airman. I was unaware that they flew anything but P-51s in Italy. Will somebody please enlighten me. Pete
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RobbelothE
Actually, in Italy they flew P-47s for a while which they had inherited from another group. In fact, I was able to help the AF Museum out a bit when I was able to to tie one of their new pilots (2Lt Lloyd S - Scotty - Hathcock of the
301 FS/332 FG) to a P-47 that was captured and tested by the Germans.
Hathcock apparently was lost and landed his P-47D-16-RE Thunderbolt at Rome-Littorio Airfield, Italy 0n 29 May 1944. The P-47 was serial number
42-75971 (275971) and was flown by E2 Beute, Rechlin Test Center, Germany after repainting the nose and wing tips yellow and applying the unit markings 8 + 6.
Interviews with a number of the Tuskeegee Airman indicate that they flew both rasorback and bubble canopy P-47s in both OD and natural metal. Since they inherited their aircraft and they had them for just a matter of weeks, it's possible they never got them repainted in the famous red tails. I have yet to obtain any photograph showing their P-47s in any paint scheme.
Sources:
Lerche, Hans-Werner. Luftwaffe Test Pilot (New York: Jane's, 1980), pp.
113-116.
Headquarters Army Air Forces, Missing Aircrew Report, 2LT Lloyd S. Hathcock (serial number O-817588). National Archives, Military Field Branch, Washington, DC 20409
Stapfer, Hans-Henri Strangers in a Strange Land (Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1988), pp. 56 & 80.
HTH
Ed
"There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right." --Ronald Reagan
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Vess Irvine
When I showed up at Lockheed in 1968, and assigned to the Structural Loads Department on the S-3A Viking project, my boss was an ex-Tuskegee airman.
...../Vess
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WmB
I think they were issued P-40s when they arrived in North Africa. Not sure, sounds plausible.
WmB
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Bassie Adriaensen
"Vess Irvine" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com...
Here are two recent Modeling Madness articles on the subject
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From this one I particularly like the history write up;
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